We've gone beyond reasoned arguments at this point, OP. But if you really want one, I would submit that almost every activity in this game has been complained about by somebody that it is a chore. Gambit, Crucible, Raids. People whine about not being able to get the rewards and all the things they have to go through to get them. The difference is that Enhancement Cores is a convenient scapegoat because people can't get the cores and run out of them too fast. Here are what I think need to be addressed to actually solve the problem of the frustration with enhancement cores, without getting rid of them: 1. Bungie needs to point out that the best way to obtain Enhancement Cores is by far by Obtaining more legendary gear and sharding it. [b]Spider is your greatest ally.[/b] You pour glimmer into his pockets, he gives you materials. You do his glimmer bounties to get it back. With those materials and more you get from planetary daily bounties, you turn most of them over to get rolls from vendors. Save some of your mats. Some people call this a work-around. I call it Tit-for-tat. 2. [b]Stop upgrading as soon as you get a power upgrade.[/b] Resist the desire to show off. Not every activity is power level enabled, so do your upgrades before you start those. Your maximum power drops are determined by what you [i]can[/i] equip, not what have you equipped. This problem is huge and people never talk about material mismanagement because we are used to treating everything like its as abundant as glimmer. 3. In the same line of thinking, [b]don't Masterwork everything you see.[/b] Masterwork things that are your go to gear when your team needs you to be at your best to make Orbs. Masterwork only your most important armor set for Raids or Crucible, otherwise you can wait. 4. In addition, realize the value that this gives to bringing more value back to varied activities that can take you to places that were irrelevant a year ago, when we had nothing better to do or save up for. Scrapper bounties also can be a surprise of where it can take you, and you can knock out daily bounties while you go there. Thankfully these are being changed into bounties with the Gunsmith soon, so you can choose where you want to go and when you get these. That's all I got.

I would say more broadly that Bungie should largely ignore this forum. They certainly should not be looking here for ways to improve the game. Generally, the people who post here have a short term memory and more specifically do not actually know what they want at all. The core Destiny experience is fun. The gunplay is superb, the music and setting are excellent. The lore can be great and it is not a big deal that its hard to find at times. The grind is as tedious as one makes it. Most Destiny players do not visit this forum and simply play the game modes they like with or without other people. I have been pleased with nearly every iteration of this game and the previous game. That is simply due to the fact that I do not overthink the minute details. On average, I'd say a lot of the grief on this forum is from jaded players who just want the attention and to stir up controversy. As to the topic at hand: I could care less if cores are used for infusion or not. I am currently limited by planetary materials more often and simply do not upgrade things I can not afford. I have a good PVP loadout for one of my toons and a decent Gambit Prime one as well. I play the PVE elements as desired and have a great time. The rest of you....my advice is to learn some patience and discernment. Not everything is an "outrage" and no one cares if you do not play anymore. Carry on. Edit: In summary, success is NOT building a game that everyone plays every day. That is unrealistic. Success is building a game WORLD that people come back to when new content is added. Bungie will continue to succeed.

I dont bother infusing anything till hitting max level for the week. If your wasten your cores to stick with the same armor set all week your a noob. Didnt people learn anything playing D1? Why waste your cores fast if other armor has the same perks

it is an enhancement core, it enhances the item you choose. It provides meaningful choices for you to make based on how often you play, so the game is respecting your time investment. The ecomomy, if fully understood is easily navigated to allow players choices, the more you play the easier those choices are.

My two cents, Where we are at now going from 650 to 700 you should ONLY be infusing duplicate items that only cost glimmer or the one or two exotics you truly love (hence it being an impactful decision when infusing your gear). Any piece of gear that is higher light that you do not want to use should be vaulted to help light progression. Once you get to 700 this is where the infusion end game happens. But Nitro, what about that full set of Prodigal Armor I use? My titan looks awesome wearing this and I really would like to infuse this so I don't look like a space hobo. The time will come when you can play dress up again once you reach that 700 light. If your infusing every piece of new gear into old gear you will run out of cores fast. My rule of thumb is to infuse once I am 15 levels above my previous level on my favorite weapons and gear. The next time I will infuse my Skull fort is when I reach an overall level of 690. My favorite weapons were only infused after I reached 675. This is how I play. This is my opinion. Make Destiny yours while understanding the rules of the world of which you play in.

I think masterwork cores should have thier cost lowered. [u]17 per weapon[/u] is crazy. However for infusion it really doesnt matter. This is for 2 main reasons 1. You dont have to be wearing your highest items to get powerful drops. 2. Practically no content requires you to be at max light. So for 95% of the game you can continue to wear your favorite items. Now as for the 5% when you want to attempt the latest endgame and need optimal weapons - it's simple, you infuse 3 weapons primary/special/heavy and your choice of exotic armor. (Let's say hunter - dps = nighthawk, adds = orpheus) that brings us to about 8-12 cores used. Big deal, especially for something that you'll likely be infusing once just to run efficiently then not infusing again till you're max. Follow that and you'll be just fine. Basically the [u]ONLY[/u] people infusion cores hurt are those that infuse every single time they get a +2 upgrade - putting literally any thought into how you level up will leave you with cores in abundance, I personally am sitting on over 100 and I've never traded planetary mats in nor have I purchased cores from spider due to laziness and disinterest. Now to be clear I dont care at all if they're removed from infusion but given the option between lowered masterwork cost and infusion removal the former wins everytime, I'd rather spend 2 cores per infusion to go from 650 -> 700 then 17 for 1 masterwork weapon.

Cores aren't even the issue. They are just a symptom. The real issue is that Bungie can not figure out how to properly reward time investment in this game. Starting over every season (essentially) wouldn't be such an issue if the unbearable grind set up by the randomness of meaningful rewards and throttled progression weren't there. Do you know why everyone hated the Ikelos nerf? It's not because we can't understand the gun was OP and would eventually need some kind of nerf to make way for other things. It's because it took some people hundreds of runs over multiple months to get the weapon (and that isn't including the many people who had to [b]wait[/b] until maxing in Forsaken to even attempt EP so their glory was even shorter lived). When you drag your player base through the mud to get a rewards (or make progression), they are going to expect it to last forever. That's why we can't start over each season and why people hang on to the weapons it took them forever to get. That's why everyone gets burned out doing the same exact milestones we've done for 6 months now. Until they fix progression, the game will always have these kinds of issues popping up.

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I’m always going to want to infuse my ikelos sg, 1k voices, telesto, shards of g and so on and maybe one or two other pieces of gear every season. How is this “meaningful” season after season??

Because that's the way Bungie made it. If you don't like it, then go play something else. This is like sitting on the Forza forums and complaining about not being able to tune a roadster to drive like a 4x4. Except there you would get laughed at and shamed. Which is maybe what should start happening here. Not in an elitist sort of way, but more of a you don't understand the type of game this is, maybe you should go back to playing Super Mario. Like, if I want a casual racing game I would play Mario Kart, not Forza. So if you want a more casual fps, try another game, cause that's not what this is. And that's ok. Everything isn't made for everyone. It really is that simple.

I don't think the forums show enough numbers for bungie to change anything. I mean there's so many remove enhancement cores from infusion posts on here yet look at the up votes or people commenting on said post and I'm yet to see one with more than 2000 which either it's not a big a problem as people make out or the majority of people don't come to these forums. Doesn't really bother me either way anyway tbf

[quote]Not talking about master working. I personally believe that is where cores should be used, they should be a "grind" and while there should be a steady way to get them, they should be scarce. So we aren't going to discuss that here.[/quote] You're omitting a crucial part of the conversation here though. For the simple fact that one material is being used for two separate things you can't just talk about one. You have to consider how it will impact both processes. Any way it's spun, what would be a positive change for one aspect becomes a negative change for the other. That alone should be reason enough to remove enhancement cores from infusion.

I don't believe it is a chore. I believe people are just lazy and would like things easier. Yesterday I earned 16 cores and still had enough time left to play a bit of sekiro. If you think cores are fine as they are you should know that it's pointless voicing your opinion. Nobody who believes cores are an issue has ever had their mind changed, it's like having a debate with a child, they go into the discussion believing one thing and then they leave with a completely unchanged mindset... so knowing that, what is the point in engaging in conversation? Best to let you all run rampant until this game is run (yet again) into the ground.

You simply dont need to infuse that much during levelling. I used all my favourite gear while levelling. I didn't infuse, I kept it at 650. Why? Because none of the content other than the Reckoning requires a high light level. I then infuse when 700. Blues and legendary gear I don't like stays in my inventory until I get a higher drop. If I drop a piece of gear I already have then I infuse for 5000 glimmer. I get to play with my favourite gear while levelling and I don't use many cores. Quite simple really. Also the cores I accumulate while levelling can be used to infuse well rolled gear from the new content and masterwork special items once I've hit max light.

Let me start by saying that I literally do not care HOW my guardian looks (except, I refuse to wear the Warlock Man Bun helm), so maybe that makes my opinion on the matter a little more lenient. I feel that Enhancement Cores make you think about your gear before you automatically dismantle it into something that you think looks better, even though it's inferior in the end. If a change IS necessary, I would rather see that masterworked weapons/armor do NOT require cores, as you've already spent a good amount in order to masterwork the gear, meaning it's gear YOU find meaningful and impactful already.