Ascendent Energy/Shards are now only for Legendary gear/weapons; Exotics no longer require any special items except for something called an “Exotic Shard”…which, like someone said, you can get for dismantling unused/unwanted Exotic gear or from Xur for 7x - Strange Coins.
Personally, I’m pleased with this update even though I have:
- 300+ Ascendent Shards
- 150+ Ascendent Energy
- Cheese the Templar off every week
- Have farmed for materials (300+ of every one)
Granted, I play this game a lot so majority of my weapons are maxed out (I don’t have a need right now for a ton of Exotic Shards or materials) and that I have a legit Raid team that has done everything Raid-wise so no matter what is changed we adapt, but, just in general, I feel as if this update made it so everyone will appreciate the weapons in which they have maxed out/decided to dump materials into and that a lot of the “currency” (Vanguard/Crucible marks) can be spent on a multitude of things now.
Again, I feel as if this update was a really nice update that made the game just that much better and if you don’t feel the same way than I’m lost as to what you were doing on Destiny day-in-and-day-out prior to this update.