I didn't like it, but it wasn't really a dealbreaker. Just a bit of an annoyance.
What's interesting to me is that it doesn't really bother me in other games, when weapons have a little durability meter. I think the thing that irks me, and many other players, is not necessarily the idea that weapons have durability and can break, but rather that they are disposable.
When my weapon breaks in Dark Souls 2, I just go back to the bonfire and then it's fine. It isn't gone forever. But weapons in Breath of the Wild just shatter into pieces and are gone forever. There's no getting them back, they are designed to be used and then discarded.
It speaks to the fundamentally different nature of the two games. In Dark Souls 2 (and indeed, all Souls games and their ilk) you are incrementally improving your character over time, at the same time as you improve your skills and understanding of the game and its systems. The world is inherently hostile, and you're carving out a niche.
That is what the game is designed around. Slowly digging yourself out of a hole, essentially. This mirrors the idealized vision of the capitalist society, the good ol' "American Dream", where you can succeed by just keepin' at it, year after year. If you work hard, you will make progress and gain resources and skills that will continue to help you succeed more and more.
On the other hand, the disposable weapons of BotW mirror one of the constant frustrations of this capitalist world we live in. It irritates the anxiety of living in a world that obsessed with scarcity. What if your weapon breaks but you're surrounded by combat? That weapon you like so much could disappear forever with the next attack!
In terms of game design, to my view the aim is twofold: enhance the experience of being a scavenger, living in a hostile world (see also: survival crafting games), and making the Master Sword more desirable when you eventually get your hands on it.
Consider: you're playing a version of BotW that doesn't have durability at all. You find a claymore, love it, and never use anything else. Or you get one of those cool glowing ancient weapons, and just use that forever. Master Sword who? I've got this cool techno-sword! Why would I care about some boring old cruciform garbage?
You literally see this in action in Ocarina of Time, where many players end up using the Big Goron Sword or the Megaton Hammer as their primary weapon instead of the Master Sword. But, in BotW, that sword becomes a reliable companion in a world of garbage. It's special because it's well-built, it will always be there when you need it, a shard of divine power that defies the laws that govern the rest of the world. It's patently obvious why you would want it.
The other aspect, enhancing the feel of being a scavenger in a broken world, is aesthetic and mechanical. It encourages the player to use the other tools at their disposal, the sheikah slate abilities, rather than just whacking every stray bokoblin with a sword. It's part of the larger project of shaking the old school players out of their old habits.
Aesthetically, it imparts the idea that this world is harsh, and it's hard to survive. Tying into the old Tolkien stuff, the time of Hylians is passed, they're only barely hanging on. Civilization has collapsed, so the products of civilization are also decayed and worthless.
Now, for the reason I didn't like it.
Part of it is that I live in a capitalist world, and am constantly in that scarcity mindset, so seeing it replicated in a game annoys me. It's a fundamental limitation that cannot be overcome, no matter how far into the game you get, no matter how many hearts and stamina wheels you get. Even the Master Sword breaks and needs to recharge. There's nothing permanent about your combat abilities.
What I often like in games is a tension that gets relieved. In Souls games, to keep our comparison going, this is best embodied by the estus flask. Early on, you only have a few charges, so every time you get hit and have to drink is painful. By the end of the game, your flask is so powerful and you have so many charges that this is no longer a concern. As long as you don't die instantly, you have a chance to recover. The early tension is eased.
In BotW, that tension is never eased. I never feel like I can use that ancient sword, those wizzrobe wands, totally freely. It's the old megalixir effect: what if I need it later!? That's the scarcity thinking coming into play.
The other part of it is that I hate having limitations on the way that I interact with a game's combat systems. I want to use a claymore, but then I always have the anxiety of that claymore breaking and me being out of claymores.
I'll explain this by way of two other games: Nioh 2, which I love, and Dead Cells, which I dislike. In the former, you pick a weapon at the start of the game and you can use only that weapon for the rest of your time with the game, no problem. There is absolutely zero friction, you get to know that sword and you can keep using it forever. Sure, you'll swap out the specific sword, but the controls, the way you interact, is the same, always (if you want! I always end up swapping primary weapons many times in a playthrough).
Meanwhile, in Dead Cells, you get a random weapon at the start of the game, every run. I hate that so much. I don't want a random weapon, I want the one I want! I want to put the time in and develop my skills through practice, and that's tough when I don't always get the opportunity to do so.
This is probably also an anxiety imported from everyday life, where the ability to have time to myself is something I have always preciously guarded. We're all forced to sell our time and energy to make a living, so being left to the sway of arbitrary lack of choice in leisure time is galling.
But, again, specifically only with regards to controls and method of interaction! I loooooooove games like Spelunky, where you are subject to the whims of the RNG in many different ways. But you always have your whip and can jump!
The reason this interaction thing is less of a dealbreaker in Breath of the Wild is simple: there's so much other shit to do. Combat is not a large part of the game, it's mostly about wandering around and taking in the sights. Also, you do always have access to your sheikah slate powers, including remote bombs.
So like... overall, it's not a game system I enjoy, though I do understand why they did it, and think it fits into their overall vision for the game. And, because of the way the game is constructed, it's not a dealbreaker, by any means.
