Post by TRUE EB0LA on Jun 14, 2016 7:14:40 GMT -5
Weapon Update
Destiny Update 2.3.0 is scheduled to deploy June 14, 2016 The following is a preview of how it will impact weapon balance.
From the desk of Greg Peng:
Hi everyone! Sandbox Designer Greg Peng here. Pleased to meet you. I've been working with Jon Weisnewski on weapons since The Taken King (he’s my boss), and I'll be your gunsmith for the upcoming Rise of Iron. I am honored for this opportunity to step up as another representative for Sandbox.
For 2.3.0, our primary goal has been to address some of the most commonly voiced concerns from the Destiny community, and to continue to bring balance and improvements to our little piece of the Destiny universe.
Weapon Balance
Hand Cannons
After a shot has been fired from a weapon in Destiny, there is a short period where accuracy drops to simulate how weapon recoil affects re-acquiring a target. This helps dissuade players from spamming the trigger and emphasizes precise aiming. The degree of accuracy drop is controlled by the Range stat per archetype. Because of the increased importance of landing every shot, this effect is especially heightened on Hand Cannons.
It is our intention to reduce the necessity of rolling range perks on Hand Cannons in order for them to be considered usable. However, we also do not want to return to a world where Hand Cannons can contest Scout Rifles at long range.
Changes
- Increased initial accuracy and decreased accuracy drop for low range hand cannons
- Made damage falloff curves steeper to better coincide with intended effective range of hand cannons
- Small increase to PvE damage to all hand cannons (amount depending on enemy class)
Auto Rifles
Doctrine of Passing. Soulstealer's Claw. Arminus-D. These names strike fear into opponent's hearts, not only due to their quick kill times, but also the amount of screen shake or "ping" they inflict upon their targets. The family of high rate of fire auto rifles currently leads the pack as most used, and so we will nudge it lower once again.
Changes
- Reduced the damage of high rate of fire autos (Doctrine of Passing) by 6%
Ammo Economy
Running out of ammo? The recommended solution is to grab some fresh ammo that just dropped at the feet of a dead combatant. But we recognize that there are certain dire combat scenarios where gathering blocks is not a viable solution. In these cases, we currently detect that you're low on ammo, round up ammo from the field, and automatically deposit it in your backpack. As an improvement, we've significantly sped up the time this process takes.
Changes
- It takes less time to automatically grab ammo from the battlefield for you when you’re running low.
Hawkmoon
With the recent Hand Cannon improvements, the Hawk was flying a bit too high. A minor stability reduction brings it into line, but may encourage a reexamination of one's barrel selection...
Changes
- Slight reduction to Hawkmoon Stability (-5 Stability)
Counterbalance
There are some cases where a perk's effectiveness makes it seem like an absolute necessity to run. For many players this is currently true for Counterbalance; not only is it an extremely effective perk, but it nullifies the uniqueness of each gun’s recoil pattern. We hope these changes will let the personality of each gun shine through a bit more.
Changes
- Slight reduction to Counterbalance effectiveness (Reduces 80% of recoil angle instead of 90%)
Bugs
- Fixed incorrect UI bars on Red Spectre (no gameplay changes)
- Fixed Exotic Machine Gun Stability where some weapons were ignoring their own base stats for recoil (Thunderlord, Super Good Advice)
- Fixed Defiance of Yasmin to have the correctly adjusted zoom for Sniper Rifles introduced in 2.2.0 (5x), increased inventory stat by 10 to compensate
Sandbox Mythbusters
What does Rangefinder REALLY do?
According to the description on the Perk: “Aiming this weapon increases its effective range.”
There are a couple ways to interpret this description. A common interpretation is that the Rangefinder increases the Range stat when a player goes into aim down sights (ADS). In reality, it is a bit more nuanced than a simple sentence can encompass.
Rangefinder impacts two primary things:
- Target acquisition falloff
- Zoom factor multiplier (1.1x zoom, 1.05x on shotguns)
So why do we call it “Rangefinder?” Well, Zoom itself is a huge component of damage falloff! We scale down damage falloff by the Zoom factor because enemies FEEL closer in zoom view, even though they can be quite far away. This is super important to keeping things feeling consistent.
What’s more, ADS accuracy and recoil are also calculated based on the zoom view. So with greater zoom, your bullets will also stay closer together, which is another element of extending the effective range of your weapon. Everything is relative!
What is Weapon Handling?
While we don’t display it in the UI like we do the other weapon stats, Weapon Handling is a stat that controls three things to make your gun feel heavier or snappier in your hands:
- Ready time – amount of time it takes to bring out your weapon
- Away time – amount of time it takes to put away your weapon
- ADS time – amount of time it takes to fully reach maximum zoom in ADS
Different guns have different Weapon Handling stats, but as a general rule of thumb, the longer range and more damage a weapon does, the lower the Weapon Handling stat.
That’s all for the 2.3.0 Weapons Update Preview. I hope it’s been informative, and I’m looking forward to hearing your questions and comments.
Class Updates
From the desk of Grant Mackay:
Hello, this is Grant. You might remember me from the previous round of Warlock class balance changes. Well, I’m back and I’m excited to have the opportunity to talk about another round of changes, this time focused on Hunters.
So why are we changing Hunters?
On the Sandbox Design Team, we talk about build diversity a lot. We want to ensure that a number of different builds are viable for any given Class. It’s important to us that players have meaningful choices to make when customizing their characters.
We also want to make sure that the choices between the classes themselves are interesting. Ideally, we’d like to address any ability that feels underwhelming to use. We also want to address abilities that feel frustrating or unfair when used against you by another player.
Ultimately, balance is an ongoing effort to improve the game. We have a lot of data on class performance and the choices that people are making. We want to try and use that data to inform improvements to overall game health and keep things interesting. We’ve taken a design pass with this in mind for Titans and Warlocks already, so now it’s time for the Hunters.
Gunslinger
Grenades
The Tripmine Grenade has been a dominant grenade choice for a while. It’s possible that this because it was the grenade that did everything: set a trap, stick it to an opponent, miss an opponent and end up setting a trap anyway. The original intent with this grenade was to be used as a trap, not a sticky, so we moved it back in that direction. Conversely, we increased the Swarm Grenades damage and ability to detect opponents to improve that option.
Changes:
- Swarm Grenade: increased arming radius by 0.5 meters
- Swarm Grenade: detonation damage increased by 7%
- Tripmine no longer attaches to enemies; instead arms on impact then bounces
- Tripmine damage reduced by 3%
Golden Gun
Golden Gun was feeling a bit lackluster damage wise, so we boosted that and provided further damage gains to the Deadeye perk which wasn’t seeing a lot of use. The hope is that this brings it into a place where it is considered a valid option in comparison to Shadowshot for Strikes and similar activities.
Changes:
- Base damage increased by 50% and an additional 30% against AI combatants
- Deadeye now increases Golden Gun damage by an additional 30%
Throwing Knife
The Throwing Knife was creating some frustration, especially with the Incendiary Blade upgrade, so we nudged the damage down slightly. This will ensure that low armor players can’t be killed in a single headshot (with the extra burn damage from the Incendiary Blade upgrade). We also reworked the Circle of Life upgrade to be about building up your Golden Gun instead of maintaining it, since very few players where opting into the original incarnation.
Changes:
- Throwing Knife base damage reduced by 10%
- Circle of Life modified functionality: precision kills with Throwing Knife reduce the cooldown of Golden Gun
- Circle of Life no longer extends the duration of golden gun
- Circle of Life +1 armor removed
Perks
We took a look at some of the passives in the Gunslinger build and tried to improve some of the least used options. On the whole, we’re pretty happy with the various choices and build paths there, so these changes are minor.
Changes:
- Scavenger: increased the amount of Grenade and Melee energy awarded by 33%
- Chain of Woe: +1 Recovery added
- Over the Horizon: +1 Recovery removed
Bladedancer
Mobility
Bladedancer mobility, particularly the ability to quickly relocate, is proving to be a bit too advantageous. We made some changes to try and reduce this. The Blink ability now has a recovery tradeoff and Blinkstrike doesn’t lunge as far.
Changes:
- Blink now incurs a -1 Recovery penalty
- Blinkstrike lunge distance decreased by 0.4 meters
Blinkstrike
The Backstab upgrade has been the source of some confusing behavior for a while, particularly when it appears to hit from the front. The valid region for Backstabbing should now be more solidly behind the target. Escape Artist had some visual issues that we tried to smooth out and Fast Twitch was too fast so we slowed it down.
Changes:
- Backstab valid backstab angle reduced by 30 degrees
- Escape Artist invisibility effect delayed by 0.5 seconds
- Fast Twitch recharge reduced by 20%
Arc Blade
Arc Blade has a number of changes in this patch, many related to the mobility issue. We wanted it to be more about decisive strikes and not swinging frantically to try and cover ground, avoid enemy fire, or stay airborne for long periods of time. It will last longer but cost more to swing if you have no target. On the other hand it should hit the target you’re aiming at more consistently.
Changes:
- Base duration increased by 2 seconds
- Hit search range increased by 0.5 meters
- Added a 0.8 second cooldown between arc blade swings while airborne
- Energy cost per swing increased by 20%
- Energy cost on hit decreased by 20%
Being effective against AI Combatants with the Arc Blade has traditionally been difficult so we upped the damage against those foes. The Encore perk will now provide a significant damage boost if kills are chained together, and the Vanish and Showstopper upgrades should now have more utility.
Changes:
- Arc Blade damage increased by 30% against AI combatants
- Vanish now causes the player to vanish on cast in addition to its normal functionality
- Showstopper damage radius extended by 1 meter
- Encore killing an enemy with Arc Blade now extends its duration and grants a 150% increase to Arc Blade damage for a short time.
Nightstalker
Grenades
The Spike Grenade was seeing very little use, likely due to how easy it was to escape the damage, so we’ve changed the rate at which it pulses to improve its output. The total damage dealt remains the same.
Changes:
- Spike Grenade damage impulses per second reduced to 5 from 10
- Spike Grenade damage per impulse increased by 100%; total damage unchanged
Shadowshot
Hitting another player with Shadowshot only to have them kill you with their Super before the effects kicked in was frustrating and confusing (often to both players involved) so we made it suppress when it hits.
Changes:
- Shadowshot now applies the suppression effect on impact
Smoke
The Smoke ability received a number of modifications making it less frustrating to victims, but also adding some utility against slower opponents. The package of status effects delivered on impact could be overwhelming so we opened up more opportunities to escape. At the same time, the cloud will last longer and the initial impact of a direct hit will hurt more.
Changes:
- Impact damage increased by 34%
- Impact suppression and damage over time duration reduced by 1 second
- Jump suppression removed from initial impact status effects
- Base smoke cloud duration increased by 1 second
- Envenomed cloud duration increased by 1 second
- Envenomed Jump suppression removed from cloud status effects
- Vanish in smoke: +1 Agility removed
- Snare cloud duration increased by 1 second
Perks
A number of Nightstalker perks have had small changes, mostly to power up perks that weren’t being chosen as frequently. The exception is Shadestep. The ability to evade, shedding tracking projectiles and the aim of your opponents, was overwhelming all the other choices in the build. We don’t want it to be so easy to completely disengage or bewilder enemies so we’ve disabled the ability to perform two evades in rapid succession. Nightstalkers will only be able to Shadestep once before they have to wait for the ability to recharge, but it takes less time to recharge.
Changes:
- Courage of the Pack now increases Recovery, Armor and Agility by 2 per stack
- Courage of the Pack now stacks 3 times
- Lockdown increases smoke duration by 2 seconds(+2 additional seconds with the Snare upgrade)
- Predator now reduces the cooldown of the Shadowshot ability
- Shadestep moved to a single dodge on a 3 second cooldown
Other Classes
Universal Consistency
But wait, this was about Hunters?! It turns out some of the things we wanted to change are in use by other classes and we want the game to be consistent. The Defender Spike Grenade got the same treatment as the Nightstalker version, and Voidwalker Blink ability received the same tradeoff as the Bladedancer version. The Twilight Garrison Exotic armor, which was creating similar problems to Shadestep, has been adjusted in the same manner.
Changes:
- Spike Grenade damage impulses per second reduced to 5 from 10
- Spike Grenade damage per impulse increased by 100%; total damage unchanged
- Twilight Garrison moved the Tactical Air Support ability to a single dodge on a 3 second cooldown.
Super Damage
Tweaking the Super damage output on Hunters led us to investigate the damage output of the other classes. It turns out many of them needed additional love.
Changes:
- Hammer of Sol damage increased by 10% against AI combatants
- Fist of Havoc base damage increased by 50% and an additional 50% against AI combatants
- Nova Bomb base damage increased by 50% and an additional 50% against AI combatants
- Stormtrance damage increased by 10% against AI combatants
Sunbreaker
The Sunbreaker has been suffering a little since we ended their reign of terror, so we made some changes to make Hammers hit more consistently again. These adjustments may seem insignificant, but we remember the harsh rule of the Solar Overlords, so we’re making more targeted changes.
Changes:
- Hammer of Sol hammer travel speed increased by 1.3%
- Hammer of Sol hammer detonation radius increased by 10%
Sunsinger
As promised, we kept an eye on Warlocks after the previous patch. Sunsingers, while not out performing other classes, are still creating frustrating encounters. Most of these encounters are the result of a combination of build perks and the Firebolt grenade so we adjusted the target search radius and arming time. This means that from the moment the grenade lands players will have a split second longer to get out of the area in which the bolts fire and that area is slightly smaller, so there should be a little more counter play.
Changes:
- Firebolt: increased arming time by 0.2 seconds
- Firebolt: decreased victim search radius by 1 meter
Viking Funeral
The biggest change to Sunsingers is to the Viking Funeral build perk. This perk will no longer extend the duration of Ignite (damage over time) effects. Instead it now causes those effects to weaken the target to other sources of damage (but not the Ignite itself). This will reduce the frequency and duration of the damage over time effect, but should still allow the Sunsinger interesting build options involving Ignite.
Changes:
- Viking Funeral: no longer extends the duration of Ignite effects
- Viking Funeral: now weakens targets afflicted with Ignite effects, causing them to take 5% more damage from all sources, stacking up to 3 times.
Flame Shield
We added a minor delay to the activation time of Flame Shield. Ideally this makes it so that there is a window of opportunity (if only very briefly) for people to win melee trades against Warlocks running this upgrade.
Changes:
- Flame Shield: 0.3 second delay added before the overshield activation
Thanks so much for reading. These are the changes you’ll find in the June Update that will impact many of the Sub-Classes you find in Destiny. This won’t be the last time we talk about the way different Guardians fight, so be sure to let us know how combat feels in the new Sandbox. Player feedback is a huge part of what we do!