TL;DR- The 'formula' of Seasonal Activities never changing coupled with the current state of the game has convinced me there's no point worrying about getting a 5/5 god roll anymore. That crafting, whether Bungie is willing to admit it, is truly the final form of this game and necessary to make the game worth playing for me.

Intro

Jumped into the Dawning, excited to try and grind out a 5/5 Stay Frosty Pulse Rifle. I wanted something that felt similar to BxR Battler-55 but for the primary slot b/c my "go-to" currently is Forerunner/Izanagi's w/ BxR's when I play 6's Iron Banner and Control. I don't farm weapons because it's fun. I farm weapons to use in the activities I have fun in.

The Farming Experience

I opt'd to just grind strikes because I could sort of farm out a few different things at the same time. A major factor on how I play has always been the ability to multi-task. I figured I could farm Vanguard ranks for better rolls on weapons, get a bunch of Vanguard engrams, complete Pathfinder bounties for materials, farm weapon catalysts (Final Warning for example), and get a change of scenery every so often. I admit this isn't the most efficient way to grind for currency in this event but a part of me wanted to get a sense of what the "intended" experience is probably supposed to feel like.

It was fun for maybe the first 3 days. Constantly checking what types of guns I should use that fall into the Pathfinder Requirements while also making specific builds that helped me get the materials I needed. I think Destiny 2 at this point in it's life is all about finding your own fun. Using weapons I wouldn't normally use or trying to find fun Prismatic combinations kept the strikes fresh for me.

But on that 4th day, I really started feeling burnt out. I tried to play casually but some folks were running builds that swept up all the kills. That meant I actually had to sweat in PvE in order to ensure I was getting the kills I needed. I also got blueberries that were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Some blueberries would be AFK for most of the strike. It's fine, b/c that means I get more kills for myself but there were moments where I was under too much pressure and needed a bit of help. I could still clear things but it dragged on how long the strike went which eats into how many total runs I could do.

Other blueberries were clearly trying to get the fastest completion possible. Speed running the entire strike and pulling me through. I did appreciate the idea of what they were doing, it is one way to quickly farm dawning spirit, but I believe in fast clears where you quickly wipe out enemies. Not just sprinting past them. I'd argue the runners were worse because they actively prevented me from farming baking ingredients by pulling me through parts of the strike too quickly. It felt worse when I was specifically trying to go for snowball kills but enemies were constantly de-spawning.

What I Got

I opt'd to trudge on for a week farming strikes until I completed all the upgrades Eva had for me. I finally got my hands on a few different rolls of Stay Frosty and opt'd to just test them in the Crucible. The best roll I got was a Poly, Tac mag, Encore, Kill Clip, Stability MW roll. Not the best Barrel, Mag, or MW options I thought but at least good enough for me to see how the gun felt and if it was worth farming more. I went ahead and loaded up 6's.

The Realization

It was at this moment I knew I fucked up where I realized: There's no point farming a 5/5 God Rolls anymore

Crucible was just LITTERED with folks who either was running hard meta weapons (aka Elsie's Rifle) or hard meta prismatic loadouts (Diamond Lance/Knockout Titan). I'm no PvP God by any means, but I like to think I'm okay enough to manage in rough situations. Even then, I couldn't. I played about 3 matches before I got frustrated by the situation. No matter what roll I got on this gun, it won't hang in a sandbox where 340's dominate alongside abilities that freeze you in place. Ultimately, the gun did feel good since it's stability was so high... but it made me realize that there's literally no point to farming for a god roll on this weapon. This okay roll is "good enough" for a sandbox where people sweat in casual game modes for no reason.

What Does This Have To Do With Crafting

It got me thinking. This is EXACTLY why crafting was so good. It took me almost a week to maybe a get a 2-3/5 roll of a gun I thought I wanted. Lots of grinding in activities that hadn't seen an update in a while. While the gun is solid, there's just no point. A good barrel/mag/masterwork perk isn't going to change the fact you have goobers holding hands at all the chokepoints with their 340 RPM pulse rifles waiting for the SECOND someone peeks at them.

Meanwhile, in the same amount of time, I was able to farm a Piece of Mind roll that's just sitting in my vault. It's potentially going to be meta next season as well and all I have to do when the meta changes is change some perks on it. THAT'S IT. This means I could 'theoretically' just retool my Piece of Mind next season and instead of mindlessly grinding an activity over and over for a decent weapon drop. That means more time actually playing a game mode I want to play.

Final Thoughts

I understand that Bungie is taking a step back from crafting b/c they want to improve their numbers and retain players, but it's a half measure. Crafting wasn't just a stop-gap for players whose RNG was bad. It also served a tool to help players not mindlessly grind the same content over and over. There's only so many times you can play Pressage for a craftable DMT. Once you got to the end, you could actually go out and enjoy the weapon where you wanted to in game. If content isn't getting updated to feel fresh or new, all you're doing is punishing players by taking away crafting. You're forcing them to play maps/game modes you aren't updating b/c you think that's how we have fun. As I stated before, Destiny 2's fun is how the player engages with the content, not how the company THINKS we should engage with the content.

The Dawning isn't just where this happens, it happens all over. This is an issue with the core design philosophy over at Bungie. I gave up playing Competitive PvP b/c I kept getting the same 2/5 rolls on Riposte after my 3 comp games. As much as I wanted a TtT roll w/ Kill Clip... I'll settle for the Zen Moment/DSR roll I have.

Something has to change. Bungie needs to rediscover what players want. Because it's different then it was 10 years ago.