I am not sure, maybe it is just the RNG, or also me not really noticing/grasping the new lvl 40 gear system instead of the old gearscore system really works. I have been playing a while now after reaching lvl40 and finishing the story. I got the watch and so on and have been trying out a few missions and such. I have done normal, hard and challenging so far. I got quite some stuff that dropped, all lvl 40 items.
From what I read and know so far, it is all lvl 40 now and the 'quality', or how effective those items are, is determined by the difficulty setting where they drop.
During my time I tried to compare the items and I don't really see an improvement on the ones that I got from challenging, compared to the ones from normal. Not even a difference in how many of which type would drop (purple or yellow).
For example I got several holsters and all have the same amount of armor 112k. Then there are only differences in the Core Attribute as well as the others. From how the system 'should' work, as I understand it so far, the items from challenging should be better. But in fact they are not. I got an holster on challenging where all three attributes were almost half the value from the one I got while doing a hard mission. The same seems to go for the weapons. I have crafted an MK17 and so far it surpasses every other rifle that I have found in terms of attributes.
So from my experience so far there isn't a real way to improve by playing on a more difficult setting, but rather have to hope for a good RNG. I mean the old system wasn't perfect and I am sure nobody will ever be able to create a perfect system with such a game, but as of now, in my opinion it was a little easier to determine the quality, or effectiveness of an item for a specific difficulty. Right now I the only thing I can do is to compare each and every stat/attribute. I did that and created a build, but then, without recalibrating a lot into armor/health, I still got shredded like being wrapped in TP, now with even -2 rolls of it. Also to add this little bit of survivability, I had to sacrifice quite the lot of damage. So in the end it turned out to be the same. By adding armor I survived longer and could dish out more damage, with more damage, I had to play much more careful (which is fine) but the time to finish an activity more less remained the same, with one downside that the enemies seem to be a bit more spongy and have gotten more healing capabilities.
I had more than one situation where they deployed the little healing box behind cover, the guy who deployed it also kept himself hidden away in cover while his buddies (inside of the green, comfy circle) kept showering me with bullets. I survived, but eventually ran of of bullets myself as well as having cooldown on my skills and no armor kits. So they slowly wore me down over time. Well, I am getting a little bit of topic here, but I have to admit, that at the moment, it was more fun to play before the changes.
You haven't noticed the visualizations they added? It shouldn't take the brainpower and effort it used to take to make your "is this drop worth anything to me" assessment. The visualizations are subtle, but I am pretty sure there are indications even when you look at the drop pile before examining it.
Yes, I don;t think that gear being level 40 means it is anything better than the pieces you are wearing, just like GS500 didn't guarantee it was useful in your WT5 "6 month" build. By that, I mean a build you've been using for months, and it is already matured for your goals.
But yeah, we shouldn't be at a ceiling within a week. LOL.