Catalysts were a band-aid. Destiny 2 launched with a weapon system that had been designed with the purpose of LIMITING player power and making balancing the sandbox easier for PVP balance. The problem is that PVE is the core of the game, and that game is a power-fantasy game. So as one poster here put it back then, "My Guardian in Destiny 1 was a Jedi. But for Destiny 2 they've turned him into a Stormtrooper.' IOW, game got turned form a space magic game into a bad imitation of Halo. So Bungie was left scrambling to save the game. Because not only did the changes BREAK the feel of the game....it also BROKE the end game. Fixed weapon rolls and dual primary weapons imposed a DPS ceiling on players that made end-game content TEDIOUS rather than fun....and fixed rolls destroyed any loot chase. Once you got your "First Better Devils" there was no point to any other one you got after that. So people left the game in droves....because there was nothing to do and nothing to chase. Which pushed Bungie to have to find a way to get us power while they bought time to overhaul the game....as well as try to find some way to motivate people to play the raids. So they created exotic catalysts....and then put them as low-drop rate loot items in raids and other difficult content. I don't think Bungie ever intended to continue them past their immediate need to save the game. But the problem was that WE LIKED THEM. So Bungie has been dragged kicking-and-screaming since them to create more of them for us. They do it, but I don't think they like it. I get their point of view on it. It just makes extra work. If your going to have a catalyst (in a game with a functional weapon system and loot system) , why not just make that feature a permanent part of the weapon? Fourth Horseman (version Destiny 2) is really kind of a shitty weapon without its exotic catalyst. The reload time is annoyingly slow. So all the catalyst winds up doing is finally turning it into a weapon that feels good to use.