So, I don't particularly believe that golden gun is very overpowered in pvp, in fact I think it might be the most balanced of the supers (the solar warlock one might need a buff to movement speed I dunno, but that's another story), but I do think it sucks in pve unless you wanna take out thrall or other low tier enemies.
Anyway, the change I propose would mean a slight nerf in pvp, depending upon how you look at it and a buff in pve. So what if golden gun required a charge and the charge time is proportional to damage inflicted. So there would be a "sweet spot" in crucible, I'd make it fairly short only half a second or so, to kill a guardian, with peak damage being reached after a few seconds. I dont think the gun should auto fire once fully charged like a fusion rifle, but rather hold it like a plasma pistol. Since the golden gun timer itself is your hurry up. This would mean a full charge could deal respectable damage on pve enemies also.
I just pulled these figures out of my ass here, but I think the overall idea isn't a bad one and would address most complaints about golden gun that people have.
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Just give GG the ability to deal crit damage. Wouldn´t change a thing in PVP, and it would make it more viable in PVE,