Why are PvE changes made in response to PvP issues?

Here is the problem...

  1. The absolute values of PvP and PvE time are not representative of the population in PvE vs PvP. Personally I ONLY play PvE for milestones and to grind loot for PvP. I still only have 55% of my 1400 hours in PvP. That 45% doesnt represent why I play Destiny. It is largely wasted time for me. So this idea that Destiny is primarily a PvE game is not entirely accurate. It leans heavily on PvP to maintain its MAU.

  2. No one cares if something is OP as hell in PvE (unless LFG is requiring it to find a group, and it is dropped with poorly done RNG). It doesnt ruin the game. It might make it easier, but doesnt ruin it.

  3. ANY competitive environment is where people start caring about the power of this or that. Not just PvP. But in Gambit you either burn down the primeval or you the other team does. In Worlds-First we all lose our shit if someone uses a little bug to get more heavy ammo than they should, etc. No one stops playing PvE because they are a little less powerful. People do stop playing player vs player activities (including specific parts of PvE, like worlds first type attempts) if it isnt fairly balanced. You wont stop playing if Blade Barrage is a little less powerful. People will stop playing if the only Gambit loadout that makes sense is BB. People will stop playing if they get killed three times by one SB or NW super.

If those people stop playing, that drives down both PvP and PvE player counts and makes the game worse for everyone. Less people on LFG to run a Raid to get a Pulse Rifle to use in PvP is still less people to LFG the raid with.

And look; I am 100% for separate balancing for PvP and PvE. Hell, I think EVERYTHING should be available in Crucible to everyone. Pick your weapon perks, armor perks, exotics, etc straight from a selector. Take RNG out of it. But that isnt what Bungie wants. They want it to feel like one game. Where the population is doing all activities. And compared to D1, D2 has made significant steps to adjust balance separately while maintaining feel of aspects of the game between PvE and PvP. But it just isnt possible to have a vision of a game where the two are tied together and have drastically different feelings between the two.

So what you really want is Bungie to abandon its vision of a single system that bridges two Multiplayer arenas. They wont, because that wouldnt be Destiny. It would be more like an "Anthem+Halo" bundle. Maybe you would like that better, but Bungie owns this IP, and Bungie wants to explore this idea of a shared world looter shooter with competitive and cooperative activities.

/r/DestinyTheGame Thread