__GEAR CUSTOMIZATION OVERHUAL__ Perhaps it is that I am a PC elitist, perhaps I have been spoiled by my days playing Dust 514 and Eve, or maybe I simply enjoy spreadsheets and load-out screens more than a healthy human should, but I find Destiny’s lack of customization and gear-related data disappointing. I fully understand that Destiny is trying to take the pre-pubescent CoDbois, the RPG no-lifes, and the sci-fi neck-beards, and make them all come and enjoy one game, but it leaves everyone disappointed. Personally, I fall into all three categories (RPG more than the other two), and I am completely underwhelmed. I game that advertises customization, multiple classes and subclasses, a focus on loot, and a love for guns that some sources compare to Borderlands should not leave weapon and gear customization up to a skill tree and a class-specific item slot. I see Destiny taking all of us and making us friends when everyone gets what they want and in equal, but huge, portions. __3 TYPES OF SHOOTERS__ First off, I want it to be known that I am surely one of many RPG fans who want to see actual numbers in addition to sliding bars when we look at our weapon and class descriptions. I want to see the bar, yes, but I also want the classic RPG-style “800rpm, 25dmg, 3s reload time, 3s shield recharge delay, 700 HP, 12m/s sprint speed, 6m/s movement speed, et cetera”. This way, nerds like me can properly play Spreadsheet Warrior and stand a chance at seasoned shooter vets with thumbs that can 360 no-scope us from 3m away. As I see it, there are 3 types of PvP-1v1 combat: twitch, strafe, and spreadsheet. 1) Eve, WoW and Guild Wars would be spreadsheets where the ability to use excel and high school level algebra determine the winner. 2) Strafe shooters are Destiny in its current build, Quake, and Star Wars: Battlefront. Strafe shooters award the ability to avoid damage and fire accurately. Strafe shooters generally give players high HP pools and a relatively low DPS and TTK is often greater than 3 seconds. 3) Twitch shooters include CoD and Battlefield. These favor young players with fast eyes, fast hands, and above all, fast reflexes, over intelligence and accuracy. TTK is rarely greater than 3 seconds, and quite often, less than 1 second. #PLEASING NERDS __INCREASING CUSTOMIZATION__ Starting with the good and moving from there, I really love the way the guns feel and the DPS to HP to Agility balance. The possibility of speed tanking, at least in PvE, is very real, just as is the Gank-Tank and the brick tanking methods. However, these are so defined by the classes, that flexibility is impossible. I want the ability to modify my Warlock so that it sacrifices 50% of its agility to become a moderately buffer-tanked DPS death cannon or perhaps I want a titan that has similar speed to the aforementioned warlock, but has an opposite ratio of tank to DPS. A more extreme example would be a hunter which has the HP of a half-dead warlock and the DPS of a Titan which got hit with the nerf bat, but can glide, quadruple jump, and sprint 1.5x the normal amount. __CLASS MODS__ The best way to do this for the class attribute trinity is to have 3 type of mods with 3 polarities and 5 severity levels of each. Also, the rarity of a mod is directly proportional to the value of (Y) and inversely proportional to the value of (X) which means that the more rare a mod is, the more it will give to an attribute and the less it will take away; there are 5 levels of rarity. This brings us to a total of 225 basic class attribute modifiers. A) 3 types of mods – (what you gain) (1) [A]gility buff (2) [H]it points buff (3) [R]ecovery buff B) 3 types of polarity – (what you gain [Y]), (what you lose [X]) (1&2) Remove (X) points from one attribute, to increase another attribute by Y … (Y>X). (3) Remove (X) points from 2 attributes to increase a third by (2Y). C) 5 Levels of severity 1) 20/10 ( VERY LOW) – Will modify (Y) by a factor of 1.20 and (X) by 0.90; Y+20% and X-10% 2) 40/20 (LOW) - Will modify (Y) by a factor of 1.40 and (X) by 0.80; Y+40% and X-20% 3) 60/30 (MEDIUM) Will modify (Y) by a factor of 1.60 and (X) by 0.70; Y+60% and X-30% 4) 80/40 (HIGH) Will modify (Y) by a factor of 1.80 and (X) by 0.60; Y+80% and X-40% 3) 100/50 (VERY HIGH) Will modify (Y) by a factor of 2.00 and (X) by 0.50; Y+100% and X-50% D) *5 Levels of rarity 1) Common – Will modify the value of [X] and [Y] after the product of the levels of severity by 1.00 2) Uncommon – Will modify the value of [X] by 0.95 and [Y] by 1.05 3) Rare – Will modify as such: X0.90 and Y1.10 4) Very rare – Will modify as such: X0.85 and Y1.15 5) Ultra rare – Will modify as such: X0.80 and Y1.20 This system, if used as I advise, would allow increased customization, while still keeping the interface relatively user friendly, at least compared to Warframe, let alone Eve Online or Dust 514. The intended system would keep the current tank balance trinity (HP, agility, regeneration rate). Whether the increase and decrease to any attribute of the Trinity is a flat increase (ex: +3m/s sprint speed, -20HP, and +3s shield recharge delay) or based on a percentage (ex: +20% agility, -5% HP, +5% shield recharge delay) is up to the geniuses who already managed to balance the Trinity so well, as I am but a humble Monkey Troll armed with the Wrench of “Double-Buff-Nerf-Its-Counter” on an impossible quest for fairness in competitive PvP gaming and a seemingly grind-less PvE experience. __WEAPON MODS__ Near and dear to everyone’s hearts are the weapons of every game, ever. Seeing as skills already do a good job to increase a weapons performance, a mod should, as I suggested with the Guardian Classes, add to one attribute, but take, if slightly less than was added, from another. Every mod should be applicable, although not always beneficial or relevant, from one weapon to another. Attributes relevant to all weapons are: 1) Rounds per minute 2) Reload time 3) Damage per round 4) Critical chance 5) Critical hit damage modifier 6) Magazine size Just with the Trinity balance, if one or multiple attributes are increased by a currently uncertain value, the decrease to other attributes must be less than half of, at worst, the perceived value of increase, and at best, a true value. However, the argument of “How many m/s sprint speed increase is worth a 30% HP buff?” can be saved for a better forum warrior than I. The idea of “gain a lot, lose a little” can be applied to modifying any number of items and abilities in Destiny. continued below...