This is a bit of a controversial topic and I fear I may be wading into the mud contributing to it at all, but I have noticed a prevailing trend on this forum that I feel should be addressed. Certain people seem to have a real confusion about the difference between "earning" (what is sometimes derisively referred to as 'xurning') an item and acquiring it through luck, i.e. fortuity. On the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the first definition of the word "earn" is: [quote]1. a : to receive as return for effort and especially for work done or services rendered[/quote] When you play Nightfall, a raid, Prison of Elders, the crucible, or decode an engram that has the [u]potential[/u] to yield an exotic, Gjallarhorn, for example, it cannot be fairly said that you haven't [i]earned[/i] a reward as a return for the effort you put in. However, some people seem confused about what you have earned when you complete these end-game activities. A person who [i]earned[/i] Gjallarhorn from a raid drop has not put in more work and is not entitled to a better reward than someone who did the exact same raid but got a legendary drop that they had four of already. In this example, both players have an equal chance at getting Gjallarhorn but one player's random number generator landed on the right sequence for that particular exotic to drop and the other player did not have that [u]luck[/u]. Therein, lies the crux of the confusion, while a player that acquires a rare exotic from non-Xur related methods certainly earned their weapon in one sense, there is a degree of fortuity involved that is hard to reconcile with the pure definition of "earn". To simplify, players who acquire rare exotics through non-Xur methods have earned a reward for their efforts, but because the reward is random, the particular reward received is not earned in the traditional sense of the word. To give a simple example, when you win the lottery, you have not earned the money that you receive, although you will receive it and have all the bragging rights associated with receiving it. The other major method to acquire an exotic is to purchase it from Xur. This is mockingly referred to as "xurning". I would argue that acquiring an exotic weapon from Xur is closer to the definition of "earning" than any other method in the game because it does not involve the high degree of fortuity as other methods. Breaking down each action that leads to acquiring a weapon from Xur, the first step is to perform an activity that yields a strange coin. This can be done reliably through Weekly Missions and additional coins can be earned through decoding engrams. Even without receiving any strange coins from engrams (which does involve a degree of fortuity) there is a predictable income of strange coins that can be [i]earned[/i] each week as a product of the effort required to beat the Weekly Mission. Just as players who acquire exotics through non-Xur methods cannot be said to not have earned a (random) reward, players who beat the Weekly Mission and acquire strange coins cannot be said to not have earned those strange coins. Once a player has acquire the requisite amount of strange coins, those coins can be exchanged for almost anything in Xur's current inventory. The effort of the Weekly Missions that resulted in strange coins is converted, via a transaction, into the exotic weapon that the player purchases, which last week was Gjallarhorn. Because acquiring a weapon from Xur does not involve the degree of fortuity as other methods, acquiring a weapon from Xur is the closest method to the traditional definition of "earning". If you've read this far and you're in the "xurning" camp, I imagine you'll take issue with my last paragraph. You may feel indignant that someone "xurned" a weapon that took you so long to acquire. Therein, I think is the real debate, the perception that the effort required to obtain a weapon is disparately different between Xur and non-Xur methods of acquiring an exotic. When playing a game that involves so much grinding, "effort" and "time" are the real currencies we are all trading in. Xur creates the perception in players who acquired their exotics from non-Xur methods that acquiring a weapon from Xur requires less "effort" and "time" and is therefore less worthy. This argument, while not strictly true, does have merit because it plays to the human psychological condition so well. What I mean is that for players who acquire their exotics from non-Xur methods, when they think about acquiring a particular exotic, they attribute all instances of playing a particular activity as lead-up to earning the exotic. For example, for some people Gjallarhorn doesn't drop until they have over 500 hours of gameplay and had done the raids 40 or more times each. For these people, the sum of that time and effort spent playing is how they "earned" Gjallarhorn. This is not really a correct perception because the reward is random and independent (as far as we know) so each instance of end-game activity has an independent chance of rewarding a rare exotic. If this is the case, then only the last activity completed that resulted in acquiring the exotic is the time and effort required to acquire it, but when a player has logged more than 500 hours willing and pleading with the game for a Gjallarhorn to drop it is understandable that the player would lump all of that time and effort together as the work required to "earn" the exotic. While you may think this is a lot of hot air about nothing I think it is important for two reasons. First, while Gjallarhorn may be losing its significance in the Taken King, there will inevitably be another Gjallarhorn-like weapon or piece of armor that has the cult following and adoration that Gjallarhorn has. Bungie has seen the tremendous impact that this rare weapon had on the community and will no doubt be looking to replicate that success with some Year 2 weapon. If not settled, this debate about "earning" and "xurning" will continue on ad infinitum. Second, I think it is important to discuss the future of Xur in Year 2. While I think that Xur and non-Xur methods of acquiring exotics ultimately have a similar time and effort commitment (see above), the discontent over Xur will never go away under the current system. It has been suggested on these forums before and I think it would go along way to quieting the Xur and "xurning" critics if the prices of Xur's inventory were raised. I don't think that the raise has to be terribly large, but large enough so that a player with three character and no strange coins cannot play the weekly mission on each character and be able to afford anything in Xur's current inventory. I realize that one particular problem with this plan is that year one players have stocked up hundreds of strange coins out of shear lack of interest in Xur's inventory so I would also propose that strange coins be convertible, one way, into another currency, perhaps legendary marks or something else. I welcome any alternative suggestions on the fate of Xur in year 2. [b]Tl;dr:[/b] Exotics acquire through non-Xur methods are not in fact "earned" while those acquired from Xur better fit the traditional definition of "earn". While the time and effort required from Xur and non-Xur methods of earning an exotic are similar, Xur should have his prices increased (at least a bit) to maintain the rarity of exotic weapons.