You guys have been killing it with the content/reveals lately so thanks for that. I started playing in Season of Arrivals 4 years ago, and have never felt so strongly about a nerf to make a post on a Bungie forum, but Lament has been my favorite weapon in the game since it came out and I don't want to see the fun, already slim viability factor needlessly tanked or taken from it because it's a top 3 choice in a grand total of one raid encounter (max two if you really don't wanna use Parasite these days) across the entire game. Atraks, the classic peanut butter to Lament's jelly had a solar burn and class ability buff advantage in Pantheon and people were still using Parasite for at minimum 80% of the encounter. Even damage aside, a lot of people don't jive very well with how Lament needs to be used to make the most of it, preferring to use a normal sword or a gun.
As it stands, the use cases for Lament (a whole exotic) in this game where it is a top 3 choice weapon like it is vs Crota or Atraks (much less a top 10 exotic choice or even a top 50 anything choice, dare I say even a top 100 general weapon choice in endgame) are slim to none, and even then, it's usually fighting with literally just decently rolled Legendary swords for crying out loud (no, not saying swords need a nerf), not to mention other exotics just for a chance at consideration.
Even in terms of protection, Lament still doesn't shoot to the top as long as you have some sort of damage resist or healing technique going on. But in a scenario where swords are even being considered, that is usually either [i]always [/i]the case (Well/BoW etc.) or completely unneeded (burst DPS phases like Atraks).
I personally stand firmly behind the stance that you shouldn't nerf something unless you're judging its over-performance based upon how well it does in actual endgame content (GMs, Master NFs/Master Raids etc.). In 99% of the modes that Lament slays in, most things will slay in, only way better while being better suited for your general gameplay than Lament is. Based upon general consensus and as I'd assume one of Lament's more experienced users, the exotic is literally almost never viable or useful for the overwhelming majority of your consistent player base in high end pve. It only becomes viable (still far from broken) if they are [i]also [/i] good at using Stronghold or if Passive Guard is on the seasonal artifact that season. Both of those are rarely ever the case and even then, people still rarely take Lament (or any sword) into endgame PvE. That's not because it's broken and people don't know it. It's because it's genuinely [i]not [/i]broken and generally just never worth running unless you just enjoy using the weapon enough to push for it.
Before this nerf, Lament was only ever viable in challenging content (again, still not broken) for people who went out of their way to get good with the weapon simply because they enjoyed it that much. It was a high-reward highest-risk weapon that wasn't OP or broken. In my opinion, it perfectly earned its exotic slot. Taking into account the grander, more broad applications of the weapon, please reconsider what is in my opinion, a completely overkill nerf for something that is far from overused or overpowered, and barely the go-to in the only instance in which it usually finds any modicum of serious consideration: a total of two (generally normal mode) raid encounters and one dungeon encounter from back in the the Witch Queen.
TL;DR
Please revert the latest nerf to The Lament for the following reasons. Lament's pre-most recent nerf viability already left it being barely used as is, much less considered for anyone's loadout. The sole exception, was for one specific encounter in two specific raids, one of which came out almost 4 years ago and people never do anymore. Even then, it's never even the top choice, despite being an exotic whose only contenders are legendaries in the same slot that can easily be swapped on and off of.
[i]Signed[/i]
-The 2% of the player base who use The Lament outside of Atraks-1 (when they don't have Parasite or a sword they feel more comfortable with), Gahlran and Crota (if they don't have a sword with surrounded or something).
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look bungie has trouble with difficulty and this is how they make the game more difficult . unfortunately the hard core players cry its to easy . so bungie responds with nerfs .eventually they will be given a sling shot and they won't complain ,unless it's to difficult. then it starts all over again. you can't enjoy all the content you paid for in this game because of the difficulty . so get your money back and take up a better more enjoyable game that you get what you paid for.destiny is not it.