In a first major update, the developers of Outriders nerfed some skills and classes. This has caused discontent among players, who complain that the wrong people are being consulted for such decisions.
What happened? On April 8, 2021, a week after the release, the developers announced the first major update of Outriders. Almost simultaneously, many of the announced changes went live.
The update included a fix for an annoying loot bug, which, however, does not completely work and also some balance adjustments. Specifically, the so-called “Bullet Builds” were nerfed.
These are builds that rely on specific class skills that enhance shots and can theoretically be maintained indefinitely. For many classes, these builds were considered top-tier.
This is the consequence of the nerf: Of the four classes in Outriders, especially Pyromancers and Technomancers benefited from these builds. According to some players, the efficiency of these bullet builds has now decreased by about 20-30%.
Nevertheless, the nerfed builds are still the strongest builds for the respective classes. However, the weakening has led to the expeditions, the endgame content of Outriders, being significantly harder now.
Especially solo, according to the view of many players, completing within the best time is now hardly possible. Except for those who had little trouble with it before.
“No-Life Streamers Do Not Represent Our Progress”
What players are now complaining about: Players believe that the nerfs only came because streamers and influencers excessively used these builds. This allowed players to see how strong they can be when played correctly.
These “No-Life Streamers,” as the reddit user _superchan names them, are not representative: “These No-Life streamers […] do not represent the majority of the community. The majority are people with full-time jobs, family obligations, and a lot of stuff going on in real life” (via reddit).
The “normal” player has no time to fish for the best legendaries and find the exact mods that make the builds so strong. The “normal” player just wants to game and be able to complete expeditions solo.
Normal players have no time (and desire) to constantly sift through reddit, YouTube, and other guides just to get through the endgame. Streamers, on the other hand, make their living playing the game continuously.
In another thread, the user Queasy_Cut3124 compares the situation to a gym: “It’s like asking people in a gym to follow a program that you saw a couple of bodybuilders do on YouTube” (via reddit).
What should balance be based on? The user tk-xx speaks up in one of the threads. He claims to have already spent several thousand hours in Division and believes that an RPG loot shooter can never really be balanced (via reddit).
He believes that social media is to blame for this perception. Overpowered builds spread quickly and draw attention, even if hardly anyone could play them. The post received many upvotes and even some awards.
Even if there are nerfs, players will always find new ways for absolutely ridiculous combinations. Players would simply become more creative – or as the user slappiz says: “If they have the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of the game.”
That the balance is currently not quite right is shown by another phenomenon. While some classes apparently manage to get through expeditions fairly well despite the nerf, Devastators lag behind. They can even be kicked from groups for playing the wrong class.
