First, I'd like to add a disclaimer to the start of this that I mean no disrespect in the least with this response. That being said, onto my rebuttal! The vast majority of this argument is based purely on personal opinion and speculation. [b]1:[/b] The old weapons being "overpowered" is nothing but pure hearsay. Its a belief, not anything proven to be fact. That, in and of itself invalidates this entire case as I've explained to some others already. The notion of power is relative, personally I found a lot of the weapons people claim as "OP" to be rather lackluster. [b]2:[/b] The Taken King being a "new game experience" means absolutely NOTHING. There is literally no value at all in that distinction. Why should it mean anything to anyone when this is Destiny that we're talking about here? You judge a game for what it is, I see nothing written in stone anywhere that dictates a "major expansion" needs to do anything outside of its actual defined purpose of providing new content for the game. Since when does "new content" immediately equate to the old content being replaced or invalidated? Last I recall, every expansion for Mabinogi didn't do anything remotely similar to that. [b]3:[/b] Which brings me to my next point. Honestly? I don't care if people want to call Destiny an FPS, RPG, MMO or any combination of the three. I really don't, I personally stopped caring what people thought because for each person you argue the point with there are still others willing to go to bat for it. And even when you do manage to talk them down, they don't concede defeat on the matter and just ignore you and then continue saying the exact same thing in another thread, meaning you totally just wasted your time talking to them about it. And then people wonder why I've started just saying "No" as a response to people. [b]4:[/b] REGARDLESS of what Destiny is? Once again, I fail to see anything written in stone dictating that the game HAS to follow the example of other games. You know there are people, Bungie included, who will say that Destiny is its own unique thing. And then you get the contradiction when folks start saying it does this or that because these types of games do this or those types of games do that. And this isn't even Bungie, either, mind you. Its just players, fans. Its imposed labels that ultimately mean nothing. [b]5:[/b] Last time I checked, after coming back to Destiny with the release of House of Wolves after seeing Etheric Light introduced, I still went out and acquired practically all of the new Legendary weapons. I found a ton that were actually really good and now have a permanent place in my arsenal alongside my vanilla weapons. That right there is evidence that the statement above is false. Gear Ascension has nothing to do with whether or not players will acquire and use new weapons. The weapons themselves will determine that. If Bungie is confident in their new assortment of gear, there would be zero reason not to allow older gear to continue going forward. [b]6:[/b] Those who have already decided that they are going to be swapping out their old loadouts for entirely new ones will do it regardless of whether or not gear can continue ascending. That's the beauty of there being CHOICE. Why take the option where someone else gets screwed? Its rather self-serving and not to mention just straight up selfish of people to be against Year 1 Gear Ascension. It doesn't hurt you, its not FORCING you to keep using the old stuff. Meanwhile you're ok with me and others being FORCED to give up our weapons? That is the definition of being biased, its a decision being made that is playing favorites essentially. If the community's word and feedback actually mattered, then how is it possibly "okay" to indirectly tell so many to shove off while flipping them the bird? Over exaggeration, yes. But the point stands, though. [b]7:[/b] I don't know about anyone else, but I personally wish for a Destiny that isn't so heavily focused on grinding over and over again. I would think everyone would want a game where there is a slew of things to do, where you are being exposed to new things consistently instead of having to repeat activities that you have already completed over and over again just for the sake of getting something only to realize that come Year 3 its expected of you to toss it in lieu of the next weapon you'll be made to grind endless hours for. [b]8:[/b] Ultimately, Year 1 Gear Ascending/Infusing is a personal opinion. Its something that myself and many others feel strongly about and it IS a deal breaker for us. That is how we feel, just like others feel the opposite. If something is not done about this? We will leave, and Destiny will lose customers. And as a result we will further spread the malcontent and poor reviews of the game and for anyone who understands the Butterfly Effect, it can and will have a strong negative impact on the game as a whole. The same way it did with TitanFall.