I used Invective almost exclusively in D1. At no time did I ever feel like ammo regen was garbage.

Because it wasn’t in D1. The ammo economy is different now. Kill someone and get 2 ammo for your shotty. Invective would be at a disadvantage as soon as they spawn with no ammo. At this point special ammo is plentiful, and has its own limitations. The main problem with invective was that it was a full auto shotty with a perk meant for pvp. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the thing! But in D2 full auto shotties are meant for pve, and single shots for pvp. And full autos are very strong in pve. Invective as it was at the end of D1 wouldn’t be very good in D2 because the entire ammo economy is completely different. Special ammo isn’t a problem as you spawn with enough all the time in D2, and gain more from killing. Not mention the range wasn’t amazing on invective. Changing the perk in some way would benefit the weapon more than hurt it. Bungie would have to be super careful when adding it in. It could either end up being super op or terrible. There needs to be a reason to use it over Dust Rock. Because right now there wouldn’t be if it was added to the game.

This sounds like you are completely rewriting the lore of Invective.

How so?

What you're describing isn't Invective. It's a shotgun that looks like Invective but isn't. It regenerating ammo is part of its history and lore.

Like I said, it doesn’t necessarily need to not regen ammo. But [i]if[/i] there was a questline about it, maybe there could be upgrades. Like all the other returning exotic quests. Things like thorn being rebuilt and gaining the remnants perk, or last word gaining the perk that’s on the timer. Even stuff like mida and (kinda) outbreak. Like say Ikora wants to commission the gunsmith to create her the old invective and he hires you to build it. Ikora sees that it’s more useful in guardian hands or something and instead gives it to you. Heartfelt speech blah blah blah done. At this point it has no presence in D2. So something like this could reestablish it’s presence. Maybe even lore bits throughout the quest giving newer players an idea of what an absolute boss Ikora was with this weapon. Mostly what I’m trying to say, is regenerating ammo isn’t going to cut it in D2. Special ammo finders, scavenger perks, and etc, means regenerating ammo wouldn’t help the weapon stay relevant in the meta. I want invective back. But I also want it to be relevant to the meta, not thrown in the vault. So Bungie would either have to change some stuff with the weapon perk, or it’s core stats to make sure it’s not useless. Yes this would change it, but there’s ways to change the perk without changing the lore. Like I said, forging a new one for ikora with new stuff. Maybe regen ammo too, but it needs something to differentiate itself and keep it afloat.