I'm not sure how to feel about the hotfix just yet, I honestly think we need time to get used to the changes before we go labeling it a success or a uh...learning experience.
There were some really solid things in this hotfix that I'd like to acknowledge:
We asked for more primary gunfights, and I think that's exactly what we got. I like that I'm not constantly being shotgunned or sniped, because honestly it was ridiculous how often I was instantly killed because of special weapons. I've noticed that matches are running longer, and people are dusting off old weapons or trying out new ones and putting them to the test, and that's a great thing. Hand canons got some attention, which is nice. They're a bit more consistent now, I think. Even though I main a Stormcaller, I'm not upset about the change to our melee ability, because it was ridiculous(-sly hilarious) to hit people at such a far range, but it hasn't ruined the subclass for me or anything to have the range reduced, I think it's perfectly fair. Overall, I think that this patch certainly switched things up a bit, and I'm glad our voices were heard.
Obviously, everything wasn't all peaches and cream though:
It's part of the balancing act to have a couple things tip to one side or the other, and right now, sidearms are tipping the scale. Not because they're overpowered, but simply because they're the only option that is always available. If the goal was to make special weapons feel special, and to have them be used more strategically, I'm confused as to why sidearms were untouched? They are incredibly balanced, and I don't want them to be fundamentally changed because people will inevitably report being constantly killed by them. If anything about them changes, it should only be the ammo economy, in my opinion.
Which brings up the topic of the special ammo change. I completely understand why this change happened and I really am happy that instead of just cutting off the supply of ammo after death, the team also made the crates drop more frequently. However, speaking as a player who does not use Special weapons more than primaries, I personally haven't been liking the change. The reason being that I already used Special the way it was supposed to used- in special circumstances, and not constantly and certainly not more than my primary. Now I have to remember to find a crate and take time to reload before I can make use of the ammo, and I don't want to spend a lot of time hunting for crates, I want to be in the fight! So I usually forgo the Special ammo entirely because I don't have the time to go to a crate before an engagement happens and it's just not a fun experience, as far as my use of Special goes. I kind of feel like I'm being punished for something I had no part in? I wasn't running around shotgunning people and I don't have the time to git gud with a sniper rifle- I was just doing my best to make use of the weapons in special circumstances, but now it's much harder for me to do that, and the bottom line is that as a player, I want to pop into any pvp match and just, play to have fun. I want the game to be exciting and I want to have those moments where I'm amazed because I pulled off something spectacular. Getting rid of special after you're killed also may have killed the momentum in these matches. Now it's like, am I more annoyed by people using Specials in place of primaries? Or am I more sad because I really don't have as much opportunity to use Special weapons? Finding a middle ground here might be darn near impossible, honestly my only suggestion is maybe instead of losing all your ammo, you're left with half? I don't know if that would solve the problem, but I hate complaining about something without trying to offer a solution, and this Special ammo economy situation is quite a pickle.
On a side note, the change to Truth, Landfall, and Bladedancer (poor Bladedancers) were all a mystery to me? I actually don't even use Truth, and it kills me a lot, sure, but it's an exotic rocket launcher, I think it probably should be killing me consistently. I know a LOT of people used it but I really had no complaints, and I don't think that change was necessary. Same with landfall, I don't even use it, but it wasn't a problem to me, and nobody I know complained about it. I'm scared to bring up Ionic Blink because I really like that talent and without it, as a Stormcaller I'm really easy to kill, but that's the talent people will complain about more than Landfall (please don't nerf it, it's all I have left lol). Also electrostatic mind coupled with Skorri's is a bit ...much, to put it lightly. And Bladedancers, again, I have no complaints. I'd also like to state for the record, as somebody who doesn't use a hunter very often, that I had no complaints about the throwing knives, shadestep, or tripmines. I'm genuinely curious as to why Hunters are changed so often? They seem fine to me~
So in light of this Hotfix there's something I really want to express, as far as PvP balancing goes: I think we as a community really don't want everything to be "nerfed". I understand that we can't have a particular weapon/class/build dominating the crucible, and nobody wants that, but nerfing all these things makes the game less fun! This is very important, I believe, to understand that these weapons and all this space magic should be fun to use, and when you nerf something, it tends to become boring. I wonder what would happen if everything was only brought down a little bit, or if all the other weapons were buffed?
Overall I think this hotfix was a step in the right direction, but perhaps it was a step or two more than we were prepared for, and it will just take some getting used to. I would also like to say that balancing so many classes, weapons, perks, etc. is a really difficult thing to do, and I really admire that Bungie takes the time to ask us for our input regarding it, and then tries to accommodate our feedback. Your work does not go unappreciated :)
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