Not to continue to be negative (seriously, I am loving Forsaken! Having an absolute blast!), but I can't wrap my head around this.

It seems like a pretty common complaint is that Destiny 2 doesn't have enough gear variety. Knowing that, why would they willingly leave all of the old armor behind and effectively remove half the total armor sets in the game from relevance? Why didn't they just add random rolls to the old sets and add them to the relevant loot pools? Why didn't they add random rolls to the the planetary vendor gear so there would actually be a reason to turn in planetary materials? I would totally chase a new EDZ set with random rolls for my Titan, and a new Titan set for my Hunter.

They could have kept the seasonal ornaments locked away for the folks that earned them during the appropriate season (and let them be applied to new drops of the base armor with random rolls).

It seems like it would have been a really easy way to basically double the amount of relevant gear for Forsaken without actually having to design and model new sets.

My guess would be... because they were busy elsewhere? Two new Destinations of significant size and scope, for starters. And then, even on the armor and weapons fronts I can count quite a few new set. Off the top of my head I get this for new armor sets:

Tangled Shore set
Scorn set
New Vanguard set
New Crucible set
Prodigal / Dreaming City set
Reverie Dawn / Dreaming City set
New Iron Banner set
Gambit set
(And maybe a Raid set?)

Weapons might be a bit more limited (and I probably don't have as good a handle on what's available) but I can count:

Tangled Shore set
Awoken set
New Vanguard set
New Crucible set
Gambit set
(And maybe a Raid set?)

I hear you on wishing there was even more... I miss the D1 days where every expansion meant the vendors got new gear and I got to read new sets of weapon descriptions... but I think an actual counting would probably yield a lot more weapon and armor than we at first realize got put in. Given that for a long time D1's new guns were mostly reskins of old guns with the perks remixed... I would even hazard a guess that Forsaken brought more actually new items than any other expansion since Destiny 1's launch.

That, and there's nothing wrong with using Year 1 guns and armor. Sure, it mean missing out on little bumps to various things, but... for instance... I really like the combo of my ACD/0 Feedback Fence and my similarly Rasputin themed Midnight Exigent Greaves. The only reason I'm using Go Figure instead of my classic Eystein-D is because Go Figure's base stats are significantly better in multiple categories.

Also, keep in mind that the next DLC is the Black Armory and is all about adding new weapons to the D2 sandbox. We're getting both whatever fancy weapons the new group provides us, but we're also getting Heavy Machine Guns back. And they already all but straight up said Thunderlord is returning with that quick tease of it being reloaded.

All in all, the longer I thought about it, the more sure I became that we probably got more with this release than any other in Destiny's history.

(Now... me and Zavala need to have a talk about him handing out a set of Mobility armor. You are a Titan. Go back to heavy armor! :p)

[snip]

I hear you on wishing there was even more... I miss the D1 days where every expansion meant the vendors got new gear and I got to read new sets of weapon descriptions... but I think an actual counting would probably yield a lot more weapon and armor than we at first realize got put in. Given that for a long time D1's new guns were mostly reskins of old guns with the perks remixed... I would even hazard a guess that Forsaken brought more actually new items than any other expansion since Destiny 1's launch.

At least some of it is recycled from D1, though.

For instance, the Prodigal Cloak (D2, Forsaken) is the same as the Red Eclipse Cloak (D1).

https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/DestinyInventoryItemDefinition/1693706589

http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Eclipse_Cloak_(Year_1)

The Tangled Shore set is literally just the old Prison of Elders set. The new Vanguard set is mostly just the Mercury set.

I don’t disagree Raga, that this is probably the most gear added in a single expansion. That’s great! But keeping old sets relevant by adding random rolls would be even better! It feels like a no-brainer, especially for a game that always has the complaint of not enough gear. They could have easily doubled the amount of relevant armor by adding random rolls to old sets.

I’m not complaining so much as just trying to understand. What happened to expansions being completely additive, rather than leaving large parts of the base game behind? We’re certainly in a better place than what happened to Y1 gear in Destiny 1, but still.

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The Tangled Shore set is literally just the old Prison of Elders set. The new Vanguard set is mostly just the Mercury set.

I don’t disagree Raga, that this is probably the most gear added in a single expansion. That’s great! But keeping old sets relevant by adding random rolls would be even better! It feels like a no-brainer, especially for a game that always has the complaint of not enough gear. They could have easily doubled the amount of relevant armor by adding random rolls to old sets.

I’m not complaining so much as just trying to understand. What happened to expansions being completely additive, rather than leaving large parts of the base game behind? We’re certainly in a better place than what happened to Y1 gear in Destiny 1, but still.

Maybe It's just me, but I thought all of the destination sets still exist. I was grabbing stuff from Sloan on Titan and I'm pretty sure she was dropping her original set. I never checked it cause I think that that set looks like trash on my titan, so I can't confirm :D

The Tangled Shore set is literally just the old Prison of Elders set. The new Vanguard set is mostly just the Mercury set.

I don’t disagree Raga, that this is probably the most gear added in a single expansion. That’s great! But keeping old sets relevant by adding random rolls would be even better! It feels like a no-brainer, especially for a game that always has the complaint of not enough gear. They could have easily doubled the amount of relevant armor by adding random rolls to old sets.

I’m not complaining so much as just trying to understand. What happened to expansions being completely additive, rather than leaving large parts of the base game behind? We’re certainly in a better place than what happened to Y1 gear in Destiny 1, but still.

Maybe It's just me, but I thought all of the destination sets still exist. I was grabbing stuff from Sloan on Titan and I'm pretty sure she was dropping her original set. I never checked it cause I think that that set looks like trash on my titan, so I can't confirm :D

They do. They just don’t have perks, so why would anyone use them?

The Tangled Shore set is literally just the old Prison of Elders set. The new Vanguard set is mostly just the Mercury set.

I don’t disagree Raga, that this is probably the most gear added in a single expansion. That’s great! But keeping old sets relevant by adding random rolls would be even better! It feels like a no-brainer, especially for a game that always has the complaint of not enough gear. They could have easily doubled the amount of relevant armor by adding random rolls to old sets.

I’m not complaining so much as just trying to understand. What happened to expansions being completely additive, rather than leaving large parts of the base game behind? We’re certainly in a better place than what happened to Y1 gear in Destiny 1, but still.

Maybe It's just me, but I thought all of the destination sets still exist. I was grabbing stuff from Sloan on Titan and I'm pretty sure she was dropping her original set. I never checked it cause I think that that set looks like trash on my titan, so I can't confirm :D

They do. They just don’t have perks, so why would anyone use them?

Yeah, I never checked. That's odd they didn't at least add rolls to them. Unless this expansion is a line in the sand for future things coming out. Making sure to deprecate the old stuff.

Yeah, I never checked. That's odd they didn't at least add rolls to them. Unless this expansion is a line in the sand for future things coming out. Making sure to deprecate the old stuff.

It seems like it is. But why? This is a game that has complaints about not enough gear since day one. I can see not bringing every gun forward—maybe adding random rolls and making sure those work with the base stats of every gun would be a lot of work. But adding rolls to old armor and keeping it all in the loot pool seems like a no-brainer.

Yeah, I never checked. That's odd they didn't at least add rolls to them. Unless this expansion is a line in the sand for future things coming out. Making sure to deprecate the old stuff.

It seems like it is. But why? This is a game that has complaints about not enough gear since day one.

Has it? I've never had a problem with it. I mean, sure more is better (sometimes), but I don't feel like it's bringing the game down.

I can see not bringing every gun forward—maybe adding random rolls and making sure those work with the base stats of every gun would be a lot of work. But adding rolls to old armor and keeping it all in the loot pool seems like a no-brainer.

I mean, to me there are two kinds of armor
1. armor that has custom perks on them (raid stuff)
2. armor that has set perks

For the first stuff, they don't need random perks and if you want to use those perks they are usually specific to an activity that is already low light at this point where you don't need to bring them forward.

the second stuff is doesn't need to be brought forward to give people more options in being powerful, because they will just have the same perk rolls as the current forsaken armor. It's really about how you want to look like. And the only reason I can see in Bungie making some looks obsolete is that they really want you to check out the new stuff or they will be adding more destination armor.