[2024] Bought a level 4 steel spear on day 12

It's not that they didn't think of it so much as they don't always worry about adding a brand new feature in a state of perfection with all balancing accomplished in its first iteration. They are aware of the imbalance and there are sure to be improvements to the system in the future. I'm playing a mod right now where all tools, armor, and weapons that are found in loot are broken and can only be scrapped for parts and the trader only sells up to orange tier quality of anything. I really enjoy it and I too hope they fix (somehow) the imbalance.