For a while now, we've known that Bungie has plans to change the way ammo crates dictate the flow of a battle in Destiny's PvP mode. With update 1.1.2, which still doesn't have a release date, those changes will make their way into the game.
Talking about them in the weekly update, Bungie's Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes highlighted a few goals they hope to achieve with the changes arriving in update 1.1.2.
- Make Special ammo a more precious resource in Crucible
- Further solidify Heavy ammo's role in the Crucible
- Further improve the balance of encounters by limiting high-damage weapons
"The Competitive Multiplayer Team is constantly listening to feedback – be it from people in our studio or players on forums and social media. A common thread has been the uptime, effectiveness, and usage of Special and Heavy weapons," Yanes explained as the motivation behind these new goals.
"The recent update to sandbox balance was the first step. Creating a new system to manage ammo drops will enable us to adjust the Crucible experience without altering other activities in your Director. We believe that making ammo more scarce and important will provide players with more choices and more memorable encounters in Crucible."
Getting a bit more specific, Yates said Special Ammo will spawn "less frequently, it will take longer to pick up, there will be less crates on the map, and the bricks you find will provide you with less ammo." All the specific details will be saved for the patch notes, which Bungie says are coming "very soon."
Addressing how these changes could affect team dynamic in the crucible, Yates explained:
"Like Heavy Ammo, a player who opens a green crate without waiting for their teammates will deny them of Special Ammo. To prevent this, we raised the drop radius for teammates by a considerable amount. Raising the drop radius helped players understand the importance of pulling a crate as soon as they could, while ensuring that nearby teammates would still benefit from the drop. We've already seen some great plays come from last second pulls to deny enemies and supply allies."
On the subject of Heavy Ammo changes, Yates went on to reveal "The main thing we wanted to prevent in terms of Heavy Ammo was players trying to buffer their supply by sitting within range of a brick without picking it up." To counter this, Bungie will introduce despawn conditions, ensuring that "players will have to acquire ammo when it becomes available, or risk losing it all together." Yates added that internally, as a result of the changes, they've seen "short bursts of intensity" that eventually "reverts back to the 'neutral game.'"
Other changes to Heavy Ammo include extending the inbound timer by five seconds to allow more players to get to the ammo, and adding some new visual prompts like timers and pre-spawn effects.
Changes to ammunition in PvP is just one feature Bungie is addressed in the upcoming update 1.1.2. Over the past few weeks Bungie has spent time highlighting and previewing other changes as well. Check them out below:
Destiny update 1.1.2 will give you more control over game audio
Destiny's next update adding proper 'Colorblind Mode'
Here's exactly how much space Bungie is adding to your Vault in Destiny
Destiny update 1.1.2 tackling the worst Raid bugs
Destiny restricts matchmaking for you idle jerks
