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Despite launching only about three months ago, it feels like we've been discussing Destiny for an eternity. Bungie's sci-fi shooter divided opinion from the word go, and, whether it's because of heightened expectations or general trust in a proven developer, we're still ranting and raving about what's right and what's wrong with the blockbuster.

With the light statistic, you're forced to take a few steps backwards before you can inch forward

However, with the release of the title's first expansion, The Dark Below, I've never been so sure of what I believe is Destiny's biggest flaw: its progression system. Since the launch of the DLC, Bungie has had to rework several elements of the system, tweaking it so that exotic tier weapons and armour can be boosted to suit the new level cap, and almost completely changing the way that most higher level players obtain better gear by removing rewards from Strikes that we've all been playing for months.

But let's start with the basics. The core of the game's progression rests with the fact that after level 20 – and likely after you've seen out the title's lacklustre story – you'll need to find and equip armour that has a 'light' statistic. It's a reasonable system at its base level, because it means that the endgame relies upon the collection of better and better loot – an objective that's designed to keep you playing, and with Destiny's slick combat mechanics, this should be a reliably fun and addictive experience.

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Except Bungie has taken this concept to its extreme, in the sense that continuing to grow your Guardian requires a ridiculous amount of time and effort. The rate that loot drops is one thing – it can be hours upon hours before you find even a single piece of gear that's worth your attention – but it's the fact that with the light statistic, you're forced to take a few steps backwards before you can inch forward.

Instead of a consistently rewarding, upward curve of progression, you're constantly jumping back and forth to gain very gradual boosts in power

Look at it this way: you've just acquired a legendary helmet that perfectly suits your needs. It lowers your grenade cool down time, and it looks rather cool. Your current helmet – which has a higher armour rating – has been fully upgraded, thanks to all the time that you've spent grinding for precious upgrade materials. However, this new helmet boasts a higher maximum armour rating and maximum light, meaning that if you were to spend yet more time collecting materials, you'd eventually end up with a better bit of gear, and you'd have a higher light level to boot.

The thing is, though, that equipping this fresh helmet means that until you boost its properties by upgrading, your all important light level will take a drop, weakening your Guardian considerably – especially if you're tackling tough activities like raids. Put simply, Destiny forces you to temporarily weaken yourself in order to become stronger later on, and this is at the crux of what's wrong with the game's character progression. Instead of a consistently rewarding, upward curve of progression like you'd find in a game such as Borderlands or Diablo III, you're constantly jumping back and forth in order to gain very gradual boosts in power.

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And this is where The Dark Below comes into it. With the expansion, Bungie had to beef up existing exotic equipment so that it wasn't rendered obsolete by gear designed to break through the level cap. So how did the studio go about doing this? Well, you need to grab all the exotic stuff that you want to upgrade, haul it to Xur – a vendor character who only appears at the end of every week – use a vast amount of in-game currency to replace your desired item with its boosted version, and then – you guessed it – upgrade it all over again.

Destiny promises so much, and then proceeds to pull back the curtain on a grindfest that's as awkward as it is unrewarding

It's a grind that's pushed me away from the shooter for the foreseeable future, because the rewards for trudging through such a mundane but absolutely vital endgame process just aren't there. But all of this raises the question: why is Destiny built this way in the first place? Why not just shower players in loot like other titles that focus on character progression?

Well, for one, Destiny's competitive multiplayer offering automatically puts a limit on how randomised the game's loot can be, because it needs to find a balance. That said, the extra work needed to competitively cap every piece of armour and every weapon would probably be worth it. After all, imagine a Destiny where at almost every turn you're presented with a slew of new bits and pieces to sort through. It sounds good to me.

The other reason for the lack of loot is a slightly more sinister one. Frankly, Destiny just doesn't have much content, and through the need to upgrade gear in the most tedious manner and replay the same time consuming activities over and over again, Bungie is able to stretch out its somewhat shallow creation to a ridiculous extent. And, for many, including myself, the simple promise of shiny new loot and a great looking avatar has been just enough to keep pulling us back in.

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But there's no escaping the feeling that the shooter's system is just horribly messy. There's a sense that you're never quite sure if you're moving forward, as you appear to make the tiniest of productive steps every time that you spend dozens of hours playing. When you're still collecting experience points before you reach the infamous level 20, Destiny promises so much, and then proceeds to pull back the curtain on a grindfest that's as awkward as it is unrewarding.

Destiny's foundation needs reworking before it brings the rest of the game down around it, but I worry that Bungie has already started walking down its own blinkered path

If Bungie continues to pump out expensive DLC that ups the level cap and forces it to make yet more changes to a system that was already flawed, I don't want to think where this may end up. For newcomers, the grind to having a top tier character must seem like a near impossible task, and for those who haven't purchased the expansion, well, you're just going to have to wait your turn to play rotation content that you've been enjoying since the title launched.

Now, I understand how easy it is to take a shot at Destiny. It's not hard to look at a release that isn't quite an MMO or an RPG, and point and laugh at its myriad flaws that smack of a developer that isn't quite up to speed with the genres. But since the launch of The Dark Below, there's a real worry that the title's already wonky progression system is starting to spiral out of control to the point where people are having to look up online guides in order to work out how the heck it even works on a fundamental level.

On that basis, the ten year lifespan that the developer is so fond of emphasising seems like an absolute joke, and the only way that it'll come to fruition is if players continue to support a title that forces unnecessary limitations upon them, such as the weekly caps on currency that's needed to purchase the equipment those without The Dark Below now rely upon. Destiny's foundation needs reworking before it brings the rest of the game down around it, but I worry that Bungie has already started walking down its own blinkered path.

Do you agree with Robert’s thoughts on Destiny, or has the grind gotten to his head? Pray to the loot gods in the comments section below.