Destiny’s Exotics System is a Disaster

This weekend was the first time that mysterious Exotics vendor Xur returned to the Tower in Destiny since the launch of the Dark Below expansion. For those of you who hadn’t heard this is also the first weekend of Destiny’s new exotics system. Exotics from before the expansion will now be sold by Xur every week so players can turn them in for an upgrade. The idea is to help stop old exotics from becoming useless following the expansion.
Being able to keep your old exotics and make them more powerful sounds like an awesome idea right? Well it should have been, but like most things in Destiny the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ever since it was announced fans have been in an uproar about it originally for just one reason. As part of the trade in system all their exotics would have to be releveled.

This essentially meant starting over with every Exotic they had grinding them back up to the top. That wasn’t where the problems ended though, because in order to finish re-upgrading their Exotics players would need a new material, an Exotic Shard. Bungie completely took ascendant materials out of the picture for Exotics. The change would be such a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that players can only get Exotic Shards from breaking down exotics; or buy them from Xur for 7 strange coins.
So in order to upgrade their Exotics all over again they would have to buy upgrade materials. The whole system sounded like a mess to players already but they still had surprises waiting for them. When Xur arrived at the Tower on Friday players learned that Bungie hadn’t given them all the details about the new Exotics system. The trade in system it turns out costs a lot more than Bungie let on.
When excited players found their way to Xur they found that he was selling six Exotics like Bungie said he would. The only problem is that to trade in their old Exotics for upgraded versions they had to pay for it. Each trade in costs one Exotic Shard and surprising amount of Glimmer. So in order to get an upgraded version of the Exotics they’ve worked so hard for, which they would have to re-upgrade, they had to pay with upgrade materials.
It is a confusing and totally unnecessary loop to throw players into. They have to buy Exotic Shards from Xur in order to reupgrade their Exotics which they have to trade into Xur for new versions. Except to get those new versions they have to pay with Exotic Shards. So their buying upgrade materials only to pay him with upgrade materials to then buy more upgrade materials for the things they bought from him. (If you can make sense of that then you’ve earned a cookie!)
It’s hard to look at the new Exotics system in any way that makes sense. At every angle you come at it from it is one big mess. Bungie surely didn’t mean to make it that way, they were probably trying to keep Destiny balanced. Now instead of balance Destiny’s Exotics system is more confusing to think about than time travel. We will all have to hope that they will implement changes to clear these muddy waters soon.