Simple, you do it FOR FUN. That's it. You are trying to argue against something that has been a fact in games for YEARS. I know Destiny isn't an MMO but the expansions follow the same set up as other MMO set ups. A raid will always become irrelevant once a future expansion comes out. Weapons are replaced later on when they are limited in strength for the sake of balance. You get to experience your raid items for months of enjoyment and then a new raid will come around and your weapons will be irrelevant again. Be grateful Bungie hasn't nixed Exotics, if Destiny was an MMO, they wouldn't be getting ascended ever.

This is a grind heavy action RPG/FPS. Half the fun is in rewards. Also that still doesn't answer why would they balance a raid weapon if they intend for it to never be used anymore? If balancing raid weapons is being placed on the table, why not simply balance them all so the newer content actually has a competing chance? Regarding armor, I will be disappointed if we cannot use older skins, textures and names for these new "great" armors.

That would be counter intuitive. The idea of raid weapons is for them to be viable in the raid. The fact they are so good outside of it is not a bad thing. However, if they rebalanced it then what would be the point of using the new weapons? None. Once again people would compare them to the Fatebringer and that is not fair.

"However, if they rebalanced it then what would be the point of using the new weapons?" To keep the problem from occuring. Keep them from being too good while keeping them relevent to endgame. Your idea of keeping allowing the new content to be considered good by the player base is to eliminate the competition instead of simply nerfing the old content so it isn't considered too good? What about the prime example of this discussion that you have yet to make mention, Black Hammer. Here is a raid gun that is meant to be specifically re-balance in update 2.0 because it is too good. Yet if its going to be removed from the endgame competition list then what purpose it there to changing this weapon. Furthermore what is going to stop the newer weapons from being used instead of the raid weapon in their own raid, the place where these weapons are supposedly meant to be the most viable in? On top of that what is going to stop the newer raid weapons from simply replacing the old raid weapons as the top tier endgame content, compounding the issue here. The issue being raid weapon being too good.

You are talking about nerfing large amounts of weapons. It is so much simplier to let them not ascend and takes less data to do that. Remember each time they patch something that means more and more data is taking up your consoles. We are already having a major problem with the last gen hardware holding back next gen with the vault space. Besides all they are doing to your weapons is this... you can't use it in the high end content like the new raid. That's it. It will still be a viable option in normal crucible and pve content that is not the raid. A raid weapon should be a high teir weapon that outshines normal weapons of that calibur. However, a raid weapon should only be necessary in that raid. If it goes past the raid and into a new raid that is to say 4 levels higher, then there is a major balancing issue with that raid. Let them still exist, just not allow them to get even stronger than they already are. Let them die and pull them out when you want to have fun.

That data is always going to be there, even if it doesn't drop anymore or underlevel its still there in the database, taking up space. Aside from that. The reason why we did raid was because we were gifted with rewards, weapons and gear that were both better in that raid and great in general. If they are going to keep current gear from becoming better then two things must be insured. 1. The old gear still performs better then the new gear in their given purpose, their perspective raid. New gear should not compete with them. I cannot take the new raid gear into VOG or CE and expect it to be better then the weapons its made for. 2. Older raid must provide rewards beyond raid gear to keep the activities themselves relevant. Perhaps a weekly raid challenge where one can earn exotics or large amount of materials for new content. "Let them die" No. Just no, The worse crime you can EVER commit against a game is to make it so it can never be played and enjoyed by others again. This also extends to content, a good game make usage of everything it has. Expansions are meant to give us more, not replace or take away what already we have. VOG didn't become irrelevant when CE arrived as you could get both exotics and material from VOG that you could use. Both shouldn't become irrelevant when the new raid comes. Don't kill content, bring diversity.

You just answered your own complaint. The older raids will remain relevant because you still have a chance at an exotic. It is likely the new exotics that would be dropped from RNG could be acquired from the older raids like they did earlier. Your other issue is still relevant right now, the raid weapons melt the oracles faster than most of the other weapons in the game. The crota weapons are extremely useful in that raid because there are so many yellows during the deathsingers, but I agree they maybe the first to fall as time goes on. Also you missed the point that nerfing a weapon requires a patch, which requires more data into the console for that fix. The raids will always be there for those who want to grind out for that exotic they desperately want. It is unlikely however that the older raids will be brought up. I am sorry to say it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.