It's no secret that the guns of Destiny are the same in Crucible and in the Solar System. Any change that is effected in one, is reflected in the other. For example a damage reduction of Auto Rifles lowers damage in both PvP and PvE, regardless if the other needs the reduction. The problem with Destiny is that mobs have more HP than Guardians, but we are expected to use the same guns to kill both of them. A minotaur has, say, 20,000HP, but guardians only have 200. The same gun hits 35 on guardians, but over 1000 on mobs, It's pretty confusing. I call it pseudo-balance because supers will always unbalance the game, depending on the situation you are in at any given point. One second a Nova bomb might be the best answer, then after you take two steps, golden gun could be the correct super to have. [b]TL;DR: This is my idea how to achieve pseudo-balance in Destiny across PvP AND PvE.[/b] EDIT: Explanation of Time To Kill: The theoretical time that it would take a gun at absolutely the most optimal scenario to kill an enemy. This assumes if there is a 0.1 second delay between shots, there is no human error to make that 0.1 second delay a 0.11 second delay. Damage is the absolute maximum based on perk selection, distance from target and Impact on the weapon. The simple way to balance weapons is to first achieve balance in PvP. Create characters that have a flat amount of HP/Shield. Then create guns that have good Time To Kill (TTK) ratios, guns that are fair to be using and to be up against based on how fast they kill players with the flat HP/Shield. Adjust the guns until the perks on the guns bring balance to the power of the weapon. For example, if a gun has an explosive radius like Fatebringer, then it should have a slightly lower impact due to it's ability to damage more than 1 person at a time. Once they have decided the guns kill other guardians at a fair speed, no guns extremely out performing any other guns, no guns that have perks that make that gun a clear choice for PvP, they then move on to PvE enemies. Next, they must create the enemies with their HP/Shields based on how much damage we can output with the same gun in PvP. For example: If my Suros Regime hits 50 in PvP, it should hit 50 in PvE, and the mob's health should be the fluctuating stat, not the gun's damage. So if a player has 200 HP and the gun hits 50, then mobs should have 150HP for weaker mobs, 500 for stronger mobs, 2000 for yellow health bar mobs, etc, with some variance allowed. Once that is complete, we now have a closed system where the guns remain constant, the guardians remain constant, and the mobs are the ones that are changing. Since PvP is checked first, PvP will be fair or close to it, and if there is a problem in PvE (mobs too easy or mobs too hard) the adjustments are changed in 1 place, not across multiple parts of the game. When a new gun is added to the game, it is first dictated by PvP. Create a gun that is fair, create perks that are fair, then adjust mob's HP accordingly. In most cases, because the gun is fair in PvP (on par with other weapons), it will be fair in PvE (on par with other weapons against the same mobs). [b]Cap Raise:[/b] A cap raise messes this idea up pretty quickly. Adding stronger guns means in PvP people die faster. That ruins PvP gameplay so there has to be a solution around it that works for both sides. Simply, as guardians increase in levels, their HP/Shields also increase in capacity. This makes the older guns have a longer TTK, and the newer guns have the same TTK as the old ones used to have. As players level, mobs also grow stronger. As they grow stronger, their HP/Shields should also increase, which again, lowers the TTK of old guns and the new guns get the same TTK as the old guns used to have. [b]FAQ's[/b] "But I love my old guns." - No problem. With this model you could have a way to upgrade your gun to match the new damage output of the newer guns. Likewise for gear. You can upgrade your gear (by doing new content) in order to achieve the same HP/Shield as guardians using new gear. "If the TTK is always the same, won't PvE get boring?" - The nice thing about this model is that if they want to make a strike harder, they still have the same options to work with. They can add more mobs, they can increase the HP/Shields of the mobs, if they create a mob that is harder to hit (aka. it warps all over the place) it can have less health so you take more of it's HP when you are able to hit it. "What about their whole difficulty scale they already have?" - That still works, just with a HP/Shield change. Easy mode, the mobs have 15% less HP/Shields, hard mode mobs have 25% more HP/Shields, whatever their current difficulty is set to can be replicated. "With Guardians getting more HP/Shields won't mobs hit worse now?" - At the same rate you are gaining HP/Shields, they are gaining damage. Mobs of lower levels will take longer to kill you, but that makes sense doesn't it? "I just PvP how does this effect me?" - In light of it all, the effect is pretty impacting. All guns should be created fairly in Bungie's mind, meaning it doesn't matter if you want to use a Green or an Exotic, if you're using an Auto rifle against a scout rifle (minus range drop offs). "I only PvE, how does this effect me?" - It simply makes the game more easily tailored to your response. Because you are letting PvP dictate the damage you put out, mobs can be adjusted for better balance. If you think a boss takes too long to kill, they can lower it's HP. If you think a boss is to easy, they can increase it's HP. It still has all the abilities it normally would have, it's just an adjustment of the amount of health the enemy has and how effective the gun is against that boss. "I used to hit mobs for 1000 now I only hit 20, what gives? Is this a HUGE nerf?" - While your damage output is being regulated by PvP, the mobs HP is being regulated by your damage output. What this means is that if you hit 1000 and a mob had 15,000 HP, it would take 15 shots to kill it. Now that you are only hitting 20, the mob's HP is reduced to 300, which is still the exact same 15 shots to kill. Any questions, critique, ideas, feel free to leave them below. I'm more than happy to answer questions and pick people's brains for their ideas of how balance works.