Keen Koala explains/debunks "Ghost Bullets" (Destiny)

by electricpirate , Tuesday, September 13, 2016, 15:44 (2791 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

Thought this video was worth sharing.

Keen Koala does an excellent job of explaining the "Ghost Bullet" situation, as well as pointing out why Tripple Wreck's little experiment was inherently flawed.

There's certainly plenty of room to debate whether or not these mechanics are what's best for the game, but the first step is to understand what is actually happening, and I think Koala does a great job of explaining that.

Yea, I have a copule of thoughts about this.

This isn't something totally weird or new. This has been a standard mechanic for aiming weapons in basically every Bungie FPS (the CE Pistol had this same effect, but it was much smaller, the Halo 2 BR v1 had it, the Halo 3 BR had it, all auto weapons had it). It's pretty obviously a concious design decision to reduce the range. I don't think having some spread like this when a weapon leaves it's range is harmful, and understanding the gun can be part of what makes it fun to use.

What we are seeing is kind of like a classic design flaw. The fact that it's taken like 6 months for people to figure this out speaks to a break between the aesthetics and usage of handcannons.

I mentioned Halo earlier, and Halo actually could have this because it had a lot of ways to communicate this better.

1. Reticule size gave a rough idea of accuracy cone
2. Reticule turned red when a target was in optimal range
3. red dot appeared in the reticule when it was in optimal range with a headshot.

In Destiny though, going ADS reads as one thing

1. The bullet will go to the point where it's fired.

That's kind of the fundamental disconnect here. From a raw numbers standpoint, and usage standpoint, handcannons are still very strong (I believe Eyeasluna/thorn are considered top of the meta in the sweats community still). But having a frustrating element to the most popular weapon among your best players is going to generate a ton of anger at you.

One other random thought, why did so many playes assume that design decisions they don't agree with are bugs? TripleWreck originally cast this as a hit registration bug, and there was a reddit post that amounted to "When bungie says this is a design decision, don't believe their lies!" I think a little design literacy goes a long way in these discussions.