I'd personally rather the opposite. It would be pretty harsh to force new members to have to shell out constantly for new items while the older members have weapons that last forever. If it's insanely good, you should either save it for the fights that you'll need it in, maintain it well or not expect to have it around for all that long. This would mean the higher up people with more cash will have to actually use that cash in order to maintain their "top flight" status.

What I imagine will happen is that every level of weapon will have both high and low durability varieties so you can choose how to invest.