The tweaks to the hand cannons in this update were likely meant for one purpose and that's to increase desirability of high impact hand cannons like The First Curse and Ill Will. Hand Cannons were never meant to have the range reliability of a scout rifle or even pulse rifle, but with this new patch, only high impact HCs will be a viable way to reliably perform at long distances, but not reliably against scout rifles, one-on-one with someone of equal skill. The initial bullet accuracy buff, coupled with their high impact, typically longer ranges and slow firing rate ensures that the High Impact class will be the least affected by the nerfs to range and damage drop off. Of course Bungie hasn't stated this, but it's so logical it's almost obvious, and I've wanted high impact HCs to be a more viable option in the game for a while now. It's a pretty interesting and creative tweak. Interesting enough for me to write about, but not interesting enough to make me want to play regularly again.