Bungie has nerfed the new Exotic Star-Eater Scales from Season 14 in Destiny 2 which were considered the best gear a Hunter could wear. What happened now?
Update May 27: The whole thing is not over yet – what a back and forth: Destiny 2: Best Hunter Exotic still too strong after nerf – This is what Bungie says
[Original report]
This is the new Super Exotic: When Season 14 recently started, Warlocks and Titans were enviously eyeing the Hunters. Because they hit the jackpot with the new Exotic “Star-Eater Scales“. The exotic boots with stylish fish design can do almost everything:
- You gain Super energy faster to use your strongest ability earlier
- The shoes can heal
- The damage from the Super increases, of course
- Weapons also receive bonus damage
- Oh yes, an overshield is also included
Immediately the new boots were crowned the best armor Exotic. For the outing in the Vault of Glass, the Star-Eater Scales were already a fixed part of all strategies. However, Bungie intervened and locked the Exotic for the first 24 hours to ensure that Warlocks and Titans could also participate in the raid.
At MeinMMO, we then speculated that the new Exotic would surely receive a nerf soon. And exactly that has now happened.
Star-Eater Scales lasted 2 weeks
What happened now? When the new Update 3.2.0.2 was rolled out in the evening of May 25, two nerfs for Star-Eater Scales were hidden in the patch notes:
- The bonus damage of up to 60% on weapons is gone: A problem was fixed where the Star-Eater Scales incorrectly applied their damage bonus to weapons and grenades instead of just supers.
- You now need more Orbs: The number of stacks required for the full damage bonus has been increased from 4 to 8.
That your guns could deal more damage was only possible due to a bug – it was never stated in the Exotic’s description. Additionally, you now need to collect 8 instead of 4 Spheres of Power to stack the buffs to the maximum. Because the more stacks (collected orbs) you have, the stronger the effects of the Exotic will be.
“Bungie hates Hunters”, is heard in the community
This is what the Guardians say: The patch notes of Update 3.2.0.2 are being actively discussed by Guardians (via reddit). Most of the talk is about the nerf for the Hunter’s Star-Eater Scales. This took many by surprise as it was not announced beforehand compared to many other changes.
- One might read: “They [Bungie] want Hunter mains to never be allowed in raid groups. They hate Hunters for some reason” (via Twitter).
- Other Guardians immediately disagree and say that the boots were clearly too strong and even now, Star-Eater Scales are a strong option.
- Some use this to say that Bungie hates Titans much more and that Hunters are already dominant anyway.
- Additionally, the new Warlock boots “Boots of the Tinkerer” were also slightly nerfed because they could crash the game.
- Others complain that Bungie does not test anything before it goes live. Something like the overly strong Hunter boots should have been noticed by the studio beforehand.
In general, the nerf also reignites the old discussion that Bungie does not allow players to truly feel powerful. As soon as something stands out too much, it gets hit back down with the nerf hammer.
What do you think? Was the new Hunter Exotic simply too strong due to the unintended bonus on weapon damage and deserved a nerf? Did you have fun with it and feel powerful, or were the Hunters definitely at an unfair advantage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Oh yes, which class does Bungie hate the most now?
