The Etheric Light system had three major problems, from Bungie's perspective. 1. It was its own reward. 2. It automatically raised attack to the new max. 3. It was too easy to get. This made it easier to upgrade our old arsenal than go through the trouble of finding new guns. Outside of a few instances, exchanging an MG for a BTRD or an old pulse for a Messenger or Hopscotch, it didn’t make sense to go after new weapons. The [b]Infusion[/b] system fixes two of the major flaws, and possibly the third.[spoiler] 1. It’s no longer a stand alone item. Now, you have to find a weapon with an attack value higher than the one you want improve in order to do so. [quote]For Bungie’s example of the new system, they infused a legendary weapon at 280 attack with a rare weapon at 290 attack. This resulted in the 280 being increased to 288. It remains to be seen what the new max attack is, or if infusing a weapon with a larger gap between the two affects the increase in attack, although that seems reasonable.[/quote]2. As seen above, it no longer raises the weapon straight to the new max, in fact it doesn’t even raise it to the sacrificed weapons attack value. This is important, because it means there’s less motivation to raise the lower weapon, as opposed to just using the weapon with the higher attack value. 3. It remains to be seen whether its too easy to raise weapons or not, but let me explain why i think that this too has been solved. Scenario: [quote]1. Lets say a 280 attack value is the new minimum for legendary weapons. 2. Lets also say that the new max possible attack value is 400. The question that we don’t know the answer to yet, is how often we will come across weapons that will be more powerful than what we have. My theory is that as you approach the maximum attack value, weapons to sacrifice for infusion will become ever more scarce, and the weapons themselves will be powerful and desirable.[/quote][/spoiler] So it appears that the [b]Infusion[/b] system fixes most if not all of what the [b]Etheric[/b] system got wrong. This begs the question, “Why isn’t it on Y1 weapons?” The obvious answer is that they want us to use new weapons. There are a few other reasons, I’m sure, but rather than go into those, I’m going to explain [b]why[/b] it should be on Y1 weapons and [b]how[/b] to implement it. They’ll be separate, so if you’re already of the same mind as me on the why, you can skip it, or if you disagree with me on the why, and care to hear my argument for it, you can do so. The why goes back to Destiny’s very own mantra. [spoiler][b]Become Legend.[/b] I want to. That’s what i signed up for. However, if the trend Bungie has started continues, when I get to year 10, DLC24, and finally finish my campaign as a guardian, my arsenal will be made up of only DLC24 weapons, and it will look like every other guardian out there. That’s not becoming legend, that’s becoming [b]cookie cutter.[/b] Yes this is ‘snowflake syndrome’ as the community has taken to calling it. What I want to know is when wanting to distinguishing yourself became a bad thing? When did everyone become okay with being the same as the person next to them? It’s not about being better, it’s about being different. There’s the scenario above, where everyone gets to DLC24 and is using a DLC24 arsenal. Everyone will gravitate to the most powerful weapons like they have previously. Thorn/Matador/AshFactory or Fatebringer/BlackHammer/Gjallarhorn will happen again with new guns. There will always be “the best option” in the game. [b]OR[/b] There is the scenario where we get to bring our old weapons along. People will still gravitate to the best weapons. However in this case, picking your PvE loadout, you choose between Fatebringer, that amazing Pulse you love from DLC 13, or the new weapon type from DLC19, and you don’t even have Blackhammer anymore, but you’ve got a new favorite sniper, or maybe a shotgun, and that awesome raid sidearm from DLC17. But thats just your choices. Maybe your buddy got the handcannon from DLC6 and dismantled his Fatebringer, but he held onto his Blackhammer for old times sake. The point is that if we [b]don’t[/b] get to bring our old weapons along, we’ll all end up using the same stuff. Yeah you might be using the newest New Monarchy Auto, and I’m using the newest Dead Orbit Handcannon, but when a new player joins destiny for the first time, and they see us, it’ll take them 2 seconds to figure out where to get that stuff, and 2-3 days to get it themselves. But if I’m standing there with my VenationIII and you’re standing there with your VanquisherVIII, and he asks us where we got em, and we can say we dragged them along with us through every DLC since the game first came out, then my legend will be different from yours. My Legend will be my own.[/spoiler]The how is a small tweak to the existing Infusion system. [spoiler]IMO the main problem with Etheric Light was it was too common, and raised you up to max too fast. Bungie has already shown that the Y1 max of 365 is going to be equivalent to an attack of 160 in the new system. Earlier I made the assumption that the new [b]minimum[/b] attack value would be 280. Whether this is true or not doesn’t really matter, because Bungie said that almost immediately we’d be finding blues, maybe even greens that were better than our maxed out arsenal. So either way, you could immediately start infusing old weapons because I'm sure it won't be long before our first legendary reward, if they had the option. However, for the sake of my example, lets say the new minimum is 280. Lets also assume that what happened during the stream Infusion is the new rule, so you only get 80% of the difference in attack between the sacrificed item and the item receiving the infusion. If you were to infuse and old weapon with the first you got at the new minimum:[quote]Infusing a 160 attack weapon with a 280 attack weapon. 280-160=120........120*.8=96.......160+96=256[/quote] That’s a pretty crazy power boost right off the bat. It would just be way too easy to once again, keep our old arsenal, and just keep feeding them purples until they’re as good as new weapons. Bungie's rules for Infusion thus far are this: 1. Dismantled gear must be unlocked(the mechanic that stops accidental dismantling) 2. Must be not currently equipped 3. The same year 4. Same gear slot(primary to primary) 5. "Similar" quality (this could be an awkward wording for "same" quality, or it could mean you can use the quality above or below(e.g. you can use blues, purps, or golds on a purp, but only purps and other golds on a gold) 6. Higher level(attack) So my suggestion(s) is that infusing Y1 weapons has a few different rules. If Bungie were to implement this, then come Y3 or even DLC4 all previous weapons would have to be upgraded like this. 1. Infusing a older weapon with a new one must be done by a professional. The gunsmith. *Caesarlz suggested it requires a high level with the gunsmith* Deej does it on the fly in TTK reveal stream. It’s too complicated for our guardians to fuse new and old tech. 1b. A high level does one important thing. it delays our infusing of old weapons, and makes us use new ones while we level him up. 2. Infusions on old weapons need similar parts. The gunsmith is good, but he’s not magic. What do you expect him to do to your auto rifle with this hand cannon?(this is more of a change to rule 4) 3. Benefits are limited. As I said before, the process puts a lot of strain on the guns being used. Some of the energy is lost during the infusion. Only 40%(assuming it’s 80% normally) of the difference in attack values is added to old weapons. Obviously Bungie's 3rd rule would have to be removed, however, this could be a permanent solution, so the rule could just stay out. I think these three things would be enough to deter people from bring all but their favorites with them. It would require at least double the effort, if not much more, of just infusing a Y2 weapon, which is already much more work than just using weapons you find with higher attack values.[/spoiler]Edit: I made this post regarding legendaries, but after quite a few comments about how it would work for exotics, here's my proposition. [spoiler]Exotics would fall under a few similar rules. 1. Needs to be done by a professional. The gunsmith for weapons. Exotic armors must be done by the vanguard leader associated with that class. 2. The process they use for infusion on old exotics is so volatile, it doesn't matter if you're using a hand cannon to infuse a sniper rifle or vice versa. Still has to be weapon to weapon, or armor to armor. 3. Requires an Exotic shard as a catalyst. Process can't infuse directly into the new exotic, need the shard as a midpoint. 4. Same as with old legendaries, only a 40% gain(assuming that it's normally 80%)[/spoiler]Edit2: On the topic of legendary armor, I think this could once and for all be solved by the addition of vanity slots.[spoiler]For those who don't know, vanity slots would work something like this: You equip that new Warlock robe that gives the buff against solar damage or whatever, you know the one we saw on the stream. You equip this like you would equip any other piece. Then, in you vanity slot you'd equip the VoG Warlock chest piece. It doesn't matter what stats or perks the VoG chest piece has, none of that applies if it's equipped in the vanity slot. You just get the appearance of wearing the VoG chest piece, while you get the stats from the Solar armor thingy from the stream. For balancing purposes I think using an exotic would override the vanity slot, so you couldn't hide your exotic in crucible. [/spoiler] If you made it this far congrats. Let me know what you think below.