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Around the release of the Curse of Osiris update for Destiny 2, Bungie had vowed to take a drastically different approach to how they handle community favored weapons in the game. Old Bungie would have nerfed those weapons into the ground without a second thought.
But new Bungie? New Bungie said that they wanted to instead buff up other weapons to make them more attractive choices. This was a part of their "Go Fast Update" initiative. Specifically, here is what they said in all capital letters for some weird reason (via Game Rant).
“WE WENT BACK TO THE BOARD AND LOOKED AT EVERYTHING AND SAID, ‘HEY, HERE ARE A COUPLE WEAPONS WE FEEL LIKE ARE IN A REALLY GOOD SPOT.’ AND BY ‘REALLY GOOD SPOT,’ THEY’RE KIND OF HOT. THEY’RE PROBABLY TOO HOT FOR D2. IN D1, PEOPLE WOULD HAVE SAID (PROBABLY CORRECTLY), THAT MEANS WE WOULD NERF THOSE THINGS. THEY’RE NAILS THAT ARE STICKING UP OUT OF THE BOARD, AND WE WOULD HAVE HAMMERED THEM IN TO BE EVEN WITH THE BOARD. FOR THIS UPDATE, WE DID THE OPPOSITE. WE SAID ‘THESE THINGS ARE KIND OF HOT. LET’S BRING EVERYTHING ELSE TO THEM.’ SO WE STARTED RAISING EACH THING UP WHETHER IT BE IN PVE OR PVP.â€
This is the latest from "This Week at Bungie" for May 16, 2019.
Whisper of the Worm
Whisper of the Worm was already adjusted in Season of the Drifter, but an Exotic that can generate an infinite amount of Heavy ammo is still a gigantic outlier and renders many weapons irrelevant for certain encounters. While Exotics are intended to be powerful and novel, bypassing the ammo economy can tend to force us to adjust enemies to compensate. This effectively results in Sniper Rifles as a whole being punished because of Whisper’s unique ammo ability. As a result, we’re removing the ammo generation ability so that we can increase the effectiveness of all other Snipers that don’t have an endless ammo supply.
The reduction of bounced shot damage for Sleeper Simulant is already present on several important enemies. We are now making this reduction part of the weapon. The difference in damage is too large between a single precision shot of Sleeper Simulant and an angled shot that pierces the target and then also hits the target again with the bounced projectiles. Much like Whisper, we’ve had to adjust enemies around that potential. By making these changes a permanent part of the weapon, we can get it into a more balanced position.
Lord of Wolves received a massive increase in damage with the full benefits of the Shotgun changes in Season of the Drifter. This made it a lot more popular, but we got a significant amount of feedback that Release the Wolves activating on every kill made it difficult to control the weapon’s ammo consumption. As a result, we’re allowing you to swap between the two states to control the output, while also reducing its output slightly.
Ace of Spades is pretty hot in the Crucible, and has been since its inclusion in Destiny 2: Forsaken. The number of perks on the weapon, combined with the semi-permanent effect of Memento Mori gives the weapon too many advantages compared to other weapons. Now that Memento Mori ends when you stow the weapon, you’ll need to make a decision on whether or not you’ll keep the weapon drawn to retain the bonus.
Along with the weapons above, we will also be making some changes to some Exotic armor pieces. Primarily, we’re paying attention to pieces of Exotic armor that grant back Super energy. We felt they are increasingly becoming “must-pick†gear choices. Orb generation from teammates is meant to be the best way to accelerate your Super generation. These Exotics are allowing players to bypass this teamwork mechanic by generating a large amount of Super energy without relying on other players’ orbs.
Also, because these items are so overwhelmingly strong in situations where players face off against large numbers of enemies, some activities were designed considering the use of armor such as Orpheus Rigs, Phoenix Protocol, Skull of Dire Ahamkara, etc. This means if someone in your fireteam doesn't have these Super Exotics equipped, the activity becomes far more difficult.
We are making some changes to these armor pieces to try to preserve their power fantasy and still leave them as viable choices for difficult activities without making players feel like they must have them equipped or be at a huge disadvantage.
Super-Generating Exotic Armor Changes
Whisper of the Worm was already adjusted in Season of the Drifter, but an Exotic that can generate an infinite amount of Heavy ammo is still a gigantic outlier and renders many weapons irrelevant for certain encounters. While Exotics are intended to be powerful and novel, bypassing the ammo economy can tend to force us to adjust enemies to compensate. This effectively results in Sniper Rifles as a whole being punished because of Whisper’s unique ammo ability. As a result, we’re removing the ammo generation ability so that we can increase the effectiveness of all other Snipers that don’t have an endless ammo supply.
- White Nail pulls ammo from reserves rather than creating it
- Reserve ammunition increased to 18 (without ammo reserve perks)
The reduction of bounced shot damage for Sleeper Simulant is already present on several important enemies. We are now making this reduction part of the weapon. The difference in damage is too large between a single precision shot of Sleeper Simulant and an angled shot that pierces the target and then also hits the target again with the bounced projectiles. Much like Whisper, we’ve had to adjust enemies around that potential. By making these changes a permanent part of the weapon, we can get it into a more balanced position.
- Reduced ricochet/bounce damage on boss combatants
- Modified precision behavior—total damage is unchanged, but non-precision shots are significantly more forgiving
Lord of Wolves received a massive increase in damage with the full benefits of the Shotgun changes in Season of the Drifter. This made it a lot more popular, but we got a significant amount of feedback that Release the Wolves activating on every kill made it difficult to control the weapon’s ammo consumption. As a result, we’re allowing you to swap between the two states to control the output, while also reducing its output slightly.
- PvE damage reduced by 20%
- Release the Wolves perk has been reworked:
- No longer triggers automatically on kill
- This effect is now triggered by holding reload, similar to “The Fundamentals†on Hard Light and Borealis
- PvE damage and range bonuses on this effect has been removed and replaced with a universal damage bonus instead
Ace of Spades is pretty hot in the Crucible, and has been since its inclusion in Destiny 2: Forsaken. The number of perks on the weapon, combined with the semi-permanent effect of Memento Mori gives the weapon too many advantages compared to other weapons. Now that Memento Mori ends when you stow the weapon, you’ll need to make a decision on whether or not you’ll keep the weapon drawn to retain the bonus.
- Memento Mori now ends if the weapon is stowed
- The PvP damage bonus of Memento Mori was slightly reduced to prevent two-tapping Guardians while Vengeance (One-Eyed Mask) was active
- Specifically, you need four resilience to survive this
- Memento Mori is active for six shots again (up from five)
Along with the weapons above, we will also be making some changes to some Exotic armor pieces. Primarily, we’re paying attention to pieces of Exotic armor that grant back Super energy. We felt they are increasingly becoming “must-pick†gear choices. Orb generation from teammates is meant to be the best way to accelerate your Super generation. These Exotics are allowing players to bypass this teamwork mechanic by generating a large amount of Super energy without relying on other players’ orbs.
Also, because these items are so overwhelmingly strong in situations where players face off against large numbers of enemies, some activities were designed considering the use of armor such as Orpheus Rigs, Phoenix Protocol, Skull of Dire Ahamkara, etc. This means if someone in your fireteam doesn't have these Super Exotics equipped, the activity becomes far more difficult.
We are making some changes to these armor pieces to try to preserve their power fantasy and still leave them as viable choices for difficult activities without making players feel like they must have them equipped or be at a huge disadvantage.
Super-Generating Exotic Armor Changes
- Skull of Dire Ahamkara, Orpheus Rigs, and Phoenix Protocol now receive Super energy back with diminishing returns, making it rarer to get a full Super back
- Shards of Galanor and Ursa Furiosa had their Super gain caps reduced to be in parity with other Super Exotic changes
- Gwisin Vest had its energy reduced from 15% to 8% for killing one to two Guardians
- Still scales up similar to before when killing three or more Guardians
- PvE energy return remains similar to before
Really, fans should have expected an even more massive nerf hammer to come crashing down back when the April 25 news update hit. In that announcement, Bungie said that they were going to nerf two very popular PvP hand cannons, Luna's Howell and Not Forgotten. That was only the beginning.
Farewell new Bungie, you had a decent run for a while there.
