The balancing in Destiny 2 has been a source of mockery for fans for weeks before the release.
The balancing of weapons in Destiny 1 was a constant source of grief. Sometimes shotguns were too strong, sometimes the sniper rifles dominated. For a long time, grenades were considered too powerful and dominant. No one was really satisfied with the balance in Destiny 1.
Now, the balancing is already under fire weeks before the release of Destiny 2. A “fake tweet” from the weapons guru of Destiny, Jon Weisnewski, is making the rounds on reddit.
Fake tweet from Destiny’s weapons chief “We’re not balancing anymore”
It says:
“We have thought long and hard about how to balance Destiny 2. We have learned a lot from Destiny 1. We at Bungie have decided: There will be no balancing in Destiny 2. None at all. Only fusion rifle nerfs.”
Once again: This is a joke from someone. Weisnewski did not tweet this. But it shows how delicate the topic is.
The balancing: You can’t please anyone
The problems in Destiny 1 were mainly that at any given time a certain weapon type or tactic was seen as superior in PvP. If you did not play this weapon combination or preferred the popular playstyle depending on the patch, you found yourself at a disadvantage.
What was too strong changed from patch to patch. At the beginning, individual exotic weapons like the Vex Mythoclast, the Suros Regime, or the Thorn were “too strong”, later it was individual legendary weapons with exaggerated perk combinations. After Bungie nerfed that, the time of certain “archetypes” of legendary weapons came.
From Bungie’s perspective, the overall problem was that the PvP was too fast. Players found a way to eliminate opponents in minimal time with every patch.
Destiny 1: Tried various methods to slow down the PvP
Attempts to encourage players to rely on primary weapons and slow down the PvP repeatedly failed.
Bungie did everything possible over the years:
- nerfed weapon types roughly
- removed “super perk combinations”
- limited ammunition,
- fine-tuned certain weapon sub-types.
Nothing really helped.
Destiny 2: Now with a hammer
With Destiny 2, Bungie is now changing the weapon system so that players are forced to use primary weapons. The PvP is now significantly slower than the PvP in Destiny 1: Players can take more hits but deal less damage.
This also does not please everyone. The following is criticized:
- that an individual can no longer make as much impact as in Destiny 1. A strong player in Destiny 1 could still eliminate three opponents at once; this is no longer possible in Destiny 2.
- weaker players could now simply retreat from a fight because it takes too long to shoot them while fleeing.
- and “team shots” would become increasingly important, meaning you need to shoot at an opponent with multiple players to eliminate them safely. The skill to aim quickly, shoot, and hit is now less important.
- Overall, the PvP no longer feels fast but rather slow.
Other players, however, are pleased with the new balance and find it “more tactical.”
It seems that balance will continue to be a topic in Destiny 2 as well. Players are at least already making jokes about it. A good sign.
In this article, we will look at how the balance changes actually work:
