First, read [url=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/08/04/destinys-year-one-legendary-weapons-staying-behind-in-year-two-9432.aspx]this[/url] if you don't know what I'm talking about, and prepared to get annoyed/angry.
So, we aren't going to be able to bring year 1 gear up to year 2 levels... which kind of begs the question, why bother playing right now at all? I mean having fun... but there's no reason to grind unless you just want to make a fashion statement once year 2 comes around.
People, including myself, have invested thousands of hours into this game in search of elusive gear... gear that is now apparently now going to be outclassed by even green new guns. Given how much time people have put spent, that's just downright insulting.
Yes, I understand it is challenging to create the next fatebringer or black hammer without making the same gun over (unless there will literally be a fatebringer/black hammer 2.0 in the game for running VoG or something like that), but that's kind of the point. Giving us the option to use new gear with intriguing new perks is great, but forcing us to use them by breaking some of our favorites and making all the rest outmoded generally just leads to disappointment and anger. At the very best, you'll leave people longing for their favorites, because, unless you straight copy the guns with a new coat of paint, those guns just won't exist in the game any more at a useful level. At the very worst, you end up with House of Wolves syndrome: a whole bunch of new guns and perks, most of which are either inferior to or not compelling enough to replace the old favorites, which lead to low satisfaction. From the advance previews, it sounds like the new guns will be great... but previews and actual release build aren't the same thing.
It will be difficult to design the next fatebringer. Nobody thought it could be topped... until black hammer, and each one operates uniquely to create powerful and satisfying combat opportunities. This is not an easy challenge, but removing the competition to lower the bar for what we should expect is lazy.
At the very least, if you're not going to let us bring the guns we spent an eternity trying to get, at least give us 2.0 versions of the raid guns... that don't suck.
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If Bungie sticks with not letting us ascend year 1 legendaries then they've let a lot of people down :(