Next Destiny Update to Nerf Guns
Destiny’s 1.1.1 patch is on its way and in it, Bungie is looking to address issues with gun balancing.
Seems in the age of gaming online there are a wealth of stats available to games creators as they track the things we do within the worlds they create. These stats have shown Bungie that the Pulse Rifles they so lovingly created aren’t getting a lot of love at all.
So, in addition to upgrading the damage of Pulse Rifles, Bungie are looking to nerf some of the more popular weapons: Auto Rifles, Hand Cannons and Fusion Rifles.
Bad news for some, Auto rifle is my go-to weapon of choice, but I guess this will encourage people to mix up their weapon usage.
List of changes detailed below:
Auto Rifles:
- 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
Hand Cannons:
- Reduce effective range
- Damage falloff starts closer to the shooter, and follow up shots are less accurate at long ranges
- 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:
- 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
- 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
Pulse Rifles:
- Increase base damage of Pulse Rifles by 9.7%. DPS is now more in line with other primaries
Shotguns:
- 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
- (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
All other weapons for the most part are functioning as Bungie intended; as such they will remain unchanged for the most part.
How will these changes affect the way you play?
Nick Gillham
Nick is an avid video game entusiast and has been since his mum first allowed him to play on the Atari 2600 she never touched. To this day he's had the pleasure of playing on a vast array of different gaming machines.
He's a recovering WoW-holic and when he's not playing games he's talking about games, reading about games, writing about games, watching videos about games, watching his son play games or chatting rubbish on Twitter.
A lover, not a fighter and an all round good guy (he would say that, he wrote this after all), he's happy to be here as part of GIAG.
