Once again, an exotic weapon is nerfed in Destiny 2: the Sleeper Simulant has taken hits in Gambit. But what’s interesting is how it is being nerfed, says our author Schuhmann.
Overpowered weapons in Destiny: For 3 years, there were overpowered weapons in Destiny 1:
- Right from the start, the “Vex Mythoclast” was so powerful that it turned players into gods in PvP.
- Later, killer weapons took turns in the Crucible – Thorn, Suros Regime, or The Last Word were stars in their respective prime time.
- Certain weapon classes were incredibly strong, like shotguns, or specific class abilities.
- Random rolls for individual weapons made them so overpowered that it became a fetish to find those specific perk combinations – it was referred to as the “God Roll”.
This was planned by Bungie. The developer wanted a “living game.” There were to be powerful weapons that would define a “season.” This was part of Destiny’s philosophy in the first 3 years.
Players were constantly angry at Bungie
But the same thing always happened: The weapons were nerfed. You could then put them down and other new weapons would rise up.
Players were actually constantly angry about the weapon balance in Destiny. Because they felt:
- Bungie plays roulette with the balance.
- Bungie determines what we play.
Someone was always frustrated because they couldn’t play their favorite combo as effectively as they wanted.
The Smooth Board for eSports
New approach Destiny 2: Starting in 2017, things were supposed to be different with Destiny 2. Bungie set itself the goal of having no “overpowered weapons” in the game anymore. Destiny 2 was supposed to be so “smooth and polished” that there would be nothing that needed to be nerfed later.
Surely the idea was to make Destiny 2 an eSport. It requires fair conditions.
However, this approach fell flat. Because now the Guardians no longer enjoyed PvP. Without something that felt “too powerful,” everything felt arbitrary. It seemed irrelevant what exactly you played.
Guardians found in between: Destiny 2 is most fun when it is broken, but then Bungie would immediately fix it. Such as when weapons like the Prometheus Lens went out of control.
With Forsaken, there should be OP weapons again
New approach Forsaken: Therefore, Bungie was determined with Forsaken to not nerf any more weapons. There should again be “nails that stick out of the board.” They didn’t want to hammer all nails down like at the release of Destiny 2, when they went overboard with the polish and planing.
Officially, the speaking rule for this was: “We want hero moments again.”
The problem: This new philosophy is now being put to the test. Because the exotic weapon “Sleeper Simulant” is so powerful in the mode “Gambit” that it threatens to ruin Bungie’s new favorite project.
Players with the gigantic laser beam eliminate opposing teams before breakfast and the feeling spread: “There is no alternative to the weapon. The team with the guy playing Sleeper wins.”
Bungie announced a nerf back in mid-September. This would be the “nail test” for the new philosophy. The exact details of the nerf were now disclosed, three weeks later.
The nerf:
- Sleeper Simulant remains as powerful as it is. But the ammunition supply will be reduced. From an ammunition container, there will only be 2 shots – instead of 4 before.
- However, swords now receive 12 ammunition per container, previously it was 6.
This should ensure that people with the Sleeper find ammunition less frequently to eliminate the opposing team.
This fits with Bungie’s idea: They know that the weapon is very powerful, but that’s probably okay. They want to keep the weapon powerful, but it shouldn’t be the only reasonable option in the power slot while playing Gambit.
The Destiny of “earlier” would have nerfed the Sleeper Simulant into the ground and even changed its functionality. The nature of this nerf shows that Bungie is taking a different approach here. The weapon remains strong but should be used less frequently.
But there is also the old Destiny: However, the nerf is not expected until October 30th. Despite all the changes, nothing has happened in that regard. In that respect, Destiny has remained the “old Destiny.”
How to acquire the super weapon is described in this article. There is still plenty of time:
