Bungie has done some stupid stuff in the past but they're smarter than to take 14 levels away from their players. Its true that light levels will no longer be attached to your gear but they're essentially just transferring those "light levels" to your character, not erasing them completely. On another note I'm glad we wont be able to ascend year one gear. the ascending system was cool but way broken (as was re-rolling). some players were level 34 within hours of HOW release, Something that Bungie said would not be possible. Players have been stockpiling etheric light so they can shoot straight to 40 within seconds of TTK dropping which in my opinion is cheap as hell. just being able to use the best end game weapons and armor the whole game and jump from end game to end game makes it so you don't need to play 80% of the new content added so then people complain there's not enough because they only play the new raid. I'm actually looking forward to creating a new character and experiencing the game again in its new form. and if I get bored of being low level there's that supposed item that gets one guardian to "minimum level required to play TTK".