14 DAY TRIAL // The development team has talked about a wide range of changes that are coming to Destiny via the major April update for the video game, and it seems that the entire weapon ecosystem of the social shooter will get some major tweaks designed to make the entire experience more competitive.
Jon Weisnewski, the senior designer, uses the official site of the title to offer a deeper look at the way various weapon types are affected by the tweaks and explains how the team analyzed player performance in order to figure out the best way to improve gameplay.
Auto rifles in Destiny are changed to narrow the gap between those with high and low rates of fire, and for pulse rifles the studio wants players to engage at close or medium range.
Bungie adds, “Hand Cannons were running lean on ammo inventory during PVP streaks and lengthy PVE encounters. We are increasing their ammo inventory amounts by a bit to not leave you scrounging for white bricks too often, but not so much that you don’t need to worry about making shots count.”
Fusion rifles are getting a blanket stability improvement, with the baseline at 40 percent recoil reduction.
Destiny's sniper rifles have been used for engagements at limited ranges and Bungie wants to make sure that after the April update gamers will find it harder to be effective up close and personal.
Heavy and special ammo will once again be a valued commodity
According to the data coming from players, Special weapon time has increased starting December, and the plan for April is to limit hoarding for some types of ammo and make their use more situational.
Bungie wants to limit the impact of recklessness in the shooter by tweaking the resurrection mechanic and by making the penalty for death non-trivial.
In order to introduce risk, the team is reducing the interactive resurrection radius by 0.5 meters and increasing the base time by 0.25 seconds, with snipers now better able to get kills when teammates try to help each other out.
Bungie also says invincibility frames are being tweaked so the moment when players can move and take damage are consistent regardless of network conditions.
The official site has a wide range of information about how weapon perks are being changed and that a wide range of Exotics in Destiny are being balanced.
The free update also adds a new strike and mission and other ways to get access to gear on April 12.