Alright, this will be a long one so strap in.
I posit that Champions (Overload/Unstoppable/Barrier) are the crappy old legacy version of the Lucent Hive and no longer serve a real purpose in the game. I feel that they could easily be replaced by Lucent Hive or other strong enemy types with a double finisher mechanic and we would all be better for it.
Essentially both of these enemy types (Champs/Lucent) are opposite sides of the same coin, as they were created/implemented to make the game more difficult in certain activities when you encounter them, but one is good and fun and challenging while the other is annoying and forces you to break your build to engage/defeat.
The reasoning behind my argument here is fourfold.
1) Champions Break Builds
Mods cost slots and some of us who buildcraft fully do not have slots or mod energy to spare on Champion mods. They effectively force players to break/alter their builds in order to effectively deal with them.
More customization and freedom is fun. Less is not. Champions force us away from customization and freedom ingame by their very nature whereas the Lucent Hive do not.
2) Champions are a one-trick pony. They do a single thing. Their patterning is not even comparable to the Lucent Hive who have a bunch of skills to throw at you without requiring mods to fight. They are, in fact, boring and annoying more than challenging.
3) The mods do not work properly. This is a huge annoyance that is ongoing/persistent. Overloads healing through stuns. Barriers taking multiple arrows from a bow to break while they heal. Unstoppables ignoring mods completely. Why have a mechanic unless it actually works?
4) Champions have become ubiquitous in every single mode and activity in Destiny and as such are a cop-out in terms of game design. Harder thing? More champs. New raid? Champs. New seasonal mode? Champs. There is nothing innovative or new about them. They are not fun to fight. They are used as blanket solution to increase difficulty without creating anything novel or interesting.
So, with this said, now we come to solutions and I have a few that would fix the problem entirely.
Solution 1: Remove them entirely.
If a thing isn't hard enough add more yellow bars or redbars. Lots of enemies is much harder to manage than one gimmicky one.
Solution 2: Replace them with Lucent Hive.
This maintains difficulty levels without forcing people to use mods to break their builds.
Solution 3: Make all exotics carry an intrinsic stun based on their weapon type.
This would force fireteams to be more strategic about which weapons they as a team bring to the fight and give older less used non meta exotics more play, again without forcing people to break their builds.
Solution 4: Make weapon types carry properties which intrinsically stun.
Autos/machine guns/fusion rifles stun Overloads.
Shotguns/grenade launchers/rockets stun Unstoppables.
Bows/snipers/scouts/linears break Barriers.
This allows for alot more freedom on the part of players while still forcing them to build strategically with their loadouts in order to face Champions.
So yea. I hate Champs. I have been playing Destiny in both forms for a very long time and feel this system is outdated and bad, but it can very much be improved/fixed.
My 2 cents 🙌. Eyes up, Guardians.
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Inb4 lucent hive champions because of you 🤣