So the topic of the day is Crucible thanks to the Weisnewski appearance on Crucible radio. So with that in mind and all the dialogue it's sparked, I think it's a good time to really reflect on how we got to today. Destiny 1 was a very different experience when it released than D2. It was a Bungie game, so we went in expecting top notch gun play but I know I was shocked when I loaded into my first Crucible match at level 5 or 6 and realized that I had the same green weapons I had equipped in PvE. It was something so different from any other fps if played that I was genuinely stunned. My first thought was that I was going to be severely outgunned and maybe I should wait to try PVP until I had better weapons; but my second thought was "Holy shit, any great weapons I find in PvE, I can use here'' And I was hooked. I hit level 20 and got Suros and was having fun using it but then something happened here on these forums. People started bashing anyone who used Suros. It wasn't fair and had to be nerfed. It took all the fun out of the gun because no matter how well you played [quote]you suck and just need that crutch[/quote] So I switched to MIDA, doubled my kills per game and shook my head as the cries persisted. [quote]Just call it Iron Suros[/quote] Then TDB dropped and gave us truly great Pulse Rifles like Coiled Hiss (the OG Grasp). ARs like Up for Anything and Vanquisher VII. Scouts like B-Line Trauma. HoW saw the disappointing AR nerf, but with reforging we had a golden age of overall balance. Already great Pulse Rifles got a 9% damage buff to weapons like Coiled Hiss and Hopscotch Pilgrim. Exotics were buffed across the board. Scouts could be rolled full auto. Hand Cannons were awesome. Fusion Rifles were the badass reliable weapons of Destruction we finally see again in D2. Shotguns were glorious. Truth, Gjally, Corrective Measure. Icebreaker. LDR 5001. All balanced in an ecosystem with truly great abilities, supers and grenades. Blink! Shoulder Charge! Flame Shields! Lightning Grenades! Fusion and Firebolts! OHK weapons and abilities. DoTs. Rock, paper, scissors balance in a beautiful complex dance. It was truly a golden age and everyone looks back and says D1 was so good, why can't we go back? But it's ignoring that these forums that now ache for those days despised them at the time. [quote]Thooooooooorn! It's not fair! It's op! It's a crutch![/quote] [quote]Reforging sucks! Everyone just rolls Felwinters with shot package[/quote] [quote]DoTs aren't fair! I have to leave the action to regain health![/quote] [quote]Shoulder charge is op! It's not fair! It's free kills![/quote] [quote]OMG Blink is bullshit! All anyone does is Blink+slide+shotgun![/quote] And on. And on. And on. So what happened? Bungie didn't have the conviction to stand behind this unique experience they created and they read all the posts demanding change and they capitulated. [b]Ecosystem[/b] TTK saw the death of Thorn, Red Death, Full Auto Scouts and Reforging, which led to the rise of Nirwens Mercy, which led to the great Pulse Rifle nerf, which led to MIDA, which led to its nerf, which led to Snipers, then nerfed, shotguns again, nerfed, special ammo nerfed, heavy ammo nerfed, shoulder charge nerfed, blink nerfed, melee nerfed, and every single change to the ecosystem just threw it further out of whack and did it stop the complaints? Did it ease the call for nerfs? Nope. [quote]Abilities are op. PvP is just ability spam![/quote] [quote]OHK grenades are bullshit![/quote] It was so FUBAR, players actually begged for and got AN ARTIFACT nerfed. There was no going back and even if you suggested that HoW was the model, people still screamed about "Thorn" and "Reforging sucked!" as we were left with a game devoid of primary play and ammo for specials and heavy. We got to D2 together. Bungie and the community and to anyone who says they don't listen, maybe we wouldn't have seen all the slow death of rotating metas if they just hadn't. So here we are today and the talk is Weisnewski and The Interview. And here's the funny thing. D2 had to change and as much as a lot of us would've liked year 1 crucible back, they weren't going back to that and they've been justified to a degree by the fact that we've already seen movements to nerf MIDA, Last Hope and Pulse Grenades and now players are asking for HCR to be nerfed because apparently a perk that every single player has access to is "unfair" So we as a community can say all we want that we want random rolls or vanilla PvP back, but it's just not true. Players want to win and when they die, they want to feel it was something outside their control and not admit they maybe got outplayed, so they blame the gun. Blame the ability. Blame the team-shooting. Blame the connection. And the truth of D2 PvP is that it's the closest to HoW this game has been since. It's the first time since before TTK where you can go into PvP and know EXACTLY how your gun is going to perform and not only do primaries matter, they each have their own unique personalities and feel that make finding THE ONE tantamount to the perfect reforge of old. For the first time since HoW and the challenge of facing and beating opponents using Thorn, Red Death or TLW with a perfect scout, that feeling is back outgunning Uriel's, MIDA and Last Hope with Cuboid, Armillary, Martyr's Make, Origin Story... And outside of Crucible it's the most diverse kill feeds I've ever seen in Destiny. Mistakes were made. Many and horrible. Some things still need improved. Melee, grenades, abilities. Some things still need to be answered for and changed like only 4v4 and random playlists. But we asked Bungie to communicate and whatever your opinion of Weisnewski and whether you agree or disagree with his views, he showed up and he was forthcoming and honest. My reaction and feedback I gave is to not nerf HCR and if they're going to do anything, give more rock, paper, scissors counters. The game needs work. A lot more than it should, but D1 weapons and balance were a dumpster fire.