[i]This got long. If you are familiar with the history of Whisper of the Worm, skip the first paragraph. I edited this essay over the course of about a week, so I hope that it isn’t too hard to read, and I’m sorry that it is a bit wordy, I wanted to take some time to develop certain arguments. Another note for those who will discuss DARCI in parallel, my argument is not for DARCI to become a special weapon, I am not willing to write another essay for that, mostly because DARCI has its own set of needs as a weapon (though I personally DO think that it should be a special weapon). [/i] During Year 1 of Destiny 2, all of the Sniper Rifles (including Whisper) were heavy weapons. Around the time Forsaken was released, Bungie implemented the ammo system the game currently has, moving all of the Sniper Rifles into the special ammo category, except for Whisper and DARCI. A few months later, Whisper would be nerfed by having its ability to create heavy ammo removed. Heavy ammo in Destiny is a semi-scarce resource, so it’s easy to see why Whisper got its ability to create heavy ammo taken away given how strong heavy weapons generally are. However, I think the timing of the nerf left Whisper in a really awkward spot, where it was left behind in the heavy slot due to missing the chance to move slots since it was too strong at the time. It’s easy to see why Whisper stayed in the heavy slot when Forsaken dropped, its main role in the game was to generate infinite heavy ammo at the time, but since they would later remove that, Whisper became a fish out of water. It no longer had that “x-factor” that defines an exotic heavy, it is a sniper in the heavy slot with body shot damage comparable to an aggressive frame legendary sniper. It is immediately apparent after using this weapon for an extensive period of time, the weapon has problems, and I believe I have a solution. This leads to my main point, Whisper of the Worm no longer belongs in the heavy slot, it should be moved to special ammo. First and foremost, Whisper of the Worm is a Sniper Rifle. It shouldn’t have to compete with grenade launchers, rockets, and swords, its balance should revolve around competing with other snipers. It might seem scary, moving a heavy sniper into a special slot and dealing with the fallout, but I’m almost certain that it won’t be a problem. First off, it fulfills a very specific and particular role, sustained precision DPS. Let’s compare this to what other exotic snipers can do. Izanagi’s Burden does great DPS, but it also has burst precision damage to set itself apart. Borealis has a damage increase perk with Ionic Return, but its main idea is to break shields using The Fundamentals (three-element switch perk). Cloudstrike can also do really good sustained DPS, kind of like Whisper, but it also has amazing ad clear and AoE to set itself apart, not to mention a higher magazine and greater fire rate. Whisper of the Worm has a higher crit modifier and an enhanced triple tap. As you can see, it not only fits in with the snipers in terms of design theme (having two main functions), it also fits in thematically as a pure consistent damage sniper. It has above-average damage per shot (though not as much burst as with something like Izanagi) and it puts it out consistently with auto-reload. It fits neatly with the other special exotic snipers, as the definitive single target, sustained DPS weapon. No burst like Izanagi, no AoE like Cloudstrike, no shield break like Borealis, just a strong specialized DPS weapon. Whisper of the Worm is a simple and strong exotic, all it needs is to be put with other weapons of its weight class. There are some necessary issues that need to be addressed, as I’m sure I haven’t convinced some of you. Yes, Whisper of the Worm does have some of the best DPS in the game already, but moving it to the special slot would not make it OP, if there’s anything I want you to leave the post with it’s that. First of all, moving it to the special slot means that, while you’ll have more chances to use it, its overall DPS won’t really change. Some people might try running it with spike nades, but overall that shouldn’t be too much of a problem since Whispered Breathing Requires a solid few seconds to activate, meaning you would be losing DPS if you didn’t scope in immediately. The only really big changes are that you can now afford to run a burst option in the heavy slot for things like champions/minibosses and that you can use Whisper like a proper sniper against majors. While it might outclass some of the other special snipers in terms of damage per shot, keep in mind that most majors have shields, meaning that you won’t proc auto-reload and will most likely only have 3 shots per magazine (compared to a higher magazine legendary sniper, or, more specifically, Borealis). The only real things it will have a clear advantage over other special snipers will be very large groups of tanky enemies because you can probably one-shot them with Whispered Breathing (which Cloudstrike will do better), and boss DPS (because that is its intended niche). Otherwise, it will be pretty well-balanced with the other snipers, with a lower magazine size (unless you manage to auto-reload) and aggressive frame fire rate. Furthermore, Whisper is an exotic so you can’t use it with Anarchy or Witherhoard like with other legendary snipers. Its body shot damage is already comparable to legendary aggressive frames, it only does more precision damage because that is its exotic perk. Special weapons, in general, can have very strong DPS in a lot of cases; Null Composure is a legendary with extremely powerful DPS (even better than Whisper’s against Templar if you use Anarchy, despite Templar having a crit spot), vorpal FiLos are insane, Izanagi’s Burden, etc. If Izanagi’s specifically can compare to Whisper of the Worm while being a special slot weapon, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that Whisper of the Worm should be moved to the same ammo type, especially when the weapons complement each other so well (Izanagi would be for burst-favored players and more generally applicable, Whisper for sustained damage). The Whisper of the Worm isn’t a heavy that should be moved to the special slot, it’s a special sniper (Black Spindle) that got moved to the heavy slot when D2 came out because of the universal changes to snipers, and probably never got moved back because of unfortunate timing with the nerfs. Ending Notes: Hey, thanks for reading everything through if you did, I put a lot of time into writing and editing this essay. I love Destiny 2 and I love Whisper of the Worm, which is why I wrote this post. I legitimately think this is the best option for both the weapon and the sandbox in general. My comprehensive thoughts are meant in part as an argument in favor of the change, and in part as a way to get the community thinking about a way to make Whisper feel like a proper weapon. I don’t think it’s a BAD weapon, it’s just in a very unhealthy state (which I personally believe to be caused by its status as a heavy). I have been playing the game for a while now, and ever since Bungie added Hawkmoon back into Destiny 2, I was convinced that they have nothing but the best interests of its players at heart. I will keep playing regardless of whether my proposed changes get implemented because I play the game for more reasons than just one weapon. I know that the devs like listening to feedback, and I tried to be as cordial as possible throughout the essay. I hope I’ll be given the same luxury by the community and the developers (if any choose to respond with their own thoughts). Link to a reddit post that gained a bit of traction (3.3k upvotes). I believe that it had a strong idea but needed a more cohesive and solid argument behind it to help convince the developers and the community. This isn’t my post, and I don’t take credit for it. Either way, I’m putting this here to lend some extra legitimacy to the main point above. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/nzz6jd/bungie_need_to_put_darci_and_whisper_of_the_worm/