[2019] Let's have an honest talk about what's *really* the problem with the raid, and why there's an overwhelming constituency of unhappy people with it.

Let me be blunt, I really like this game. Love it to death. But not in one of those blind fanboy "the game is perfect" scenarios....more like "yeah she's got weird hips and a lazy eye, but damn it that's my girlfriend" kind of ways.....

And under this scrutiny, I've found myself wondering why there's so much of a base of negativity surrounding the raid, and at it's most pure and simple core i think I know what the real problem is in this game. It's not matchmaking for the raid, it's not buggy AI, or talents not being powerful enough. It's not PvP being bad, or the Dark Zones needing to be bigger, or any of the normal sh*t you keep seeing in this Reddit community....it's loot. Or more specifically, the complete and lack of any semblance of control or ability to plan or do anything in regards to it.....let me explain...

In almost every looter there's some kind of RNG / grind mechanism at play....its how the game works. But in almost all of those games, despite being at the mercy of that RNG and hoping something drops, there's a means to at least pick a direction and head to it....in WoW, certain loot dropped in certain dungeons & raids, in Destiny certain weapons required long and tedious grind quests, etc.....and although these methods aren't all that fun, it gives the player at least the slightest sense of purpose....

....Division does not. Believe me when I tell you that after literally over 800 hours into this game, I at no point have felt like I had any agency in the builds I've created....not only is everything seemingly infinitely random no matter what I'm doing, theres layers upon layers of other seemingly infinitely random rolls on top of my drops....I have the same odds of finding my 15% weapon damage red roll on my chest piece as I do being struck by lightning whilst being kicked in the head by a one legged Emu in the middle of a helicopter crash....(still love the game, but let's call it what it is.)

...this disconnect affects every facet of the game, as players continually bang their heads against the walls chasing builds they see other people running while simultaneously ignoring the ugly truth they've got the better odds of winning the lottery before they gather all the right pieces before the meta shifts again....in this game it boils down to whether you're lucky or not, and not whether you've put the time in, or if you outplayed someone alot of the time...

We need more control of what the hell we're doing and what we're building, and not a slot machine simulator. And I genuinely believe if that gets fixed, alot of the complaints would go away as a side effect.

Sorry to be so long winded, just wanted to put it out there and see if anyone feels the same.

Edit* appreciate the support with the silver and gold, it's good to see all the creative ideas popping in here.