As a new player I'm not really caring about my light level or the light level for gear. Infusion means that a legendary or exotic with useful characteristics is still going to be useful (Except for Year 1 stuff because... Fuck if I know). Obtaining a new legendary or exotic is exciting for me not because of numbers, but because they're cool weapons I can stick with.
But I'm new and I haven't played for years or even months. So my perspective is going to be skewed. I can't comment on the frequency of legendary and exotic drops because I don't know the old frequency.
It's a lot easier to get those drops now, especially Exotics.
Of course, part of the issue is that there are also less Exotics to get. Rise of Iron definitely needed more at launch I feel.