[u][b]Preface:[/b][/u] So I will preface this with the fact that I have only beaten the story missions so far, and all or most additional pieces of content I have yet to really play. Overall, I give this expansion a solid five out of ten; a six if things get better. [u][b]Story, and on[/b] [/u]Initially I really wanted to come onto the forums, and complain about the widespread crashes we were experiencing during the release of EoF, but I chose not too, and waited until they patched that out. Now then, I think the story has potential to be interesting going forward. My opinion post Final Shape was "How do you create a villain that poses a larger threat than [b]The Witness[/b]"? And during Echoes I felt that Maya didn't quite reach the same heights as the Witness because her lofty ambitions of creating a New Golden Age, and bringing back her wife, Chioma wasn't as grand as locking the universe up in a motionless state. Sure, seeing how far she was willing to go in Echoes was unnerving, [spoiler]but now that we can see the full power of an Echo, and how it can manifest a being of a higher plane into ours, which kills it... Yeah I think Maya really has potential at being a villain bigger than the Witness. Call me crazy. I don't know all the lore, far from it in fact. But I don't think the Witness ever had the Nine on their radar, given the Nine are of our Sol System. but for Maya, and the power of the Echo, to just.... pull III from the 4th dimension, and make it die?[/spoiler] That's a feat I was not expecting from anyone! And to think! we let Eramis just take one of them back to Riis or wherever she's going. And Oryx just vanish; at least the stars remember how he shaped them. So story wise I think we got something here. You guys captured something new, so now keep the ball rolling, and do not for the love of anything screw this up! [u][b]Gameplay changes[/b][/u] As for gameplay wise... Shipping the game with roughly six or seven sets of new armor was just... Well I shouldn't be surprised, and surely you will update other raid armors, and dungeon sets to be equally cool because I love armor set bonuses. And it was a logical conclusion given we got our weapons updated with origin trait perks! This made sense! And while the new stats are largely mixed amongst the community, I think they're good. It's a decent change of pace in how we have to approach the game rather than dumping into resilience, or your class stat, and calling it a day. It's a change that everyone seems to be mad about but over time will come to enjoy I think. [u][b]GUARDIAN IS BALLIN'!![/b][/u] The ball... matter spark.. THE BALL! Now I am no stranger to using some sort of ball mechanic in a video game, and Destiny introducing their own into it isn't the most novel thing because people play the game to loot, shoot, and team up. but man I can't hate this thing. I will agree the motion sickness, while it wasn't anything to me, was a pain to see for others, but I'll keep to my own criticism for this. I think the ball, after the most recent update of typing this, moves well enough now. I think the ball needs three things to be a better experience for the playerbase at large though. first, an actual shell around the thing to help players identify where they are in a space better; something more solid and less amorphous. Like a cabal arc charge? but still retaining the dark matter look? I am not a game designer by no means, but the sphere we're rolling in, to me, just doesn't feel grounded because of it. Does that make sense? Moving on from that, since matterspark is the real new toy on Keplar, can we please just use it anywhere? Not just anywhere on Keplar, anywhere in the Sol System? If it's because of Dark Matter, and it's concentration on Keplar, sure it's lore, it works. But Dark Matter is a thing that's all around us in real life. (Hypothetical, yes) but our guardian has always been the forerunner of tricks, and tactics throughout our adventures. Doing things no guardian has ever done! And so what if previous destinations aren't made for matter spark. It's about fun. Doing what you want. Player freedom! These guard rails stop being fun when you're finally pressed up against them. So take them off. I also apply this to crucible, but maybe for certain game modes? Including Iron Banner. Lastly for Matterspark, just let us pick our team mate up! Not saying any random guardian, no. But our fireteam members. Crucible teammates. Let's have some fun with this ball! And it's not like someone can grief you by throwing you down a cliff; you would just exit matter spark manually. [u][b]Weapons; Looting VS Crafting[/b][/u] I think the weapons are par for the course, and that a return to looting rather than crafting can be good, just Bungie has to find that balance of getting what you want, and getting what the game gives, while being worth while. Portal seems like it can go in that direction, but that can wait. It's an odd balance of random, and organized. Too much random, and never getting that thing? That's bad. Too much organization, and you just craft what you want. Where's the fun in that? Always getting what you want? As I said earlier about not being a designer, this is something for you folks at Bungie to figure out. not us, but that still means taking in as much valuable feedback as possible. [u][b]End[/b][/u] That's all I have to say about EoF so far. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'm the Destiny veteran I used to be. Not going back into retirement, but I'll be around... In game I mean. This forum tends to be a quagmire! :D Eyes up, Guardians. It's about to get weird.