Sorry in advance for the essay, but I have a lot of feedback on this patch, and I wanted to present it in an in depth and detailed format. [b]Primary Weapon Buffs:[/b] I'll start with this one because there's a lot of positive changes here, and I like the direction this is heading. The handcannon changes are very much in line with what the community seemed to want. RNG based gunplay in shooters (bloom) doesn't make for a rewarding experience, and the increase in initial shot accuracy helps that. The increased in air accuracy for all other primaries is another very good change. Even with the buffs though, primaries are still outshone by shotguns and feel like a weak option (minus the whole ammo thing.. ) Part of the reason shotgunners were so effective is they are able to utilize mobility and vertical space in their approach. Whereas a person combating them with a primary can only backpedal while ADS'd if they want shots to connect. So - how to make primaries capable of shutting down a shotgun warrior? I believe increasing the handling speed, hipfire accuracy (less spread), hipfire aim assist, and in air accuracy (further) will make primaries feel much more effective at close range. The increased air accuracy allows the player to jump/skate/etc to evade, and the hipfire changes allow the primary user to react quicker and track quickly moving opponents. Ultimately this allows players to utilize the movement system to evade and disorient a rushing shotgunner, and makes close range encounters more of a duel than an ape fest. All without changing the ttk that keeps destiny, destiny. This also adds another layer of skill in engagements. Putting more emphasis on using mobility and gunplay in conjunction with each other. There are already some effective examples of this in game - handcannons, and the quickdraw talent (pre-patch). Personally I feel much more comfortable taking on a charging shotgunner while running quickdraw. Adding archetypes of primaries with lower ttk's, but decreased range would also be a welcome change to primaries. Right now we have the last word, and.... well, the last word. Ultimately though, some weapon archetypes will not be able to compete with shotguns ever. And that's okay. Shotgun play is a part of destiny that is very enjoyable and should always be viable. Sometimes the best counter to a shotgun is another shotgun, it just shouldn't be the only viable option [b]Shotgun Nerfs:[/b] A lot of things were globally nerfed to shotguns, let's recap what was changed: [i]Shotguns now have significantly less magnetism when fired from the hip[/i] - this is good, promotes more skill [i]Shotguns now have significantly less in air accuracy [/i]- not good. RNG in gunfights does not feel good and does not reward gunskill. [i]Shotguns no longer have a movement penalty[/i] - yay, much rejoicing [i]Rangefinder on Shotguns now increases ADS time[/i] - if implemented properly, this would have made sense. Shotguns were very strong, but mostly because they are the only weapon that can fully utilize the mobility in destiny. Which also made them very enjoyable to use, but made skill gaps very apparant (not a bad thing, but causes knee jerk reactions from less skilled players). The OHK range on certain shotguns was the frustrating factor. I've never been killed by a two to the morgue or proud spire and felt cheated. If you get one shot by one of those weapons, you've made a mistake by letting the shotgunner get within close range and should suffer the consequence. But the matador and other high impact, high range archetypes extended that one shot range too far, and basically made all other archetypes obsolete. The proposed solution is to rework high impact shotgun archetypes. The highest impact (matador, conspiracy theory, her champion) should have greatly reduced range stats, lower AA, lower handling, and very slow fire rate (Conspiracy theory ish ROF). Making them a reserve option for super shutdowns, and not one hit kill range machines. Party crasher and last ditch could use a similar nerf in range, handling, and AA, but not as extreme. The goal here is to make the high impact shotguns heavy hitting, hard to handle boomsticks for defensive play, and the lower impact/range shotguns be the goto for aggressive, mobility oriented gameplay. You could even add icarus as an intrinisic perk on certain archetypes, creating the seperation between defensive boomsticks, and snappy rushing shotguns. Atrocious handling and ADS time would make matador archetypes even less suited for aggressive play. The blanket rangefinder nerf was actually a really start in this approach, but I think a more targeted approach is better. Adjusting ammo inventory would add another layer of balancing to the equation. But I'll cover that in the special weapon economy. [b]Special Weapon Economy:[/b] Special weapons were a problem in the crucible. They dominated total kills, and there was very little variety in the weapons used. Particularly shotguns. But special weapons are a huge part of what made destiny crucible fun, and removing special on death takes away from the enjoyment of the game, and promotes a slower paced style of play. The idea of losing special on death just doesn't work in a game like destiny, where trades are common, unpredictable deaths (from supers etc.) happen to the most skilled players. So - how to reduce the reliance on special weapons, without reducing the fun factor of the game? The problem is two-fold: primary's suck, and there is no incentive to use less effective special weapons, so certain overpowered archetypes reign supreme and reduce variety. The aforementioned buffs to primaries will make them both feel and perform better, and be able to combat special weapons across a wider range of .. ranges. Which will go a long way in reducing the reliance on special weapons. People use special weapons because they are consistent and reliable, which can't be said for primaries. For variety within special weapons, the ammo inventory should be inversely proportional to the relative effectiveness of the gun. For example - right now there is no reason to use a proud spire over a matador. The matador has a much longer OHK range, more ammo (I could be wrong here), and handles just fine. But if the inventory and mag sizes were more controlled and consistent, we could see high impact shotguns spawn in with far less ammo, and pickup far less in a match. For the sake of this example, lets say 3 rounds per mag, start game with one mag (two mags with +shotgun armor perks), and pickup 3 rounds (always) for the matador. And 6 rounds per mag, 6 rounds per pickup, and two mags on start with the proud spire. Meaning if you want to run around like a madman with a shotgun all game, you have to use a low impact, low range weapon, and you better be darn good with it. Where as if you want a powerful mini cannon that's fine, but you can only use it a few times. Perk selection would also have to be more controlled of course. Ammo granting perks like replenish and rescue mag should not roll on the most lethal archetypes (and should probably be reworked to grant less ammo anyways). This specific example applied to two shotguns, but could be extended across special weapons as a whole. Essentially low mag/inventory special weapons would very powerful but see limited usage (much like the current intention for special weapons), whereas weapons with more ammo have more of a risk and skill factor, but can be used frequently. The more frequent use of less powerful specials would have the byproduct of allowing primary weapons to shine as well, and is overall in line with what I think Bungie's (that's you guys!) vision is. Consistency in this approach would result in a very clear decision when selecting special weapons - if you want special for most of the game, that's fine but you must be very good with it. Which goes a long way in making a balanced game that promotes a wide variety of playstyles. For the interim - buffing primaries and nerfing high impact shotguns would decrease the overwhelming use of special weapons in destiny 1. You can deal with creating variety within the special weapon archetypes in destiny 2, since it would be a large undertaking for destiny 1 For PVE - a higher reserve ammo count and a prevalance of perks like triple tap, outlaw, etc would be necessary [b]Hungering Blade and other health regen perks:[/b] They were annoying to deal with in PVP, but not OP or gamebreaking, and really fun in PVE [b]Sniper changes:[/b] Hopefully the reduction in HCR flinch is enough. But if primaries are buffed, snipers may need tweaks to remain competitive [b]Patch deployment and community involvement:[/b] Most of the changes seemed like server side tweaks that could be slowly deployed one at a time. When you dump a bunch of changes at once, it's very hard to determine the net effect of a single change. The changes made attempted to address some community concerns but in way that didn't illustrate a complete understanding of the crucible environment. A better approach to balancing would be to make small incremental changes based on community input. The game was close to being balanced, with a few very notable outliers prior to this patch, and those outliers needed some tweaking. But we did not get the surgical changes that were touted prior to the patch. TLDR: Buff primaries by increasing handling and hipfire accuracy. Nerf high impact shotguns. Special economy was fine, primary weakness is the problem. Buffed primaries and surgical nerfs to certain specials will decrease special usage. Making inventory size and ammo capacity consistent and logical will promote variety across special weapons.