Yeah as much as I loved Taken King it took them till the end of D1 to have EVERYTHING available all at once again...
And I think by then most of the old weapons were outclassed anyways?
There has to be a better way to do this that finds some middle ground
I actually think they had this nailed at the end of both y1 and y3, which is why I'm so disappointed they took such a backwards step in D2.
There was a quote attributed to just before D1 launched where they talked about weapons having a story, how they would come with you on your journey and would define you as a player, how you could find your favorite and stick with it through your journey if that's what you wanted.
This one was mine;
Dropped for me on my first ever raid run and I fell in love with it. I got my first Ice Breaker on that run too (I was very lucky), but that gun was almost always in my primary weapon slot. It wasn't the best gun from that raid, most would say that honor went to Fatebringer, but VOC fit my playstyle perfectly. It was everything I could want in a gun, and it defined my approaches to every situation.
It was one of the many casualties at the end of Y1, and even then it had been unusable for most of Y1 because it's light level refused to be upped once TDB came out, but it stayed in my vault right the way through. It should have been part of many more stories than it was allowed to be, a fate shared by the Vex Mythoclast, the aforementioned Fatebringer, Ice Breaker and many more. All because Bungie were so worried about upsetting the balance.
I think my point is that Bungie rightly identified a problem, but came up with a solution that left us where we are now. A real sliding doors moment if you will. People who didn't have a Gjallarhorn, or an Ice Breaker rightly felt like they were missing out, especially when LFG groups started requiring these so that raids and nightfalls could be on farm, but the solution at that point should have been "lets make loads of mad exotics so there are loads of amazing ways Guardians can kick the shit out of the darkness!" Instead, Bungie decided "lets just tone waaaay back all the legendaries and exotics so the perks are subtle and perfectly balanced".
The solution was right there, they even implemented it when they brought back the Y1 raid weapons as exotics; "Here's a load of crazy weapons that do amazing damage and are loads of fun to play with. You can only use one at a time. Pick one, make it yours."
The solution should NEVER have been "lets just take all the fun stuff away so everyone is doing exactly the same thing all the time", what kind of dynamic world is that to create? I'd probably spend an hour up the top of the church with an Ice Breaker just sniping shit if I could, or pull Gjallarhorn trick shots by using the homing to arc the rocket across the sky into a crown of Cabal.
Instead, my MIDA will probably stay in my exotic slot forever. You know, because I like scout rifles and the radar staying on is a decent perk. How exciting...