I was going through DestinyDB.com when I came across some very interesting materials:
[url=http://destinydb.com/items/1968488792-epoch-splinter]Vault of Glass Legendary[/url] upgrade material?
[url=http://destinydb.com/items/584130857-vex-raid-rare]Vex Mythoclast[/url] upgrade material?
Are these [url=http://destinydb.com/items/1448697668-exotic-weapon-core]weapons[/url] and [url=http://destinydb.com/items/2609687617-exotic-armor-shard]armor[/url] upgrade materials for making exotics, or upgrading exotics?
[url=http://destinydb.com/items/1847675504-shader-data]Custom Shaders[/url]?
[url=http://destinydb.com/items/126428429-vehicle-shader-template]Vehicle Shaders[/url]?
So are these upgrade materials for our beloved [url=http://destinydb.com/items/382889452-weapon-kit]non-exotic weapons[/url]?
There isn't any basic material for armor that I can see, [i]maybe[/i] [url=http://destinydb.com/items/1515795123-glass-shards]this[/url]?
-
Coming up with an upgrade system is a process. You bounce some ideas around, test them, and keep what seems to work best. Most likely they coded it into the game, didn't like how it worked and went with another system. Now it is just more junk code.