Started playing again last Sunday and, honestly, picked up right where I left off in December. The grind is something comforting, I think. The rewards are as satisfying as ever, and with House of Wolves right around the corner, I'm afraid I'll have my fill and then some of Destiny this spring.
Some great changes I've noticed so far are,
- you can organize all your gear and items via Bungie.net or the Destiny app, and it takes effect almost immediately.
- you can view all your faction rep and weekly mark totals in the menu now.
- the Vault's a bit bigger, mostly the weapon grid.
- you can now matchmake for weekly heroic strikes; it would be nice if they did this for Nightfalls, too.
- shotty's are now king (srsly, they rek everything) along with pulse rifles, while hand cannons and auto rifles aren't as great anymore.
Here are the patch notes for that last one.
Good, smart, welcome changes.
Alas, Crota's End is a joke now (perhaps it always was). My good clan mate and I did it by ourselves the other night, and I was only LL31. It's not glitched or anything either; done a certain way it's just very simple. Granted, you pretty much need Gjallarhorn for the second half with only two people, but with three to four, I'd reckon any tracking rocket launcher would do as well. Aesthetically and pacing-wise, it's a beautiful raid still.
Here's some concept art for the Trials of Osiris gear,

And here's art for the Celestial Nighthawk exotic helmet for Hunters,

I cannot wait for HoW to come out anymore!

You said it.