http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/1/9433965/destiny-loot-exotics

I can't say I disagree with a lot of this. I've been heavily relying on duplicates and year one exotics to get the shards I need to boost up my current exotic weapons and armor. Beyond that, I have nothing but rare armor. Every legendary piece I get is garbage in comparison, and the infusion rate isn't worth losing the current high light level that I need to continue rocking the Raid (or potentially Trials). I'm pretty much strictly relying upon Raid drops at this point to get me any kind of decent armor that can be infused (that's non-exotic).

While I can't entire disagree with some of his points, I still think it's the same old shit of folks complaining about things that aren't really that big of a deal.

I happen to agree with Luke Smith, in that chasing that perfect roll is part of the fun, rather than just getting one full raid set and having that be good enough. I really like the idea that having a "perfect" roll on every single piece of gear is basically impossible.

Granted, I generally don't pay that much attention to that sort of thing anyway. I get where I need to in Light, then see what perks I can work with from there, and play towards that style if I can.

I'm a casual when it comes to having the perfect stats and rolls and builds. I always have people in my Fireteam stop and say, "Here, let me change my skill tree and get my armor with different set of perks." It's very rare that I even think about that stuff, much less do it, other than in really difficult situations like Skolas used to be, or the Raid. I think I'm very much in the minority there, though. I play with what's the most fun, not what's the most useful.

I have nothing but rare armor. Every legendary piece I get is garbage in comparison....

Honest to god, I love every Blue Warlock helmet, chest, glove set, and boot set I see. Conversely, I really dislike the Purple stuff, although Purple gloves are OK.

Godammit, I just want to look good. It's all about priorities...

http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/1/9433965/destiny-loot-exotics

I can't say I disagree with a lot of this. I've been heavily relying on duplicates and year one exotics to get the shards I need to boost up my current exotic weapons and armor. Beyond that, I have nothing but rare armor. Every legendary piece I get is garbage in comparison, and the infusion rate isn't worth losing the current high light level that I need to continue rocking the Raid (or potentially Trials). I'm pretty much strictly relying upon Raid drops at this point to get me any kind of decent armor that can be infused (that's non-exotic).

I think the author's point about the upgrade process is spot on, but I also think it's waaaaay too early in the life of the game to think you'll be "forever 299" or whatever. He's presently saying "OMG my guns aren't 310" while admitting 300 is all you need for everything in the game. Then he complains that because hard mode isn't in the game yet, we should be able to get guns good enough to trump hard mode, but that's a false claim afaic. Year 3 isn't out yet, should we be able to make our guns year 3 strong? Of course not, that would be silly. When hard mode comes out, you will experience the same incremental power creep you did when you finally hit 290 and went into the raid, and rightly so.

Also, he missed the most egregious mistake of raid loot, namely 20 mouldering shards often granting you 2 mouldering shards as your "bonus loot." DUMB.

--

All that being said, in response to having only rare armor, I think you're doing it wrong. I've got a nearly full set of legendary gear (still rocking my 297 rare helmet, in all honesty), and it wasn't hard to do. I spend marks to buy a legendary with a roll I like in a slot I need to fill, and then I upgrade it with my blue drops. There's little "opportunity cost" when doing this, even with only an 80% translation.

I will say that I think the imbue process should transfer 100% of the value of like-rarity items (a 310 exotic should infuse another exotic to 310, and a 295 legendary should infuse another legendary up to 295), but because getting those drops is so common, I'm not really worried.

Lastly, remember that lots of the best items come from quests now rather than as random drops. Relying on drops as your sole upgrade path is not a good idea or an ideal use of your time. Finish some missions and get some sweet loots. Several missions reward you with light 300 legendaries.

TL;DR: There are problems, but they aren't remotely close to the scale of the problems from 1.0 and CE/HoW.

I think what we have now is much much better.

It's still early yet, and there's still more to discover. I'm interested in seeing what happens going forward.

I don't think there is a system that will
A) Reward players with exactly what they want every time
and
B) Give players incentive to run some of the missions/events/raids over and over.

If you got all the things on the first try, you'd likely never return. Destiny is a game -- it's about playing, not about loot. Loot supports playing, but I think sometimes players get too OCD and start flipping that around, playing the game to get loot drops, and turn it into a CCG or something. The article writer seems to be in this camp. If he doesn't have access to all the things, something is wrong.

Look at the black spindle run for example. It's a tough things and I ran it a number of times before completing it. It has a guaranteed reward of a black spindle. It also has a "maybe" reward with the ship that can drop.

The extra drop of the ship incentivizes players to continue to run this even if they didn't get it the first time. If it weren't for this I know at least one person I ran this with wouldn't have been there -- they had already gotten the black spindle and they were running for the ship. (And were pretty pissed when the other guy and I got both the spindle and the ship but they didn't. RNG is RNG...)

Point is, they want to give people incentive to continue to run. 290 is minimum for the raid. 300 is baseline (for oryx, I think earlier fights are 290). 310 is max and makes things easier. Once you hit 300, everything above that is gravy. It keeps progression meaningful, but not strictly necessary.

Now all that said, I think that what they are doing is great... but they are failing on selling it a bit tot he playerbase. If the line is 300 and everything above is gravy, then they should make that more clear. That's not particularly intuitive. Especially when you have fights that are 260+ light (I'm looking at you final phobos fight) that seem near impossible solo when you are 290+. If the highest possible light level is 310, players will think they need to move to that number.

I don't mind the raid armor randomness and the 300-310 rolls, but it's really strange to me that we have three levels of exotics: 280, 290, and 310. It takes the fun out of getting an exotic. Previously you knew you had the best. Now you are not only chasing the right stat roll, but you are chasing the right light level. If we have 280 exotics because we can print blueprints to use as infusion material, it is easy, don't let exotic be used for infusion.

I was excited when Bungie revealed year 2 and said they didn't want Destiny to feel like a job. It was one of the things that made me preorder TTK. But it seems like the grind is just as bad, if not worse now. Before I could get an exotic and be happy; a new trophy for my collection and something to cross off the list. Now, I look at it knowing that it will be replaced and it's going to take awhile to level up, especially if it is armor.

The line that got me was this one:

Although I'd like to play a Hunter, I believe that if I tried to play all three classes, all my characters would fall behind.

Behind what?

This person is playing wrong. :(

(That said, RNG can be a harsh mistress, and I'm as susceptible as anyone to the frustration of a series of bad rolls.)