Your weapon starts of with higher damage than it allready had and is easier to level to get perks back, did not bother reading your post as it's the same irrelevant moaning allready going on, you now have a way to make your favorite exotics usable in the new hard content. The weapons are not reset they are improved then needed some work less than before nobody knows how much yet to get the perks back, if you are not doing hard content then don't bother upgrading your weapons will be just as good ass before