1) It's not just that Thorn has the ability to kill quickly. Thorn also has a high ease of use. If you get double tapped in the head by a fully upgraded Thorn, it's over. If you run into two people who are using Thorn in Trials/Crucible, it's over. I mean if you actually run into them by the way, not if the enemy team has two Thorn users on it. Strictly running into two enemies on the battlefield who have Thorn will almost certainly mean you're going to die. 2) Like I said, Thorn has a high ease of use. The weapon is incredibly easy to master. Just because people don't have super high K/Ds with Thorn doesn't change that. There's a reason Thorn is the most used weapon in the Crucible right now; it's extremely powerful in every situation and is extremely easy to use. Anybody can pick up Thorn and practice for a match or two and notice improvement in their scores. This doesn't mean that they're doing well, just better. 3) At this point, Trials/Crucible is dominated by Thorn users. This does not mean everybody is on an equal playing field. If we were playing Trials on symmetrical maps that would be the case, but we're not. Nearly every map so far has been asymmetrical and gives one side the advantage. This is a fact. Go ahead, look at the maps that have been chosen so far (As far as symmetry goes, the best map so far has been Pantheon, Cauldron is a close second, though). As far as problems with Trials specifically go, I would much rather complain about the Final Round perk problem. It takes all of the skill out of sniping. All you hear at the beginning of each round is *bang bang bang* To me, that's much worse than Thorn. 4) I don't use Thorn because I don't feel like I'm improving as a player. Thorn is a crutch weapon. I use pulse rifles. Similar time to kill, but they actually require skill. In my opinion, if you heavily rely on the most powerful weapon in the game, you're obviously not that good. With that being said, if the enemy team has players that are much, much better than myself, I will pull out The Last Word. They can eat my hip fire headshots. Don't care. I won't use Thorn and I have barely any kills with it. I honestly feel like it is a "scrub gun", but I don't care either way. If you want to be limited to one weapon, all power to you. I just hope you're prepared to change things up when hand cannons get their inevitable nerf sometime in the near future. 5) I do believe a portion of my post already talks about this, but I will reiterate; this would only be the case if Destiny's maps were all completely symmetrical and gave nobody the advantageous position. There are very few Destiny maps (3, in my opinion) that provide such map balance. You have to take into account that encounters are not necessarily planned, so no two parties are ever 100% ready to fire. With unbalanced map designs, this means that whoever came from the better spawn will still have a huge advantage, regardless of the fact that the enemy is using an identical weapon. There's also the class/gear argument. A Hunter is already faster than a Titan and is made even faster with Radiant Dance Machines. Thorn + RDM = deadly. Keep in mind that there are very few encounters in Destiny that are equal in "advantage". Here's the difference between Thorn and The Last Word; [b]Thorn[/b] [quote]There's a reason Thorn is the most used weapon in the Crucible right now; it's extremely powerful in every situation and is extremely easy to use. [b]Anybody can pick up Thorn[/b] and practice for a match or two and notice improvement in their scores.[/quote] [b]The Last Word[/b] [quote]If it is wielded by an [b]expert user[/b], it will crush everything. That gun just does not stand out because it is harder weapon to use but far more deadly.[/quote]