Tl;dr included, but you really should read the main thread before making any argument :D While we pressure Bungie to restore power to auto rifles - a buff that should both make them PvE viable and create new options and HC counters in Crucible - we should not forget that of the four Exotic ones, two are exceedingly lackluster, and a third performs average enough not to be given any spotlight, good or bad. These guns? Necrochasm, Hard Light, and Monte Carlo, respectively, with Suros maintaining its Regime as the best Exotic AR. Necrochasm is indisputably the worst, like, way [i]beneath[/i] the barrel bad, judging from everyone's experience with the gun, and there has been ample protest to try and get it fixed. My goal here is to represent the dregs at the bottom of the barrel, Hard Light. The problem with Hard Light isn't with its stats, but its perks, most of all its Exotic Perk. Currently it sports Glass Half Full, boosting the damage of the rounds in the last half of the mag, and Volatile Light, which causes rounds to ricochet off surfaces and overpenetrate enemies. Glass Half Full is a great perk, really, but Volatile Light is nothing more than novelty, as there is no real use for ricochet rounds, outside of trolling in PvE with trick shots. First I'll focus there, then alter some other perks based on my change. Volatile Light's name suggests exactly that: Volatile light is being fired from this weapon, highly reactive and explosive. What would it react with? Other light, namely enemy overshields. To repurpose Hard Light into a shield breaker, I say the perk changes to this: Rounds do bonus damage to elemental shields. [spoiler](Element) Weapon v (Element) Shield = 200% damage Hard Light v (Element) shield = 250% damage However, burn modifiers do not affect Hard Light: (Element) Burn (Element) Weapon v (Element) Shield = 300% damage (Element) Burn Hard Light v Solar Shield = 250% damage Small Arms, however, does affect Hard Light's shield busting capacity, [i]greatly[/i]: Small Arms Primary = 200% damage (standard 2x damage, assuming Kinetic v shield) Small Arms Hard Light (v shield) = 500% damage (2x perk bonus of 250%) [/spoiler] Elemental shields that this weapon breaks explode, damaging and staggering nearby enemies. [spoiler]Explosion animation is like a much more violent version of the shield break animation. Stats comparable to Firefly: Firefly: 50 Solar damage, 5 meter radius Shield Break: 70 (Shield element) damage, 3.75 meter radius. [/spoiler] Rounds also ignore Hard Shields. [spoiler]A Hard Shield is a Phalanx Shield, Hobgoblin Fire Shield, Knight Wall of Darkness.[/spoiler] With this perk in place, Hard Light's new purpose is to punish heavily shielded enemies. In PvP, there are no elemental shields. Hard Light still functions, just at a lesser rate. It would do 120% bonus damage to Guardian shields, but no explosion on shield depletion. Because of the increased damage potential of Volatile Light, I also propose that Glass Half Full be replaced with [b]Persistent[/b] or [b]Zen Moment[/b] instead. Yes, I am aware that Zen is currently only on Hand Cannons, Scouts, Pulses and LMGs. However, I think that it would be a great pairing with this new Volatile Light, and also help keep Hard Light alive in PvP. I also don't think having a consistent stream of boosted damage rounds would seem that balanced. In any case, this would not be the first weapon to borrow a perk from another archetype's pool— *cough* Fatebringer! *coughcough* A final change to pay homage to the old Hard Light would be to switch the Quick Draw mod with Armor Piercing Rounds. This way we have access to that old piercing effect. What's more, now you can damage multiple shielded mobs at once, potentially causing a [i]volatile[/i] chain reaction. Forgive all the puns I may have used. Please. Edit: Tl;dr [spoiler] Hard Light Changes: - Glass Half Full - Quick Draw - Volatile Light: Rounds overpenetrate and bounce off hard surfaces. + Zen Moment + Armor Piercing Rounds + Volatile Light: Rounds react with enemy shields, doing bonus damage, as well as exploding those of Minions of the Darkness. In addition, rounds bypass Hard Shields. [/spoiler] What do you think? Edit 2: Nice job getting this to top the trending and highest rated lists! We can't get change without voicing our desire for it, so please continue to share this thread, and make your own, not just for Hard Light, but for Necrochasm and ARs in general. Edit 3: Buffing hard shield ignore to 15% and 30% respectively. To be useful it really must be more present, especially in PvP. Edit 4: Reworked Volatile Light even more. Hard Shields are totally ignored, and Guardian Shields no longer classify as such. Instead, they are susceptible to a reduced effect in PvP.