Destiny's Next Update Will Address Weapon Balance
By Weston Albert 21 January 2017
Destiny‘s developer Bungie promises that it is hard at work on a sandbox update that will rebalance weapons in the game, but did not reveal when it will release.
It has been four months since the release of Destiny‘s Rise of Iron expansion and while there have been live events since then to keep fans entertained, Destiny hasn’t received a weapon balance update since September 2016. It was that weapon balance update, which nerfed sniper rifles and created a resurgence of shotgun play, that has now become the source of frustration for longtime players.
It’s unknown how big of a shakeup is in the works, but some sort of change to Destiny‘s weapon landscape is on the horizon. Bungie said today in its weekly blog that the developer is currently working on a future update that will “refine” weapon balance.
Bungie says it has been working on that update for some time, even before last month when Bungie said that it was aware of the growing dominance of shotguns in PvP. Bungie Community Manager, DeeJ, reiterated that same message saying that the team is looking for more solutions than just giving shotguns a huge nerf.
While DeeJ reported that a weapon balance update is in the works, he gave no date as to when players should expect it, saying “The exact release date is to-be-determined. The full notes on fixes and changes are to-be-revealed.” However, players should see said update before the promised new content update coming this year, which many fans are theorizing will be a spring update, similar to 2016’s April Update.
Whatever Bungie is working on, they may need to get it out fast. Without new content, many have turned their focus to criticizing the PvP meta and its lack of change. Go into a Crucible match these days, and players are sure to face a plethora of Clever Dragons, Grasp of Maloks, and Matador 64s. Weapon variety has begun to stagnate as players have polarized to the most effective weapons.
While a weapon balance update may shake up the current meta for a time, it becomes a constant battle over time. After every weapon rebalance, fans cast aside favorites that are nerfed and find the new weapons with the shortest time to kill. As Bungie describes, “Balance is like utopia: it is unknown. That doesn’t mean we won’t seek it.”
Balance remains an ongoing debate in the community, with discussions of buffing snipers, nerfing or even removing certain classes of shotguns, and even giving primaries more damage resulting. Bungie is conducting its own tests internally, but for now fans will have to wait for the official update, whenever it releases, to experience any changes.
Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.
