When Bungie released hotfix 1.0.2.2 for Destiny last week, it increased/decreased the damage and other stats for the various weapon classes.
Knowing people would be curious about their reasoning behind these changes, Bungie addressed them in the latest Weekly Update, saying that it was known soon after the game’s launch that Auto Rifles would need to be retooled, with tons of tweets and posts calling out how Auto Rifles and Shotguns dominated the Crucible.
With Bungie highlighting the internal theme of “there should be no single answer for how to win in Destiny,” here’s why the Auto Rifle’s base damage was decreased by 2%:
The Auto Rifle archetype is designed to appeal to players who like to throw up a wall of bullets and not worry if a few miss their target. It is intended to inflict sustained damage at close to medium range, but to lose effectiveness at longer ranges.
Today the Auto Rifle is too effective at long range, even beating Scout and Pulse Rifles in some circumstances. Expect stability and/or damage adjustments to the Auto Rifle to address this in the weeks ahead.
Bungie continued by talking about why the Scout Rifle’s base damage was increased by 6%:
Scout Rifles are for players who like to keep their enemies at medium range and hate to miss. They are intended to be an awkward weapon to use at close range but to be dominant – as long as you land your shots – at medium and longer ranges.
Scouts just aren’t hitting hard enough today when compared to other precision weapons. We’ll be addressing this soon.
And here’s why the base damage of the Shotgun was decreased at maximum range:
Shotguns are for those situations where you need to deliver a massive spike of damage, right now, to the thing standing next to you about to do you harm.
Today shotguns are effective beyond their intended range, especially when upgraded with that intention. Expect changes soon to address shotguns which push the envelope of what it means to be close quarters.
Despite these changes, Bungie knows “those weapons are still dangerous.” Citing their planned long-term support of Destiny, they said another weapon balance will happen again at some point.
One thing Bungie admits they went too far on is the Vex Mythoclast, saying, “Our nerf was intended to target PVP play – where we felt and heard that Mythoclast was over-performing – but it also reduced its effectiveness in PVE.”
To remedy this, here are the changes coming soon to Mythoclast:
- We are adjusting the base damage on Mythoclast. We are going to find a value that works for both PVP and PVE.
- In addition, we intend to raise Mythoclast’s attack value above and beyond the other exotics. Attack value dictates how much damage players deal to combatants and Mythoclast attack value being raised will make it more effective in PVE.
As for what you can expect this week, Bungie is issuing a hot fix to fix the Atheon encounter:
- We’ve added “baby bumpers” to areas where players could knock Atheon out of the environment.
- Knocking a boss off a ledge is a bug. We will seek to address bugs like these as quickly as possible.
Bungie added, “A change will take effect next week which fixes a bug with Atheon’s target selection. When using its Timestream ability, Atheon will select 3 players at random, instead of choosing the three players furthest from it.”
A larger update for Destiny is in certification right now, so their ability to make fixes to the game right now is slowed down a bit.
Once we learn more about the hotfix this week, we’ll let you know all about it.
[Source: Bungie]
