All of those items still rock in the Crucible (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Friday, September 18, 2015, 14:39 (3449 days ago) @ Morpheus

Bungie's almost forcing me to get rid of my Year 1 stuff. And to be honest, I'm not up for it. I've gotten some beautiful weapons with some amazing lucky perks, and I don't want to give that up. Especially for Blues with "critical health" perks as their only bonus. I haven't gotten any Legendary items yet--I have so many quests now I can't even keep them straight--but here's my problems:

1. These new weapons peeling out--they DO have higher light and whatnot, but they still behave like their Year 1 counterparts: One perk or less, low stats on a most of their qualities, and near worthless dismantles. So they're still awesome, but they still suck. I'm getting rid of a Blue or Green that dwarfs my Legendaries/Exotics, but I'm still getting literally just one Weapon Part/Armor Piece. It's confusing and taking my brain for a loop.

2. This new Light system isn't as awesome as people think. Having high Light levels is great, but the main problem is that's with a near-genetic level of specifics in order to make that work. To get Light level X, you HAVE to have this exact weapon on, despite its useless perk in a certain situation; you HAVE to wear this exact armor, despite it drastically lowering your Intellect and Strength. You HAVE to be using this exact Ghost, even though it's detecting Spinmetal...on the Dreadnaught. You HAVE to wear this exact class item, even though it's ugly as all unholy hot garbage pizza hole.

Armor may have been a more unflinching compromise in Year 1--with Etheric Light and all, you may have had to sacrifice your personal preference in appearance for the power you needed to make it through a Prison or a Nightfall more easily, but in terms of weapons, you were free to make whatever choices you wanted. You could go into Crota's End with a Bad Juju and a Hunger of Crota, or a Fatebringer/Gjallarhorn, or whatever combo you felt comfortable with and it didn't matter because you were level Thirty-X; regardless of what your armor held, your weapons still did damage independently. Now you HAVE to go into battle with this extremely specific weapon, armor, and even personalizaton set just so you can be strong enough for this and that.

3. And finally, floodgates. Again, I don't want to get rid of (most of) my Year 1 weapons. They're great, they're special, they're rare, and not to be selfish, but they're mine. But I am getting non-stop engrams and pieces from everywhere--again, all greens and blues. How I'd love for something like this beforehand--where I could actually throw something away. But now, they're all stronger than everything I've got! And it's forcing me to keep more and more of the Year Two items in order to finish quests and missions! Which of course, immediately puts my space at jeopardy. Every time--and I say this without exaggeration--literally every time I do a new mission or quest or even a Dreadnaught Patrol--I come back home and my Postmaster is overflowing! Drowning in engrams and blues I can't pick up because of all the OTHER blues and engrams I already picked up out in space--again, the most common Y2 low level stuff is making my Y1 treasures falling to their knees. Right now I have an Axiom Coven--the green boot--with not a single perk--easily outclassing my maxed out Deathsinger's Herald--Heavy Weapon Ammo and Swordbearer's Touch. So I have to put more of my Legendaries in the Vault, and delete any Blues that aren't a single light level higher. And I don't have room for all that! I was fighting against some Taken earlier today, and right in the middle of shooting, I said "And my Fatebringer's in the Vault." So I'm shooting with this Blue Auto Rifle and my 2nd favorite primary weapon is gathering dust. And I can't sit still while waiting for my companion app to STILL load, so I'm in a quandary.

Is getting rid of everything I've grown to love and excel with the only way to improve?

Don't trash them yet; your perfect perk and feel weapons are just as effective in the crucible as they ever were. The armor is *almost* as effective (because of lower stat values on them and the fact that you will eventually reach level 40 and want the higher stat armors).

As for your points with regards to PvE:

1) You will be replacing gear at a prodigious rate as you level up and explore TTK. Don't fret. Also, for the main TTK story, everything is such low level for most of it that your year 1 weapons are still the superior option as far as what to use. That being said, please be sure to always keep your highest light level gear handy to equip as you decrypt engrams (I'm going to post a how-to guide elsewhere).

2) The new light system doesn't actually work that way at all, I'm happy to report. If you have legendary armor X - which you love - with light 255 on it, but get a new rare armor Y - which kinda sucks balls - with light 264 on it, you can imbue your legendary armor with the new armor (consuming the new armor and a small number of materials in the process) to raise the light level on your old armor, keeping it relevant. Yes, your year 1 armors are no longer good for endgame PvE. Frankly, that's how progression works in any game. There are items aplenty for you to get that have equally interesting perks, better stats, and cool art, so don't panic.

3) As I mentioned above, your crucible favorite weapons are still valuable. For PvE, your light 170 weapons are great through the story missions. The exotics still perform really well (I'm now light 261 and still use my 170 icebreaker fairly often). Obviously if you do the "abandoned quests" those are all from years 1 and 2, so your old weapons and armor are fully effective. For the new endgame content, you'll want higher light level items, but there's enough leeway that you can totally get away with using a lower light level weapon in one slot. Remember, it's not the value of that single weapon that determines its effectiveness anymore, but rather your personal light level. If all of your gear is 260 and you want to equip a 170 fatebringer, it may knock you down to, say 256 total light. Slightly lower, but not at all ineffective.

You don't need to get rid of everything in order to improve, but you also will need to cull the herd a little. Don't be a hoarder - you can always buy back ships, shaders, and emblems for free, and year 1 exotics are pretty cheap to buy as well. The legendaries will, most likely, be replaced down the line, but I'd hang on to the ones you like until you find a new one you like just as much.