[b]Lengthy Post[/b] To say this, I'd like to reference a brief paragraph from the recent 28th of February TWAB: [quote]Scout Rifles have had a long history with Dragonfly and its predecessor over the history of Destiny. This weapon seeks to double down on that history and improve upon it in a simple and effective way. [u]The general design ethos of a pinnacle weapon is that if it approaches an Exotic-esque effect, it must work conditionally—such as activating on a kill event or asking you to risk getting into melee range—and if it works in a neutral setting, then it must only change the way you can do something, not necessarily what you can do.[/u] This is an example of the former.[/quote] This is in reference to the upcoming Vanguard pinnacle reward, an energy scout rifle. I've highlighted the key section. Now I believe that everything written out in the "This Week At Bungie:" articles are written, edited, rewritten, reviewed, edited, then rewritten again to ensure that nothing slips by without proper authorization, and that everything is presented in 100% certainty and reliability, unforseen issues and bugs and such notwithstanding. That being said, this description is of interest to me. Primarily because it was my first moment of clarity as to what 'Pinnacle' weapons were supposed to be. I was under the assumption they were essentially supposed to be top-tier weapons in their respective areas, so this helps clear things up. To pre-face: I have Luna's Howl, but I only have a relatively small amount of use with it. Personally I don't think the weapon(s) is healthy for a PvP environment, but that's not what this post is about. This post is about Pinnacle rewards and where/how they function in the weapon sandbox. Now sandbox designer "Victor Anderson" said, as quoted above, that Pinnacle weapons follow a guideline where they can approach an exotic item in terms, but they must have limitations that hold it back. Currently most (Mountaintop excluded) Pinnacle weapons follow this. The real kink in the issue, the one that I take focus on, is that Luna's Howl (Not Forgotten included) does not follow the guideline set [i]after[/i] this. [quote]...if it works in a neutral setting, then it must only change the way you can do something, not necessarily what you can do.[/quote] Luna's Howl works in a neutral setting. I can not agree with the notion that "Magnificent Howl" might qualify as a conditional setting for the buff to take place, as the condition it asks is quite literally the exact express purpose of both the sub-archetype (Precision Frame) and the archetype as a whole (handcannon). It's condition is to be used by the book, with no change in player engagement style. It is certainly skirting the boundaries at least. I purely take contention with the notion that Luna's Howl does not fit into the current design structure for Pinnacle Weapons, mostly due in part to the description provided by a member of the sandbox design team. I can not agree with the idea that Luna's Howl is a fitting Pinnacle weapon following this, because it provides the sum total of its benefits and potential within the confines of regular use. The weapon is entirely whole and present within the circumstances that a player finds themselves in when fighting against an opponent, be that an AI combatant or a living human combatant. All of the other Pinnacle weapons provide either a unique flourish to set itself apart (Mountaintop) or have a strict condition to limit the weapons potential. Luna's Howl's condition is that it must be used as you would any other 180 rpm Precision-Frame hand cannon, and yet provides a bonus modifier that simply makes the execution of a regular outcome more reliable. It does not change the way you can do anything, it simply makes it easier to do the same thing you can normally do, which is kill things. TL;DR: Going off the description provided by Bungie, it is of my belief that [armory]Luna's Howl[/armory] and [armory]Not Forgotten[/armory] fall outside the defining characteristics of 'Pinnacle Weapons'. Edit: Yes I do have the weapon [i]Luna's Howl[/i]. It is currently equipped on my Titan which you can view by exploring my profile characters. ~2000 kills for Vanguard, and ~200 kills in Crucible. Edit: I feel I should reiterate this. I do not mind the bonus provided by Magnificent Howl. I don't have a strong stance on where the weapon(s) as a whole fits in the Crucible environment. On one hand I don't believe it is healthy for a more fair and engaging experience as a whole, but on the other it is an exciting piece of loot in a loot-driven game. That is a necessity to drive player engagement with various activities. However, this post isn't me saying the weapon should be nerfed. That could be assumed of course and that would make sense, but this post is simply my interpretation of a Pinnacle weapon description and its application to the pinnacle hand cannons. The result is myself saying "Hey, I don't feel these line up very well."