Everyone that says they have "earned" their weapons and armor, what is "earning it"? Is it getting lucky by RNGesus, like by the nightfall, engrams, or chest drops? Or is it grinding your ass off in the weekly heroic every week for those coins to exchange to Xúr, or grinding that rep in Iron Banner?
In my own opinion, I think its based more off of grinding it. There is no real earning accomplishment unless you grinded for it.
[spoiler]For example, before the dlc rolled out, I got my lv 30 because of Iron Banner's lv 30 armor. I got kicked from a hard VoG because someone said I took the easy way. But was that entire weeks worth of grinding [b]really[/b] the [b]easy[/b] way?[/spoiler]
Edit: Just because you bought the game doesn't mean you deserve every item in the game immediately, so buying the game is not earning your gear in the game. Sorry
Edit 2: Forgot about exotic bounties, but that would go under Xúr and iron banner because you work towards a specific goal.
-
earn [ ərn ] VERB verb: earn · third person present: earns · past tense: earned · past participle: earned · present participle: earning (of a person) obtain (money) in return for labor or services: "they earn $35 per hour" synonyms: be paid · take home · More (of an activity or action) cause (someone) to obtain (money): "this latest win earned them $50,000 in prize money" (of capital invested) gain (money) as interest or profit.[b][u] gain or incur deservedly in return for one's behavior or achievements:[/b][/u] "through the years she has earned affection and esteem" synonyms: deserve · merit · More antonyms: lose