I was initially in favor of this aspect of the update, figured it would ultimately result in matches with less heavy, and be a more interesting game, more emphasis on primary weapon skill. If heavy was, for instance, removed altogether, this probably would have been more the case. (Not advocating that, just citing an example) But, After playing a handful of Crucible matches this morning, I'm pretty disappointed. Here's why: The risk/reward factor of targeting and killing a guy with heavy has been removed, making the game less exciting, and less rewarding for skill. Also, now those who do get heavy have a steeper advantage. Contrast these two scenarios, both of which feature one team gaining the upper hand as heavy becomes available: "Heavy ammo available" Alpha get's their heavy and also manages to either steal the Bravo's heavy drop or wipe most of Bravo's team as they pick it up. Uh-oh, things are looking grim for Bravo. What happens next? Pre 1.1.1 The play here was to do your best to avoid choking on Alpha's rockets until they blew them some other random on your team, OR, nut up and go hunt a heavy carrier and turn things around, maybe using your super to outplay one of those smug, machine gun toting jerks on Alpha team. An added layer of strategy, and a chance to turn a bad situation to your favor, all because you could get heavy back off a kill. Losing heavy did not mean losing the game. Post 1.1.1 The play here is to do your best to avoid choking on Alpha's rockets until they blow them some other random on your team, OR, well, actually, there isn't much else to do here. Alpha knows no one on Bravo has heavy anymore, so they (a) hunt you mercilessly like the poor helpless rabbits you are, or (b) set up a campsite and kill Bravo in their choice of doorways. The key difference is, Alpha has little to lose by dying, since Bravo can't get any heavy off them, and Bravo has little to gain by pushing, except an uphill battle to simply take heavy out of the hands of Alpha. And even when Bravo finally kills all of Alpha's players, removing heavy from the hands of that team entirely, the odds are still even at best, or perhaps still slightly in Alpha's favor, since Alpha has probably built a lead by then, gotten their supers charged, and has nothing new to fear from Bravo. Does losing out on the heavy drop now equate to losing the game? I fear the answer may commonly be "yes". Also, this scenario seems to be compounded in smaller team sizes, where initial heavy goes further, and there are fewer enemy players to fight back. I know there are many possible ways a crucible match can play out, and that was just one, but it is a scenario that seems to be rising to the fore in the early hours of this new patch, and it seems to highlight a downside of this change. If there is an upside, or a different way of seeing it, maybe you'd care to bring it to light in a comment/response below. I do think there was a problem of too large a portion of a crucible match simply being heavy weapon fire exchanged. However, if anything, I think the appropriate change would have been to reduce, even drastically, the amount of heavy dropped in the initial drop, and possibly even in secondary kill drops. But the current change is, in my opinion, a mistake, and a step in the wrong direction. More thoughts in some of the replies below, thanks for reading, and feedback!