Bungie has released a preview of its forthcoming Destiny update entitled “Destiny Weapon Tuning 2.0.” As the title suggests, the patch is intended to address a number of weapon balance issues, including some that have been a concern among the community. Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski begins by acknowledging player feedback, primarily regarding the delay in releasing the patch. “At times, we looked into rolling out one or two of these changes in advance of the 2.0.0 update,” he writes. “…We heard your voices and we felt your pain, but plucking a few meatballs out of this massive plate of spaghetti proved to be very risky.”
Ultimately it was decided that all fixes would be released together in conjunction with Destiny’s next expansion, The Taken King. The changes in summary are as follows:
Both base and exotic weapons will see tweaks on the whole. Hand cannons and shotguns will receive a nerf to long range effectiveness, while auto and scout rifles gain a little extra punch. Certain less-preferred exotic weapons, like Nechrochasm and Hard Light, will be tweaked to generate player interest while fan favorites like Thorn and Gjallarhorn are getting nerfed for balance.
In addition, there will be a number of changes to base stats and stat perks. Essentially, various weapon types will see a nerf to their primary effectiveness stat. Auto rifles have less base stability, shotguns have less base range, etc. However, this change will only affect the new weapons added along with The Taken King. Changes to stat perks, on the other hand, are retroactive. Buffs received from stat perks will see a reduction in effectiveness, but Bungie is going to offer a number of new buffs in exchange. Weisnewski goes on to clarify that the intent with stat perks is for players to specialize a weapon for a particular stat at a cost, as opposed to further buffing a weapon that’s already well-rounded.
The full, and rather exhaustive, list of changes coming to Destiny can be read over at Bungie.net. The patch and The Taken King are both set to release on September 15th.
