Since you threw your $.02, heres mine. This is the bed we as a community made for ourselves. everyone is complaining that special ammo got taken away, but what do you expect when all you complain about is special weapon ussage... Lets look at the last few metas and the communites responce to them: Taken king: 1k stare/longbow meta: The common complaint seen during this meta was "i cant flinch snipers enough, snipers op!" Bungies solution? They increased the flinch on snipers to satisfy the masses. The most common communities responce to the nerf? "Bungie doesnt listen" "the bungie staff are idiots" "rip snipers" and "destiny is ruined" Now lets fast forward, pre-RoI (about a month before launch) there was a big patch released. Alot of things were effected: shoulder charge, side arms and shotguns. Mainly, The matador 64 family. Rise of iron: Matador64/clever dragon meta The common complaint was range on the matador, the lack of damage fall off and the flinch. "Mapador64: crossmapping shotgun" was so common it was nearpy a meme. Bungie, looking at the feedback given sees that (since theyve been nerfing specials with every patch anyways..) theyll fix the problem at the source. If players have problems with the over use of specials then theyll take specials out of the equation. Lets look at the responce to this: "Rip special weapons" "bungies staff are idiots" "destiny is dead" "no one asked for this" "bungie never listens" Now lets look at this current meta. NLB/sidearm Common complaints? Side arms spawn with ammo, NLB has no flinch. First, it should be stated that prior to the nerf, NLB & a sidearm was considered a "Rogue" sort of anti-meta load out. You didnt see it much because it took time to get adjusted to. NLB was considered, for the longest time to be one of, if not the [b]worst[/b] exotics and prior to the last patch, side arms were the most under appreciated weapon classes used mainly to stop bum rushing shotgunners. Now for the complaints: side arms spawn with ammo, thats not fair: well theyve always spawned with ammo... the community never had a problem with it in the past its only an issue now that senseless nerfing left it as the only viable option left. Another complaint is "side arms are to fast (ttk) or have to much range which is... silly honestly. Side arms have serious damage drop off, depending on the archtype, theyre only viable at a slightly longer range then shotguns. As for their TTK it really boils down to an ability to trace your shots. If you can consistantly land head shots you got yourself an insanely fast time to kill, but thats only IF your target is range, and dumb enough to run in a straight line... As for NLB, the main complaint is that it has little to no flinch and its only viable due to a glitch. Let me ask the community this: do you want another useless exotic? Is the current meta really so bad that instead of adapting to play [i]around[/i] the NLB, it should just be added to the long line of useless exotics. Now: looking at these trend here is the common pattern "(Insert weapon) is Op" says the feedback community Bungie nerfs in accordance to demands "Bungie never listens, their staff is stupid and they ruined destiny for the 100th time." Slowly but surely, a new meta gets established "(Insert weapon) is op!" Says the feedback community And it goes on and on and on.

[quote]Wait a second, it takes 30 seconds to generate one magazine? Why don't I just use a matador 64 and pick up ammo.[/quote] It's 20.

You make valid points. A player shouldn't feel that their weapons are irrelevant or useless. With the recent ammo changes many players feel that their standard special weapons are now "useless". I'll put my two cents down, since this is a public forum, and say that I don't think sidearms are an issue. The ammo stacking is an issue and they are addressing that. Neat-o. I also don't think sidearms can make players perform better. They need a competent player to be a competent weapon. If someone is using a sidearm effectively enough in a match to the point that it will aggravate me, then good on them. Moving on. [quote]An exotic shotgun that has full auto and regenerates ammo.[/quote] Sounds awesome! Where can I get one? [quote]Why don't I just use a matador 64 and pick up ammo.[/quote] That's your choice then. If you prioritize raw damage over having a fairly reliable ammo pool, then that is your choice. Ammo is every 60 seconds in standard Crucible, 30 on the first round in Elimination and going up for 15 every round. Invective also can pick up ammo boxes. Best of both worlds. [quote]This exotic is supposed to be better than a legendary.[/quote] This is not entirely true even though I see this a lot. Exotic weapons are not supposed to be better than legendary weapons. They are meant to compliment specific play-styles/create unique play-styles, and provide unique and interesting character to various archetypes of weapons so as to create a colourful variety that will stand-out from the sea of generic rares and legendarys. They are meant to look, feel and sound powerful but not actually break the balance of the game. Your comment on the change to special ammo affecting legendary special weapons is valid though and I agree to an extent. Your statement however is tailored to only apply to a fraction of the games content and loses validity when applied to the other activities that the game has. This includes standard and Iron Banner Crucible as well. Your statement only applies to Elimination game-modes. Valid, but limited.

Nah m8 Bungie says you just need to adapt and git gud. Crucible is working as intended. [spoiler]Don't you love it when Bungie talks down to us?[/spoiler]

oh, when you completely disregard EVERY OTHER GAME MODE in the game, then SURE the exotics arent exotic! this type of argument is the worst. also, NLB was regarded as the worst by the majority of players that got beat by its skill curve, and nothing more. its a primary thats a 1 shot kill at any range, its always been the best. its just the hardest to use.