Yeah not buying Red Death when Xur sold it way back when has become my biggest regret in Destiny. If I remember right he sold Suros the week before and since I didn't have a ton of coins back then I decided to pass on Red Death in case he came along with a couple of things I could get more use out of the next week. I also just didn't like pulse rifles at all and I figured I would never use Red Death since the main draw seemed to be the health regen and I thought Suros was good enough. I figured I would just buy it the next time Xur had it or get it as a drop eventually. Even though I don't remember Xur showing up with anything I really wanted the next week I really wasn't too upset that I passed on it. Suros was my go to pvp weapon and the consensus seemed to be that Red Death and pulse rifles in general were pretty weak. Of course now that they buffed pulse rifles Red Death has become a monster and I wish I had it. It's a little bit sad to look at my vault with 250+ coins in in and think that at one point I passed on the exotic that I currently want the most because I thought I might need the coins. I can only imagine what the people who passed on Gjallarhorn and can't get it to drop feel like. I probably would have been one of them, but I was lucky enough to have it drop from crucible as my first ever exotic the week after release, so I never got the chance.Vendetta and I are both looking for Red Death and that thing just never drops for us. And Suros for me as well. Of course have to wait till September for the rest of those (the PS exclusives).
And once again, no Hunger of Crota for me. I have to be pushing 30-40 Normal mode clears at this point without getting that stupid thing. Yet I got like my 6th Black Hammer and 4th or 5th Light of the Abyss last night. The only two things I need from Crota at this point are that and the stupid Hunter class item which also just doesn't want to drop (though I noticed the drop rate on class items for Crota is way smaller than it was for VoG).
As for normal Crota drops, it seems like a lot of people have one weapon that just won't drop for them. I have a number of friends who can't get either Black Hammer or Hunger to drop and I still don't have Light of the Abyss. To be fair I really don't run normal anymore, but I had Black Hammer and Hunger of Crota drop all the time when I was running it. I had Song of Ir Yut and Sword Breaker drop multiple times as well. The raid fusion rifles just don't want to drop for me for whatever reason. Praetorian Foil is the only VoG weapon I have never had drop and Light of the Abyss is the only Crota's End weapon I am missing.