Yeaaahh, the weapon durability complaints are overblown, and pretty substantially. Practically you don't run out, and the system requiring regular replacements (barring the few unique items in the game that have substantial import/personality) makes for a surprisingly dynamic combat system, particularly from a visual standpoint or what it entails so far as enemy AI goes. Even if you do run out, either you have the means to disengage or fight without, or the game provides the tools to you anyway if the fight is actually important.
From the 50+ hours of gameplay I've watched at this point, I'd personally say the way they've done durability adds more to the game than it detracts, and by a fair amount. Maybe not the strongest part of the game, and I can understand why it rubs certain folks the wrong way (particularly many regular gamers, since we've been conditioned pretty hard towards conservation and hoarding when it comes to equipment), but the implementation's actually pretty good if you stop kvetching about it and start working with it. It's smooth in practice, gives yet another reason to explore and pay attention to your surroundings and think about how you approach situations, adds even to the immediate combat (opportunities for disarms that mean something, reason to figure out efficient ways to fight, the mechanics around the breaking itself (there's a
reason you can throw weapons, and it's not just puzzle solving or specialist kit), etc.), and generally inculcates behavior and thinking that honestly looks pretty fun. It's a
different way of thinking about combat and equipment, but not a bad one by any means.
There's also means to repair or replace out there in the game. Tend to be hard to do or expensive, but most of the stuff you'll actually want to fix has high enough durability you can still get attached easily enough. Add that most of the actually important/unique stuff specifically have extra ways to fix them (or just straight up don't permanently break) and if you really can't play a game without getting fixated on a single weapon or are unable to bring yourself to adjust to using different weapon types, there's means to placate your obsession
... basically, what I'd say is that the BotW devs didn't fuck up when they designed the durability system like they did, despite a number of folks screeching pretty loudly about it. They could have done it differently, and it probably would have been less initially jarring if they did, but it's well done regardless and doubly so considering there's little to no precedent in the gaming world to have learned from. It's not a weakness with the game, it's a weakness of the player that the game is designed fairly well around trying to break, heh.
