Season 17 has brought a hidden change for players in Destiny 2, which has changed the way this game is played. Now, Guardians are restricted by a hidden weapon value, and MeinMMO tells you what it is all about and why Bungie had to make adjustments.
Before Season 17, players could hop around like a wild space rabbit or glide and still hit their shots accurately from the air as well as from the hip.
Since May, however, precision killing with this technique has become significantly harder in Bungie’s co-op shooter due to a hidden value on weapons and exotics. At times, Guardians aren’t getting any kills at all. This weapon value is particularly noticeable when jumping or shooting from the hip.
What hidden weapon value is it about? The reason for this is the new “Airborne Effectiveness” (AE) of weapons.
Those who enjoyed a lofty playstyle must pay attention to this hidden value of their guns and exotics, excluding swords, since Season 17 and possibly increase it so that they can act and hit accurately from the air.
- A successful use in the air can no longer simply be achieved by equipping a mod, such as “Icarus Grip”.
- If you enjoy equipping the exotic boots “St0mp-EE5” as a Hunter, you are only reducing the “Airborne Effectiveness” of each of your weapons by -50.
In order for hits from the air to succeed again, Guardians should pay more attention to the hidden value “Airborne Effectiveness” starting from Season 17, as Bungie explained. It calculates the precision of your primary weapon projectiles and grants you a small or large correction ranging from 0 to 100 using a more precise aim assist cone in the air.
- The precision of your primary weapon projectiles will be calculated more accurately with a high value. 100 means no penalties for accuracy in the air and the same aim assist.
- In turn, with a low value, you will receive less and less aim assist in the air.
- In combination with the “Bloom mechanic” in Destiny 2, weapons with low airborne effectiveness will not win duels in the air unless you can aim absolutely perfectly.
Airborne effectiveness in Destiny 2 is almost a science
Bungie has repeatedly tried to explain the effect more clearly, including in a “This Week at Bungie” blog post. Here, they went into detail about this quite unique behavior of the aim assist cone in the air and said:
You will need to aim precisely to land shots [from the air or from the hip] if you do not design your builds for being in the air.
said the developer in the This-Week-at-Bungie blog
However, even experienced, precise players struggled significantly with this and noticed that something was not quite right, and kills from the air became almost impossible.
Where can you see the airborne effectiveness value of a weapon? Bungie currently does not offer an option in the game to view this value. So, if you want to know what it looks like for your favorite weapon, you have to rely on external third-party sources. It is not known if this will change.
- Currently, these are websites and apps like the Destiny Item Manager, the database light.gg, and the Destiny 2 Gunsmith.
“Airborne Effectiveness” was not well received
Despite all the explanations from Bungie, the hidden feature was not well received. Even the many explanations from the developer did not help to make this option more understandable for the Guardians in its first form. When the changes went live, it gradually became clear that “Airborne Effectiveness” just did not work as intended.
Many videos could be found showing how terrible this value can actually be. Guardians simply could not hit anything from the air, no matter how precise they were.
Even the well-known YouTuber and content creator Aztecross went so far as to say in one of his videos that he despises the new airborne effectiveness in Season 17 and that it urgently needs a correction.
This is how Bungie plans to make adjustments: Bungie had to realize this as well, and Chris Proctor, Bungie’s Senior Design Lead, announced last week the long-overdue buffs for airborne effectiveness among other changes. These should soon provide improved airborne precision and aim assist.
- The airborne precision penalty will be reduced by 20–40% at low “airborne effectiveness,” depending on the weapon type.
- For auto rifles, pulse rifles, scout rifles, and submachine guns, that’s -40%, for bows -30%, and for sidearms -20%.
- Additionally, the penalty for aim assist and magnetism will be reduced so that you can finally hit again.
Bungie is also helping out a bit with the exotics and increasing the base values for the hidden weapon value “Airborne Effectiveness”.
- The sniper rifle “Whisper of the Worm” increases from 9 to 20.
- The auto rifle SUROS Regime from 23 to 31.
- And the auto rifle Monte Carlo from 21 to 29 and the hand cannon Lumina from 22 to 27.
When can players test the changes in the game: Currently, these adjustments are only announced. Bungie initially left it open in their weekly blog post when players can test the changes in airborne effectiveness. They currently plan for these to go live about a month before the start of Season 18, which would be in August.
The Guardians therefore have to keep their feet on the ground of reality until then and accept that their shots in the air do not always have their full potential.
How about you? Did you even notice this hidden value for weapons in Season 17, or are you still shooting just as well? Do you believe the changes will make a difference or is that not far enough for you yet? Feel free to discuss with the community here in the comments on MeinMMO.
