You’re actually like 20% better off getting a tier 3 to get the weapon you want than buying all tier 1s. You have a 1/6 chance to get what you want in a tier 1 and a 1/2 chance in a tier 3. Tier 3s also give you a second perk in the last column, so a 2/6 chance of getting the perk you want instead of 1/6 chance from the tier 1s. All other perk slots and the masterwork are the same so the chances of getting what you want for those in a T1 vs a T3 cancel out, but that leaves us with being 6 times more likely to get what we want from a tier 3 vs a [i]single[/i] tier 1. Divide by the 5 energy spent instead of one and boom, 20% more likely to get what you want from a single T3 vs 5 T1s. I’m no statistician so idk if your chances of getting the final column perk you want is actually 1/6 + 1/5 (since it could be in the first or second row and you can’t get the same perk twice) instead of 2/6, which would actually make it 32% more likely to get what you want, but either way it looks to me like you’re ever so slightly better off aiming for the tier 3s. Or I could be totally wrong because like I said, I’m no statistician, I’m a software engineer. If I really wanted to figure it out I’d write a program to simulate buying a shitload of engrams and seeing what % of the final results are the exact roll I want.

As it stands right now, yes. Once the hammer is fully upgraded it does become a bit more manageable - holding 70 cabal gold, 10 charges and earning 2-3 charges per run isn’t nearly as bad as it is now, and I think that’s deliberate. People seem to be overlooking that both season of the dawn and opulence umbrals were only around for one season while this is gonna be here until at least TWQ in 2022. Could it still be a lot better? Yes, absolutely, but this is a hamster wheel that you’re supposed to run on for 12 months instead of 3. The better balance IMO would be 2 charges for tier 2 and 3-4 for a tier 3. 5 may be excessive but it’s important to understand why bungo is doing it.