In a podcast, Bungie developers openly spoke about issues with Stasis in Destiny 2. The studio admits: They knew from the release of the new element that it needed to be weakened multiple times.
The icy Stasis powers have robbed many Guardians of their enjoyment since their introduction. After some moderate adjustment attempts, there was recently a Season 14 massive nerf, which many players feel has finally made an impact and pulled the fangs of the dominant power in PvP.
Where does the information come from? In line with this, two developers from Bungie – Abilities Feature and Sandbox Discipline Lead Kevin Yanes and Weapons Feature Lead Chris Proctor – spoke in the Destiny Community Podcast about issues with Stasis in PvP, among other things. Some exciting details emerged during this.
By the way, you can listen to the podcast in full here, although it’s in English.
Even at the launch, Bungie knew: Stasis would become a major problem in PvP
Why was Stasis so overpowered? As explained in the podcast, the responsible development team initially struggled to properly link Stasis with the specific power feeling in Destiny 2. Because initially, the ice power felt anything but powerful and caused little damage.
“Yes, you could hold a guy with it, but that was about it,” Yanes said. “It felt super inconsistent compared to the rest of the game, where it was about taking down an encounter [with enemies] and then looking for the next one. But at that time, Stasis felt like: Okay, I’m just dealing with this one guy, and that takes me more than 5 seconds. For me, that’s just nonsense in a game like Destiny.”
There were also other friction points the team dealt with during the Stasis development – for example, the value of freezing was not felt as strongly as the value of a Golden Gun since that super simply deletes enemies.
In trying to highlight this value for players, Stasis was tuned up and down until Stasis version 1.0 reached its known power – including target impairment on the enemy, multiple freezes, shatter madness, etc.
The problem at release: So while they had something powerful at the launch of the new element, they apparently had not yet found the optimal form. Yanes admits that they already knew Stasis was way too hot. “When we released it, the consensus in the team was: Yes, we’re going to have to nerf this.” He goes into even more detail, saying: “What I told one of our gameplay specialists as he was leaving was: I expect we’ll have to adjust this 3 or 4 more times before we get it to where I feel comfortable.”
Not everything was bad: Bungie had no illusions about Stasis’s dominance in PvP. However, they were much more relaxed about PvE in the studio. “The balance we achieved in PvE was mostly positive.” There, they had created a class that performed excellently as a Crowd Control and only had problems in a few areas (for example, bypassing boss immunity phases):
Curiously – this played an important role in development: Although it led to problems in the Crucible, Stasis also emerged with an eye towards PvP. As Yanes explained, it was also designed to counter a persistent problem in the Crucible:
“We wanted to create the fantasy of countering the unchecked aggressiveness that currently plagues the game. We looked at the game and how it played back then, and I saw a clear need for something that could counter shotgun rushers and jumping Hunters. Something that felt like you had another option besides just rushing, jumping, or backing off.”
He added: “The least fun thing you can tell players in PvP is to go have fun elsewhere because you can’t win that fight…”
“Bungie, do you even play your game?” This other option was definitely created with Stasis, but as is well known, they also missed the mark significantly here. Stasis not only became a counter to aggressive playstyles; it practically dominated every playstyle. Bungie takes this seriously and to heart:
“PvP is a passion for me,” Yanes said. “I once saw a comment on Twitter that basically said, ‘Do the developers actually play their own game? It’s awful, it’s really terrible right now.’ And I just said, ‘Dude, we all get a big bowl and we feast out of it – every single day. So if it doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t taste good to us either. I want you to know: I was there exactly the same way in Trials, and I was also taking a boatload of shurikens [from the Stasis Hunter]. And at no point was it: Wow, guys, you know what? We nailed it perfectly.'”
In closing, he added: “I think PvP will be a focus for us, a kind of lens. We are going to look at it more strictly and critically than we have before, especially when we introduce things like Crowd Control.”
As a conclusion, he states that for the sandbox team, the balance between player power feeling and what is ultimately good for the game is really difficult. It’s extremely important to listen to the community. Because they are making the game just as much for them as for themselves.
What else is coming? Additionally, there was a brief insight into what players can expect regarding the sandbox of Destiny 2 in the future. The key points are:
- Excessive movement and abilities (e.g., regeneration) are still too dominant in PvP. While they do not want to completely undermine the build aspect, ability builds have led to a shift away from the roots of the game. Further adjustments will follow.
- However, it will no longer be like at the launch of Destiny 2 when PvP was way too slow and dull.
- In PvP fights, there should be a shift in favor of gunplay, abilities should then emphasize in certain situations.
What do you think about Stasis being introduced with the knowledge that it would still need 3 to 4 nerfs after release to achieve balance? Should the studio have taken more time here in your eyes? Let us and other readers know in the comments.
By the way, further adjustments are also expected – including to the power of special ammo or for some weapon classes. You can read more about this soon here on MeinMMO.
What do you generally think of the recent changes to the icy element? Participate in our survey: After the big Stasis nerf in PvP – How are the changes received by you?
