1- Guy does patrol on cosmodrone and punches dreg in the face. Dreg drops legendary engram. Engram rolls exotic weapon. 2- Guy does weekly heroic and farms strike missions until he gets 17 strange coins. He then buys exotic weapon from Xur.

I think the REAL point everyone seems to be missing is: Either way you do things, no one friggen' cares. No one except you gives a shit about your Destiny character. Get over it and yourselves if you think otherwise.

Well by doing strikes and getting strange coins you're kind of earning it. After all you took the time to get the coins now didn't you

Lets look at it another way. Methods without Xur. 1. The crucible. Play well or play crap with 0 10 4, at end you get an exotic as random reward. Playing a crucible perhaps if you done exceptionally well you could argue was earned (because in my opinion I don't think pvp people should have to pve to do well in pvp same as you shouldn't have to pvp to do well in pve.) though if you played very badly and got one it's not really earned. 2. Do the weekly nightfall, random reward at end Doing the weekly nightfall, particulary solo and underleveled, I would say is earned. (why should every destiny player have to raid in order to get exotics) As long as they keep some exotics raid only, such as the vex mythoclast which I think is a raid only, then I don't see why some of the others can be earned through the nightfall. Don't forget not everybody will be able to do the raid unless helped through for whatever reason. 3. Do the raid, I believe that's a random reward at the end or possibly in chests that can be found inside? I think the raid is the only place everybody will say it's earned so no need to comment there. 4. Turn in a bounty and be given an exotic bounty in the post. Bounties, even if it's a really easy one you turn in, not every exotic bounty itself is easy or quick to complete. For example going into the crucible as a really bad pvp player trying to do the 25 positive kd bounty (1 kill =+1 1 death=-1) Could be extremely difficult for some people. I'd say that's a fair way to earn it, you're playing the game the way it's meant to and get rewarded for it. 5. Legendary/exotic engram just happens to fall on ground while on your travels. Lastly an random engram drop. Could be you entered earth patrol killed one enemy and there it is, could be you kill a 1000 cabal or do 50 strikes and it drops. Either way the only way you'll see one is after reaching level 20 and most likely putting quite a lot of time into the game unless you get really lucky. All the ways I can think of for now. I'd say apart from a really poor crucible match and getting one, that it's a pretty fair way to get them, as long as the raid has some raid exclusive items that feel a bit more powerful, have better looks and bonuses etc, then I don't see why not. Though I can understand frustration if all raid earned gear can be received through other methods, as what would be the point of doing the raid (except for a higher drop chance) Now the xur method. Ways to buy exotic gear is strange coins and motes of life. 1. Do the weekly for 3-9 coins and on multiple alts for a maximum of 27 in one week You have to put a bit of time and effort into completely the weekly. Not all of them are that easy and the destiny player base contains people of all different skill levels. Not every player is the same. Some people can't do the daily solo. Some people can solo the weekly nightfall. Some people can't do the raid with 6, some I believe have done it with 3. Just because a person may find this easier than others does not mean that the coins were not earned. 2. Level up each time after 20 for a mote. In order to do this you need to earn quite a bit of xp and put plenty of time into the game. Players should be rewarded for the time and playing their game so they get a free mote every extra level. Sounds fair to me. 3. Turn in engrams and instead get given a mote or strange coin. At first you may think nope not earned. But you have no idea how they aquired these engrams. Could be in earth patrol. Could be a drop in the raid itself. 4. Public events Depends on the event really and how you come across it. You could just stumble onto an event, get the last hit on the target and walk off with a strange coin. Or you could look at websites that tell you roughly when and where one might occur and go to each place waiting for it to happen putting the time and effort in to find and complete them (and of course not every event actually happens when they say) 5. Crucible matches Same as above. 6. Completing raid phases Again no need to comment 7. Opening a chest Again suppose this one will split opinion. But I think if you go around putting a lot of time into searching for chests and get a few coins or motes from it I don't see any problem with this. 8. Strikes. Time and effort into it. Plenty of ways to get exotics with and without xur. Personally I think the only way that an exotic is not "earned" is if you have a really horrible crucible match or afk in some kind of destiny content whilst others do the work for you, and the random factor gives you an exotic. I do agree that the most powerful items should be kept to raid only (and some kind of equivalent for pvp so it's fair for those that hate pvp/pve) but not that every exotic should be kept away from anyone not wanting to or not able to complete the raid. Anyway you look at it, you're investing your time into the game and should have something to show for it. Not all destiny content is easy. If you find everything so easy then good for you perhaps you think you've not earned it. But for some even the daily or a story mission will be challenging and so after many deaths and with a bit of persistence, to then see that exotic pop up at the end, will make it all worth doing and feel rewarding. That's just my opinion though to add to your 'Civil discussion'

Have to earn the money to buy said lottery ticket

This post is the first post that I have read and thought that the OP wasn't a jerk and actually had a brain. People should just enjoy the game the way they want. Getting cool drops is a part of that. Putting hours and hours into earning enough shall we say ingredients here to buy an exotic which is only available for a limited time is totally fair and well done to those who managed to pull it off.

Here's a great analogy for Xur. You can wander through muddy forests until you happen to find an apple tree and pick a nice juicy apple. Or, you can work for a couple hours, get money, and go buy an apple. The people who picked the apple will think "I earned this apple, with my hard work," and the people who bought the apple will think "I worked hard to be able to get this apple." Not much different huh?

Didn't you earn the strange coins?

The only gear you can "earn" is from the raid, and xur doesn't sell raid gear.

Level 25 titan here and ive NEVER picked up a purple engram.......dunno why!

EDIT: Missed a section, disregard this comment

Are you saying you only use coins from weekly strikes, because that's the only real way to earn them. Chests, engrams and random end of event rewards of coins are all RNG luck.

Look. I got my icebreaker from a purple engram about 3 weeks ago. I was barely a level 22 Titan and since then I leveled my Titan to 28 and then made a hunter and got him to 28. When the icebreaker came up for sale , I told my online DoD brothers about it with pros and cons. I was happy that they could have this awesome gun. What is good for the group often is best for the individual. Case in point, fighting atheon with 6 icebreakers. (W/ mine fully upgraded)

If I buy a lottery ticket, it's paid for using money I earned. Getting a lucky drop is not earning. If you found some money on the floor, you didn't earn it..... If you play a strike and collect an Ingram from the floor, you didn't earn it.

But you only earn coins from nightfall. The rest are RNG! So yeah, you go to work, earn some money, but then you find 20 coins on the floor! You didn't earn those! You got lucky. So it's all irrelevant. Think of it like this, if you will. "You get a chest, you open it, and BOOM! An exotic! You have to be doing something to get that chest, so you earned it. I have never seen anyone stood in the tower and get anything! You have to be out there grinding or whatever. So your earning what you get. Obviously the rewards are down to luck regardless!

in the few weeks i played destiny, i have never seen someone get an exotic that actually earned and deserved it