My personal story [spoiler] Recently, I took a very, VERY long hiatus from Destiny to play most of the new games that came out (i.e. Overwatch, Doom) and some old games (i.e. Halo series, Bonerlands, etc). Keep in mind that before I took this break, I'd played Destiny almost every single day for a year and a half. I was playing Doom when I was using the "Double Shotty Combo" (both combat shotgun and super shotgun) and I was top of the leaderboards when I thought, "This shit needs to be nerfed", followed by, "WHAT MANNER OF SISSYNESS IS THIS? Just because something is performing well, it needs to be nerfed?" That little voice in the back of my head said that that's how Destiny manages to keep it's exotics in check. Then it dawned on me, that feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. I was having FUN in Doom, where I hadn't had fun in Crucible since before HoW, before the dark times. At that moment, I realized something.[/spoiler] DESTINY'S FANS HAVE RUINED THE GAME: A History Lesson [spoiler] When Destiny launched back in September 2014, exotics were described as the best of the best, weapons obtained by feats of strength, the hardest activities in the game, etc. Ok, maybe all that didn't pan out, but the part about the best of the best was at least still true. Ice Breaker hit like a truck and had ammo to spare, Invective was the only true fully automatic shotgun, Gjallarhorn was the best boss melter in the game, Red Death could keep you in the fight longer, a Crucible gun with Crucible lore, designed for Crucible, The Last Word had an actual reason to hip-fire, Thorn not only stopped Regen, but also did damage. Then came the Mythoclast, the first gun worth calling a nerf for. The fair few people who actually got the gun, or got paired up realized this gun was broken. People getting 4 shot cross mapped, killed through walls because of Fusion rifle hit-scan, other nerf-worthy incidents. Bungie stomped out a weed before it became a problem, good for them. Then came Suros. A little less nerf-worthy, but certainly a problem. Then all was good, a few patches here and there, but nothing compared to the newest meta; The HoW Meta. Thorn, TLW, and Red Death. The 9 months meta. Thorn was kept in check by a low ammo count with slow reload. The Last Word was kept in check by actually requiring skill to accurately hip-fire. Red Death was always a good choice in Crucible. Then Thorn's ammo count was buffed to 150%, with a reload twice as fast, The Last Word was glitched to not require hip-fire, and Red Death was thrown in as practically the only counter for them. Ever since then, the Forums are constantly plagued by calls for nerfs, buffs, outlandishly ludicrous changes to be made, leading to the destruction of the best weapons in the game.[/spoiler] EXOTICS ARE NOW MOSTLY OBSOLETE [spoiler] Think back to when you got your first exotic. You probably didn't get it fighting the Gas Wyrms of Jupiter, or helping to defend Twilight Gap or the Battle of Six Fronts. You probably got it from something mundane, like as a Strike reward or bottom of the team in Crucible or being a dreaded Xurner. But it didn't matter, it was special to you. "Wow, this weapon shoots poison!" "My gun reloads after every kill!" "This rifle regenerates ammo, that's so cool." It was a magical moment for most all of us, a weapon to be proud of. Now think about someone who just picked up the game recently, someone who is running around with his gunsmith Suros auto rifle rolled with glass half full and focused fire. He places 3rd in the crucible and gets the Suros Regime. "Oh wow, an exotic!" He compares the stats. "My legendary is better in every single way to this crappy exotic." His friend, with equally bad luck, finishes King's Fall and gets Thunderlord. But wait, he rolled a Qullim's Terminus with feeding frenzy. Who needs to waste an exotic slot when you already have a weapon that does the same job, and then some. Now their 3rd friend has ridiculously good luck and gets a god-roll Grasp of Malok on his first run of the Omnigul. When he gets back to the Tower, he decides an engram and gets Bad Juju. "Oh yeah, new exotic!" But the stats on Bad Juju are worse than Grasp of Malok, and he's already got 100% Intellect.[/spoiler] As it stands in the game now, there are very few exotics worth trading a legendary equivalent for. The Last Word has lost any reason to be hip-fired anymore, Suros feels like an overshined legendary gunsmith order, Tlauloc feels like a poor man's Mida Multitool, which is one of the few surviving exotics, almost every heavy machine gun being used is Qullim's Terminus, Thorn shoots tickle darts that do no damage and last about the time it takes to blink, Touch of Malice is literally only used on Oryx and Sisters, I could go on but I think I've made my point. Most of the current Exotics in this game don't really feel 'Exotic' anymore. They just feel like workhorses with a different paint job, and are often times outclassed by other legendaries, or their class it so rigid that there are better options for almost every single activity. (Looking at you Dreg's Promise) Exotics are becoming nothing more than novelty items, things to be flaunted, then switched out or used as a joke. I, for one, can no longer stand the abuse and mistreatment of Exotics any longer, but you can help for just pennies a day. Call 1(800)-555-EXOTIC to cast your vote on whether we should keep exotics on our level, or elevate them to their previous godhood, or just select a choice above.