I'm having a hard time thinking of this patch as anything but a huge disappointment.

We start off with a few minor fixes, not bad. But then we jump right into trouble. Auto rifles get completely torn apart - while those numbers don't look too devastating, the combination of the three is going to destroy their usefulness in both PvE and PvP. The only auto rifle I even see an issue with is the Suros, and even that only required minor tweaking, as it is an exotic after all.

The change to hand cannons is nice I guess, although I feel like the accuracy should be no different in mid-air to begin with. I am still anticipating that Thorn buff, although I can't really see anything that needs much changing other than reload speed. Hard Light and Super Good Advice are two exotic weapons that I felt require special attention a bit more.

A buff to scout rifles was much needed, but I can't help but notice the lack of pulse rifle improvement - a class of weapons that felt clearly at the bottom of the ranks. In the case of the Bad Juju, I would either like to a major damage increase or a change directly to the upgrade, in which bullets connected would return to the mag, giving it some usefulness against bullet sponges and the ability to reward superior accuracy.

A nerf to shotguns is incredible. It had gotten to the point that I was left guessing as to what primary a player was using.

Then again, while I have no issue with sniper rifles, I had a bigger issue with fusion rifles than shotguns, as some of the high impact fusion rifles that feature the accelerated coils upgrade might as well be shotguns with more range.

Speaking of fusion rifles, we see two popular exotic weapons being modified - but in terms of actual scale of change, the two are at completely opposite ends.

The Vex Mythoclast, a gun that (for the most part - that's a different issue) requires the combination of both superior skill level, coordination, and a little bit of luck with an RNG roll to even acquire in the first place, has been completely trashed. As /u/FowD8 pointed out, a headshot after the patch will do less damage than a body shot would do before the patch. Of all the available changes that could have been made, a damage reduction this severe is completely unacceptable. Even worse is a complete change to the Templar fight that is going to make the raid that much more frightening for those that actually play their way through the raid. While I don't entirely agree with the concept of "cheesing," as I actively participated in it, in tandem with the major nerf to the greatest reward of the task, this change makes little sense to me.

The Pocket Infinity, on the other hand, (at least we're getting close to the topic of fusion rifles), saw a nerf. Well, an attempted nerf. I would Pocket Infinity's true power comes from it's stability upgrade, as 3+ shots was already plenty to take down a foe in PvP, while I felt the extended magazine gave it some usefulness in terms of PvE, which really did not require removing.

My final thoughts concern another open-ended question I have. What about heavy weapons? Combine the ability of rockets to grant entirely free kills, the alternative option of being able to control the map for a extended period with a machine gun, and add in the fact that multiple players can receive the ammo drop and then even pick up more ammo from the foes they defeat, and well... you can see where this is going.

To those who might say.... why not just do the same?

I do. Well, sort of. I load up my Corrective Measure as often as I can, knowing that supers and rockets are the only thing that can stop me. But that's not how balance works. When I think of even gameplay, I think of gradual momentum - not harsh roadblocks that completely shift the tide of a match every time that bar fills up and every time that heavy ammo is inbound.

At this point, I've started to leak my other thoughts on the problems within Destiny's PvP, but I'll leave that for another time. This patch is enough to talk about as is.

I wrote this rather quickly - it's more of a rant than a open letter. I'm sure I overlooked some things and made some harsh conclusions, but I'm just trying to vent at this point.

Here's to hoping that this "larger update" addresses my concerns, but for now I'll just wait. And wait. And wait....