You don't know a single thing about the bolded at all. Nobody does. If characters carry over between games, you don't know if it'll be like the .hack series or if it will be nothing more than a Mass Effect cosmetic + previous achievement carry over.
And exotics are being carried over and likely modified to match. Legendaries, to some extent are staying as they are but they won't be useful in the events that 2.0/TTK is designed around. That's standard for any MMO-like upgrade. Guys from WoW got stuff from Lich King that they keep just to mess around with. But that's all that it is. Collector's gear in its own right.
That's right, nobody does. They specifically said your character(s) and progress will go with you throughout what they have planned for destiny so all I can do is take that at face value
The gear thing is still up in the air I guess because I'm not the only one who feels the way I do. The players are speaking up, bungie responded and they have been listening so we will see.
Either way I'm looking forward to it