Sidearms are just so much more forgiving that the last word. You can strafe and hip fire just like the last word. With perks like Hip Fire Grip and using mods like Free Hand Grip you can really get the hip fire accuracy up. Several sidearms can still hit ranges of 17+m with the right combination of barrels, magazine perks and masterwork. I love using the last word, it is so fun, but the mag size is too small. I can easily engage 2 enemies with sidearms like Boudica C with a Mage size of 12 which takes 3 crits+ 1 Body to kill or 6 body shots. Even the Heliocentric with a mag size of 12 that takes 5 crits to kill or 7 body shots is fine. Both guns have more than enough ammo to kill 1 or 2 guardians. The last word with a mag size of 8 takes 3 crits to kill or 7 body shots. Often I end up facing a guardian where they are 1 shot and I need to reload. This is partially due to my aim (mouse & keyboard) and range. I hope the last word catalyst gets added to the game with the high noon perk and +1 or +2 to the magazine (similar to the Hawk moon catalyst). This would not make the last word OP, but would put it on a similar playing field to legendary sidearms.