Greetings, to all of you working hard at Bungie, Sony, and everywhere else in between. I'd also like to greet those who, from the past to the present, have taken time out of their lives to invest in or create something meaningful within the 'Destiny' universe. Some time ago, I had this idea and have held onto it since 'Witch Queen' era due to the fact that I felt it was either unnecessary or potentially, would be too 'ambitious' for the time in which I initially came up with this concept that could, in theory, breathe new life into D2 *without* needing to expend excess resources while maintaining cohesion between the *past* AND *present*. This is important, to me, as I have often found myself thinking 'Well, that season was great, that dialogue was great, the cutscenes, story, etc, all great, but if it leaves before my friends even get a chance to play it then....what's the point? Is there a way to ensure *anyone* can play everything *WITHOUT* losing coherence in terms of story? I understand that many changes have happened not only in the sandbox over the years but in every story arc, even locations sometimes changing design wise which can cause some pretty difficult decisions. It must leave many of you, both developers and players alike wondering 'is there a way to keep that nostalgic factor and the story, without losing the current story?" and the answer I give you is a sound and sincere 'yes' there is a way. If you bear with me a little longer, I will explain it in full. You see, I've been playing Destiny since its beginning and was initially introduced by some friends who knew everything about it while I knew nothing; I immediately fell in love with the concept, the lore, the abilities, everything because the fact is whether you love or absolutely hate the game you can all agree on one simple truth: this game universe has done something that *nobody* else has done in terms of the gaming industry (in its own way). Destiny has a certain feeling, a certain aesthetic that is not just engaging but worthwhile when the story and sandbox permit. Now, to avoid the issue of having to create an in game 'video library' of literally every cutscene, dialogue sequence, etc from weeks prior along with fixing the issue of keeping past content relevant without losing cohesion in the current game/story (wherever it may have been going anyway) I will introduce a concept inspired from one of my favorite lore bits in Destiny history. Introducing, a concept inspired from 'The Device' as it was called in D1 lore and it relates to the Future War Cult. The Device, in short, was a technology that utilized Vex intelligence/Ai/simulation technology for FWC members to peer into the future though the process was very taxing on one's awareness. Oftentimes, in the lore there were loose references to future expansions through the Fwc dialogue/weapons/etc. But you're wondering, what the hell is this concept and how does it relate to the live service game itself? Well, everything, actually, to make this concept work. To add to my concept, let me backtrack briefly into lore, far back to a favorite season of mine and many other players, Season of the Splicer. Around the end of Season of the Splicer, without spoiling too much, the character Mithrax stated that his people could adjust the device so its effects are less stressful on the minds of the individuals who utilize it. However, no guardians, no characters at all for that matter, not even Maya Sundaresh, have even utilized it in this way, originally it was very forceful soothsaying that would cause mental issues, insanity, stress, in the individuals using it over time. But what if it could be repurposed? Gameplay wise the concept is summarized as this: House of Light and others allied with the tower/guardian will integrate aspects of their memories into the 'device'. Every month (or maybe even every 3 weeks OR WHENEVER, just an example, I dont know a good timeframe, that might be a developer question) There would be different 'archived stories' , seasonal, campaign, etc that would be available to replay. In short, House of Light's rework of 'the device' perhaps now called the 'Saudade Device' which would be fitting since many characters from Destiny's history may no longer be with us so essentially it is a 'VR Sim' for the guardians of the tower to experience the memories of former guardians (and past expansions, content, etc). Though it would NOT literally be aimed to be a VR experience gameplay wise, I mean moreso in terms of story that is the justification of reliving old content. Since bungie wants to package all content together…this could in theory work out, money wise as well but there needs to be a way for players to help other players who didnt pay for past content to still play with them (blocking others off for not playing in the past is not fair, but there could be a few solutions to making it work without charging too much but still making it worthwhile on part of player and developer and Sony, who I know would prefer extra money instead of investing and losing it all. Right? So think, people, think with me here. Lets say I want to take some friends through an older seasonal story; rather than back and forth tasks at the Helm (or wherever) instead the audio transcripts would play within the 'simulation' since, again, the guardian in question using the device (the player, any player, old or new) is experiencing the memories of the past (hence the 'saudade device' or longing for the 'good old days' without breaking immersion in the *current* story). Now, this would obviously have to work well within the structure of things like Iron Banner or other events (if we ever get them again, I've seen the most recent update, I know why everyone is concerned and I do not blame anyone for that). However, I'm choosing to voice my concept though doing so now may be considered too late for most, if not all players and developers and CEOs alike. However, I like to think it might actually be a more ideal time to bring this forth. I will say, I do not like the thought of the story of 'binding the nine' suddenly coming to an end, I was genuinely curious what was going to happen with 'Shattered Cycle' and 'The Alchemist' (though in my opinion, to save everyone trouble you could just combine the two into one for a much larger story). I think most Destiny 2 players would be able to deal with the June 9th update content for the remainder of the year (if we still have festival of the lost and dawning to look forward to as well, we'd be fine until a joint expansion combined release in December rather than rushing Shattered Cycle for July (assuming both DLC are in late stages of Development. Now, I'm not a developer, obviously, this is just a rough idea; I don't know the status of either expansion so keep that in mind, that is mostly wishful thinking under the assumption they could even be combined in time for winter. But I'm not here to talk about Shattered Cycle and The Alchemist, I'm here to share a concept with the purpose of 'fixing' D2 by keeping cohesion between its past and present in a canonical lore way that doesn't break lore by using nostalgia as a tool in game to actually relive nostalgic moments without losing where we are at present in D2. I will expand on this in part 2; forgive me if I repeat myself a lot in this first part, it is a rough draft and I don't feel like editing it all. The next post I will share is more thought out and cohesive so please , if you have the time, read it carefully, bit by bit and give me your input, everyone. Note: The reason for the split into parts is due to the bulk of this original text I had written in Word, I have to split this into two parts. I will expand upon this in part 2 which is where the 'meat' of the explanation along with lore validation and connections between past lore and how it connects to present (and hopefully, future lore though I won't get my hopes up, I sincerely decided to share this concept out of love for this game and the hard work everyone put into it from developers to players, and everyone else. I know I could have spent a few days probably editing this down but time is of the essence, I feel. Feel free to ask questions on this first part below.