No, it is NOT retarded. Because you stand a much better chance of being awarded the materials than you do any legendary gear.....and any one with legendary gear knows that the materials are one of the most precious resources in the game. The only difference between the weapons in the Queen's aresenal AT RANK 3, and a Legendary weapon is that you can upgrade a legendary to Attack rating 300. But that can only be done with Ascendent Energy. If you look at your legendary weapons, you'll see that they'll max out at about 267 attack rating (just like the Queen's rank 3 arsenal) until you start upgradeing them with AE. Exotic weapons, IIRC will get into the 280s. So, unless you are well into raiding, the weapons from the Queen's Arsenal will perform like a Legendary...and get you into the VoG. Which was the whole point of the event. To expand the pool of people who are geared up to do the raid.