New Destiny Weapon Tuning Update Scheduled for This Month
For players that have wanted to see changes, nerfs and buffs made to the weapons in Destiny for player-vs.-player and player-vs.-event gameplay, Bungie recently announced a comprehensive weapon tuning update for the hit first-person shooter. The Bungie development team for Destiny outlined changes that are being made to weapons in all classes and types that will roll out later this month as part of the Destiny 1.1.1 update patch.
The new update will make changes to the game’s weapons based on research data, internal playtests and community feedback. The dev team claims that the changes are “subtle” and that it “may take a little while to feel the nuanced differences, or you may feel the changes immediately.” The above link fully details and maps out the stats on how the weapons will be changed. For example, auto rifles will have their base damage reduced by 2.5 percent. Pulse rifles are set to receive a buff in the form of a 9.7 percent base damage increase.
More controversial weapons like the fusion rifles are set to receive a nerf. Unfortunately for fans of the fusion rifle, the initial starting ammo for the weapon will be reduced across all ammo stats in The Crucible. This means when a player starts a Crucible match, there will be less ammo in reserve for the FR. PvE activities will only use initial ammo values for a fusion rifle for players who log in for the first time. Based on the wording of the update, a fusion rifle is also less likely to achieve a one hit kill at a long distance.
Overall, some of these changes sound like a mixed bag. Buffing weaker weapons does not sound like a bad strategy, but why the necessity to nerf more powerful weapons? Is that not the point of playing harder gameplay modes to earn stronger, rarer, more powerful weapons that will be more effective in multiplayer gameplay? Not to mention the cavalcade of other glitches and issues that Bungie does not fix in the Raids. The RNG loot drops for the Raids, even in Hard Mode, can be absolutely soul crushing.
Bungie also confirmed that the game’s next standalone expansion, The House of Wolves, will be released in 2015 second quarter.