Everything about the upgrade system this time around is perfect, except it's availability bias. - too readily available from trials (unavailable if you can't play weekends or don't use LFG.) - too inconsistent from PoE (some weeks look to be extremely easy, some weeks a massive slog without RNG gear, like the Horn.) - currently only dropping as a very rare reward from the nightfall (1 from 6 only obtained from 25% of players in the poll I put up a few days ago.) Most people I know who have had the time to play ToO are sitting on 10-20 etheric. Unless Comet is going to make them purchasable, or negate the need for them to upgrade gear/use pre-Comet gear, then we're going to end up with a massive gap between the haves and the have-nots. Not healthy for the future balancing of content. Thoughts? Edit: a few people have suggested that Bungie have kept etheric's drop rate low from the Nightfall, in an attempt to force people who haven't bought HoW to buy the DLC. If this is the case and the motivation, simply remove etheric from the non-DLC loot table. Why should people who aren't prepare to support the game expect to be able to develop their character beyond the limits of the content that they've paid for, anyway? The only place this will affect them is in the Banner, and that would be their choice, thus their problem. They'll be able to do everything else available to them with the gear that they have. It seems wrong to penalize people who are supporting the game, just to spite people who aren't.