First of all, this has nothing to do with 31's being bad or not being able to do HM. This is me telling why I have no reason to take a 31 over a 32 and addressing popular arguments people post around here. First things first, the reasons why I don't let 31's on my team: 1) [b]I can easily find a full team of 32's.[/b] Remember the pre-DLC HM Atheon days? Lv30's were a godsend because they were so uncommon. Most of the times I was the only 30 on my Vault team so I would always let 29's in. But now there is a surplus of 32, and if I go on LFG, I usually see more 32's anyways. So, if I could put together a team of 32's within a minute, why would I bother getting 31's? Imagine I held a box of candy in front of you right now and half of them had a bite taken out of it. If I told you to pick 6 of them, obviously, which ones would you choose? 2) [b]I don't know how good you are before I've played with you.[/b] I'm not gonna who who's good and who's bad so I do the fair thing and assume everyone is good and of equal skill. Now that skill isn't a factor, I'll definitely pick an equal skill 32 over an equal skill 31. 3) [b]I want to get this done as efficiently as possible.[/b] Look, I'm not here to prove anything. I'm not here to do some fancy youtube challenge or see who can or can't do Crota. I don't care if you and your friends managed to beat hard mode with 5 31's with No Land Beyonds while upside down with one arm behind your back. I just want this done as quick as possible. And before anyone posts one of these, I'll address them now: [b]"But 31's are fully capable of doing Hard Mode!"[/b] ~I never said they weren't. I'm sure I could beat HM with only my stranger's rifle too, but that doesn't mean I want to. [b]"I've beaten HM with X amount of 31's!"[/b] ~Great, so have I. 5 31's and me as a 32 sword bearer. (Although I was literally the only one without a max Ghorn.) Yes, it's very doable but it would've been much easier if they were all 32. [b]"It's not about the level, it's the team."[/b] ~True, but level makes a huge difference. 90% of the time, I play with the exact same team every raid. When we were too lazy to do 2 separate runs and decided to switch to our 31's, it took us much much longer to beat him. Nothing else changed. Same weapons, same team, just 4 of us downgraded one level. We went from killing Crota first try before ogres to over 20 tries. [b]"32's who don't let 31's in are selfish elitists."[/b] ~Whenever I'm doing a serious hard raid, I want the best I can get. I'm usually helpful outside of that. Every week, I'm the first to get home from college on reset day so I end up solo-ing the nightfall and inviting 2 randoms from the forums once the boss is almost dead. Whenever I have nothing to do, I just sit in the Gorgon's Maze and hand out the checkpoint for the exotic chest. [b]"You're just bad if you can't beat it with 31's."[/b] ~I've beaten hard mode plenty of times and never cheesed anything except the bridge. I've soloed Crota on Normal mode. I've got a decent grimoire and a 1.7 PvP K/D. I'm fully capable of running it with 31's, but like I said, with 32's being so easy to find, I have absolutely no reason to take a random 31. [b]"What's your strategy for HM Crota?"[/b] ~I usually run the sword with a max-invisibility build hunter. Super> turn invis> grab sword> stand next to Crota> 4 or 5 hits> repeat. Middle ledge, bottom right boomer tower to spawn kill ogres if we don't kill Crota before then. Set two trap cards face-down and end my turn. [b]"But I pour my milk into the bowl first before adding the cereal."[/b] ~Well I wouldn't let you in even if you were a 32.