The game has been in a good place since Patch 1.8 dropped last fall. Unlike Year One, you can get good gear basically playing any part of the game. In addition to drops there are daily and weekly "bounties" (Challenges) that reward you with "Sealed Caches" that have good gear. Plus there are Global Events (Outbreak just finished up yesterday) where you can earn Classified Gear Sets. Grinding Challenge mode story missions is still the most efficient grind for end game gear. Legendary story missions and incursions are the most efficient for exotics. But you can get just about anything anywhere. So play what you enjoy. What weapons are good depends on what you want to play. PVE? ARs, LMGs, Sniper rifles. Look for HK G36s, M4 (including LVOA-C), M-60s, M5s, etc. PVP? I'm not up to date on. But the game revolves around Gear Sets and builds that leverage the strengths of those gear sets. So you want to decide how you want to play, and then build accordingly. I usually either play a DPS role...or an "LMG-Support" role where I use an LMG for crowd control and do double duty as a team healer. So I typically run a STriker Gear Set when playing as a DPS player.....and a Reclaimer build when I'm playing LMG/Support. If you're a solo player. Striker, Lone Star and Nomad are good sets. If you're into PVP....Striker, Banshee, Nomad, AlphaBridge and Predator's Mark are good sets. If you want to emphasize sill use....then Tactician, Reclaimer, Firecrest. If you want to be a sniper....then Dead Eye, Hunter's Faith or Sentry's Mark.