Thorn was quite powerful before the buff, but the long reload and short ammo made it off putting to some that you didn't see it too often. All that's changed is 3 more shots and a slight increase to reload speed, now more people are using it and are crying OP, but this buff was needed for thorn to be even CALLED an exotic, and for it to stand among the other exotic hand cannons, and what people don't seem to know is, hand canons are powerful to begin with, but have longer reloads, slower fire rate and less ammo capacity compared to other primary's. Edit: Oh yeah, don't forget the exotic bounty you need to do to get it, which was another reason for many people not having it, being regarded as the hardest exotic bounty with what seemed like a unworthy reward at the end, but the story associated with it was great.