Those who play as a Well Warlock in Destiny 2 have had the shortest Super cooldown in the game after the last update. However, Bungie forgot to mention that the Super also received a nerf that weakens your entire team in endgame.
Especially in the endgame of Destiny 2, certain Supers that optimize damage in DPS phases are often indispensable. This includes the “Well of Radiance,” the Solar Ultimate of the Warlocks. Until now, it always ensured more DPS and healed the team through the Super damage.
- The sword has a healing aura that heals and buffs allies nearby.
- Well of Radiance increased the weapon damage of each team member by about 25 percent.
- Team members standing in the Well could shoot through enemy shields.
After the last update 3.4.0., the Well Warlock was even the only level-5 Super, meaning the one with the fastest regeneration. Healers were initially very satisfied with this. However, players like m4eix drew attention on reddit and twitter that this change did not only yield positive results and that the support Ultimate had actually become much worse due to an apparent nerf.
What has changed with the “Well of Radiance”? The additional DPS output from Focus Lens only affects the player who used the Super “Well of Radiance.” Only for him does the buff “Focus Lens” still apply, and he is the only one who can shoot through enemy shields. This change leads to team members standing in the Well no longer being able to shoot through enemy shields. The weapon damage of the squad will no longer be counted as Super damage as it was before.
This is noticeably impacting the endgame: Players quickly noticed that much more weapon damage is now required to take down a boss in the endgame. This also means that teams need to fundamentally rethink their previous strategies, where using the “Well of Radiance” and Focus Lens was essential.
Was this intended by Bungie? Since the change was not mentioned in the patch notes, the community initially speculated and hoped that it might be a bug and not intended. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Why did the developer not mention this in the patch notes? After players pointed this out on reddit, Bungie’s Sandbox Discipline Lead Kevin Janes responded and apologized for it. This important information was simply overlooked due to the large number of changes for update 3.4.0.
This is not a bug or a stealth nerf. I really overlooked it in the patch notes, and it is intended. The goal was to make it so that the Well Warlock still has its use, but the team that [formerly] wrongly received the benefits does not anymore. This led to DPS accelerations that we did not intend or could sensibly maintain from season to season. […] We often view this community as a community that we expect to notice even the slightest changes to the sandbox. So we never expect or believe that we could slide even the smallest change past you all.
Kevin Janes also addressed the nerf with the Season 15 mod “Focus Lens,” which previously ensured that the Light abilities of the players inflicted additional damage on enemies affected by Stasis.
The interaction for Focus Lens should still work as usual with other damage-focused Supers.
The nerf is incomprehensible to the community
Despite the explanation and apology, the community is not thrilled with the change and has made some remarks. The “Well of Radiance” is a fixed part of many teams in Destiny 2’s endgame and loses one of its strongest team advantages due to the nerf.
Bronsmember sums up the community’s displeasure in the reddit thread:
Bungie wants people to incorporate build crafting and stats into certain things. But what good does it do if things like the Bubble and the Well don’t stack or particle breakdown literally don’t work together? It’s as if they are missing the most important part of MMO games, namely buffs, debuffs, and stack damage, etc. Build crafting is not just “oh I have more discipline so I get my grenade faster.” It matters what your team benefits from.
Barrier shields are now harder to crack: Also, for many players, the Well of Radiance was a good option to optimally take down Barrier Champions. That this is no longer possible is incomprehensible to many players. They feel a change like this would only make sense if Bungie also removed the shields of the Servitors.
StarsRaven commented in the reddit thread and states:
I appreciate the openness, but this change is total nonsense. Anti-barrier Servitors making enemies invulnerable through walls and around corners is a shitty mechanic and the Warlock Well that made it through that was the way the community worked around this fucking “mechanic”.
Huntdigga directly asks Kevin Janes:
[…] You didn’t change the functionality of barrier servitors, did you? You just removed the one workaround that we (the community) found to deal with them. Do you see the problem?
The nerf of the “Well of Radiance” in update 3.4.0 shows once again how focused Bungie is on making gunplay more important in Destiny 2. Players now need to come up with new strategies that will be effective in the endgame and compensate for the nerf. For Warlocks, the question will also arise whether the Well is still worth it as a support Super. At least the healing granted has not changed.
What do you think about it? Have you already noticed the change to the “Well of Radiance”? Or does the nerf not pose a problem for your fireteam because you can still deal enough damage to any boss without the Warlock and his support?
