Does this apply to not forgotten as well?

Yes

Oathkeeper lets you hold “perfect” forever.

I would not have assumed that. Thanks, that's a game-changer. Real shame I'm doing Gambit on my Titan, because I still don't have Malfeasance and she's the only one with the quest.

and you are using it to control this:

I’m eager to try this in Crucible. I like bows a lot, but I’m just not good enough to really make use of them in Crucible.

But playing Gambit last night made me want to give it a shot. Le Monarque is incredibly good at shutting down Invaders. I was having a blast with it last night.

I love it so much :)

It's a touch slower than I'm used to (my go-to bow for Crucible is usually an Arsenic Bite with Archer's Tempo, rampage, and a draw-time masterwork... ie SUPER SPEED lol), but Monarch hits hard, has great targeting, and the Damage over time is very effective at crowd control and forcing enemy players to back off. I have a lot of fun with it.

But playing Gambit last night made me want to give it a shot. Le Monarque is incredibly good at shutting down Invaders. I was having a blast with it last night.

I haven't played with it yet, but I was watching a video where a guy broke it down. And it actually has a lower common kill time. Yes the 3 headshot tap is slower, but like .17 seconds, but the average is lower actually. The bullet magnetism is still VERY strong too, actually strong at some ranges.

Again this is based on 1 guys video analysis not me playing it. But to be honest, I hated going against it, cause the ONLY counter was using it against them. That's never a fun meta in my opinion. I like the changes on paper, but to each their own.

Yeah, I think I watched the same video. He does a great job of covering all the minor changes. Interestingly, the gun has slightly less effective range than it used to, but more magnetism.

The point that he never quite comes to (probably because it is less black and white than the stats he was measuring) is that having a slower rate of fire on a hand cannon with so little range means that you now lose against shotgun and SMG rushers in many situations where the old Luna's had a chance of winning. The "faster common kill time stat", while accurate, is a bit misleading. If I'm using Luna's Howl "properly" (that is, I'm aiming well and hitting my headshots), I'm getting a 3-shot kill. Anything more than that means I screwed up or got outplayed. And a 3-shot kill is now slower than it used to be. As you point out, it isn't a huge difference in time, but when I'm dealing with a shotgun ape, that time is critical.

The only other thing I'd push back on is your comment that "the ONLY counter was using it against them". I'd modify that statement a bit. I think if you have 2 equally skilled teams facing off, 1 team all using Luna's Howl, and the other team without Luna's, and they're forced to fight in mid-range engagements, the team with Lunas will probably win. But some of the best crucible matches I've had in D2 were games where I went in with Le Monarque against a squad of Lunas and Not Forgottens, and I kept my distance and picked them off before they could get close. Again, it's one of those things where going up against it means adjusting your playstyle. But that's true of lots of weapons. Going against snipers is the same, or Jotuns, or shotgun rushers. Luna's Howl was similar, in my experience.

I don't think Bungie nerfs just to affect the game's actual balance, but also to affect it's perceived balance, as well as to try and enforce a certain minimum amount of variety in loadouts people use.

If someone tomorrow starts a rumor that Weapon Z is ridiculously overpowered, and as a result everyone uses it, this is a situation that requires response even if the gun is actually not particularly good.

Ideally, in a transparent marketplace, this problem would quickly be solved-- people would realize the gun is not that good and stop using it.

But the marketplace isn't completely transparent, as people keep pointing out that it is complicated to figure out how the public stats and perks interact with each other and produce unexpected in-game results.

So you've got a favorite gun with a rep for being overpowerd.

It gets nerfed.

Some people stop using it because they find out it got nerfed.

Some people stop using it because they realize it's been nerfed.

Some people would rather lose an arm.

Mission accomplished.

Again this is based on 1 guys video analysis not me playing it. But to be honest, I hated going against it, cause the ONLY counter was using it against them. That's never a fun meta in my opinion. I like the changes on paper, but to each their own.

They should’ve just made the two crits cause a debuff on the target player unique to them that let a third round do bonus damage. And keep the window for success small to only reward a lack of mistakes in 1v1.

Something like that would have been great. It would have sanded off the rough edge in the crucible, without ruining the gun’s general strength. Plus, it would have retained what made in special in PvE.

I’m totally in favour of getting rid of the 2-taps. That was too strong. But just to add some more perspective, 2-taps are exceedingly rare. I’ve got somewhere close to ~6000 crucible kills with Luna’s Howl, and I doubt I’ve 2-tapped anyone more than 5 times. It’s like the old Hawkmoon 1-shot days. It was crazy when it happened, in no small part because the chances were so freaking low.

But guess what? Even if a one shot kill from Hawkmoon was super rare, it was eventually removed. Because when it happens to you it feels like bullshit.

Yeah, but even after the nerf, Hawkmoon still felt like Hawkmoon. They literally just turned Luna’s Howl into an entirely different gun.

The Duke Mk. 44 is way underrated. The 110 handcannons hit hard and are really good for cleanup. I like to pair it with a Tempered Dynamo (backup plan).

I will miss my Chaperone/Luna's loadout though.

Yeah, I’ve got a Kill Clip/Rangefinder Duke that works pretty well. It doesn’t really suit my play style by itself, but I liked using it with Le Monarque and getting those quick-swap kills.

While I definitely think they went too far and I really appreciate you bringing up map design as it is a key factor in all this, I definitely think it needed a substantial adjustment. And this is coming from someone on PC where it is less common. But the whole sandbox is in meed of substantial adjustment right now.