What about stuff locked behind hard mode Raids? (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, June 19, 2017, 16:39 (2804 days ago) @ DEEP_NNN

I believe rewarding successful hard mode raiders with superior weapons/armour they obviously don't need seems silly.

I don't mind a longer road to finishing a raid. Superior weapons/armour should be reasonably achievable by almost any skill level. If I have to wait until I earned the game-over gun, then at least I have a better chance at completing a Raid.

I disagree with this.

The raids are the ultimate challenge in the PvE side of the game. In a loot-driven shooter, it would be completely backwards to have players complete the ultimate end-game challenge, and give them no rewards of value.
(There is a case to be made for getting rid of loot-based rewards entirely, but that's a different conversation).

I do not feel this way about PvP, though. For a very specific reason; the raids are static experiences. They are built from predictable encounters with learnable mechanics. This means you don't actually need to be great at the game to complete them. You just need patience and practice. The whole fantasy of Destiny is taking your character and making them more and more powerful over time. Hitting max rank and filling out your ability tree happens quickly, so the only way to feel more powerful after that is with better guns.
That's also where a lot of Destiny's replay value comes from. Not the repetitive grind to earn new guns (I've been vocal about how much I dislike that element of the game), but in going back and replaying old content with crazy new weapons. It's what keeps things fresh and breathes new life into old strokes and missions. And because it's all purely cooperative, you're not harming anyone else's experience.

PvP doesn't work like that. No 2 crucible matches are ever exactly the same. And being an inherently competitive activity creates a desire for the fight to be somewhat fair. Giving the best PvP players weapon rewards that dominate other PvP weapons works against that sense of fairness. This is why I was such a fan of the Year 1 Trials adept weapons. They were very good, but not overpowered PvP weapons (except maybe the Messenger). But their Adept nature gave them Elemental damage, making them special in the PvE side of the game.