The main problem with the original Graviton Lance was that ungodly recoil -- even at max possible stability, the barrel ended up several feet above the mark after each shot. The easy fix would have been to remove the recoil but leave GL as a 3-shot pulse rifle. Bungie then replaced the push-back explosion effect with smart-bomb projectiles. A better solution would have been to implement an IMPLOSION effect to simulate a micro-black-hole projectile, but this option was either ignored or deemed too powerful.

It may not have been bad, but it had so little usage in the crucible, nobody even cared for it. Now look at it lol.

Agreed. A skilled player could use it and outgun people in crucible, was just a matter of accounting for recoil. Only problem was the cosmolgy was trash. But now using it is like, "Recoil, what's that?", "Damage fall-off, never heard of it", "Oh look, that guy blew up and killed 3 of his teammates", and of course, "What do you mean by 'aim'? All you have to do is pull the trigger and BOOM! Headshot."