I think people are missing something really big with the year 1 exotics. They will still be damn near as powerful as the year 2 exotics...heres why. RIGHT NOW, if you have a weapon that is 365 attack rating and swap it out for weapon with 265 attack rating, it's a MASSIVE difference in damage per bullet. The difference per bullet is about the same as the difference in attack rating. 100 damage per bullet is a huge difference....hence why a 265 weapon is way underpowered compared to a 365 attack weapon Now....people see that the year one exotics are going to be way lower attack rating top out than year 2 exotics. BUT..attack rating is no longer a stand alone Stat for offensive fire power. Now it's just one of 10 or so different pieces that make up your light level(which is basically your new attack rating AND defense rating) SO......if you have a load out of all 280 gear, your light level will be 280. 2800 divided by 10. If you keep all of your 280 gear/weapons except you equip a year one exotic like Gally at 160 attack, it will only lower your light level a small amount. For instance. Let's say your special weapon is 280, primary is 280, helmet is 280, gauntlet is 280, legs are 280, chest is 280, ghost is 280, and class item is 280, and artifact is 280.....BUT your heavy is a 160 gally. You add them all up and divide by 10 to get your light level ... which is now 268 instead of 280. This is a very small difference in your power. Only 12 per bullet less. This is why Gally is still being nerfed even though it's being left behind....because even at 160, it's only dropping your light level a small amount as long as you have high level gear on the rest of your load out. No more does our damage per bullet drop a massive amount because the weapons are 100 apart in attack rating. Each piece of gear and each weapon contribute a small amount to your overall light level. EDIT: Remember that this my educated guess because of things they have shown or said. This could be wrong, but I think it's close to correct. There are other theories that could be correct as well. EDIT: I agree that DeeJ should confirm ir deny this theory, but I'm afraid that they won't say a word until the Twitch reveal either next week or the week after. Gotta get those ratings on twitch EDIT: Remember that if you equip 3 or 4 pieces of gear that are year one , THEN you are drastically weakening yourself. But just one piece of gear/weapon from year one won't hurt you much at all