Edit: So apparently we missed all the posts asking for gear not to ascend. [quote]“I definitely feel like some of our players are ready to play with some new toys,” says creative director Luke Smith. “And we’ve built a whole bunch of new toys. There are definitely some weapons that you are going to find better versions of – there’s going to be something that replaces that sniper rifle that you love.” -Luke Smith [/quote] I can't believe they let this dude speak still. ---op--- So we've had a very good discussion on the possibility of weapons not ascending in TTK, but one particular comment by @Hektik struck me because they're right, in other mmo's you constantly leave gear behind. [spoiler] post referenced https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/138424186/0/0 [/spoiler] It forced me to evaluate exactly why it didn't bother me in years playing WoW, GW2, Rift, etc, but does in Destiny. I'm just going to paste the actual conversation below and would like to know what other WoW/mmorpg players think of my assessment and how you feel Destiny compares/differs as a FPS/mmo hybrid. Thank you. [quote][quote][b]@Hektik:[/b] For once I'm in disagreement. Perhaps EQ, DAoC, and WoW has conditioned me to being used to leaving weapons and gear behind. Ultimately I want new toys. I don't want to chase those new toys 3 days before they're useless tho. I think that a lot of people's unwillingness to drop their fatebringers(just an example) is because it tool them 5+ months to get them. Year 2 gear cannot be so "hard" to get or else they're going to continue to condition players that their gear is worth more than progression. I'm okay with leaving [u]legendaries[/u] behind as long as time spend obtaining items is balanced with rate of item potency decay. Year one clearly did not do that properly.[/quote] [b]@Lost Sols: [/b]I see where you're coming from, but there is one significant and intimate factor you're leaving out. I played WoW for seven years and so I understand out with the old and in with the new, but the difference comes it that WoW's weapons are essentially just stat sticks. Sure Hunters have Guns and Bows, but you aren't looking down sights and having to aim, you aren't dealing with recoil, you don't have differing rates of fire and you're not pulling a trigger. In Destiny, because it's a FPS, our weapons are actual weapons. We're not hitting an action bar and waiting for a GCD. They're very intimate and even a slight nuance change from one to another can be enough to make them perfect or unusable for us. That is why I disagree completely with constantly having to leave weapons behind. I stated elsewhere that I've been dead consistent at 1.4 k/d across 5 characters since launch using random stat weapons. Since being able to reforge weapons to fit exactly how I like to play, I'm over 2.0 I'm doing nothing different and the weapons aren't any better stat wise, it's just those tiny nuances and the feeling of being comfortable with the feel of a weapon that make all the difference in a FPS. Appreciate your point of view completely, and armor is a different beast. Just weapons work differently for me and I don't want to exchange something perfect for better stats/worse feel.[/quote] ---Edit--- The thing with Destiny is what do you compare it to? I know I've never played anything like it's aspiring to be. Honestly I think if it was just PvE content it wouldn't make that much difference to constantly upgrade. The game changer with Destiny is using our own weapons in the Crucible. That's what makes giving them up hard to deal with. I'll use anything in PvE because it's not a competition. But when wins and losses are on the line, I want a weapon I know I can succeed with. I would argue that the single most defining decision they made in designing this game was that decision to let us use our own gear in PvP and it's been their biggest obstacle as well because they haven't thought through the full ramifications of how that would work; both in weapon balance and progression. Anyway, my two cents. Thank you again. Edit 2: From a reply below, just more detail [quote]Something another Guardian pointed out too in a separate post is that in other MMOs like WoW, etc your weapons are actually the abilities in your talent tree and your "weapon" just increases their attack value as does armor and trinkets. On the whole point of "feel" (and I'd love other opinions on this), I never found a single HoW Fusion Rifle that felt the same as my Plug One. Plug One feels like it has more weight to it and feels much smoother to aim and fire. The HoW FRs all felt not just weak in comparison, but it's weird but they almost felt "toyish" in comparison. Another great example is my 3 current Scouts NA3D1 Salvation State Hygiea Noblesse Zero Point LOTP They all have the same RoF/Impact so in theory, you'd think they'd feel pretty much the same and Zero Point would be the best because of the larger magazine. It's not the case. NA3D1 is my favorite followed by Hygiea, because they all feel slightly different. Zero Point just has a looser feel to me that I don't like and it's a little thing, but I hated Zero Point in PvP and NA3D1 is my favorite PvP weapon ever. This is why I'm not a fan of what they're about to do. They can tell me the weapons will be more powerful, but if they handle even slightly worse, it can be the difference between kill or be killed in the Crucible. Anyway, thank you for your feedback and perspective on it too. Guess we can just hope the upgrade system somehow let's us preserve the essence of our old weapons.[/quote]