Destiny is overhauling character and Light levels, but your old, Light-rich gear still has one last boon to offer. When The Taken King expansion goes live in September, your gear will determine your newly unified character level.
In other words, don't dismantle any of your high-Light gear before The Taken King comes out. As long as you follow that advice, you don't have to worry about having your best gear equipped as of some specified audit time. Instead, Bungie will account for all of the items across your inventory and vault to determine your level, which you can then advance further by earning good old XP.
Once you hit level 40, you're going to stay there (at least until the next expansion inevitably bumps up the level cap), but you can keep boosting your Light level by equipping better gear. Oh yes, Light is still a thing, but it's becoming a much simpler average of your Attack and Defense values. That means all your gear contributes to your Light, including your class item and Ghost, both of which will now add to your Defense.
In other words, Destiny is making all of your gear matter, and it's turning Light into a simple way to reinforce that importance, rather than the lifeblood of the Destiny endgame.
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