There is a huge issue with perception VS reality within the Destiny community. This is perpetuated on two fronts, the lack luster and often times confusing communication and nerfs to classes on bungies side, and on a psychological level. See your favorite YouTube/ Streamer bitch about something in Destiny, the assumption is they must know what they are talking about, so then you become hypersensitive to it, you notice it more. Something that wasn’t a problem now becomes a problem, add a dash of snowball effect and mob mentality and boom things that don’t really need nerfed get nerfed. After all Bungie has admitted to changing things, not because the numbers said it was broken, but because the flawed perception of the community said it was broken. We’ll talk about subclasses in a moment, but let me give you an example of this in action. Snipers are a problem in PvP, secondary’s in general are an issue, but let’s talk Snipers because they just got hit in an odd and confusing way. [quote]“Reduced damage on the mid-high impact (1000-Yard Stare family) of Sniper Rifles by 6.95% Mid High impact snipers can no longer reliably kill high armor guardians in super No Land Beyond is not affected by this damage reduction Reduced Target Acquisition for LDR 5001/Y-09 Longbow Synthesis to bring in line with other snipers in the same family” [/quote] I agree with the Flinch, I’m from Halo and think Snipers and only Snipers should have de-scope, making things like snap shot even more invaluable. I also think Hidden Hand should be remove entirely. What I don’t agree with is instead of addressing the reality which is the Aim Assistance and Target Acquisition of the entire 1000 Yard class and bring it in line with something like; Efrideet's Spear (10AA), they (Bungie) addressed the perception, that being people only used that class of sniper because it can, theoretically, if you are lucky, shutdown supers; something that isn’t an issue. Instead of addressing the crutch, the Aim Assistance, they addressed the skill, super sniping. This nerf has the knock-on effect of decreasing the 1000 yard class’ DPS in PvE and we are seeing now that you can’t do things like the snipe the Knights during the Totems in Kings fall. If we look at the data provided by Destiny Tracker ([url]http://destinytracker.com/destiny/population[/url]) we get the reality of how the subclasses actually play: [quote]Avg SubClass K/d (PVP) Gunslinger: .99 Blade Dancer: .97 Night Stalker: 1.08 Void Walker: .95 Storm Caller: 1.04 SunSinger: .95 Striker: .95 Sunbreaker: 1.02 Defender: .94 [/quote] We can compare this to the top 10 ELO players ([url]http://destinytracker.com/destiny/elo-leaderboards[/url]) [quote]Out of all 10: 0 have most time played as Titans. 8 have most time played as Hunters And 2 have most time played as Warlocks. And only 2 are on Xbox (not that it matters just a fun fact.) [/quote] These numbers coincide with large peak we see Night Stalkers have over the other classes. I’m not calling for a nerf to it, on the contrary I’m calling for a buff to the other classes, to bring them in line with the Night Stalker. This buff would start with the Titan’s, Statistic speaking the Titan overall is the worst class in the game, that’s just a fact. Their overall kit, lacks the moment to moment fluidity of other classes, and their exotics are fun, but come down to Saint 14 for PvE, and Armamentarium or Twilight Garrison for PvP. Often when talking about buffs and nerfs to the Titan you see the argument “But Bra… they are the tankest class in the game.” This is a fundamentally flawed argument, because the best tanks in the game are in fact Warlocks, they have the best armor stat, the best exotics for multiplying that stat, and they also have the best recovery in the game, making them far better tanks then Titans. Also armor makes relatively zero difference in most PvP engagements. A weapon that’s 3 shots to kill, will still be 3 shots to kill vs a Hunter with low armor or a Titan or Warlock with high armor. The only time you notice a difference is in rare outlier situation, DoT or when dealing with the highest impact weapons in class like First Curse or The Messenger, but these are exceptions not rules. These weapons generally don’t see play, because the hypothetical of two taping a low armor target is outweighed by the horrific TTK of the weapon against every other weapon in the game. So the first thing I would do is un-nerf Striker Titans, Shoulder charge isn't a problem and if it hypothetically becomes one once this artifact is introduced then we can revisit that adjustment when and if it does. However, the excuse given by Bungie for the nerf was, because the Memory of Jolder Artifact and its ability to cancel out the sprint cool-down. The problem is, as a Titan I never noticed the sprint cool-down, because I can skate. Now I will fully admit, this is just my perception, however if a lack luster player like myself doesn't notice the sprint cool-down because of skating I would imagine most other players don’t notice it as well. Now to be fair skating is an exploit, like wave dash, and there is an argument to be made about fixing an exploit. However, as the stats have shown and as developer Jon Weisnewski said in an interview during Crucible Radio Ep. 55 - The Tuning Process part 2 (w/ Jon Weisnewski, Greg Peng, & Grant Mackay) at: 35:35 ([url]https://youtu.be/q4KeKeA2uEY?t=34m57s[/url]) “On of the tradeoff’s (for Titan skating) is you’re playing one of the weaker subclasses in a way... They have a negative win drag, and if you’re taking them (Striker Titan’s) into 3v3 your probably costing your team.”- Jon Weisnewski. Again I must reiterate for effect that the statistics unequivocally back this sentiment up, plus I would imagen they have statistical information like win/loss drag that we don’t. Your perception might be that the Lighting nade is OP, or that Shoulder Charge is broken and that the “highest” armor class shouldn't be that fast. However the reality states that, your perceived annoyances do not line up with the reality that Titans, are statistically the worse class in the game. Next I would take a look at the exotics, Titans have a few cute gimmicks, but overall after the nerf to Twilight Garrison, it really does come down to Armamentarium or bust on any competitive level. This fact alone will most likely cause Bungie to nerf it. However let’s try something new, like buffing other things. Now I really don’t have the answer to this question, because this is a more delicate situation, however what needs to happen is the entire kit needs looked at, and things that Titans are missing or lacking, like a good alternative to Lighting Grenade or a ranged melee, should be addressed with exotics, after all isn't that’s the point of exotics? Theirs’s not much to say about Defenders, that hasn’t already been said, all though the Defender itself tends not to do well in PVP their teams do. That said there is nothing wrong with being the dedicated PvE class. Sunbreakers neutral game is still a shit show and their super still needs work, only problem is if you buff the super in any meaning full way; we end up with the beginning of Taken king all over again. The Subclass needs rebuilt from scratch, maybe replace things like Fusion nades with Trip-mines (this makes more sense thematically anyways), and add a ranged melee, like Sunsingers scorch. In return tweak the super so that you use more energy, and get less hammers. Unless you’re using sun charge, but take away sun charges ability to throw hammers, but fix the tracking. Warlocks, are next honestly most of the Warlock classes seem to be in a good place. Arc locks in fact should have their melee looked at, I’m not going to call for an outright nerf however, I think there are more delicate ways to handle things like this, such as increasing the charge time and removing damage buff from, the perk that gives your melee back when you receive a melee. Sunsingers are another case, I would remove every nerf applied to them in the last update. With the exception of the Viking Funeral change. DOT was a problem in Crucible however with the new artifact it won’t be. No, I wouldn't change this perk because it’s actually a net buff, and gives them more utility in PvE, allowing them to throw a sunspot and weaken enemies causing them to take up to 15% more damage. This give them more utility outside of, guy who comes back from the dead. Hunters are in a good place, but not great. First order would be to undo the last batch of nerfs to the Golden Gun subclass. No one was bitching about Trip-mines or throwing knives. The only reason I can see this being a problem is the inclusion of these new artifacts. Currently to get 2 Trip-mines and 2 throwing knifes you must give up an exotic, and a perk. With RoI you need only give up an artifact and your super, which is kind of an easy choice with that kit. If that’s the case you can keep your artifact, Bungie; because in order to balance the artifacts they have made changes to subclasses that feel artificial, and force, almost like a last moment “oh -blam!-’s we broke the game, now we need to nerf shit in order to justify the existence of these relics.” Nightstalker is in a good place, the only thing I would tweak is the super. You get Golden Gun or tether not both, the compensation for this change would be bringing quiver more in line with Golden gun, with faster more accurate projectiles, I’d also look at making the exotic Graviton Forfeit provide an extra dodge role, and reordering that tree so dodge role isn't the most attractive thing in it, like replacing Keen Scout with Lock Down. (PART 1/2)