Hi there! My name is Brad and I am in search of new friends to play games with. I currently live in the US and am in the EST, but I am always willing to play with people from around the world if we can find the right time to do so. I do work some long work hours but I usually hope online after my work day is done. I recently just got a PC and am building my game library on that. Would love to find someone to help give me great recommendations. I also Play on Xbox and the Switch.
As far as what games I play, I play a ton of different games depending on my mood. I will list my most played games below for each system!
PC: GTA V, Anno 1404/1800, Age of Empires, Destiny 2, Insurgency Sandstorm, Railroad Tycoon 3, The Sims 4, Rainbow Six Siege, War of Rights, Among Us, RiffTrack the Game
Xbox: GTA V, Division 1 and Division 2, Ghost Recon Breakpoint/Wildland, Far Cry 5/6, Minecraft, COD MW2, and MLB The Show 22.
Switch: Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Among Us, Fall Guys.
I also have Game Pass on Xbox so if I don't play it now, I can always get it, We also don't have to be playing the same game as I am totally fine with just playing and chatting as we do our own thing. Feel free to DM me for my Discord/Gamertags!

1. While Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" is probably one of the crooner's best-known songs, it was originally very different. Turns out, we have Robert De Niro to thank for it! Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb were tapped to write music for Martin Scorsese's 1977 film, New York, New York, which stars Liza Minnelli and De Niro. When the duo previewed the songs they had written, De Niro thought the title track, which was connected to his character, was too lighthearted. Although Kander and Ebb said they thought De Niro seemed "pompous" in telling them to rewrite the song, they took the criticism to heart and ended up penning their new version of the song in just 45 minutes.
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is my favorite movie of all time, so it's honestly criminal that I've never done a deep dive into some behind-the-scenes moments from the film! John Hughes, known for his teen movies, ended up writing the script in just a few days in order to get a draft finished before the Writers Guild of America went on strike. The script was reportedly so strong that it was barely edited before filming started. The movie is widely considered to be a love letter to Hughes's Chicago hometown and is filled with references to his own upbringing and shots of the city's skyline. In fact, Hughes even gave Ferris the same address as his childhood home, and his bedroom reportedly resembled Hughes's.
3. If I had to learn about this giraffe mating ritual, then it's only fair that you do too, okay? Unlike other animals, giraffes don't have a set mating season. Instead, they have an estrous cycle, which resembles a human menstrual cycle, except this cycle swaps blood for urine. When a male giraffe approaches a female giraffe, he begins to rub against her, which she takes as a signal to begin peeing. The male giraffe then tastes her pee to see if she's fertile, and thus, the mating ritual begins. A typical giraffe pregnancy lasts for 400–460 days. Male giraffes typically have no role in raising their offspring.
4. In 2007, Lisa Nowak became the first NASA astronaut to be arrested when she drove across the United States to confront a woman who was dating a fellow astronaut with whom Nowak had also had a relationship. About a decade after graduating from the US Naval Academy, Nowak was selected to be an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she specialized in robotics. Nowak said she was deeply affected by the 2003 Columbia space shuttle explosion because her best friend, astronaut Laurel Clark, died. Nowak told NASA that her children convinced her to continue on with her space career despite her unease.
5. Despite what you might believe after watching The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum was not a good guy. He had a long history of animal cruelty and was known for mistreating enslaved people and people with disabilities. He even reportedly hated the people who paid money to come see his exhibits. Barnum was allegedly frustrated that people were taking their time during visits to his museum, so he decided to post signs reading "This Way to the Egress" all over the place. He (correctly) believed that most of the visitors wouldn't know that "egress" meant "exit," so when they followed the signs, they ended up unknowingly leaving the entire museum. As a result, many people paid to reenter, bringing home even more money for Barnum.
6. Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is essentially History 101 in song form. The track name-drops 118 historical events from 1949 to 1989, including everything from pivotal moments in the civil rights movement to details from sports and pop culture history. Joel was inspired to write the song after having a conversation with Sean Lennon, who was then in his 20s, while in the recording studio. One of Lennon's friends allegedly said that it was a terrible time to be a young person. Joel, who was about to turn 40, reportedly said that his own younger years hadn't been that easy either.
7. Coney Island's skyline looked a lot different back in the 1800s. The Brooklyn boardwalk was once home to a 200-foot-tall elephant-shaped hotel! The hotel, known as the Elephantine Colossus, was built in 1885 and contained 31 rooms, a concert hall, and a museum. The elephant's head housed an observatory, and its eyes served as telescopes. The real kicker was that the hotel was built several years before the Statue of Liberty was completed, so the giant elephant was often the first thing immigrants saw when they reached New York. At some point, the hotel was seen as gimmicky and lost most of its clientele. Soon, sex workers began moving in. In 1896, Elephantine Colossus burned down and was never rebuilt.
8. During Ronald Reagan's 1966 California gubernatorial campaign, he began eating jelly beans in an attempt to curb his pipe-smoking habit. His jelly beans of choice were the Goelitz Mini Jelly Beans from the Herman Goelitz Candy Co. Once the company caught wind of Reagan's love for the treat, they began to send the politician a monthly shipment of candy and even gifted the governor with a custom jelly bean jar. After Reagan's two terms as governor ended, the company continued to send him jelly beans. In 1976, Goelitz debuted their latest creation: the Jelly Belly. Within two years, Reagan's entire jelly bean shipment shifted to include only Jelly Belly jelly beans.
9. There are two main groups of whales: baleen whales, which include species like the blue whale and the humpback whale; and toothed whales, consisting of orcas, belugas, and sperm whales. While you probably guessed that toothed whales are named as such because they have teeth, baleen whales have baleen plates in their mouths, which help them filter out krill and other food. Toothed whales also have a "melon" in their foreheads. The melon is a mass of tissue that helps with communication and is crucial for echolocation, which they use to find food and to navigate underwater.
10. In 1997, construction on Disneyland's California Adventure Park was halted after Princess Diana was killed in a limo accident in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31. California Adventure was supposed to include a ride called Superstar Limo, which involved guests boarding a limo and embarking on a high-speed chase through some of Los Angeles's biggest landmarks in order to get to the Disney offices in time to sign a huge movie contract. Riders also had to evade the paparazzi. Once the ride ended, passengers were encouraged to buy mock tabloids featuring the pictures the "paparazzi" had taken of them. Following Diana's death, Disney knew they could no longer debut the ride. Soon, they began to brainstorm alternative ideas to replace the limo theme.
11. Donald Gorske, who is known as the ultimate Big Mac fan, has reportedly eaten at least one McDonald's Big Mac every day for the past 50 years. As of May 2022, Gorske believes he has consumed about 32,340 Big Macs. He told Guinness World Records that he typically eats two Big Macs a day, although he revealed that at one point, his daily diet included nine burgers! "May 17, 1972, was the day I got my first car," Gorske said. "I drove to McDonald’s, ordered my first three Big Macs, went in the car, and ate them. And I said right there that I’m gonna probably eat these the rest of my life, and I threw the cartons in the backseat and started counting them from day one." Despite his Big Mac diet, Gorske and his wife say that doctors have given him a clean bill of health.
12. Although you probably picture Queen Elizabeth II wearing one of her signature colorful skirt suits, her fashion history is actually quite fascinating! Elizabeth was photographed wearing pants only once during her entire reign. In 1970, she was reportedly interested in updating her look, and asked her tailor for a custom pantsuit to wear during her royal tour in Australia. It's safe to assume that Elizabeth wasn't too fond of the outfit, as she was never again seen wearing pants in public. In order to maintain professionalism and avoid any type of fashion mishap, her dress hems were always cut below the knee.
13. In 1986, Clint Eastwood ran for mayor of Carmel, California, in part because he wanted to overturn the town's strict law regarding ice cream sales. Eastwood announced his intention to run for office in 1985 after he reportedly found the City Council very difficult to work with when he wanted to turn property he owned into office space. He also cited a 1929 law in Carmel that banned the sale of ice cream cones as another reason for his campaign. In April 1986, he defeated incumbent Charlotte Townsend. His first order of business? He removed from office all of the people who supported the ice cream ban, thus allowing the sale of ice cream cones in Carmel for the first time in decades.
14. Chances are, you read George Orwell's Animal Farm in school. In the novel, a group of animals team up to rebel against the farmer who owns them, only to end up living in a communist dictatorship led by pigs. Although Orwell said that the book was the first time he had successfully been able to blend politics and art, he had a hard time finding a publisher. Several publishing houses turned down the book because they felt uneasy about its political stance. Secker & Warburg ultimately agreed to publish Animal Farm, and the book became a hit and was even used by the CIA as a propaganda tool during the Cold War.
15. In 1928, Huey Long was elected governor of Louisiana on a promise of helping people who had been neglected by the federal government. He soon had his sights set on Washington and won a Senate seat. But before leaving for DC in 1932, he had the lieutenant governor replaced by two successors who promised to follow Long's commands. In the Senate, he created the “Share Our Wealth” program, which many thought was part of his bid for the presidency. In 1935, Long was assassinated by a political rival. Despite his death, his impact in the state lived on. In 1940, a study showed that rural schoolchildren not only had no idea that Long had been killed but also believed he was president.
16. The Real Housewives franchise put Bravo on the map for its depiction of the wild and wacky antics of wealthy women around the country, but it originally looked like a much different show! Scott Dunlop, the original producer of the Real Housewives of Orange County, got the idea for the show in 1986 when he moved from Los Angeles to Coto de Caza, one of the world's largest gated communities, located in Orange County, California. Dunlop began to notice that many of his female neighbors spent their days shopping and playing golf while their husbands went to work.
17. The first meal eaten on the moon included bacon bits, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, and a pineapple-grapefruit beverage. Bacon reportedly had a long history when it came to space travel. It was a staple during the Gemini missions and became a favorite among many astronauts. Despite all of the bacon love, it's since disappeared from space menus. Now the closest thing to bacon is a sausage patty that has to be rehydrated with warm water before being eaten.
18. Oscar Gamble, a baseball player who spent over 20 years in the major leagues, was known not only for his on-field play but also for his Afro, which sparked quite the controversy. In 1973, Gamble arrived at the Cleveland Indians training camp sporting an Afro. Although many Black basketball players had Afros, the hairstyle wasn't too popular among baseball players. Baseball was often seen as more conservative, and during the 1970s, the Afro was associated with the Black Power movement. Gamble's hair quickly became controversial. "People took one look at that hair and thought I was a bad guy," Gamble said in 1979. "There were some sportswriters who wouldn’t talk to me. They thought I was some kind of militant, with my beard and my hair."
19. In December 1990, Iben Browning, who claimed that he was a climatologist, predicted that a major earthquake was going to hit the St. Louis area on Dec. 3. In New Madrid, a Missouri town located on a fault line, people began stockpiling supplies, while others left town completely. Browning reportedly used weather patterns to make his predictions, although his exact methods were never publicized. Although scientists didn't vocally deny Browning's claims, it was believed that they didn't support his prediction, since it's impossible to predict an earthquake. The earthquake never happened. In fact, the area has not faced an earthquake at the magnitude Browning predicted in the three decades since.
20. While kangaroos are known for their hopping abilities (they can jump about 25 feet in one go!), they are unable to go backward because their big feet and long tails prohibit any backward movement. This anatomical hindrance has since been used by their native Australia as a symbol. The kangaroo was reportedly included on the Australian coat of arms to represent the idea that Australia is a nation that is always moving forward.
21. And finally, Elouise Cobell, who was also known as Yellow Bird Woman, fought for Native Americans to have control over their land and finances. Cobell was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, where her family did not have running water or electricity. Her great-great-grandfather notably stood up to the US government in the 19th century. When Cobell was 4 years old, her father built a one-room schoolhouse that she attended until she was in high school. Cobell reportedly took notice of her family's complaints about the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency that many suspected mismanaged the profits from land and trusts owned by Native Americans.

Link to article

Be90 Mini
Tse90 Mini
Ts50c25 Fixer
J50c25 Hm
Q/FFFR Broadsider
Tse15r Rail
B2515r Rail
V/Rap/25 Rail
Aa2525 Cryo
J50c15c rail
Q/Lmb/50BS Tesla
AAE15C Hm
Melee:
V/Rap/1S Chainsaw
V/Rap/40%LDWPA Chainsaw
2*
Ts/FFR GP
V/FFR GP
TSE 50cal
Tse Mini
Tse Gatling Gun
Aae Mini
TsFFR AGL
QFFR Tesla
Armor:
Oe/PSent Marine LA
Oe/CSent Marine RA
Van/Int/Sent USA LL
Oe/7ED/WWR Sturdy Combat LL
ESA Marine LL
Ass/Ap/WWR T45 LL
Weightless/Ap FSA RL Painted USA
WL/Ap/JWR FSA RA
Van/Ap Usa CP
Van/7ED/JWR Usa CP
Uny/PCav Usa LL
Uny/7ED/Sneak Usa CP
Uny/Ap/Jwr Usa CP
Bols/Int/Awr Heavy Combat CP
Appereal:
Raven
Winterman

Name: Ritolin Class: Life Cleric, to the god Pelor
Looks Race: Half-Elf Age: 50(ish). In my head he has aged well and look very youthful still Skin: Light Hair: Dirty-blonde and short (preferably in a spiky look) Eyes: Blue
Clothes / armor Armor (description): A heavy chest piece with smaller interlocking scales (dark/black) that follows the joints of the body. A motif of a swirling sun spreading warm rays is placed upon the solar plexus. Tattoo: One of his shoulders, something like this: https://www.shutterstock.com/shutterstock/photos/1744354052/display_1500/stock-vector-black-tribal-sun-tattoo-sonnenrad-symbol-sun-wheel-sign-summer-icon-the-ancient-european-1744354052.jpg Other: Wears a shield (+2 magical shield)
Long story short, he has a heart of gold, and are stiving to do as much good as he can in the world. Especially to secure a safe world for his fiancee and his future family.
Lately, he have had some trouble with his pure heart and intentions. He met his evil version of himself and had to fight him off, where he saw an illusion of unspeakable things being done to his fiancee, his family and his village done by the BBEG. On the top of that, he has also died once, something he finds troubling as he regards death as the final part of life. He now struggles with morale and his growing anger towards the BBEG.
So right now he's a guy with a heart of gold struggling to keep his intentions clean and anger under control.
Example: Kind of like this, but I do want to showcase his face better (my party is still thinking he is human after all this time...) https://no.pinterest.com/pin/323485185726777419/

 
++ Arks of Omen Detachment (Imperium - Adeptus Custodes) [102 PL, 2CP, 1,997pts] ++
 
+ Configuration +
 
Arks of Omen Compulsory Type: Elites
 
Battle Size [6CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)
 
Detachment Command Cost
 
Detachment Type / Shield Host: Adeptus Custodes, Solar Watch
 
Game Type: 5. Chapter Approved: Arks of Omen
 
+ HQ +
 
Aleya [4 PL, 75pts]
 
Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike [10 PL, -2CP, 180pts]: 3. Superior Creation, 4. Impregnable Mind, Salvo Launcher, Stratagem: The Emperor's Heroes, Stratagem: Victor of the Blood Games, Tip of the Spear
 
Trajann Valoris [8 PL, 200pts]: 1. Master of Martial Strategy, 2. Champion of the Imperium, Stratagem: Warlord Trait
 
+ Elites +
 
Allarus Custodians [9 PL, 180pts]
. 3x Allarus w/ Guardian Spear & Misericordia: 3x Balistus Grenade Launcher, 3x Guardian Spear, 3x Misericordia
 
Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought [9 PL, 170pts]: 2x Lastrum Storm Bolter
 
Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought [9 PL, 170pts]: 2x Lastrum Storm Bolter
 
Custodian Wardens [7 PL, 150pts]
. 3x Warden w/ Guardian Spear: 3x Guardian Spear
 
Custodian Wardens [7 PL, 150pts]
. 3x Warden w/ Guardian Spear: 3x Guardian Spear
 
Vexilus Praetor in Allarus Terminator Armor [6 PL, -2CP, 115pts]: (Solar Watch): Sally Forth, Castellan's Mark, Misericordia, Stratagem: Relic, Stratagem: The Emperor's Heroes, Vexilla Defensor
 
+ Fast Attack +
 
Vertus Praetors [12 PL, 255pts]
. 3x Praetor w/ Salvo Launcher & Misericordia: 3x Interceptor Lance, 3x Misericordia, 3x Salvo Launcher
 
Witchseekers [6 PL, 72pts]: Witchseeker Sister Superior
. 5x Witchseeker: 5x Witchseeker Flamer
 
+ Heavy Support +
 
Caladius Grav-tank [11 PL, 205pts]: Twin Iliastus Accelerator Cannon
 
+ Dedicated Transport +
 
Anathema Psykana Rhino [4 PL, 75pts]
 
++ Total: [102 PL, 2CP, 1,997pts] ++
 
Created with BattleScribe

I can survive Rahyeh's pizza slice attack and big aoe attack but can't tank the Lightmage Meteor (White mob btw) this is just so bad. Just got one-shotted at 200C Monolith. I have 2.5k hp. Capped res. 50% armor. Crit immunity. -10% damage taken from nearby enemies. What else I should have to survive these white mobs.

Not all who wander are lost,
But together we stand strong;
Cabal, Eliksni, Guardians...
Three races united to seek truth in the Lies.

~
Do you look around and feel lost in a sea of negativity? Are you sick of 'KWTD' and 'Must have [INSERT OBNOXIOUS ITEM HERE]' wherever you go? Do you dream of a better tomorrow? You are not alone, Guardian.
Crossplay has arrived and TCTGaming is open to all. Here, where Tomorrow, truly, Comes Today, we value people before statistics and stand by the belief that anyone can try. We don't allow for exclusionary requirements and will happily help anyone we can.
We are a (primarily) 18+ gaming community built on a culture of acceptance and willingness to both teach and learn, where all gamers can support one another in something they love. We form close friendships and strive for a family feeling. We only ask that our members be respectful, mature (most of the time) and that they leave their salt at the door.

**This is a low-sodium zone!**

We are a mixed bag of gamers, scattered all over the world. Despite our distance, we consider one another family. Most of us play in the US evenings and nights (regardless of location), but as we grow, more and more activity is seen around the clock!!!
We have dedicated clans in Destiny 2 and Warframe, but play much much more. Our bonds have only grown, sparked through a shared love of games. From the casual to the hardcore, we came to play... but we stayed for the connections we forge.
~

We use Discord as the default communication method for crossplay. Other voice options include PSN parties. Mics are NOT a requirement.

~Destiny Clans:
Tomorrow Comes Today, Tomorrow-Comes-Today, TomorrowComesToday,
Tomorrow~Comes~Today and Tomorrow^ComesToday
All players are welcome in any clan!
~

• Where/when:*

Most of our members are in the US and Canada, however, our European, Asian and Oceanic members are growing in number!! The majority of our members group up in line with the US early-afternoon to the small hours of the morning.
~

• Rules:*

We have very few rules, but those we have contribute to the safe and supportive culture we endeavour to maintain.

• 1. You must join the Discord server.* Even if you do not wish to join a clan, the server is open to all! You are welcome to join to team up/chat/chill/show us your pets!
• 2. We are an 18+ community.* We are adults with jobs, families, studies and life and really want to just enjoy playing. There are very few exceptions to this rule (by arrangement only!).
• 3. Be mature, kind and nontoxic.* We are all adults and are capable of acting as such. Calm those tempers, put your feet up and relax. We want to have a good time and will support anyone of any ability through any activity.
• 4. Be moderately active and aim to play with clanmates where you can.* Okay, okay, life can get in the way. No worries! Just please let us know if you need to take an extended absence. We will never penalise life and we won't ask why!!!
• 5. Have fun!* Our most important rule of all and the reason we keep coming back to the games we love!

~
If you would like to come along, reply to this post and we will get you sorted out! You can also check out our website! Can't wait to see you starside, Guardian!

Balphour

The Balphour are fiendoids that result when two other fiendoids try to have a kid that are of incompatible parentage, such as an Abyssal tiefling and a Baatoran Tiefling, or a demon and a cambion. Highly mutable in physiology, no two Balphour look alike. One might look like a halfling-sized bat with an insectoid carapace and dragonfly wing membranes, another might look like an ape with the head of a hippo and the horns of a bull, another might look like a humanoid mantis with snake eyes, and another still might even look simply like a tiefling with three sets of horns. Stranger still, they are not true-breeding, so two conceiving Balphour will likely produce a child with the features of neither. Most Balphour women without access to divination magic don’t even learn whether their womb lays eggs or gives birth until their first pregnancy.
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium or Small. (Small Balphour may take the Squat Nimbleness feat).
Speed: 30ft.
Ability Score Increase: You may choose to increase your Charisma score and two other ability scores of your choice by one each, to increase your Charisma score by two and one other ability score of your choice by one, or to increase your Charisma score by three.
Languages: You may speak, read, and write Common and your choice of Abyssal or Infernal. You may also opt to spend 1 Balphour point to speak, read, and write all three.
Mutable Physiology: A given Balphour might have emerged from a number of possible feindoid pairings on a number of possible planes with a number of possible anatomical features and a number of possible upbringings. As such, you have 17 Balphour Points to spend on the table of features below:

• Wings (flying speed equal to walking speed) 15pts [NOTE: you cannot fly while wearing medium or heavy armor].
• Thick skin\* (resistance to choice of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Necrotic, Force, Psychic, or Thunder damage) 4pts.
• Innate Spellcasting\* (choice of cantrip from the warlock spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it) 4pts.
• Exoskeleton (natural armor equal to 13+dex) 3pts.
• Claws/fangs/horns/big fists (natural weapons. 1d4/6/8+Str damage. Choose between bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage) 1/2/3pts (+1pt if the natural weapon is one that would free up a hand, such as horns or a stinger tail).
• Educated\* (proficiency in choice of any skill or tool) 2pts per skill, 1pt per tool.
• Darkvision 30ft. 2pts.

Once you have made your selection, decide how your character’s appearance reflects it.
\ This feature may be taken multiple times, but each successive iteration costs an additional point.*

I'm a 'hardcore casual' player of Destiny 2 and have been with the game since the original Destiny release. Lightfall, for me, has been incredibly frustrating and I've finally come to terms with the fact that the direction the game is going in is no longer compatible with what I look for in a game.
I guess overall I've become disenchanted with Destiny in this expansion because it is no longer a "fun" game but now requires players to "git gud" to advance. And I'm not in a place in my life where I'm ever going to be improving in my gameplay.
I guess the most frustrating thing (to me) is that last year, Destiny was SO GOOD!! The writing, the gameplay, the progression... pretty much everything was hitting on all cylinders. Yeh, there were rough spots, and to be fair the QOL changes in this expansion are really well implemented!
The final nail (for me anyway) is the recent SkillUp interview with game director Joe Blackburn, where he outright admits that they don't pay attention to game metrics to inform their design, but instead listen to community feedback as their guiding principal. As an engineer myself, I find this to be the most frustrating and ill-informed way to run things.
I work in a design-based service industry myself (electrical power engineering) so I have personal experience with this. (Admittedly, when my designs are done improperly, the results can be as severe as burning down a building or killing someone, so I'm a bit more "risk adverse" than a game designer might be.) At the end of the day, a few things always hold true in design:

• The customer /user /players do not know (or care to know) how things actually work. Proof of this (in game terms) is when people say "just do (this)" when there may be a variety of technical reasons why that is just not possible to implement.
  
• The custome user /player often doesn't actually know what they want. They might say "I want (this thing)" and may actually believe it, but they really don't want that! Again, in game terms, the players may say "I want the game to be more challenging" but when the challenge level is increased they leave in droves. (Which I believe is happening currently to Destiny.)
  
• The users are always Always ALWAYS going to have competing goals, and you always have to wary of the loudest voice in the room overriding other stakeholder's needs and desires. In game terms, the best games I have played have always had an eye towards the new player experience even if it is an end-game expansion product. You can't focus too much on what people want -right now- because those needs are going to change over time. You need to be looking towards the future and making things as easy as possible for that future to be achieved.
  

In my mind, using player feedback as the primary input is going to result in... well... this expansion is a good example of what you get. And it's Not Good (TM). The designers and engineers should be taking community feedback and, along with looking at actual metrics, adjusting the product to suit their actual goals. And I refuse to beleive that the goal here is to develop a niche product that only appeals to a very small subset of the gaming audience.
I used to play around the less-perfect areas of this game with the belief that Bungie was looking at player metrics and adjusting things. I mean, they do report these sorts of things in the TWABs when they say "xx% of players did (the thing)" as justification for changes. But if they're not actually using those metrics... well, then these sorts of statements start sounding like disingenuous justification (i.e. outright lies).
Four weeks ago, I was running legendary lost sectors, solo and sometimes flawless. Last night, after three weeks of grinding to get my power level to a reasonable point, I can't even finish Bunker E15, arguably the easiest lost sector in the game! Red bar enemies three-shot me, it takes nearly a full clip to kill a single enemy, and champions often resist stuns. "More resistant to stuns" apparently means only one shot in three will stun them, which is simply untenable when dealing with an enemy that is impossible to trade shots with and regenerates to full health in a matter of seconds.
I can (and do) solo complete heroic public events. I can (and have) finished the legendary campaign. I did this week's seasonal story mission the other day and when it got to the end, my first reaction was "Is that it?" It honestly seemed like just going through the motions, almost facerollingly easy. I'm 100% FINE with some things being "too hard" for me. But a lot of the game -isn't- "too hard" - it's actually quite comfortable.
Where I get bent is when the first "real" guardian level has this ridiculously out-of-whack "skill check" to do a legendary lost sector solo and flawless. And when I've already completed the requirements for rank 8 (aside from the raid and dungeon completions), I start to question what the goal is here. As a completionist-style player, saying "just don't engage with the system" doesn't really help me. Especially when this is the thing that the game puts in your face above every single other player's head.
The last time I felt like this about Destiny was during The Dark Below and I stopped playing until D2 was released. I think this is the end of my time with Destiny 2.

Balphour

The Balphour are fiendoids that result when two other fiendoids try to have a kid that are of incompatible parentage, such as an Abyssal tiefling and a Baatoran Tiefling, or a demon and a cambion. Highly mutable in physiology, no two Balphour look alike. One might look like a halfling-sized bat with an insectoid carapace and dragonfly wing membranes, another might look like an ape with the head of a hippo and the horns of a bull, another might look like a humanoid mantis with snake eyes, and another still might even look simply like a tiefling with three sets of horns. Stranger still, they are not true-breeding, so two conceiving Balphour will likely produce a child with the features of neither. Most Balphour women without access to divination magic don’t even learn whether their womb lays eggs or gives birth until their first pregnancy.
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium or Small. (Small Balphour may take the Squat Nimbleness feat).
Speed: 30ft.
Ability Score Increase: You may choose to increase your Charisma score and two other ability scores of your choice by one each, to increase your Charisma score by two and one other ability score of your choice by one, or to increase your Charisma score by three.
Languages: You may speak, read, and write Common and your choice of Abyssal or Infernal. You may also opt to spend 1 Balphour point to speak, read, and write all three.
Mutable Physiology: A given Balphour might have emerged from a number of possible feindoid pairings on a number of possible planes with a number of possible anatomical features and a number of possible upbringings. As such, you have 17 Balphour Points to spend on the table of features below:

• Wings. (flying speed equal to walking speed) 15pts [NOTE: you cannot fly while wearing medium or heavy armor].
• Thick skin* (resistance to choice of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Necrotic, Force, Psychic, or Thunder damage) 4pts.
• Innate Spellcasting* (choice of cantrip from the warlock spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it) 4pts.
• Exoskeleton (natural armor equal to 13+dex) 3pts.
• Claws/fangs/horns/big fists. (natural weapons. 1d4/6/8+Str damage. Choose between bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage) 1/2/3pts (+1pt if the natural weapon is one that would free up a hand, such as horns or a stinger tail).
• Educated* (proficiency in choice of any skill or tool) 2pts per skill, 1pt per tool.
• Darkvision, 30ft. 2pts.

Once you have made your selection, decide how your character’s appearance reflects it.
\ This feature may be taken multiple times, but each successive iteration costs an additional point.*

Balphour

The Balphour are fiendoids that result when two other fiendoids try to have a kid that are of incompatible parentage, such as an Abyssal tiefling and a Baatoran Tiefling, or a demon and a cambion. Highly mutable in physiology, no two Balphour look alike. One might look like a halfling-sized bat with an insectoid carapace and dragonfly wing membranes, another might look like an ape with the head of a hippo and the horns of a bull, another might look like a humanoid mantis with snake eyes, and another still might even look simply like a tiefling with three sets of horns. Stranger still, they are not true-breeding, so two conceiving Balphour will likely produce a child with the features of neither. Most Balphour women without access to divination magic don’t even learn whether their womb lays eggs or gives birth until their first pregnancy.
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium or Small. (Small Balphour may take the Squat Nimbleness feat).
Speed: 30ft.
Ability Score Increase: You may choose to increase your Charisma score and two other ability scores of your choice by one each, to increase your Charisma score by two and one other ability score of your choice by one, or to increase your Charisma score by three.
Languages: You may speak, read, and write Common and your choice of Abyssal or Infernal. You may also opt to spend 1 Balphour point to speak, read, and write all three.
Mutable Physiology: A given Balphour might have emerged from a number of possible feindoid pairings on a number of possible planes with a number of possible anatomical features and a number of possible upbringings. As such, you have 17 Balphour Points to spend on the table of features below:

• Wings. (flying speed equal to walking speed) 15pts [NOTE: you cannot fly while wearing medium or heavy armor].
• Thick skin* (resistance to choice of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Necrotic, Force, Psychic, or Thunder damage) 4pts.
• Innate Spellcasting* (choice of cantrip from the warlock spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it) 4pts.
• Exoskeleton (natural armor equal to 13+dex) 3pts.
• Claws/fangs/horns/big fists. (natural weapons. 1d4/6/8+Str damage. Choose between bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage) 1/2/3pts (+1pt if the natural weapon is one that would free up a hand, such as horns or a stinger tail).
• Educated* (proficiency in choice of any skill or tool) 2pts per skill, 1pt per tool.
• Darkvision, 30ft. 2pts.

Once you have made your selection, decide how your character’s appearance reflects it.
\ This feature may be taken multiple times, but each successive iteration costs an additional point.*

I played a tiny bit of Destiny 1 and never Destiny 2. I have been in the market for a grindy type of game with some constant progression and saw that Destiny 2 had a f2p aspect. I've been playing it a bit and having some fun and saw a couple of the older expansions are on sale and was wondering if picking up just Beyond Light and Shadowkeep would be worth it as a new player or would it be a waste of money.
I've read around how people have been critical of the constant monetization of this game and while that is a bit of a turnoff, the game so far has kept me hooked enough to not mind throwing a bit of money into it. Would I be missing out by not getting the newer expansions Witch Queen and Lightfall? The expansion system is a bit confusing since I've been reading there were expansions but then bungie deleted some content or something. I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting into here. Also, I would be playing mostly solo and relying on matchmaking since I don't have any friends who play it.