Aside from their most recent nerfs to the range and dmg perks of 120's and 140's, there's a podcast from the sandbox team ~a little while ago explaining why HC's are so easy to use, and why it's so difficult to nerf them without making them utterly useless. To summarise: 1. They're the "iconic weapon" of the Destiny franchise and its community. Powerful, ease of use in both pve and pvp, etcetera. 2. By design, they don't suffer from the accuracy hit players get when sprinting->ADS. Opening engaging shots are easier to land, combine that with the typical top accuracy perks+icarus makes most of them consistent. 3. Without handcannons (especially if they add larger maps), the sandbox will become another Scout Rifle/Mida terror spree. Scouts are in a tough spot right now, aim assist adjustments aside, so maybe there could be a middle ground with the addition of maps that aren't just close/medium ranged with loads of cover/geometry making it easy to cross distances and render a laned player utterly shafted. 4. Shot cadence. Because of their rpms and how the recoil animations are relatively easy to pick up on, it's easier to master a HC's optimal shot cadence and make those three taps even easier. The sandbox as it is now is much more diversified than all previous, but HC's still reign supreme for all these things intrinsically and more. They are either so very consistent at base or made utterly nasty to deal with when you find yourself a proper roll with so many accuracy perks, or something like Killing Wind to make their lethal range engagements, handling, and player mobility (+hc strafing, peeking, chunking)--we can go on and on, but unless they, let's say, tune damage and range without having to redesign the hc archetype as a whole from the ground up, I doubt we'll see anything substantial in terms of their usage in the sandbox unless Bungie decides to utterly neuter them all, leaving no one to use them. Special ammo economy issue and Bungie's love for OHK abilities/weapons with great ease of use aside, I don't think I mind Hand Cannons too much as they are right now. I like to challenge them, and I also like being zippy playing at range with a scout while also being able to swap for a fast rpm close range clean up, like with a sidearm (I JUST discovered Traveler's Chosen, just wow) or smg. I'd rather them make a bigger focus on maps, matchmaking issues, special ammo economy, and MAYBE tune the ranges of fusion rifles just a *wee bit*. Rapid fires are on the fence IMO, and the high impact frames.... Maybe tune their bolt spread, and keep the massive ranges. Anyway, hope that clears up the whole HC debacle. I'll give Bungie one thing though--most of their hand cannon exotics are so amazingly designed in aesthetics and function. I love their capabilities in PVE. Edit: Oh, and the fact that most game modes are 6v6 with so much fast paced mechanics, with maps that are designed for 4v4, borked spawning system, and the original intention of D2 having a slower pvp gameplay (remember slow ttk, double primaries?)--teamshooting can get real bad when you mostly have players rocking specials and chunking targets with HCs. Bigger maps and less map geometry in hot engagement zones would do the pvp experiences wonders.

Because they aren’t broken nor in need of a nerf? Lmao?

Hey bungie is that a hand cannon in your pants or you just excited to use a hand cannon. Sounded better in my head But bungie won’t nerf hand cannons to many people use them and bungie -blam!- the trigger guards

Aren't Handcannons the most nerfed primary weapons? Yes? I'll wait for a response. Just get gud

If we give HCs the bullet megnetism of scouts they’ll feel about the same. Scouts are sticky af.

Not like they haven’t been nerfed like 6 times recently or anything 🤦‍♂️ like come on dude they’ve been range nerfed, damage nerfed, rpm nerfed, lightweight frame nerfed. Enough is enough. Ether get better and win with different weapons or use one stop complaining.

the has been the best season to date for balance you8 can out gun alot of hand cannons with some autos, scouts, subs, just about anything i think they are in a decent place i think 180s need a range buff tho

They need to either increase zoom to match the range, or nerf range to match the zoom. Only weapon in the game with no downsides, a jack of all trades and a master of all at all relevant ranges. Having 37m range on a 1.4x zoom weapon with high aim assist is just dumb. Other 1.2-1.4x weapons are limited to 20m. Need a 2.0x or 2.2x sight on pulses or autos to get the same range which narrows their accuracy cone and makes them really awkward mid/up close.

What about them needs a nerf?

"revolvers are the katanas of guns" -some guy on 4chan

cus they don't rlly need a nerf, only BM but thats is for all guns

People will cry

The meta is so old but bungie is to much of a sissy to change the meta. And even if the meta wasn't hc/shotguns people b!tch bout hc being weak and can't compete. Every now and than I put a suggestion and I have people like my suggestions but it would take an empire to have it take affect. Reduce the range, reduce the cone and aim assist, take rangefinder off palindrome, and reduce the accuracy while jumping, increase flinching. All of this I suggested and many liked it and was for it.

They aren't broken? Was this a serious post? Lmao!

Then you’ll be complaining that secondaries are to strong.

Just reduce aim assist on 140s and they'll be fine.

Yeah they need to be dialed back a bit.

That would be a buff due to the aa/cone increase. But i agree hc’s need to be much less forgiving. Every hand cannon should have the hitbox that sunshot has.

Depends what hcs u are talking about… So there are people who complain about hcs saying they are the easiest primary etc etc But you think of Hawkmoon, Pali, fatebringer, Dire, and thorn. But can we can all agree that hcs like Nation of beasts, ancient gospel, annual skate, lumina, and judgement. Those aren’t broken, probably bc they have low AA compared to the others but maybe if they nerfed the meta hcs to where the other ones like annual skate are then maybe we’d see more variety in both the hc options and primary options in competitive as a whole, likely because a lot of players will go to messager, vigilance wing, dmt and shyuras because there are some [b]VERY[/b] good primary alternatives that people don’t consider.

Any HC nerf instantly sends the community into a frenzy of demands to revert them. Bungie usually complies because any time the balance isn't skewed in their favor, things turn nasty.