So hey, sorry about my totally wrongheaded rant the other day. I ran the Perdition lost sector on legendary 36 times between last night and this morning. I paid attention this time, and here's how those runs broke down.
In 26 runs this morning with my warlock I got 18 cores, 5 exotics, none of which I already had (though not Dawn Chorus), 394 essence, and untold glimmer (it was maxed). I averaged around 6 minutes (best time was 5:34). I'm old, I'll never be a speed runner, and I'm ok with that. I had one flawless run, most with at least two deaths, some with only 1, and several total disasters here and there, but I did manage to finish all but four. The actual percent of exotics dropped was something like 22.7%.
I ran it 9 times with my hunter last night. I already had all the hunter exotic armors except the BL stuff (though I did have Athrys's Embrace). I got the Mask of Bakris and Knucklehead Radar. I only finished the sector 7 of those times, so if I combine all that the actual exotic drop rate appears to be 24.13%. Helluva lot better rate than nightfalls and in a third of the time.
That's a lot of daggone exotics...
So I stand corrected, and happily so. This game is awesome, and after a few days away I was happily grinding out lost sector runs because... well, just because.