You’re assuming Bungie accidentally made a garbage fire. Nah. This is intentional. Nobody over there is sitting around wondering, “Oh no, why don’t players love our busted loot treadmill and unfriendly systems?” They knew. They knew before it launched. This isn’t the result of clueless devs. It’s the result of smart devs doing what the suits told them to do - build a dopamine-dead grind loop designed to pad engagement stats and push people toward the cash shop out of sheer exhaustion. Every system now screams: “Play longer, get less, feel worse.” That’s the model. If you’re still logging in, they’ve already won. The portal? Meaningless fluff. The new armor rules? Designed to invalidate everything you grinded for before, so you’ll chase it all over again. Artifice gear? Outdated. Exotic drops? Severely limited on purpose. You’re meant to stay broke and frustrated so maybe you’ll swipe your card for something shiny that actually feels rewarding. And the power grind? Oh, that’s just a masterclass in time-wasting. Play 10-year-old content, maybe get a half-step upgrade, then do it again. And again. And again. The whole thing is tuned to be just barely tolerable so they can keep the “engagement” graphs up while spending the absolute minimum on actual content. Of course it’s miserable. It’s supposed to be. The fewer meaningful rewards you get, the more they think you'll lean into the cash shop. They’re not chasing fun anymore. They're chasing metrics. How long did you play? Did you buy anything? Are you still on the hamster wheel? And if you fell off? Whatever. Expected and normal dropoff curve. There's always another whale around the corner. So no, they didn’t “mess up.” They built exactly what they set out to build. The only thing left to see is whether enough people stop playing to make them care. This bungie maintenance team doesn't deserve any good faith assumption or benefit of the doubt. This is crass anti-player design from floor to ceiling.