I am also frustrated at the prospect of losing my investment into my exotics when I could have upgraded an untouched one instead for the same result, [b]but this is a much, much lesser evil than having to upgrade maxed out exotics.[/b] I've been trying to get the Heart of Praxic Fire since I started this game two months ago. If this crazy suggestion goes through [i]I will have to level it up twice back to back.[/i] That's not all; since Xur only upgrades some things at a time, the week when he has the Heart might be the week when I'm struggling to level it up for the first time. Then when I miss my chance who knows how long I'd have to wait? That's just more abuse because of bad luck and I'm tired of that crap. I want to be able to upgrade the exotics I have regardless of their current status to avoid that kind of madness. This goes even more for weapons because they are harder to level. The suggestion of adding an extra upgrade node that you have to put a lot of exp into to get to the next level is a perfect one. It still means that previous work means something but it won't create huge frustration through missing opportunities to upgrade and leveling things twice in a row. That's so much worse than losing progress you've already put in.