To further illustrate your flaw, by your rationale a white weapon with 20 attack would do 90% the damage as a new max gun (using 320 max). And they've already said you'll find new green and blue weapons that'll be more powered than your current legendaries.

The weapons themselves will be more powerful, but if what is written above is true, the power of the weapon is only one factor in an overall equation. I like to put things in D&D terms (Dungeons & Dragons, just in case you're not instantly familiar with my reference). We're going to be leveling up to take on tougher opponents- like a D&D fighter who's going from 5th to 10th level. Now, a 10th level fighter expects to tote around something more than a +1 magic sword, and generally does. His foes usually require something a bit sturdier to pierce their hides. But that fighter can still be damn effective with his old +1 sword, and may carry it for sentimental reasons, or as a backup weapon- and he'll still be much more powerful than he was at 5th level, even if he's using the same old sword. The weapon alone does not make the warrior. So my analogy here is- we're increasing in power as Guardians. Even if Hard Light or VoC aren't as powerful as some of the new weapons, we're better at using them. We've learned things about shot placement and how to put our enemies down most effectively. But our enemies are tougher, too, so we're going to [i]need[/i] more powerful weapons. Good thing we're going to have them, eh?

I don't disagree with you. Familiarity with a weapon is a big part of combat. I'm not sure if you followed my conversation with the OP, but his point was (using flawed math) that the Y1 exotics will only be doing 5% less damage than the new max weapons. I was trying to explain to him that he wasn't taking into account the attack stat as any other than a light value, which I think is ridiculous. I spent quite a few messages trying to explain to him the error in his theory, culminating in the post you replied to. That's what this was all about for me.

I did follow it, and his math may hold true for the values you saw in the stream (I didn't watch it yet). But I'm sure that's not the full extent of what there is to be unlocked in TTK. No doubt a Level 40 Guardian could use Year 1 weapons/gear with a high degree of effectiveness; but no doubt that will be a lesser degree than if he/she were equipped with full, top-of-the-line equipment. Possibly a great deal less. Time will tell. The point is, Year 1 weapons are going to be valid choices for many things, by the sound of it, but not the very best option as time goes by.