It's not that Bungie did something to handcannons. It's that Auto Rifles were nerfed to oblivion, which lead to the next best thing to become the top. Bungie did buff pulse rifles, and they're hella better than before, but not too many people use them in PvP asides from Red Death and Bad Juju. Scout Rifles have pretty much stayed where they have always been since the launch of the game. What really needs to happen is Thorn's headshot multiplier needs to be lowered. Make it so that 2 shot headshots won't kill with the DOT leaving you at just enough health that a gust of wind would kill you. For Hawkmoon balance, they need to remove the chance of a 1 shot headshot from the 2 bonus damage bullet perks stacking. Regarding TLW, I'm not too sure about. Then Bungie needs to make auto rifles -blam!-ing usable again. The way they nerfed them was god damn stupid. Then things should be fairly even from there.