Maybe I'm lucky to have been so competitive from my early days to now, but the Word of Crota dislike I've seen has always had me curious about the choices of players. Well. I finally got it to drop and attached it to my recently upgraded 32 Titan (he's now 32 for both striker and defender with no one modifier being 100% and majority of both being in the grenade and super columns), took it out into the exclusion zone to see how it would compare to the 800 lbs planet destroying Cabal and I'll let it's statistics line itself up. The fire rate is supremely better then Fatebringer in the sense the recoil of Fatebringer required what I call a "blind judgement" where the eye, without proper hand eye coordination, could force a missed shot because it couldn't find a target. This is what a hand cannon properly balanced should be doing: To control and mitigate recoil AND have a decent fire rate. Word of Crota is a one of a kind at that sort of balance. Second: Impact. It is a 934 to 900 crit, varying distancing also including with a majority of it hitting at 203 for major Cabal crits. At 331? I don't doubt the mathematics behind this WILL put it at the 300-500 range of Fatebringer PRIMARILY because has dependencies and stats lined up with Fatebringer. Range. Fatebringer wins this one, but as the most recent updates indicate? Bungie intends to show hand cannons as a closer range to impact weapon. What this does? Mitigate the need for shotgun RANGES in combination with power couplings. While you can't see it in your mind's eye right now, you will notice the sheer power of Swordbreaker WILL get stronger as a collective whole because of what Word of Crota combined with the recent update has shown to the player population. This naturally makes Word of Crota a better muscle memory training option to those players who continue to be strategically smart and competitive in the coming months of Destiny. Stability and Reload. As I already said Word of Crota wins on both. A 12 clip with a better reload and reduced range highlights the consistency of what makes Destiny even a tiny bit competitive. With Fatebringer showing the distance effect and willingness to get players kills across Destiny both PvE and PvP you don't have to worry about the situational guns anymore. While I am not with Bungie I do see the design flow ideas at work here. For those of who like shotguns? Be prepared for the next few weeks because if they are looking to add content, bring new stuff to the table, ect. these things Deej has shown us can only lead to the logical evolution of environment shaping. And if they are going to nerf PvP guns or PvE environments? Then we can expect more close quarters action in the future. That's the clue Word of Crota has shown. Heck, all the raid guns so far are pointing at it. With reduced ranges comes the need to maintain the environments design from completely creative down to the competitive elements which make it possible for us to maneuver so efficiently. Take heed guardians. Word of Crota has all the makings of Fatebringer minus the firefly for a reason. You might find yourself facing down stronger and more powerful enemies in the future. Use this thread to discuss what you want for the future. Do you want more weapons like _________ handcannon or scout rifle? Do you want more environments which favor close quarters? How about more majors and ultras in the missions we go through?