[WARNING LONG POST]
I've always wanted to make great builds for my character and I've always wanted them to be at their fullest potential. I also value the ease of switching to different builds quickly. Sadly, this isn't possible with the current armor system.
This is what I propose:
Create a feature that lets you maximize the gear score of a given armor piece at the cost of ( n ) ascendant shards. For legendary gear that would be 68, and exotic gear would be 78 (exotics would obviously cost more). This would obviously exclude class items. If you would be extra nice, you could even put some kind of an indicator that the gear has been boosted.
The second and most important feature is to be able to allocate the said points to the armor so that the maximum stays the same of course. The maximum amount to allocate would be the current maximum that can roll to armor, and the minimum would be 2. This would cost ascendant shards as well.
This way I could make and enjoy my builds every season. Now it feels impossible because of the scarcity of max rolled armor and the layers of RNG.
This change would also make fashion much easier to acquire. I could just boost up a piece of armor I really like and not worry about it. Now in the game some armor sets are literally impossible to even be high stat roll.
Ascendant shards could also be replaced with a completely different and new system for upgrading armor. Maybe a new rare material acquired from some activity?
Keep up the good work bungie!