To make this easier I'm going to refer to old exotics as exotics v1.0 and new or upgrade exotics as v2.0. Similar to how if you upgrade from an iPhone 5 to iPhone 6 they are similar but yet they are different. Exotics v1.0 are not obsolete with the new DLC. They will be exactly the same after the DLC as they were before it. If you have all of them and they are fully maxed, they will still be fully maxed after the DLC update. If you would like to get the brand new shiny Exotic v2.0 you will need to cash in your Exotic v1.0 and pay for the upgrade difference in the form of 1 exotic shard and 7k glimmer. The exotic shard will cost 7 strange coins from Xur or it can be obtained by dismantling an exotic. Once you've traded it in you have a brand new un-leveled Exotic v2.0 of the Exotic v1.0 that you traded in. It has higher base stats then your old Exotic v1.0 and maxes out at higher stats. This process is completely optional. There will be new Exotics v2.0 in the DLC that you can get and level up. The process is basically identically as you would have to obtain the new one and fully level it, just the same as if you went through the upgrade process with the Exotics v1.0. Exotics v1.0 used to take a long time to level, but there have been changes made that decrease the amount of time it takes. - Exotics no longer require Ascendant Materials. (This means there is no timed cap to how quickly you can purchase upgrade nodes) - More bounty slots. (More bounty slots mean that XP gain goes much more quickly than before.) - New bounties from Eris. (More bounties mean that there is a higher total amount of bonus XP that can be earned daily.) - Planet materials can be bought from the tower. (This means no more hours spent running circles on the planet to get an upgrade node.) Re-leveling an upgraded Exotic v2.0 will not take anywhere remotely close to level as the original Exotic v1.0's took. This whole process is optional though and only results in a small gain over old exotics. For weapons it's a difference of 300->320 attack. One alternative would have been for Bungie to leave the old Exotic v1.0 alone and only have the new DLC exotics to be v2.0. The result would have been basically the same as you would still have to fully level the new exotics. This new system gives everyone the ability to bring their favorite exotics into the DLC if they so choose, but only if they choose. Update: It looks like upgrades will be a rotating stock at Xur. Two items per class for the armor for 6 total armor upgrades and 6 total weapon upgrades per week. It appears that you need to equip the item and then purchase the upgrade from Xur to complete the process. Update: One point which I think Bungie did mess up on was that they should have announced the Exotic changes and the new upgrade path simultaneously. For anyone that put an exotic shard into something to fully max it as v1.0 now has to put forth another exotic shard to upgrade it. If it was known this would be the process then they could have decided to wait to upgrade it or to max it out. If nothing else Bungie should change it so if that an Exotic shard was put into the weapon then it is not needed for the upgrade since it was already spent. This would be fair as someone who previously fully leveled the weapon has to spend 1 shard to upgrade, it should only cost someone who fully leveled it this week to only cost 1 exotic shard to upgrade, not 2. Update: Awesome, hit the trending page. Thanks everyone for your posts and civil discussions!