And your LVL 30 raid gear will be relevant until you get your lvl 32 gear. Also, from what im hearing, when you upgrade your exotic, the DMG starts at 300. So essentially the damage is the same as before, you just have to lvl the perks. Its really not the big deal that people are making it out to be. I personally feel everyone should HAVE to lvl the first tier to get to the second, but if they did that, you would still have 50% of the community bitching. "What, i have to lvl this exotic i just got, just so i can upgrade it and lvl it again? -blam!- you bungie!" This game has a lot of different player bases in it, all with different expectations. Bungie is trying to cater to everyone. Its an impossible task, but i think if everyone really takes a step back and really evaluates the changes and additions they have made since launch, i think its hard to argue that Bungie is not headed in the right direction.