Let me get one thing out of the way. I liked the light level system. I didn't like that they made it dependent on certain pieces of gear. I thought they were going in the right direction with etheric light. The 2.0 system is a different way to go about it. I like that it's more flexible than pre-HOW (but not as flexible as post) but one thing is for sure, they did not do away with the underlying essence of the light level system. They just rewrapped it. Yes you gain levels by killing enemies, but you gain those levels to get to armor that increases your light (and thus your power). So instead of giving us all the advantages of gaining a light level in one fell swoop, they divided it up between the regular level and light stats. Basically they just added another step. Pre-2.0: you needed a certain amount of light (imbued in your armor) to gain levels (and thus gain the strength that came with gaining a level). Now, you gain levels, but you still need a certain amount of light to gain the power that your new level will ALLOW you to get. So basically, you gain levels so that you can gain the armor that increases your light stats. Further evidence is that even missions now gage difficulty not on your level, but on how much light you have (basically your light level). This made me chuckle.