I love this game so much, and I've loved Bungie for [i]multiple[/i] years, but I keep getting frustrated by so many little things here and there and I finally am deciding to write on these forums for the first time ever in hopes that maybe this will be seen. Please know that anything/everything I say comes out of a genuine love and passion for this game, and that I want nothing more than for this to be the game that everyone is talking about and playing. When I keep seeing the phrase "Core Activities" being mentioned, I always know which ones fall into that classification - Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit. Easy, right? My problem however is the fact that one of them that IS considered core is paid absolutely zero attention to. Welcome to my rant about the current standing of Gambit. I always have and still continue to love Gambit as a mode.I was a huge fan of Gambit Prime upon it's release, and still play it for fun, but it's frustrated me like crazy to see it constantly referred to as a "core activity" but shown absolutely no love or attention. From getting little to no additions, to having multiple issues/exploits/balancing problems, to the fact that it hasn't been tweaked or reworked at all since Season of the Drifter. Even if it technically has (I honestly don't even remember at this point) it sure doesn't feel like it. My desire in this discussion/rant isn't to complain or whine, but to request some attention be shown to the mode, and simply to [i]have a core activity be treated like it is one[/i]. Rather than make this a rant of complaints, I'm going to structure this similar to a Q&A, but rather than an answer I'll elaborate on the question given. Hopefully the answers/acknowledgement will come from your end. Q: Why has there been zero balance changes to Prime Armor or Blockers? - Since Gambit Prime launched, there have always been and continue to be certain complaints about the mode. The biggest in my experience being that some of the armor sets feel completely useless / not worth using, the Invader set is far superior than all of them, and the fact that [i]the 10 mote blocker is actually more annoying / difficult to deal with than the 15 or even the 20[/i]. To have these be issues/requests that have been voiced since we literally had a season basically about Gambit, and still not have them tweaked or addressed, is extremely frustrating considering this is still considered a core activity. If Gambit is going to continue being referred to as core, PLEASE acknowledge and act on some of the feedback around the mode. The armors, blocker types, layouts, spawns, etc. all could use work. Even if took some time to address, addressing it at all would be appreciated more than anything. Q: Why does almost everything surrounding Gambit incentivize completions or throwing for the sake of person kills/medals or success? If we want the mode to have a winner or loser, why does 99% of the quests/bounties/rewards benefit more from just getting a match over with or caring more about doing what I need rather than what the team needs? - To be clear, I like all the quests/bounties/rewards Gambit can have. I've actually enjoyed every Gambit pinnacle weapon to date (Python was meh, but still not awful). My issue is that Gambit as a whole, and especially Gambit Prime that was clearly made with team roles/objectives in mind, has absolutely zero incentive to win matches, rank-up, or help your team. When you play in either mode currently, if you truly want to complete a quest or reward, you're better off not caring about winning or about your team and just getting what you need. This mode would greatly benefit from having more incentives based around winning as well as playing as a team, and I feel like that could help not only your experience as a player, but as a result also be a huge positive for the amount of people that play the mode. I know many of my friends that would be much more willing to play the mode solo-queue or even just more often overall if I felt that when I entered a match, my teammates would want to actually WIN rather than just finish their final X amount of matches of Z amount of medals. My personal asks/suggestions: - Make Gambit Prime the standard (after tweaks/balances) - Turn "Gambit" into Gambit Classic - Have either Gambit Prime standard take mmr/skill into account in some form, or have three modes: Gambit Classic, Gambit (current gambit prime), and Gambit Prime (prime but with a skill-based system that cares about win/loss) - Have the mode that cares about your win/loss include a type of Glory (not identical, but perhaps a Gambit-tuned/specific variant - maybe call it Notoriety?). This would also give even more incentive to succeed, not only because it's essentially ranked, but you'd also then get reward packages for both Infamy and Notoriety, therefore more loot! - Adjust the Blockers. The 10 mote blocker shouldn't be more difficult/frustrating to deal with than a 15 or 20. The blockers should ramp up in how difficult or annoying they are to deal with depending on how much you deposit. - BALANCE PRIME ARMORS: Invader seems a bit strong. Reapers feel useless - maybe a perk that gives stack of additional damage to minor enemies that can go to x3 similar to a Rampage, or perhaps have kinetic ammo trickle into weapons similar to how you get special as an Invader? Allow Sentry to see the Invader marked for them at all times, then hitting them marks them for the team. This would make the Sentry a true counter, and would help in countering someone with an Invader set which would also give you more time to tweak the Invader armor as needed. Collector feels completely useless given that the 10 mote blocker really is the most annoying to get off the bank - perhaps a way that makes it so they keep X amount of their motes if killed, or maybe give them an additional overshield similar to what the Invader gets while they're being invaded when they have 10+ motes? - Spawns. having Invaders spawn in the same couple places, while it makes sense since you need to have X amount of set spawns on a map, currently it's extremely easy to just have one or two people watching the normal Invader spawn points that they believe they'll be spawning at and snipe them down within 2sec of teleporting over. One additional question/concern I'm adding here is in regards to the TWAB today when mentioning max power level of legendary armor - what is going to happen to my Gambit Prime armor? Seeing as it was released in Season 7, does this mean that from Season 12 onward I'll begin to be at a [i]disadvantage[/i] if I use my armor sets, since power level is active in PvP circumstances and my armor sets will be getting a max power cap? I'm really hoping for an answer on this one, since if this was overlooked it could result in Gambit Prime ending up completely dead. While I could list out a ton of additional small tweaks and requests, I'd like to think I've made my stance and my asks clear. While I don't expect any of this to come to fruition, I am at least hoping that perhaps this will be seen by enough people that even maybe just a singular person on Bungie's side reads this over and maybe takes even just one or two pieces of feedback into consideration. As always, I adore this game, and want nothing but the best for it. I love you Bungo, I have since 2000, and I wish you all nothing but the absolute best. Please know that whenever you get heavy criticism like you have been recently, it's the most passionate people that are the ones willing to voice their frustration, because they WANT this franchise to succeed. Much love as always, stay safe, and I'm looking forward to the future! - Brems