Hot Topic: Destiny's Year 1 Exotics

To begin with, Exotic weapons were supposed to be permanent. They were the unique weapons that you took with you even when other weapons were no longer useful. In The Dark Below, you upgraded your old Exotics at the expense of having to level them again. In House of Wolves, you directly ascended them to the maximum level. But they also made it possible to ascend all legendary weapons as well, which muddied the waters a bit since players expected that to be the new standard.

Now we've had multiple announcements about The Taken King, which somewhat contradict each other. First, the weapon rebalance is going to change how certain exotics work; Some will be more powerful and some will be less powerful. People grumbled about Gjallarhorn and Icebreaker, but everything they were doing made sense. Permanent weapons need to stay competitive without being the only viable choice. Then, they announced that there would be no ascension system for current legendary weapons, so we wouldn't be taking any of those into the new content. Again, some people were upset at losing Fatebringer, but there are over a hundred legendary weapons in Destiny, they can't keep balancing for each one of them. At some point they have to wipe the slate clean. And this is a clear divide: Exotics stay with us, Legendaries get replaced. So far we're all on the same page, right?

But then we had last week's stream where they showed a new system for Exotic weapons. Now Exotics go into a kiosk, just like shaders and emblems. So you can still have access to all your exotics without taking up vault space. Except not really, because some exotics aren't being upgraded for year 2. Or maybe they're not being upgraded right away but eventually will be? And some the ones that aren't being upgraded are weapons that were being rebalanced, so why rebalance them if they won't be brought forward?

There are lots of things that Bungie could do. They could redesign or rebalance some exotics to keep them relevant without being overpowered. Or maybe, if they don't want to support certain weapons anymore they could remove them from the game entirely. They could do all sorts of things and that would be totally fine, because every expansion so far has introduced a new progression system of some sort. But the difference is that whenever they've introduced a new system, they've been clear and consistent about how it works, and why it works that way. I can't say I understand how or why they've made the system they've made in The Taken King, and that's the real problem we have.

So here's what I want to know, and I'm sure lots of you want to know the same things that I do:

  • Why are some exotics from Year 1 upgradeable and others aren't?

  • What exotics are upgradeable and what exotics aren't?

  • Why, specifically, are those exotics not upgradeable?

  • Why are un-upgradeable exotics being balanced/nerfed/buffed in the balance update if they won't be relevant in the new content anyway?

  • Are the un-upgradeable exotics intended to still be used in PvE content?

  • Why are the un-upgradeable exotics not just removed from the game entirely?

And to be clear, I'm not trying to take shots at the developers and I'm not trying to catch them out or force them to let me keep my Gjallarhorn. I'm asking because the mixed messages we've gotten over the last few weeks mean that Bungie's philosophy on Exotic weapons is no longer clear. People in the community have alot of conflicting ideas over what Exotics are and that needs to be cleared up before the expansion launches.

/r/DestinyTheGame Thread