Making games is hard. You have to come up with interesting and fun ideas, write a compelling story that is also unique, and you have to make sure that everything is relatively fair and balanced. And it's that last part that Bungie seems to have a recurring issue with. We can argue that the story has slacked at times, and that from time to time ideas get refurbished (Menagerie and Sundial are pretty similar). But the most common problem Bungie has faced is having added in several weapons or armor that have had to be nerfed later down the road. I'm not going to argue that nothing should ever be nerfed. Sometimes a new weapon is added that throws off the balance of play when used with a certain piece of armor, or vise versa. At those times it might be most fair to re-balance the pre-existing gear, but logically this should only be done if there is no way to work the new gear around the old. The first question that should be asked when working on a new exotic or pinnacle weapon is "What does this piece of gear do?" Followed immediately by "What will this gear do in conjunction with other gear/specific perks?" THIS is the point that all issues should be fixed, preemptively, not as an afterthought months down the road. The point of this post is the nerf to Sleeper Simulant and Whisper of the Worm. I've been on a hiatus for several months for family issues. I've only just discovered the nerfs, and honestly I'm disappointed. The Whisper of the Worm was added in almost 2 years ago. They knew EXACTLY what this weapon was going to be to the community and exactly what it would be used for before they ever had it go live. If there was a single soul at Bungie that didn't think "This weapon is going to be used by everyone to burn down every boss in the game." then they have no idea how this game works or how the player base operates, which is sad given how long the franchise has been out. Whisper was arguably one of the hardest weapons to obtain. It is a pinnacle weapon with it's own event, is tied to a significant character in the game's lore, and was originally time gated. My friends and I worked our butts off the first week and were short by a few seconds, the second week we went in and got it with just under an hour to spare. It was a team effort and we had to work closely in tandem to get it. We beat our heads into the wall working on the catalyst. Finally, we had our prizes. I helped half of my clan get that thing, and then masterworked. Now, using the gun after the nerf, I feel like all that work was for nothing. The gun isn't garbage, it does good damage, but it went from a God-tier sniper rifle to just another sniper. I feel like we've been punished for mistakes we didn't make. We didn't design the gun. We didn't decide on the perks. We simply used a tool given to us by the developers, and when they decided that they didn't like how we were using the gun for exactly what they designed it for, the nerfed it. I know they buffed the ammo capacity, but that's like chopping off someones arm and then saying "Hey, I know I just chopped off your arm and all, but hey, I got you these new shoes to make up for it." Do I think Bungie will back track on this? I'd like to hope they would but the reality is they probably won't. Now, we as a community are faced with a reality, one that had always been in place, but I had been foolishly hoping wouldn't be acted upon; Bungie can and will alter gear simply because it doesn't suit their idea of the game from one moment to the next. I understand that running a business means making difficult choices, and when dealing with a community this size you have to weigh the options and make the choice you think is both fair and agreeable. I would like to think that Bungie thought it over thoroughly and talked it over with several members of the team before making this choice. But in my mind, and I'm sure in the minds of many players, they made the wrong choice. I love this game, I love this franchise, and I love this developer. I've been around since Halo 1's release, though I only became a more active member of the community since Destiny's launch, mainly due to lack of a pc before 2010. But now I have to move forward thinking to myself every time I discover a new quest or hear about a new reward from the community "Is this going to be another Whisper? Am I going to work and grind for this reward only to have it hobbled later on because Bungie decided they didn't like the way they designed it?" The fact is, every piece of gear they add to the game is designed by them. They know every number, every scenario in relation to these items. I would assume they thoroughly test this stuff to make sure it's agreeable to their standards before adding them to the game. So what is there to change? If they add it to the game, then it should be balanced and fair and only require minor tweaks here and there. But to completely remove a weapon's main appeal, as they have with Whisper, is just unreasonable bordering on negligence. I hope Bungie can find better solutions to problems like this. It ruins the fun of the game to work hard to earn something only to have it be diminished later. The Vex Mythoclast and Thorn in D1, and now the Whisper, Sleeper, Howl, and Not Forgotten in D2. Every time this happens I think to myself "If the rewards I get for working my butt off are all just going to be nerfed, hobbled, made less than what we were told they would be, then is there even a point in playing this game at all? If it could all just be changed later then why keep trying?" That's all just my opinion on this. This is the feedback section so there's some feedback. If you wanna tear into me for being stupid or something then go ahead. I just keep expecting better from Bungie. Sometimes they come through and I'm happy to see it. It's just depressing to see them re-neg down the road.