the original way you were going to get exotics here is some party's ]SUROS Regime was known as ARCUS Regime and you could switch firing modes. Red Death was supposed to be an Auto Rifle, but the devs realized that there were less Pulse Rifles so they switched things around and the perk was supposed to heal you IF you scored a precision kill. You were able to equip any gun be it legendary or exotic way before hitting lvl 20. But in favor of end game mechanics, the devs scrapped that idea. Sniper Rifles were supposed to be on the Heavy slot and hand cannons on the special slot. But the devs felt that it didn't quite fit in for some unexplained reason. Kinda stupid this one actually. Gjallarhorn was known as Ragnarok during its first stages of development and the perk was actually called Gjallarhorn, but that changed obviously. A perk only achieved after fully leveling up a subclass granted that final bit of attributes to max out either armor, recovery, and agility. But the devs and their shenanigans scrapped the idea. When gear was fully leveled, you could purchase a final upgrade which increased defense and attack but locked out previous choices. You could equip any armor type and still be able to reach the max light level, but this never made it to the final stage of development. Khvostov 7G-02 was going to be the first stage of an exotic Auto Rifle called "Ancestor" it description was "A lost gun in a lost world. But thanks to you, it has reached the pinnacle of it's existence." One of it's perks was known as "Ancient Ally" which granted more super energy upon a kill and spawned an orb of light when scoring a precision kill. Another perk was known as "Vengeance." This perk increased weapon damage, at the cost of reload speed. Even though "Ancestor" was a futuristic version of Khvostov 7G-02, one of the sights for this gun was "The Broken Visor" which is the one we know today. Hard Light had a final perk which made it an ARC weapon, but locked out previous choices, so the devs dropped the perk. Warlocks had a final perk which made it possible to max out the recovery attribute, same with Titans and Hunters, but for Titans it was armor, and for Hunters it was agility. Crest of Alpha Lupi was going to be a reward from Alpha Lupi herself after rescuing her from the Fallen, but this along with the original story of Destiny was scrapped out. Thorn was only obtainable via Charlemagne's Vault, but it was turned into a bounty instead. Charlemagne's Vault is a raid located on Mars, below the Dust Palace. The final boss for this raid was supposed to be Charlemagne himself, a mad Guardian gone rouge and working with the cabal. Every exotic had a specific task in order to acquire them. SUROS Regime was obtainable after bringing golden age blueprints to SUROS and making them fabricate the weapon using the blueprints. Thunderlord (before the E3 presentation) was obtainable after defeating a Fallen Baron and looting his vault. Patience and Time was a gift from Cayde-6 himself after completing his final personal mission. Ikora Rey gifted you Invective, and Commander Zavala gifted you Gjallarhorn after finding the armor and weapon parts of fallen Guardians during the battle of Twilight gap. These armor and weapon parts could only be found while exploring Twilight Gap and defeating special enemies and bosses located there. Fate of All Fools was obtainable after completing the Trials of Osiris (Not the multiplayer mode) before the rework of Destiny, you must complete special trials made by Osiris himself in order to gain access to a portion of the game, this was scrapped and made into a bounty instead. Hard Light was a gift from the Reef. The Vex Mythoclast was obtained after clearing VoG (This hasn't changed). Super Good Advice could only be obtained by finding it. Supposedly, you had to hunt down Kabr and his team after disappearing all of a sudden. You would encounter them except Kabr, approaching Pahanim's corpse would trigger a cutscene explaining what happened and your guardian picking up Super Good Advice. This weapon also had a personality itself and could interact with the player and say things when shooting and killing enemies. Also, after the cutscene, you stand before the VoG, unlocking the raid in the process. Vault of Glass consisted of rescuing Kabr and fighting along side him against Atheon, he would then sacrifice himself and forge Aegis Shield, allowing your team to finish off Atheon. But after the rework of the story of the game, this was scrapped and made into a Grimoire instead. The Queen's brother is known as Crow. Before accessing the reef, you had to survive waves of Fallen in the arena. Doing so would then grant you a session with the queen and continue the story. Humans, Exos, and Awoken had different story lines. The story line we know today is from the Exo. The human story line consisted of you surviving a Fallen raid and arriving at the city, you would seek refuge at the Tower, there Ghost would approach you and make you a Guardian, for it sensed the light within you. The Awoken started at the reef, being judged by the queen and eventually exiled form the reef. You would then fight your way out and arrive to the Last City. Earth was supposed to be the last planet to be unlocked and most difficult one to complete. There are 3 factions not present in the game. There is a 5th enemy race, supposedly the one with the triangle ships. The Fallen and the Cabal are actually allies. We can't see that because there isn't an area were the 2 races are together. The Hive hasn't encountered the Cabal and the Vex yet. The fallen is the only race to have encountered all other races. Before the rework of Destiny, Guardians had AI followers to choose from. Companions to aid you in battle. The Exo stranger, Crow, and rougue Guardians were part of the roster of companions who tagged along during missions and arena battles on the reef. Kinda how the Arbiter and SGT Johnson helped you back in Halo 3, but with improved mechanics and AI of course. But unfortunately, this was scrapped and fireteams were introduced. Still prefer AI companions... they don't go AFK during a match. (note: this fact about Talkative-9 is a rumor, so I'm not 100%, but nonetheless, I think it's hilarious. Credit goes to AftermathSoldier07) There was a funny, mysterious vendor called Talkative-9. He always appeared during missions and strikes. The role of Talkative-9 was to jump into a nasty firefight along with the Guardians and start to talk to them and offer sweet deals and items for purchase. Talkative-9 could be killed by the enemy, doing so would increase his stock prices immensely the next time he appeared, so Guardians must tolerate his annoying banter and protect him from the enemy. After clearing the area, you could then interact with Talkative-9 and see his wares. They supposedly ranged from common weapons to legendary weapons and armors. And upgrade materials. His currency was motes of light, glimmer, and materials. Talkative-9 is not an exo, he is a drone like those found in the Tower. Xur, the infamous Agent of the Nine, didn't sold exotic weapons and armor. Instead, he provided items that could increase the light level of all armors that were rare or legendary. He also sold items that upgraded weapons as well. Last but not least, Xur was the only way to fully upgrade and exotic item. He also sold materials and engrams. Bad Juju was supposed to be a VOID weapon, Last Word was SOLAR, and Hard Light was ARC. Patience and Time had a perk that allowed you to shoot ammo boxes and collect the ammo from any distance. Ice Breaker was obtainable by bringing a broken sniper rifle to Banshee-44. He would then attempt to fix it, but instead he breaks it again. But he actually perfected it, hence receiving Ice Breaker. The Last Word was obtainable by defeating Malphur in a 1V1 combat on the arena. It was part of the story, before bungie reworked it all up. Truth was obtainable by doing a special mission for the Speaker. He would give you an amulet that needed to be brought to Xur. Xur would then hand over a Launcher. Bringing this Launcher to Banshee would then be crafted into Truth. Universal Remote was only obtainable by raiding the Cabal Imperial Land Tank. It was part of the Story, before Bungie reworked the story of Destiny. Shaxx was supposed to appear along side Saladin during Iron Banner events. Saladin handed over armors and class items, while Shaxx geared you up with weapons and buffs. The lovely cryptarch... There were supposed to be 3 cryptarchs. A human and exo along with the awoken bastard we know today. You could interact with the Fallen found on the reef. There was even supposed to be a Fallen vendor. She would sell primarily ARC weapons and armors with high discipline. During a mission on the Reef, your primary objective was to escort a wounded Dreg to the queen. Failing the mission would lead to the execution of the Dreg, completing it however, would still lead to the execution of the Dreg, but you get a reward from the Queen. This was scrapped after the rework of the story. Remember that Earth was supposed to be the last planet to unlock? Well, after a mission, a cutscene shows your guardian escaping from the Reef. He is shot down and crash landed on Earth. See that big crashed ship on Earth we see today? That was supposed to be YOUR ship. After the crash, you would then have to find a new ship. Which is the same one we get when we first started Destiny.