-------------------------------------------------------[b]The Short Term[/b]----------------------------------------------------
Game Development takes time, especially for large changes, but I believe these quick fixes can help a ton for the state of PVP. Excuse my ignorance if some of these changes aren't feasible as fast and as easy as I make it seem.
1) [b]Disable Resist in PVP[/b]
-This was a problem with Renewal Grasps and is again an issue with Omnioculus. Resist in my opinion does not belong in PVP, at least with it being very easy to get a x4 Resist.
2) [b]Disable Artifact Mods in PVP[/b]
-With Season of the Haunted, we have seen how [b]strong [/b] Classy Restoration has been in PVP. To many, these strong artifact mods ruin the nature of PVP. Perhaps Mayhem could be the place to have these strong seasonal mods be available/active to be used. At the very least, have Artifact mods be disabled in Trials, Comp, and Iron Banner.
3) [b]Allow Saint-14 and Lord Saladin to focus weapons that are not in rotation[/b]
-Currently, many feel there's no incentive to play Iron Banner or Trials with things like MultiMach and Messenger being unobtainable. Rotating weapons and armor out of the random loot pool makes sense, not doing so would dilute the loot pool making it hard to get what you want. 2 Trials Armor sets and 7 weapons are currently unobtainable. In the short term, it would greatly help players find an incentive if they could at least buy the weapons and armor out of the loot pool through focusing the engrams.
4) [b]Invisibility removed when damaged in PVP[/b]
-To be fair, this may be a trickier change to achieve as separating how invis works in PVE and PVP would take time to figure out. Regardless, Invisibility has become very strong ever since the introduction of Void 3.0. With the ability to almost always be invisible, it makes it very easy to flank et cetera et cetera. I don't think how a player becomes invis needs any tweaking and what not, but an easy solution to bring invisibility in line would be to remove the effects of invisibility when damaged by another player.
5) [b]Rotate the Control Playlist with other playlists[/b]
-Many feel bored with control being the only consistent playlist. Yes there's other playlists to choose from. A fan favorite from Destiny 1 was how Control, Clash, and Supremacy, rotated among each other every week. With this change, it makes the two other playlists more relevant and reduces the amount of population division when we see Clash come into rotation now, competing with Control's population.
I think that's all I have for the short term, now for the long term.
-------------------------------------------------------[b]The Long Term [/b]-----------------------------------------------------
The ideas/constructive criticism listed here, are definitely changes that would take and expect more time to see happen. Effectively updates to the core essence of PVP.
1) [b]Implement Matchmaking preferences[/b]
-Not everyone ever seems to be happy with whatever Matchmaking (MM) system Bungie adds to PVP. Everyone has preferences that don't align with everyone or with Bungie, some want Connection Based Matchmaking (CBMM), others Skill Based Matchmaking (SBMM), or Card Based Matchmaking (CaBMM), et cetera. Instead of introducing and tweaking a "one size" MM system, allow players to choose what kind of MM they would like to see. Normal PVP, Players could choose their own preference. From CBMM or SBMM conditions. With Trials MM, the same can apply along side being allowed to choose from CaBMM and/or excluding themselves from matching from flawless players. With Competitive, its a bit tricky. Many would just want it to be based on Rank(RBMM), while others with pure skill, While I believe both are great choices, setting everyone on just one or the other brings out the draw backs. Having everyone bet set to ONLY SBMM will introduce connection issues, while locking everyone to RBMM will bring in people who purposely keep their rank low to crush lower skilled players. The solution, I believe, would be to allow players to Chose from either or, that being RBMM or SBMM. To clarify, players would be choosing preferences. When choosing a preference, the player will be noticed with a prompt notifying the player that changing MM settings could affect MM times. If MM takes too long, preferences will be widened to hasten MM. Bungie could also have a "Default" MM preference, where Default is Bungie's own preferences.
2) [b]QuickPlay[/b]
-Ever Since Destiny 2 first released, I thought the Quickplay Playlist was a good idea. Though unfortunately it was pretty much the only playlist to choose from. Sometimes you just want to hop in crucible and not even think about it, just play whatever the game throws at you. Be it Control, Clash, Supremacy, or any other playlist, all these could be lumped into a "QuickPlay" Playlist. This playlist would be an addition to what we have now. It is not meant to remove playlists from players choice.
3) [b]Ranked/Competitive[/b]
-Ever since the introduction of competitive, there's been little incentive to play the playlist. Pinnacle weapons helped but definitely brought more harm than good. So, what to do?
-I think the playlist would benefit from being called "Ranked" rather than "Competitive" to further align with how people view the playlist already and for the Matchmaking preferences make more sense in "ranked" environment.
-We used to have strike emblems that "Upgrade" the higher nightfall score you get. This would be one incentive to play the playlist. Prestige and showing off cosmetic rewards goes a long way.
-Pinnacle weapons were too much for the balance of the sandbox, but just like the ritual weapons we have today, something similar could be implemented. Have a certain weapon tied to each Rank. From Guardian - Legend. e.g Guardian could reward a player a sidearm once the player achieved Guardian 3. Brave 3 rewards an SMG, Heroic 3 rewards a Handcannon, Fabled 3 rewards a sniper, Mythic 3 rewards a pulse rifle, Base Legend rewards a shotgun and Max Legend rewards an adept weapon from the Ranked loot pool. It doesn't have to be in that order but just an example to provide an example. The weapons awarded to players reaching certain ranks can either be curated rolls or they could be random rolls. Having them be random rolls would be preferred though as it would extend the longevity of the grind in the Ranked Playlist, perhaps only updating the loot pool with new weapons every two seasons or once every year.
-Target farming the ranked weapons could pose a challenge. Maybe allowing the player to choose what they want to target farm. Or have the weapons drop randomly when completing a ranked match (of course the weapons you've unlocked from reaching certain ranks will drop).
-The shader mementos are a great incentive for trials, gambit, and strikes. I believe the same should apply but instead being a memento, its a shader exclusive to only those Ranked weapons. Or the shader can be a reactive "skin" where the amount of kills you get in a single life alters the look of the weapon. Or the shader can alter the look of the weapon depending on your Rank.
-all of these ideas are under the assumption that increasing in rank wont be as easy as it is now, artifact mods disabled, etc to try and make it a more gun play focused mode.
4)[b] Aerial Effectiveness[/b]
-This has been a real controversial topic ever since its been introduced. I don't believe it belongs in destiny. Not only does it harm PVE but it also does more harm than good in PVP. I understand that the idea of "AE" sounds good and being able to get to 100 perfect accuracy with build crafting is a lucrative idea but it just won't work. Having to build craft into making the game work how it should feels bad. Resilience granting flinch resistance is fine, but having to build into making sure your shots go where you're aim is just overall bad. It lessens the skill gap that exists in destiny. In air shots should go where you're aiming. Sure, it shouldn't be easy so reducing the aim assist/bullet magnetism while in mid air would be the better approach. Rewarding precision should be the goal.
5) [b]Abilities and Gun Play[/b]
-I'll be honest, Bungie has done a good job balancing abilities and weapons in the past. The 30th Anniversary meta is evident of that. Weapons Currently feel really nice and not much change needs to be done. Abilities on the other hand, yikes. I believe if Bungie could achieve what they did for the meta during the 30th Anniversary/before WQ, PVP would be at a great state nearly immediately. Balancing is no easy task but Bungie definitely has the talent to do it. With 3.0 subclasses and Bungies philosophy of releasing new things a little too "Hot" is very apparent at the moment.
6) [b]Maps[/b]
-Not much to say here as Bungie already came out about their plans for maps. Though, More than 1 new map and 2 reprised maps have to be introduced in one year. One per season would be desirable but granted it's probably too hard to achieve. I do know this, not all maps have to work for every gamemode. For example, disjunction (the brand new map introduced in Season of the Haunted), is a great map for rift, but wayy to big for a rumble match. and its perfectly fine! I believe maps should be tailored to certain modes such as Rift and only tied to those certain modes and excluded from other modes. It's perfectly fine if a map is only meant for a few or one mode.
7) [b]Gamemodes[/b]
-A few ideas I have off the top of my head are things like, 12v12 (With curated big maps like D1's combined arms), Guns/Primary weapons only mode, Gun game (Only exotics), and SRL.
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Your suggestions seem reasonable to me - I agree with most of them. The only thing I’d say is that PvP is VERY low priority for Bungie in D2. Tweaks and adjustments? Possible, but will take time. Major changes? Would love to be proved wrong, but I really don’t see them happening. To me, Crucible is on its last legs. If you’re still enjoying it and just want to see a slightly better version of it, fair enough. If you’re frustrated by it and want to see big changes, I’d say it’s probably best to move on.