JavaScript is required to use Bungie.net

Forums

originally posted in: Hotfix 2.5.0.2 Feedback
Edited by DKDJ1: 2/17/2017 2:55:33 PM
6
16
DKDJ1

Let me start by saying I've played this game nearly every day since May 2015, right before TTK. I found a group of friends, made a clan; hell, I even got my little brother into the game over Christmas. But unfortunately, this recent patch has led me and several of my friends to reach the same conclusion: it's time to walk away from Destiny for a bit. Here's why: WHAT DO YOU LIKE: The increased use of primary weapons in PvP because of special ammo changes. That's cool. Although the changes to special aren't perfect, it encourages more straight up duels against opponents. Sticky grenades kill now, no matter what. As it should be. WHAT DO YOU HATE: The overall tone of the response from Bungie to the community reaction to this patch. I know Reddit is not the whole of the player base, and neither are the content creators. But to call the reaction "violently mixed" when the overwhelming opinion has been largely negative to a plethora of changes made is disingenuous at best, and flippantly tone-deaf at worse. That really felt like Bungie was only "listening" to the things they wanted to hear, but recognizing that had to, at a minimum, acknowledge that maybe there were some things they didn't want to hear back from the community. That once again choices made with an eye toward the crucible have hampered players in PvE environments. 1 round in Truth? Really? If you're going to adjust special weapon ammo, do it for all special weapons. If I want an effective special weapon now, I'm being forced into using sidearms. That doesn't promote weapon diversity, it pigeonholes your player base. Max armor guardians being punished for using max armor. If the design goal was really for our guardian to feel unique and allow us to play the way we want to play, then why are players who spec in a certain way being punished? There are plenty of people who spec for max agility, recovery, armor, or a mix of both and there are tradeoffs to each choice. But to come after only players that prioritize survivability in combat encounters is unfair. Those players made a choice to customize their experience in that fashion, and shouldn't be punished for it. That the bug (and that's what it is, not a "change") to health regen abilities was detected before the release of the patch, and then kept in the patch and we're now being told to deal with it because "change is hard". I'm not sure why the change to the BladeDancer super was called for in the first place, but leaving the change there when it affected the abilities of other subclasses and weapons is flat-out lazy. Delay the patch until it can be repaired in the future, if that's what's required. Leaving it there and saying "we wanna see what happens"' is infuriating, especially to players that have developed play styles and skill trees to maximize the benefits of those abilities in both PvP and PvE. I've invested hours into both environments, but once again, changes meant to address issues in PvP have had a direct negative effect on players who still enjoy PvE content. The health regen issues need to be fixed, now. That apparently within your sandbox team, "surgical changes" means "smack you in the face with an iron glove" nerfs. We get it, CD and GoM were very popular guns. But they were popular because they were effective and consistent, and rather than adjust them in a way that could really bring them in line with other primaries (reduced range for earlier damage falloff, reduced flinch effects on hit, reduced aim assist, to name a few suggestions), they were completely obliterated. The reduced magazine size effectively tramples all over most of the rolls of these weapons that made them effective, and is a slap in the face to all of the players that invested hours into chasing those rolls in PvE and Iron Banner to get them. The reduced fire rate ON TOP OF THAT now means they have roughly the same time to kill as a Hawksaw or Suros PDX-45 archetype, and since the latter will do more damage per burst, there's actually no point in using the former. In addition, this weapon archetype was one of the only ones that could consistently fight back against hand cannons, and with the buff to their initial accuracy, it feels like now there is no consistent, effective counter to a good player with a hand cannon. Add in the fact that the buff to auto rifles was negligible (they are still not viable as a top-tier option, just less bad than they used to be, IMO), the buff to Low RoF pulses still requires you to be PERFECT to get their optimal time to kill, and that the mid-tier was completely untouched, and these changes don't feel "surgical" they feel like a knee-jerk reaction to something that rose to the top of the meta. Something we've sadly seen again and again. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOOD BUT COULD BE BETTER: The changes so special were a step in the right direction, but a bit too punishing for players that don't consistently go on 5, 10, 15+ kill streaks. Increasing the drop times for special was an interesting choice, but to lose it all every time you die is a bit too extreme. It also allows for the possibility of one team or player to absolutely steamroll everyone else in the lobby if they manage to rack up the kills and control the special drops/spawn points on a map, and leaves very little room for counter play. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE: Apart from the changes to pulse and auto rifles mentioned in the (rather lengthy) "what do you hate" section, I'd change the following: In pvp, nobody spawns with special, and change the drop rates to something like every four minutes in larger games, and 3 minutes in smaller ones. This way special ammo spawns in only 3 times in a match, promoting more primary fights and making it feel...special. I'd appreciate more thorough testing and transparency from Bungie. Some of the changes in this patch coupled with the health regen bug give the appearance that the due diligence isn't being paid over at the studio. And yes, I know it's been said how much time is spent tweaking and testing and playing your own game, but as a consumer of your product, these kinds of mistakes convey a lack of attention or focus when it comes to crucial elements of your own game design that is incredibly disheartening. Those are my thoughts. I'm a huge fan of this studio and have been since day one of Halo: CE all the way up to Destiny, which has impacted my day-to-day life in a major way. But this patch and it's rollout have been incredibly frustrating and have turned me off to playing a game that I love for at least the immediate future. I've pretty much done all there is to do in this game and have acquired nearly everything I wanted from both PvE and PvP in terms of loot, and was playing simply because of the community and basic enjoyment of the experience. However, with such sweeping changes that feel half thought out in the best of cases, and blatant errors in the worst of cases, I'm stepping away. At least until further adjustments are made. Which I hope will be sooner rather than later.
English

Posting in language:

 

Play nice. Take a minute to review our Code of Conduct before submitting your post. Cancel Edit Create Fireteam Post

You are not allowed to view this content.
;
preload icon
preload icon
preload icon