He use to cause people to think twice... That's why I didn't get an icebreaker the first time around because I had just got Patience in Time. I thought to myself 23 strange coin (or however much it was), do I really need another exotic sniper rifle? So I chose not to. I've regretted it ever since. Fortunately I have pretty good RNG when it comes to getting exotics. I am currently missing Universal Remote, Fourth Horseman, Hawkmoon, and the Fate of All Fools. So now I look forward to seeing Xur because I hope he will have one of these missing items. This is another reason I never have to blink about spending strange coin anymore and usually sit on about 150 by the time he shows up. IDK man, I think Xur is one of the closest things to "earned" in the game because you at least have to do your weeklies to get strange coin (or get lucky from engrams or crucible). What he sells is completely random, but at least when he sells you know what you have to do to get it. Otherwise you can just constantly run strikes or your weeklies and hope to get an exotic drop then hope it's the one you need. More than likely you are going to watch the people sitting idly by while you kill everything get the one you wanted...