So if anyone here enjoys crucible occasionally, or plays it hare core, than you've probably noticed some issues with how weapons are balanced. I'm eventually going to make a YouTube series detailing exact times to kill, average dps, and other stats, to show how broken some aspects of this game are. I'll start with a big one. The thorn. Anyone who's played trials knows that this piece of crap is guaranteed to be used by almost everyone you encounter. 2 shots from a thorn is a guaranteed kill, after poison. It out shoots most snipers, and is one of the most frustrating things to encounter. The question is, how did it get so over powered? Hand cannons in general received a large buff, while bungie nerfed many of the the other weapon classes. Hand cannons in general take around 3 shots to kill a player, while as auto rifles take around 8 to 10, pulse rifles can range from 4 bursts to 5, and scout rifles can take any where from 4 to 5. With the clear advantage to hand cannons, why would anyone not use them? In addition to doing more damage then most weapon classes, the thorns poison effect adds a very frustrating burn effect, which says health and impedes aim. Being hit first by a thorn will almost always guarantee a loss in that firefight. How can it be fixed? For starters, all gun classes need to be balanced so there's no one true favorite. That will raise the time to kill on the thorn, and allow other weapons, like the multi tool or hard light, to be successful in crucible as well. In addition, the poison effect should do less damage over less time. This will prevent burning out after a firefight concluded, unless the thorn user greatly diminished your health. Video will be up soon, let me know what you guys think