Okay. So I just saw another thread talking about how they like Umbral Engrams and want to see them applied to vendors like Zavala and Shaxx. Well, I had an idea about that which would expand upon the idea and, potentially, make it better. So, here's the idea. Not just vendors at the Tower but EVERY vendor (yes, including destinations) can have Focused Engrams. Yes.... Even Faction vendors. Replace Umbral and Prime Engrams with just simply an Encrypted Engram. It still acts like a Prime, dropping at higher power, but it's renamed to this and for reason. As just an Encrypted Engram, it can be taken to Rahool and drop a random weapon or armor at high power; same as a Prime. But you can also take it to the vendor of your choice and have them focus it into specifically a weapon or armor from their collection. So... Ikora: Vanguard Engram Shaxx: Crucible Engram Banshee-44: Gunsmith Engram Drifter: Gambit Engram Executor Hideo: New Monarchy Engram Devrim: EDZ Engram The Stranger: Europa Engram (If she is the vendor, just saying.) and so on, and so on. Now, you can get things you want from specific collections and destinations! But wait! There's more! Now, players can actually rank-up these vendors by doing their bounties or completing activities they're attached to. As you rank-up the vendors, you unlock better focusing from them. So, for instance.. Level 1: Standard, random item drops from vendor's collection. Level 2: Unlock Option - Random weapon drops from vendor's collection. Level 3: Unlock Option - Random armor drops from vendor's collection. Level 4: Unlock Option - Random kinetic weapon drops from vendor's collection. Level 5: Unlock Option - Random arms/legs armor drops from vendor's collection. Level 6: Unlock Option - Random energy weapon drops from vendor's collection. Level 7: Unlock Option - Random chest/class item armor drops from vendor's collection. Level 8: Unlock Option - Random heavy weapon drops from vendor's collection. Level 9: Unlock Option - Random helmet armor drops from vendor's collection. Level 10: Unlock Perk - Any focused engram has a rare chance to drop as Masterwork. You would boost your level with Ikora by doing Heroic Strikes, Nightfalls, & I would give her new bounties to do. (I'm choosing Ikora because Zavala already has his bounties plus he gives a Powerful reward, already.) Shaxx and Drifter, obviously, doing their bounties and respective activities. Destination vendors are leveled by doing Heroic Public Events, bounties and daily/weekly activities on their destination. And Faction vendors are leveled-up by pledging your character's allegiance to them and doing any activity while pledged (so heroic strikes, public events, etc; same as it was in D1). You could even give the Factions a random, weekly objective (i.e., complete a Nightfall) to gain bonus XP for leveling-up your vendor stat with them and maybe their own set of weekly/daily bounties, too, I guess. Point is, you could work on any or all of these vendors if there are weapons or armor sets that you want to have and want a better chance at having them drop. For activities like Crucible and Gambit, all players would have to play some of either of those just to unlock Level 1 for random anything. But the pool is limited, too, so if they want to open up their odds of getting the best rolls for weapons or stats on armor, then they need to keep playing and leveling-up those vendors to get a larger loot pool with better stats and rolls. What about endgame activities? Trials, Raids and Dungeons? Each of those could have their own Encrypted Engrams to drop only during the activity, itself. And players still need to upgrade the respective vendors to get access to the loot pool. So... Play "Trials of Osiris" and level-up Saint's focusing options to get access to more weapons and armor with better stats. Same as with Crucible, really. Trials Engrams only offer different rolls for weapons unlocked and better stat rolls for armor as level increases with vendor. So, a player can't just get to level one with Saint and have access to every weapon and high-stat armor from random drops; it would be a very limited loot pool, even more so than Crucible. Raid Engrams would be named after the respective Raid they dropped in (i.e., Last Wish Engram) and Dungeons would have theirs named after the Dungeon they dropped in (i.e., Prophecy Engram). Each Raid could have a specific vendor to go to like Benedict for the Leviathan, for instance. Someone assigned to oversee the Raid, if you will. Completing challenges, bounties, completing encounters and defeating bosses in the Raid boosts the level for that vendor's focusing options. Same thing can be done for Dungeons. Perhaps whatever Destination it is on, that vendor can serve double-duty with Destination challenges, bounties and objectives separate from Dungeon ones. Again, for either, players must actively play these endgame activities to unlock better focusing and broader loot pools. [i]*An amendment: I suppose you could make the "limited loot pool" a thing for every vendor. So, fewer weapons and armor with lower stats drop for earlier rankings and the best don't start dropping until you're reaching level ten. I was mainly applying that to only the endgame loot pools because, well, they're typically the best of the best. It can apply to all vendors but definitely the endgame ones.[/i] So, yeah, that's my idea for re-purposing Umbral Engrams into a combination of Focused Umbral and Prime Engrams. What do you all think? I think that would really help give us more to do and most of it would be done just by playing the game normally. Earning better weapons/armor simply by playing the game with options to speed up the process through bounties and specific activities.