Since Destiny's release in September of last year, Bungie has constantly been playing a careful game of 'balancing the weapons'. We've seen numerous updates address the issues, but as Destiny continues to evolve, so must Bungie. And in a new update coming this month, another round of weapon tweaks and balancing changes are incoming.
"This is the result of listening to feedback from the community, observation of players in the wild, poring over user research data, and regular internal playtests," sandbox designer Jon Weisnewski explained. Bungie has not only been looking at stats and figures, but they've also asked for your opinion. The feedback they've received is basically that Pulse Rifles suck. So they're changing that.
"Many of these changes are subtle. It may take a little while to feel the nuanced differences, or you may feel the changes immediately. It all depends on how you play. This is an opportunity to change up your combat strategy in new ways, and/or double down in the areas that still feel good to you."
While you can find the logic behind each incoming change, including fancy graphs and charts, over on the Bungie website, below are the goals and planned changes for each weapon in Destiny.
Auto Rifles
- Auto Rifle is optimal at close to medium range
- Damage, Stability, and Range are tuned such that players desire Stability for reliable close quarters damage, or Range for better accuracy at a distance
- Reduce base damage of Auto Rifles by 2.5% (averaged across Rate of Fire stats, higher RoF took less of a reduction than low RoF)
- Reduce effective range values so that damage falloff and accuracy are a stronger factor in combat decisions
- Range reduction is less severe in the higher stat values, so now your range stat is more critical to long distance engagements
Pulse Rifles
- Pulse Rifle is optimal at medium range, but can still effectively harass enemies at close or long range distances
- Rate of Fire sets a pace for players to both track moving targets, and then deliver precision damage in bursts
- Increase base damage of Pulse Rifles by 9.7%. DPS is now more in line with other primaries
Hand Cannons
- Hand Cannon is optimal at medium range
- Hand Cannon is optimal when shots are paced, becomes less effective when fired quickly
- Rewards agility when under fire, precision targeting, and snap shots
- Reduce effective range
- Damage falloff starts closer to the shooter, and follow up shots are less accurate at long ranges
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Slight reduction to initial accuracy
- This is unnoticeable at close to medium range, but underscores the range intentions when used from far away
Fusion Rifles
- Fusion Rifles are optimal at mid-range, where targets are easier to track but they’re not close enough to attack while you charge up
- Requires combat foresight and the ability to predict a target’s movement to use successfully
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Blast pattern on a Fusion Rifle burst cone is a little wider
- Close to medium range volleys are largely unaffected, but at a distance the projectiles are less likely to land hits on a single target
- This reduces the reliability of landing a one hit kill at far range, and makes the weapon better at spreading damage into a group
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Initial starting ammo is reduced across all ammo stats. This is change primarily affects The Crucible
- Starting a Crucible match, you’ll have less Fusion Rifle ammo in reserve
- In PvE activities we persistently track your ammo. We only use initial ammo values if you are logging in for the first time, or starting a Crucible match
Shotguns
- Shotgun is the most optimal at very close range
- Complements melee attacks and other close quarters class builds
- Offensively closing on an enemy with a Shotgun is a risk/reward timing game
- Increase damage by 2x (100%) against all non-Guardian combatants (aliens)
- Reduce high end range values – damage falloff starts sooner, so Crucible players with long range shotguns need to be a little closer for successful one hit kills
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(Like the Fusion Rifle) Initial starting ammo is reduced across all ammo stats in the Crucible:
- Starting a Crucible match, you’ll have less Shotgun ammo in reserve
- In PvE activities we persistently track your ammo
- We only use initial ammo values if you are logging in for the first time, or starting a Crucible match
Heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, scout rifles and sniper rifles are largely untouched in this update; however, Weisnewski warns that any change to Destiny's arsenal may mean that even untouched weapons may seem different in side-by-side comparisons. "You may discover new reasons to start using some of these weapons as part of your combat strategy," he said.
As for why Bungie is introducing these "nerfs" in Destiny update 1.1.1, here's the answer (in typical PR lingo):
"We pay close attention to kill times in all game modes against all combatant types. If we brought up all the other weapons to account for lethality spikes that occur in specific situations, then our TTK (time to kill) would get faster with every patch. It is important to us to keep TTK values such that your arsenal feels lethal, but also both allows for some drama while you fight, and creates opportunities for counter-play when you’re being attacked."
Update 1.1.1 has not been given a specific date, but is expected to arrive sometime this month.
