Context: Let’s say for a new season, we’ll call it [b][u]Season of Infinities[/u][/b], we learned how to start fighting back against the Pyramid Ships during Witch Queen. The first planet to be liberated is Mercury. I don’t know how the story would go from there but that’s not important. The Infinite Forest is. [b][u]Reworked Infinite Forest Endgame Activity - Branches[/u][/b] [spoiler]* Osiris or Brother Vance is vendor * Talk to them to begin setting up a Branch encounter - choose Power/Light level, length (could be just one Branch, a set number, or even Infinite,) and modifiers. Also choose if it is mechanics-heavy or not. You have near-complete creative freedom to choose how simple or complex a Branch is, and how long you want to play in the Forest. You want to just casually grind some simpler Branches to kill time? Want something more difficult in more ways than just spongy enemies? The choice is yours. * Matchmaking would be an optional choice, that way if you’re solo you can choose whether to go alone or not, or if you’re in a Fireteam but want more people then you can get them. Either go in solo or bring a Fireteam of up to 6 people total. * Similar to the Underground from The Division, there would also be Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Branches set up by Bungie. Player-made runs would typically grant Legendary gear while Heroic has a low chance of an Exotic, Nightfall is higher. Heroic Branches could range from being mechanically simple encounters but with higher difficulty, to possibly being on par with Dungeons in terms of mechanics. Nightfall Branches would play like Dungeons at the very least, if not almost Raid-like. * Like Vanguard, Crucible and Gambit, the Infinite Forest would have its own unique loot, and you’d also rank up in reputation by playing. You could get “Osiris Tokens” or something to spend at the vendor who would sell weapons, armor, cosmetics, bounties, modifier tokens that could increase your chances at certain loot drops, etc. [b]Typical Encounter[/b] * Fireteam Leader talks to the Forest vendor to set up an encounter - deciding length, difficulty, modifiers, mechanics, and if there should be matchmaking. Player can also buy modifier tokens to increase the chances of getting better or specific gear. The only thing that isn’t decided by the player is the enemy race in the encounter, which is randomized. * Fireteam starts Branch and enters the Forest by walking through the triangular gate and hallway. * Once inside, a randomized path to one of the gates is created. There would be holographic fencing along the paths so you couldn’t just skip through it. Like the actual Forest, there will occasionally be checkpoints where you have to kill 1 or multiple Daemon(s) to advance. But besides them, depending on the modifiers in play, there could also be mini bosses with mechanics, puzzles to solve, or jumping puzzles to navigate through. * Along the way, there could potentially be side paths that lead to loot chests. Sometimes they might be guarded by a Daemon. These chests more often than not would just give you Legendaries and/or materials, but there’d be a slight chance of better gear. The chance would increase with modifier tokens. * At the other side of the randomized path, players would enter one of the gates into either the Past, Present, or Future Simulations. This is where the final boss would be. Depending on modifiers put in place, the boss could be anything from a simple bullet sponge to being more mechanics-heavy. * Once the boss is defeated, a loot chest drops that can be collected. Then you go back to the gate. If the length was set to only be one Branch, then you’d be teleported to the gate that leads back to reality. If the length is more than 1 but is a set number, you would simply walk through the gate and a randomized path would be generated to another Branch gate, and the cycle would repeat until you cleared the last Branch. If it’s set to Infinite, then after each final boss the leader would be asked if they’d like to continue or end the session.[/spoiler] [b][u]Other Uses for Infinite Forest[/u][/b] [spoiler][b]Explore[/b] When Exploring on Mercury, players could enter the gate to the Forest whenever they wished. For Explore, there would be preset, simple paths leading to the Past, Present, and Future Simulations, which would have their own unique areas. [b]Gambit[/b] I feel like a Gambit map could be made encompassing 2 of the simulation areas. One team could be in the Simulant Past while the other would be in the Future for example. Once teams are able to invade, a player would enter an Infinite Forest gate instead of a typical Gambit portal, but it would instantly teleport them to wherever the other team was. If Bungie really stepped up their game, the map could randomize whichever Simulation arena was used, which would set it apart from the others. As well, maybe some new Crucible maps. [b]User Generated Content?[/b] This is a big stretch but maybe players could be allowed to create their own Crucible maps or Branch presets. Crucible maps could all be played on custom map servers or something accessed on Mercury, and the best maps would be picked by Bungie to be added to the official Crucible playlists. Custom Branches could be published for others to try. Again, huge stretch but I’m just tryna be creative.[/spoiler] So yeah, just my 2 cents. Let me know what you think. I honestly hope Bungie sees this somehow.