Exactly. The exotics used to actually feel exotic. They allowed them to be used in a competitive arena where not all of the participants had access to the same quality of weapons. It imbalanced the contest making nerfs necessary to level the playing field. Bungie should have known better. But, they came from a game design where all of the weapons were available and were unique for their purpose: one sniper rifle, one kind of shotgun, etc. There designers were, and continue to be, two dimensional thinkers.