[2021] I’m a new player and power surging should not be the ONLY way to level up weapons and armor.

I love the prestige system and power surging is cool but right now I’m forced to use my power surge armor and weapons to be more powerful when I’d like to try other armor and weapons and make them more powerful. Why can’t we have both where we can farm to level up equipment but also get power surge as a bonus for prestiging?