To be clear upfront I dropped out of D2 when Lightfall landed and I have [b]not[/b] bought EoF (yet). I wanted to jump back in a get a feel for things before deciding to invest in another year of isolationist self-punishment. So I just thought I'd share a few thoughts... TLDR: Whilst there are some notable improvements they have been largely overshadowed by a combination of bugs, mis-steps, a narcissistically wilful failure to address long-standing issues and a general lack of communication about the future direction of the game -- Which I highly suspect is going to be slowly stripping stuff back until it is basically a Sci-Fi version of Warzone, complete with monetised IP buy-ins (Hey Disney take your Star Wars crap and flush it!) ... i.e. "Here is a curated list of activities, play them ad nauseum and spend money in the store on cosmetics to feel good about yourself" -- because in practice that's what big money companies know, they don't give a Fluff about rich and rewarding story lines that players enjoy experiencing, they only care about rich and rewarding money going in to their share-holder's pockets. [u][b]Pro's:[/b] (mostly)[/u] - [b]Armour 3.0[/b] is better than 2.0, though I'm not saying either are better than the O.G. system. It is at least (in theory) easier to understand at a glance what each stat does (though probably not in practice). -- I am not convinced that they have fully decoupled some of the old stats effects (e.g. it certainly [i]feels[/i] like "Weapons" is still very much tied to 'Mobility' when actually playing). I also do not like being 'encouraged' to use the latest seasonal armour. I understand they want people to play the new gear but I have a vault full of stuff for a reason (although perhaps the way to the future is by letting go of the past ... just saying) - [b]Customisable difficulty[/b] for many activities is great! (I will refrain from commenting on anything to do with rewards, drop rates and power balance.) I do at least appreciate being able to Solo a lot more activities, if I want to and just play my own way at my own pace. I also like the extra activities that are now available -- Forgive me if it's just my poor recollection but it feels like there's a bit more to go at, and in a more approachable manner. - [b]Built in LFG[/b] ... sure it seems like some folks are complaining about this that and the other regarding the Bungie in-game LFG, but then some folks just like to complain (a lot). The simple fact is that it's there and (from my limited experience so far) it works. Yes there's room for improvement, but isn't there always? Hope it will evolve a bit and improve over time, but in all honestly (and let's be fair to them) what they've implemented serves it's function pretty well. Whilst it would be nice to be able to customise the title etc. I think it would be really good to have a central LFG hub to view all open requests (with filters), this would be especially good for those looking to learn/teach and help newer players, get people engaging together in a positive social way again ... like they're always banging on about being a supportive community but don't really provide us the means to engage with each other and do so constructively. [u][b]Con's:[/b] (in my experience thus far)[/u] - [b]The Portal[/b] ... well... Yes it makes [i]certain[/i] activities very accessible, but to the detriment of the rest of the hugely lore-rich back-story game up to now. At best it muddies the water, but bizarrely it actually just means having to jump around on more screens and makes navigating everything harder whilst taking longer. At worst this is perhaps intentional, driving players in to a curated list of (shallow and mindlessly repetitive) activities rather than seeing the bigger picture with how and where those activities sit in the game's story. *1 - [b]Negative Power Deltas vs. Grind[/b] ... so, the way I understand it is (and I did read someone's previous post about this, but having played I am inclined to agree) ... The "best gear" is locked away behind a post "soft power-cap" grind, requiring players to level increasingly beyond (currently) Lvl.200 in order to access it. However at higher light-levels the higher-tier difficulty activities run an increasingly negative power delta. So as you "get better" the game actually gets harder, killing all power-fantasy rewards for the effort in grinding to achieve the "better gear" and higher light/power levels. -- I get that certain very high level players still want a challenge as they reach post end-game levels of power, but we can't all be gameplaying gods with nothing but time and money. - [b]PvP[/b] ... I'll be honest I am not much of a PvP player, both in experience and skill. I haven't engaged with Gambit yet, though I will say it was pretty lacklustre before and I do not expect things to have improved! ...and yet I still have quests and catalysts and other things that [i]require[/i] ,e to play Gambit so, it's looming on the horizon for me. -- As for Crucible, I've only really engaged with the Arms Week play and to be fair I really like the "Guns only" game mode, no abilities, it's "pure" ... and yet I have experienced the "go slow" bug numerous times, and matchmaking it always a mixed bag (though I'm not sure there's really any way to do it well) -- Lastly I am waaay too scared (read "crap") to even attempt Trials. I have in the past, just joining the match-making queue, with mixed (generally poor) results ... this has only ever been in an effort to tick-off a seasonal challenge, so I may yet give it a go ...when I'm feeling brave! - [b]Currencies vs Progression[/b] -- Glimmer (the "in lore" universal currency) is essentially worthless and the list of in-game things you can actually buy with it is bordering non-existent (and even those typically require another much harder to come by resource in addition). This is to the extent that since returning mine has sat at the max 500k >90% of the time, meaning a lot of my loot rewards are just a sound effect and a visual (usually a box with a red 'x' telling me I can't collect the reward). -- This I feel is, for one ridiculous (either make glimmer worth having or get rid of it completely), more importantly I can't [b]buy[/b] the materials I actually need in order to upgrade my gear ... it costs 3 Ascendant Shards to masterwork an exotic piece of armour (1 for regular armour), but the only places I can obtain them is at the end of the few vendor reward tracks that haven't been removed, so most of my armour is stuck at Lvl.9. -- Sure I can 'buy' A-Shards with 'Enhancement Prims', but they're almost as hard to come by ... and yes I can buy those with 'Enhancement Cores' but guess what EVERYTHING needs them, they're earned fairly slowly and they're used up quicker than the loo-roll provided at a 3-day music festival! -- Please note Bungie, I would happily spend 250k (heck even the full 500k) Glimmer for one Ascendant Shard, at least I would have a consistent and accessible route to upgrading my armour to master-work! There's more I could write but this post is already ridiculously long (apologies). Congrats if you made it this far!