TL/DR at bottom.
So far the most common complaint my clan members and other players I meet have with this game is the reward system. You tried to make it better in ttk, but its actually gotten much worse, and here is my way of breaking own my opinion and explaining it to you.
So year 1 drops rates weren't great, "forever 29" was a real problem, took me till year 2 to get a crux of crota, the list of general gripes is enormous. But at least when you got a drop in year 1, it had the potential to be max light. When you finally got that fatebringer or visions it was as good as it could be. Even with the drop rates we only had to fight two rng rolls, getting something at all and getting what we wanted.
Now we're here in year 2, with a "smart loot" system that doesn't work, and more roll checks than ever. To actually increase your light level in current pve endgame you need to: roll to get anything but moldering shards in the first place, roll to actually get the piece you need, roll to get decent perks on it, and then roll to get an actual light level worth mentioning. That's 4 different instances of rng, making you nearly 4 times as unlikely to actually get anything you want from the raid's usual drops.
Then you came out with challenge mode, this was actually a great idea, add a little challenge (or not, however you look at it) and give people a drop that is guaranteed to roll at the max light level. That was a great way to help shore up people's weakness and give them a better chance. But then you missed completely by making all 3 challenges drop artifacts, completely ignoring the ghost shell and class items slots. Yeah technically oryx can drop them, but thats a problem in itself, the final boss shouldn't drop the same gear that the puzzles do, effort vs reward. So now you have 2 equipment slots that people still have to just pray to rngesus will one day get lucky enough to be 320.
In light of the brevity of destiny's endgame, which has always been a problem, it really makes it feel like TTK was built to just pad play time with awful rng. I've seen countless players excited about the game, drop it because after raiding since launch they still haven't been able to get that one upgrade they need, and they know there is a very real possibility they never will. You're actually losing players by taking away their tangible goals. When the drops are so rng heavy, people lose their hope to ever get what they actually need, and decide to stop wasting their time, because after all its a game, and game's are supposed to be fun, they're supposed to reward you when you put in enough effort. Even in MMO's where the boss drops 2 pieces of loot for 40 people eventually your whole team will have it and it will be your turn.
Light level should be a good indication of your experience in the endgame, and max should be a badge of honor for being at the peak of your chosen endgame be it pve or pvp. You could even let people get light 320 gear in nightfall, just put unique perks on the raid, trials, IB, etc gear to give people a reason to desire it, and that itself would be a good incentive.
As it is, I can raid every week since launch and never get a class item (which is exactly my situation lol), and at the same time a new clan member can come in and reach 319 in a month thanks to luck, there's an inherent problem there, an inherent fault in your effort vs reward formula.
You could have made all raid gear 320, and the random perks and infusion would have given people reason enough to keep running it every week. But with the current system, people get burnt out quick and soon part ways with the game, which is the exact opposite of what you want, right?
I get that you want to make it so people have to raid multiple times to reach max light, thats fine I agree with it. But there should never be a possibility that you will never improve.
The best thing you could have done was tune your system so that no matter the endgame activity (raid or trials) all drops were guaranteed to be within 1 to 2 ppints higher than your current. That would guarantee progress, and eventually reaching your goal, while also controlling the speed at which people level by eliminating large jumps.
As it stands now, it would probably be difficult for you to make a change like that so here's what you can do right now to help raise your player's hopes again. Change the challenge rewards to where each one drops one of the unrepresented slots. Warpriest is artifact, Golgy is ghost shell, and oryx is class item. Hell even just adding another one of your favorite rng rolls to it and making it so it has a chance to be one of the three would be better than nothing.
I've got a lot of time in this game, 38 days across my characters, 100+ raid clears, I enjoy it, but atm the only reason I'm still playing it is because of my clan members, I'm actually relieved when I get my 3 raids in because it means I can play something else for the rest of the week. Do you see the problem there?
I'm so burnt out that if I ever get that class item, the only thing that will keep me in the game is the people I play with, there is no draw from the game itself, because it doesn't reward you for your effort. And I know I'm not the only one.
I know it was long but please read it and respond, I'm grasping at reasons to keep playing your game because I like the way it feels and the community around it, but these are my sincere concerns with the current state of endgame.
Add on: (for the record I have a 319 warlock, titan, and hunter)
TL:DR
The current system for endgame teir rewards makes you 4 times as unlikely to get an upgrade as in year 1.
A better system would be to guarantee drops between 1 or 2 light levels over you're current equipped. This would guarantee progression at a controllable rate for longevity in the endgame. Or make all endgame gear 320 and use unique perks as incentive for peoplw to raid/trials/etc.
An easy band aid for the current mess would be to make each challenge mode drop a different non boss slot. WP os artifact, golgy is ghost shell, and Oryx is class item.
As it is now light level is nothing but a measure of luck and general competency (even that is debatable), and it should be an indicator of endgame experience.
This severe imbalance in effort vs reward has led many players to give up on the game do to dissapointment and the possibility of never getting what they need.
There's a problem when my favorite part of destiny every week is when I dont feel the need to play it anymore.
There was more but I digress.
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Absolutely agree with everything you just said, 110% spot on! Bungie need to read this big time!!!!