I've seen a lot of posts here about the topics I've mentioned in the title, and these topics truly seem to divide the community into two groups. There are many suggestions in comments or posts about "casuals vs. hardcores", "PvEers vs. PvPers", etc. Honestly though, I don't think any of those are the actual divide that is causing Destiny 2 players to strongly disagree with each other. [b]In my opinion, the true divide is between traditional gamers and modern gamers.[/b] Some video game players are more old school either in experience or in spirit. This means they believe the game should dictate how you play it and what you can do with it. In their opinion, getting good at a video game is about mastering the mechanics through trial, error, and repeated experience. In their world, a good video game is one where mastering its mechanics rewards you with improved ways to engage with said mechanics. If you become extremely good at killing players and NPCs with shotguns, that should become a road to getting the best shotguns and so on. [u]I'd argue a game that represents this type of gamer well is "Ninja Gaiden II".[/u] The other side of the fence are modern gamers. Modern gamers believe gaming has a lot more in common with film than with sports. These are the type of gamers who are much more likely to see gaming as an art form to take in than as a platform for expressing mastery. Modern gamers prefer video games to allow freedom of expression and play style much more than force the player to learn a game mechanic or engage in the game in a specific way. In their world, a good video game is one where the player is free to choose their own pathway to success through creativity, ingenuity, and intuition. In this way, they can always engage with the game in a way they enjoy and still find some success even if it means sacrificing playing at the highest caliber of skill in certain areas. In their minds, while they don't believe they should be able to get the best weapons in a certain category without demonstrating some mastery, they do believe viable weapons should always be available to all players regardless of skill level. [u]I'd argue a game that represents this type of gamer well is "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild".[/u] If traditional gamers are on the left and modern gamers are on the right side of a spectrum, the vast majority of games would be somewhere along the spectrum with a large clump in the middle. A game like Dark Souls, for instance, would be near the middle due to the amount of choices and options players have with engaging with the game, but leaning more to the left than the right due to there really only being a few ways to engage in combat and progress. [b]Destiny 2 seems to be sliding left on the spectrum at the moment, and many of the modern gamers are not happy with this.[/b] One key aspect of this shift is Modifier Champions. The main issue many modern gamers seem to have with Modifier Champions has actually very little to do with difficulty. The issue these champions present is one of forced play style. If you scan over the forums right now, many of the "traditional gamers" respond to complaints about these champions with surefire strategies to defeat them that once mastered make the content relatively easy. The general problem with these suggestions isn't whether or not they work, as many of the modern gamers here have stated they were able to clear the content anyway, but instead is with the illusion of choice being represented and then taken away. Being able to place Disruption modifiers, for instance, on a Seventh Seraph Carbine (as an example) would make one believe that while difficult, it would be completely possible to kill a disruption champion in a legendary lost sector. In truth, this is not the case. Adding disruption modifiers to certain weapons does not make the content harder; it makes that content [i][b]impossible[/b][/i]. This leads to modern gamers being forced to engage in the new season's activities in ways that they don't find entertaining, fun, or enjoyable. [u][b]Either they cheese the champions with artificially superior strategies or they cheese the champions by manipulating in-game mechanics such as infinite lives.[/b][/u] Barrier Champions are much less of an issue in this case as are Unstoppable Champions. These other two types of modifier champions do not, in any case, make the content [i]impossible[/i], but instead much more difficult. This leads into the next point which is Weapon Retirement. It's a bit ironic that many of the Season of the Worthy weapons added to the game aren't the absolute best for clearing Warmind Bunkers, completing Seraph Tower Events, and finishing Legendary Lost Sectors. At best, these weapons are only average for these activities, and in the case of the aforementioned Seventh Seraph Carbine, they are essentially garbage tier. If Weapon Retirement is truly on the table for Bungie, it needs to be a transition that makes players [b]want[/b] to retire their old weapons and not a system that forces players to reluctantly do so. My proposition on my own Twitch stream was for Bungie to go with their own words and treat the situation as if it were Magic: The Gathering; by that I mean create formats. Instead of blocking older weapons from increasing in light level, let people use those older weapons in all content except for new raids and the current season's competitive Crucible modes. Let people take their favorite weapons into Nightfall Strikes and Season-specific content. That's all I have to say on the topic. If anyone who doesn't absolutely hate and abhor everything I've had to say would like to hear my opinions on troubles facing "Traditional Gamers" in Destiny 2, let me know and I'll make a post about Pinnacle Content Rewards and Matchmaking. TL;DR: Read the post you lazy -blam!-.