Before everyone revs up their angry comment fingers I want to let you all know that this is defending No Land Beyond and not complaining about it. Recently I have been hearing a lot of complaints about the NLB in the crucible from many people. I want to let you all know what is going on and what needs or doesn't need to happen. [i]"Why is NLB such a popular choice in this meta and why are people complaining about it?"[/i] [b](Before I begin this section I would like to say that these arguments will not have counters to them at this moment. This is just stating what I have heard from the current player-base. Counters to these arguments will be heard in the following paragraph.)[/b] To start things things off let's talk about flinch on this weapon. The No Land Beyond has little to no flinch and the only thing that moves is the sniper itself and not the scope. You can put two clever dragon bursts with high caliber rounds into someone's head and they can still snipe you.Another complaint is the low zoom value. The low zoom factor makes it easier to land a headshot because you don't need to be as precise. This is why shortgaze, ambush, and other scopes are popular and were even more popular before their nerfs. Players don't want a lot of zoom on their weapon. This is what makes it popular. The third complaint is the amount of ammo. You spawn into a game with eleven bullets and when you die you get all eleven bullets back. You can also get more ammo from dead guardian's bodies or from special ammo crates. You can't forget about mulligan which will give you a bullet back if you miss a shot. Combine these three factors and you get what a year one/ early year two sniper felt like. People want to play with a sniper that feels like year one or early year two. Low zoom, little flinch, and an abundance of ammo. Another complaint I hear from players in the crucible is that it takes up the primary slot. They say that bit allows you to use "over powered" weapons such as the matador. [i] "What are the downsides to this gun and how can I counter it?" [/i] This weapon has many many downsides that players are forgetting about. Let's start off with the reload glitch. As many of you may know, the reload glitch is the only thing that makes the NLB usable. Without it you would need to wait a long time for the gun to finish it's animation for the next shot. This reload glitch isn't always reliable as well. If mulligan prompts or your timing for the glitch is off by a millisecond, the glitch will fail and your next shot will be delayed. Next is the weapon's sway. While strafing either left, right, forward, or backward; this weapon has a reticle sway. This makes it harder to snipe. another downside to this gun is it's inability to re-roll it. You can't get popular perks such as hidden hand or quick-draw on this gun. Now, it's biggest downside is that it takes up your primary slot. In most situations you will need your primary to do the job. When I find myself pairing a sidearm, shotgun, or fusion riffle with this weapon I am put at a slight disadvantage. I don't really have anything to cover a certain range. You can counter this gun just like you can counter any other sniper. Use vertical space, sliding, grenades, and many other tactics to avoid being sniped. Most people that can snipe you out of your primary shots are skilled snipers and have a lot of practice with the weapon. In conclusion this weapon is in no need of any nerfs. It's downsides are too great to be unnoticed. If this weapon becomes nerfed it will become a novelty weapon again and be nonviable in the crucible. Don't tell a player using this weapon that they are bad or suck at the game. Don't get mad at someone using an effective weapon or play-style. I've learned to not complain about the matador and clever dragon anymore. You can't blame a player for using what is effective. It is unfair to generalize a certain player base as unskilled for using a certain weapon. If people become too upset at a certain weapon because the player using it took the time to master it, it will get nerfed and the whole playstyle would be ruined. People will learn to master a new play style and once that becomes effective, it will be nerfed as well. This is exactly what happened to the gunslinger subclass. Some people mastered it and it became nerfed. We as a community need to wake up and realize that annoying does not amount to over powered. I hope some of you could see the other side to the argument and take into consideration the current state of this weapon. Let me know what you all think about this this topic in the comments. Let's all be civil and not grab at each other's throats over the topic of video game balance. Thank you all and good luck in the crucible guardians!