It was immensely clear. In Y1, Bungie wanted them to FEEL overpowered, but not BE overpowered, which they also acknowledged that they would have to tread a pretty fine line. However, people complained about exotic weapon power in PVP, which lead to their revised philosophy of them only being "unique." However, I think most people agree that they would rather exotics be more powerful than they would want them to be "unique." In order to have that system though, we would have to either give up balance in PVP altogether or separate PVP from PVE balance. For the record, I'd be down for either. I think the notion of balance in a loot grinder doesn't necessarily make sense because the nature of the game is grinding for loot. Someone will always find something better than you have. The trick is to find what works for YOU and for you to really grow and learn how to use the weapons you like. Of course, that would also necessitate getting rid of the rotating meta, but that's a different discussion.