Given that the level cap was once 20, is now 40, and year three will probably see a small bump to that, it looks like they're setting it up that we will keep our character for many years. Probably max it out at a cap that's around 100 by the end of it all. Personally I wouldn't mind starting new characters, but I do think everyone playing Destiny has to realize that the weapons we all know and love might not make it. Don't get too tied to that stuff. For example, if in the story we progress closer to the Golden Age, ballistic weapons might become obsolete as we convert to energy weapons (that might end up playing the same anyway), add more melee energy weapons, and they would have to reasonably in-game be better than what we've got as a result. We could see something happen where fusion rifles are a primary with a very fast charge rate, or even no charge at all, which I think would be super cool. I like the idea that it's not just my guardian that's progressing, but the species as well. I think they made very overpowered weapons in year one (especially elemental primaries, that was really jumping the gun, so to speak) and it was a huge mistake. It setup an expectation and experience for year one players that is just going to continually frustrate them the longer this game goes.