The new Light system takes everything from the original and makes it worse by attaching every piece of gear to the Light Level. That coupled with how most gear is dropped by RNG with its Light given by RNG then its perks given by RNG and its stats by RNG. This means even if you get the light to effectively deal damage and survive your gear may not even be close to the playstyles you want. The infusion system was to meant to accommodate this, but it requires the destruction of more than one high light item to get the lower item up to that level. It also makes the rewards you receive very lack luster as you got to level some greatly before they are useful.
I am just getting to a point where I can use marks to level the light of my sword that I received from a quest. The reward came at a time where I was needing a light of about 240 to be damaging my enemies correctly. The light of the sword was 220. I also couldn't afford to use marks on it as I was needing them to buy gear that could bump my light up for the next tier of content. Things like this drain the fun from getting new gear.
The system used in HoW felt better as the weapons and gear came standard at certain attack values. I understand you could level things too fast with Etheric Light. I am not asking for that, but a more standardized loot system that rewards you actual upgrades instead of random everything.
Below I'll list how I feel Light should work.
1. The average light level should not be what determines your actual defense and attack. It should be a measure to lightly gauge whether or not you can compare to the content. Attack should only come from the weapon you have equipped. Likewise defense totals from all your armor should relegate how much damage you receive.
2. Gear needs less randomization. Especially in the atk and defense department. Rares should have a limit to how high they can be with the majority of legendaries picking up where they stop. It is interesting to have some lower level legendaries to mix it up through the leveling process. The atk and defense of the gear rewarded should be based more on the difficulty of the content. For example, I completed the nightfall last night. This is an activity that recommends 280 light. My reward at the end was a 280 cloak. It wasnt even an upgrade from tge content I was doing. The rewards from Nightfall should be no less than 290 as it should be the content you do that progresses you forward for the raid.
3. Progression should look like this. Story>Strikes>End Game Quests/Heroic Strikes>Nightfall>Raid. Right now progression is do whatever you can to get drops that automatically get better with your light level increasing. Vendor gear should be good enough to start raiding.
4. It is good that they want to allow us to customize look by allowing everything have random stats and perks, but it really is a hassle trying to get the stats and perks we want. I think the bulk of perks should be removed from gear and replaced by slots. Most gear should have a definite set of perks accompanied by slots where you can customize it yourself. Your standard weapon has 3 scopes or barrels, 2 random main perks, and 3 stat perks. On these standard weapons some could come with 2 scopes and 1 scope slot, 1 main perk and 1 main perk slot, and 1 stat perk and 2 stat slots. The slots would be where you put in your own perk part that fits the slot. These csn come from dismantling any gear, as drops, or purchasing.
5. As for stats. I think having a random combination of int, str, and disc is good. I do however think that random values for these stats should be standardized to only reflect light, and then let you use perks to change how much of each you have.
6. Infusion should level the piece of gear up to the light of the item sacrificed. It would also be great if you could do quests with gunsmith or another that allowed you to upgrade lower tier items to the next tier. Uncommon>Rare>Legendary
Pretty much this is what I feel is wrong with Destiny at the moment and how to fix it. Thank you if you read it all. I enjoy Destiny. Overall I think TTK is fun. I love the taken enemies. The quests and all that are great. xD guess I just find shortcomings in everything.
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Level things too fast with Etheric Light? Baloney! It seemly made top gear again top gear. We need it again to save this game from itself.