Some of the exotic bounty conversation made me realize my biggest problem with these bounties: randomness is limited to how they're offered, not to the encounter itself. This is generally my problem with the whole game. The reward system is randomized, but the encounters in the game aren't really. You find virtually identical encounters in the same places everywhere you go. Occasionally a major/ultra shows up randomly in patrol, but for the most part, everything everywhere is the same; the only difference is the drop.

I'm fine with RNG if it works with gameplay proportionally. If I randomly run in to tougher enemies in patrol, that have better loot tables, that makes sense. As is, PvE feels like a slot machine. I literally just pull a lever by going through a story. I can gameplan my strike with specific guns nearly to the point that I've removed challenge. That's off-putting, and ultimately the problem I think I've come to with the game. Everything is so automated. PvP has become the only vibrant and challenging portion of the game, and at this point it's about all I'm playing.

It seems like an easy fix too; Bungie could certainly be changing enemy location/spawn/difficulty, as evidenced by their changes to the loot cave/Public event rates. Why not change this stuff up every week? No one will care if it creates new loot caves/leads to an occasional boot to orbit if it changes every week: we'll all be too stoked that it's different to care. Imagine how much more patrol would be if two random lvl 30 Ultra Captains showed up in rocket yard and started stomping everyone? What if once in a while there were 4 extra servitors in the Nexus strike that all had a higher chance of dropping a legendary engram? You wouldn't care if it was harder if you knew they might drop it, you'd be too pumped for the chance to grab some deserved loot. And it would still be random!

We need to be able to RNG different encounters.

I think I agree with this. It would make the "living world" more alive. Think about the first few times you ran into a sword bearer while on patrol. The world would be more dangerous for lower level guardians, but these odd enemies could be on timers such that they left after a duration.

I agree. I was just thinking earlier today that while the physical world cannot change, it certainly would be easy to randomly generate new strikes. It comes down to creating many small modules of game play, e.g. this group of enemies, this door Dinklebot needs to open, this route, this boss, etc; and piecing them together at mission load. You'd likely be familiar with many of the bits and pieces, but not the particular combination. Adaptation and new strategies would be required, instead of the monotony of knowing where the enemies come from and firing rocket launchers the moment they spawn.

I think a lot of this fits in well with the idea for a hard patrol.

- No one playing story missions or strikes would show up in hard patrols. This would keep the level 8 guardian from getting stomped all over.
- Players/Fireteams spawn into any of the starting locations randomly.
- Enemies start at level cap - 4 and go to level cap + 2.
- There are roving ultras with packs of majors that guarantee a purple engram reward upon defeat the entire pack. (Think champion packs from Diablo 3).
- Treasure chest loot tables are way better.
- Perhaps there could even be random modifiers for each zone you enter. So you wander into Archer's line and is now angry and arc burn.