It wasn't just pvp, but it also goes for pve as well, where it is just as important. I like how the gun red death looks and how it shoots, but to be fair, for effective runs, I would just use auto rifles for bosses. In the beta, I was facing the same problem. Hand cannons were completely unviable when it came to efficient playing in pve. Hand cannons took too long to reload, and were too inaccurate for the low damage it was giving.