There seem to be some people who are somehow blind to the facts about the Crucible in its current state.
[spoiler]
My premise:
PvP should ultimately come down to a contest of skill. A more skilled player should win more often, and thus hypothetical players of equal skill should have a nearly 50% winrate going against each other head-to-head.
If you choose a reasonable loadout, you should be able to employ tactics that maximize the effectiveness of that loadout. Maybe it works better on some maps than others, but it should all balance out.
PvP is working properly if hypothetical players of equal skill can expect a 50% win rate choosing any reasonable loadout and then playing it well on the various maps. (It does not matter whether two players of equal skill exist.)
My observations:
The current Crucible gives a huge advantage to a tiny handful of loadouts, making it far from a proper PvP environment.
There are many combat factors and Time-to-Kill is one that most interested PvPers have reviewed.
Time-to-Kill does not [i]have[/i] to be the only relevant factor in a game's weapon design, but ......[/spoiler]
in Destiny:
there are a small handful of weapons with an ridiculously advantageous Time-to-Kill and
[b]Time-to-Kill **IS** effectively the only relevant stat.[/b]
Why?
Because Destiny does not employ factors that would force any other primary weapon considerations aside from Time To Kill. In particular, Destiny does NOT make a factor out of:
1) Average Engagement Distance,
2) optical zoom
3) scope aiming time,
4) mobility penalties,
5) magazine size and reload speed, nor
6) recoil.
#1, Average Engagement Distance.
Almost without exception the maps in the Control/Clash/Rumble play list are small with almost no long sightlines over critical traffic areas (IMO, the only exception being Shores of Time which does allow for some sniper coverage over Point C and the heavy ammo spawn). Because all (but 1) of the maps deny long sightlines, the average engagement distance is in the short 8 to 35 yard-ish range. Handcannons are supposedly a short range weapon and they cover those engagement ranges with full effectiveness, therefore Average Engagement Range is not a factor in Destiny.
#2, Optical zoom.
Because of the short engagement ranges, optical zoom is not necessary. It is quite easy to hit a target at 35 yards with no scope. (In fact, these short ranges can make a scope disadvantageous)
#3, Scope Aiming Time
All primary weapons appear to require the same time to aim down the sights, so ... not a factor.
#4, Mobility Penalties,
All primary weapons seem to have no mobility penalty or advantage (aside from MIDA, which even then is small enough to ignore)
#5, Magazine Size,
It's easy to find Handcannons that have a large enough mag to take out 2+ enemies. So there is not even a magazine/reload penalty for the high damage weapons.
#6, Recoil
I always run my handcannons with Perfect Balance allowing me to recenter my shots as quickly as I can pull the trigger, so Destiny doesn't even make recoil compensation a true obstacle for the high damage weapons.
Of course TLW and Thorn users can be beaten BUT generally you have to rely on luck, which is terrible PvP design -- you'd need luck like:
A) the Thorn guy having much worse aim than you, or
B) you having more teammates with you to outnumber the Thorn guy(s), or
C) having to bring in your fireteam and hope to get matched up against randoms, or
D) getting the drop on a Thorn guy, maybe he's unaware enough to let you get in behind him.
But other than hoping that you run into only guys that are much worse players than you, generally THERE IS NO WINNING STRATEGY for head to head encounters if your opponent is rocking a hand cannon, or Vex, or Red Death or stalks hallways with a shotgun. (see this vid if you doubt: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=niH5dMFwNUg ) Winning without one of those loadouts requires luck, not strategy.
Conclusion: Time To Kill is THE ONLY relevant factor in the Crucible right now, and handcannons win that hands down.
Therefore, the ideal of a 50/50 win rate for different reasonable load outs is nowhere close to being reached in the current Crucible.
Therefore, Crucible is broken as a PvP environment.
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Balance problems could be fixed by adjusting weapon damage or any of the other stats which I detail above. I believe the most impactful fix would be to add new maps that don't cater to such short range engagements. They don't have to be as big as the Combined Arms maps, but they should have some long-ish sightlines over critical traffic areas.
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2 RepliesOP makes too much of only playing winning strategies but damn he is spot on about those maps.