So far these seem to work as intended. If a Titan helmet drops with intellect and discipline, one (or two) of these will add strength to my exotic which is what I want.
How about if they also raise the defense or attack level too?
The reason being that at 305, I shouldn't be encrypting exotic weapon or armour engrams at 290. The time taken to farm enough weapons or armour to raise the stats seems a bit pointless as well as wasting 3-4 exotic shards.
I mean, this game is quite fun, especially crucible and iron bannee but the constant farming and upgrading seem a massive waste time - unless this is what Bungie planned all along.