I know I will get a lot of hate for this, but here goes nothing... First off, let me say that I am one lucky SOB as far as cores go. They seem to drop out of the air for me. In a few hours of play, its common for me to collect 20 or more each time I play. With that being said, I have to agree with Bungie that infusion and masterworking items should be something that takes some work. I agree that it would be meaningless if there were not some time needed to get your gear to the highest level. I also understand the problems that those that do not have the same luck with cores, are going through. The truth is though, that if done correctly, you can get your favorite items masterworked and infused to the highest levels, you will just have to put up with being mish mashed for a little while. Equip higher light items when you get them. Work your way to max light, THEN start infusing and masterworking. By the time you get to 700 light, you should be able to mass enough cores to easily infuse items to max light, as it makes no difference in core cost to infuse an item from 650 to 653, or 650 to 700. You just have to be able to put up with your character looking all mixed up for a little while. By the time you hit 700 light, you should have enough cores to masterwork many items as well. Trust me here, I feel the game has gone elite, and that it has become more of a job then a game, but infusion isn't really that bad, if you can just stand waiting a bit. Asking for cores to be removed from infusion completely, is not likely to happen, and I think its a bit much to want to be able to infuse several sets of armor to the highest level, without working for it in some way.