Scout Rifles are currently the second-least used weapon type, ahead of only Sidearms that have been in that game for ~7 weeks, as opposed to just over 10 months. What I want to know is: why? They answer several problems and complaints that people seem to have at the moment
Snipers OP - Scout Rifles are the only weapons that can actually compete with Snipers at long range reliably, so why are they not used?
Thorn needs a range nerf - see above
Auto Rifle buff - Some of the high RoF Scout Rifles can be rolled with Full Auto to provide a weapon that fires faster than a Focus Fire Auto Rifle of the SUROS Impact/RoF denomination, while also dealing more damage and having more range, so why not use them? Good examples are the Deadshot Luna and the NL Shadow. Makeshift AR right there.
Thorn/TLW are broken with 2-shots - High impact Scout Rifles can score 3-hit kills that no one can complain about, hell, The Scholar can 2-shot. If you're looking for a counter, try MIDA Multi-Tool, the hidden talent of High-Calibre rounds and the speedy movements it allows for turn you into a someone that screams "You can't beat what you can't hit"
If you were to ask me (here we go, yet another opinion), I think the reason behind their disuse is the abuse of Shotguns. I shan't lie, there is no worse weapon to be caught using than a Scout Rifle if a Shotgun comes round the corner, ready to blow your head off. I'd be very interested to know anyone else's reasons and thoughts on the matter.
Perhaps, if nothing is going to be nerfed, a slight Scout Rifle buff is in order? The last one was in October and has shown no signs of increased usage
Edit 1: It's great to have found a plethora of Scout Rifle users like myself, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading and debating the points raised here. For now, I'm going to sleep, so will be unable to reply to any of you for the next few hours (rest assured, I shall do my best to get back to you ASAP). Thank you all very much for keeping this post as active as it has been!
Edit 2: The answer I have been given many times now is "Why use them when Hand Cannons are available?". This is exactly the problem the Crucible faces at the moment. A Scout Rifle requires precision and nerve, but Exotic Hand Cannons can be put to stellar use by just about anyone, so there is no incentive to not use them - the bad players use them in hopes of raising their K/D by using something overpowered, and the good players use them so they don't fall behind to everyone else using the same weapons. Someone I used to be friends with, and now despise, has a K/D of 3.97 and 41942 kills with The Last Word, almost double the kills I have in Crucible full stop. From what I understand, he's ranked the 11th best player in the world (according to DestinyTracker). Combine those kind of stats with the sheer numbers of people using TLW/Thorn, it amazes me that this has gone on for so long.
Edit 3: Seriously, massive thanks to everyone who has kept this in the "Trending" section for the last 15-16 hours, stoking the fire of debate with each new point raised. I owe you all one :D
Edit 4: Out of curiosity, I'm wondering who has seen Datto's video that complains about the current state of Crucible ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHenCd2BWNQ for those of you who are interested and yet to see it). It sums up pretty much every non-Scout Rifle related thing I could say, and unlike myself, he's a big enough personality in the community to cause a change
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This is my Suros rebuilt. I'm using this for most of my PVP fights now. Enjoy
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Fang with the long range scope is great
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#1 you cannot jump and shot in this game, and hip fire is terrible. Scouts are great on huge maps. Imagine if everyone started the game with a scout.. that would be fun. #2 Thorn dominates at range, well any range. #3 Shotguns are used by 75+%
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MIDA ftw
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All I use is mida when I do iron banner.
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Honestly, scout rifles are probably my favorite weapon type to use next to handcannons. Especially when I'm outgunning people with thorn.
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Because handcannons are better.
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I use mida all the time, that thing is a gem, just this morning i went 31 and 4 in clash, i think, using mida and her benevolence. Great guns.
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Cuz #thornmesterrece jk fuk that i like multitool and bad juju
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Mida was the weapon of choice for me last iron banner went great for me new found love for the gun
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Mida user here
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Bc you can just use handcannons lol
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Bees?
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I use my Scholar Adept scout rifle if you land 3 headshots which is easily done from very far range it can kill the enemy or i can 3 shot the body leave them at almost no health then chunk grenade to finish them off or leave it to my team lol 4 shots to the body and they die either way so
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Being im almost exclusively a scout rifle user in PVE, I'll quickly explain: The maps that Bungie shoves down our throats in Crucible are all CQC where pulse rifles and hand cannons are much better. Auto rifles would be king too but they're nerfed into oblivion at the moment. Sure, I would love to use one of my scouts in crucible, but I'd get my poop port fisted by a Thorn/Red Death user.
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Scholar can two shot? Definitely not. I've never scored a two shot, even with the reloading kill buff.
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Edited by Lord Gheleon: 7/13/2015 7:46:44 AMMain problem is the map sizes, they are all small which makes them ideal for shotguns and hand cannons. Hop into a combined arms match and there is a noticeable increase in scouts, I always use my Mida or Gheleons.
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The scholar is better than the mida in crucible
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Edited by Swiftlock: 7/13/2015 3:10:29 AMThe maps are too focused on close-quarters combat for scout rifles to be of consistent usefulness. Generally speaking, you can't be too aggressive with Scouts when everyone and their mother is going apeshit with Thorns, Hawkmoons, and Last Words. You're generally relegated to playing passively and cautiously so you can pick off targets and get the jump on your victims before you get steamrolled by exotics. That's not to say there are bad scout rifles. NL Shadow, Deadshot Luna, Scholar, Gheleon's, and MIDA Multi-Tool are monsters in the right hands. Plus there's hope for the new Playstation-exclusive Scout Rifle - The Jade Rabbit!
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Been using MIDA and love it for concentrating on headshots. Although, we may have the few of us post about using it, I haven't ran into many scout rifle users much at all.
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I love scout rifles, but the concensus of this forum is that: 1) maps are too small 2) hand cannons do everything scout rifles do, but better 3) they require perfect rolls to be break into "not useless category" We can't fix maps. We can ask for hand cannon nerds, which there is at least one "please nerf hand cannon" thread every 7ish posts on this forums. We can buff scout rifles, which isn't really called for much because (summarizing forums again) Nerfing hand cannons would be more appriciated by the player base, as would be buffing auto rifles. In my opinion: there is only one exotic scout rifle, which makes it [i]tied for the least amount of exotics in its class[/i], which only competes with the [i]7 week old sidearms.[/i] And they haven't rebalanced weapons in 137 days, and the expansion doesn't drop for another 64. They don't care, and they [i]won't[/i] care.
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I went 25-5 with my Badger CCL yesterday... But it was on Shores of Time, one of the only regular maps I would use a scout on.
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I LOVE my Mida-Multitool its Bæ
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theres two reasons: 1. Most maps are tailored to close quarter engagements 2. Because of the CQC style maps, Hand Cannons are more than sufficient for most ranges
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I'm the best with a scout snm
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Because hand cannons have the same range as scouts. Crazy huh? :-(