Fixing Pulse Rifles (Destiny)
by Cody Miller 
, Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 17:28 (3377 days ago)
It's really hard to imagine an update to improve pulse rifles, and I don't know exactly what could be done, but my idea is this:
Increase the damage so that if all three bursts hit it's more than a scout rifle by a non trivial amount. Increase their stability all around. Either increase bullet spread at long ranges, or lower the range stat on them marginally.
This way, they would have a place mid to mid long range, but be ineffective at long range.
The problem, is that I just don't see it ever beating a hand cannon at midrange, and I don't think a ton of encounters are longer than midrange, but shorter than long range.
Ideas?
I sort of envision the weapon makeup like this:
AR - Close
Handcannon - mid
Pulse rifle - long mid
Scout rifle - long
Obviously weapons will bleed over and not follow this exactly. For instance, plenty of ARs are good at midrange, and a bunch of hand cannons are good beyond midrange.
I don't know. Overall, it just seems like there's really no 'place' for pulse rifles in the game.
Make them like BR's. *Edit
Give scout rifles the same oomph as hand cannons, and turn pulse rifles into Halo 2 BR's.
Let me clarify, now that I'm at a computer and don't need to use a phone pad. TTK is exremely low for HC's and, really, for AR's. So make SR's long range HC's; 2-3 shot headshot kills, 4-5 shot body shot kills, with a range drop off keeping them out of sniper territory. Give pulse rifles 2 burst head shot kills and 4 burt body shot kills, with a higher RoF offset by more bursts required to kill.
HC's are still better at close range than SR's because SR hip fire isn't as good; Pulse Rifles become an alernative to AR's for skill players; special ammo becomes less important. Everybody wins.
Do they need fixing?
by Ragashingo 
, Official DBO Cryptarch, Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 18:04 (3377 days ago) @ Cody Miller
Pulse Rifles have been my primary Crucible weapons since the buff they got after the beta. There is no gun I fear when I'm using my Three Little Words. Sure, shotguns will get me in close, but that's their sole jobs. Sniper Rifles will get me at across the map ranges, but that's their job. But outside extremely close or long ranges I can usually outshoot any hand cannon, auto rifle, scout rifle, or even sniper rifle with a pulse rifle. Well... Except the unbalanced Mythoclast. I can beat it but dang that gun infuriates me whenever I see it in play.
If pulse rifles can compete and even win at most ranges do they really need fixing?
Yes, they do need fixing, because almost no one uses them.
Pulse Rifles have been my primary Crucible weapons since the buff they got after the beta. There is no gun I fear when I'm using my Three Little Words. Sure, shotguns will get me in close, but that's their sole jobs. Sniper Rifles will get me at across the map ranges, but that's their job. But outside extremely close or long ranges I can usually outshoot any hand cannon, auto rifle, scout rifle, or even sniper rifle with a pulse rifle. Well... Except the unbalanced Mythoclast. I can beat it but dang that gun infuriates me whenever I see it in play.
If pulse rifles can compete and even win at most ranges do they really need fixing?
We're looking for diversity here; you seem to be an outlier. I can't remember the last time I died to a Pulse Rifle; maybe a Super Pox Volo a few months ago?
It'll be fun to put this to the test on Friday ;)
Yes, they do need fixing, because almost no one uses them.
by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 18:33 (3377 days ago) @ iconicbanana
Yeah, I don't see them very often either. It really surprised me the other day when I got killed by Three Little Words. Dang it hit hard and fast. It felt almost exactly like being killed by a good user of The Last Word. A few very rapid pings and I was dead with almost no time to react. My best guess is people go after the higher rate of fire pulse rifles, don't like them, then close in with an auto rifle or use the more stable hand cannons or scout rifles.
Yes, they do need fixing, because almost no one uses them.
by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 18:52 (3377 days ago) @ Ragashingo
Back in the early days of Destiny, I actually used Pulse Rifles almost exclusively (PvE & PvP). However, once I got into the mid-game grind (20-26) I found Pulse Rifles increasingly ineffective for higher level PvE combat. I started focusing on other weapon classes as I built up my arsenal. I know that some weapons are much stronger in PvP than they are in PvE (and vice versa) but I do like to stick with weapons I am familiar and comfortable with. Since I never used PRs for PvE I stopped upgrading them. Just yesterday I sharded 5 legendary PRs that have been collecting dust in my vault.
Long story short, I agree that they are effective in PvP, but they are clearly the least effective primary for PvE. I suspect that's the reason you don't see them more often in PvP; people assume they'll suck there, too.
Stranger's Gun
by Blackt1g3r , Login is from an untrusted domain in MN, Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 19:31 (3377 days ago) @ iconicbanana
I get killed by the Stranger's gun fairly often.
This. I sometimes get blindsided by one
by ZackDark , Not behind you. NO! Don't look., Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 19:32 (3377 days ago) @ Blackt1g3r
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Stranger's Gun
And this is the only pulse rifle I currently even consider in crucible. Why? Impact and stability. All Legendary and exotic pulse rifles have garbage for impact, or have decent impact with garbage stability. A pulse rifle needs both, badly.
IMO pulse rifles should feel like hand cannons with more zoom, making them less effective at short range. Also, make hip fire terrible for them (5x the recoil or something). While zoomed in, though, a pulse rifle should be able to 2-shot someone with double headshots, or 3-shot them with all body shots. That's what the weapon class needs to be able to do to compete.
Also, the sights needs to be good. So many sights don't provide a clear enough view with high enough zoom to know you're hitting the head. That's another reason why Stranger's Rifle wins. It's got the best sight.
I think pulse rifles are intended to be mid range, with short as backup (more mid than short). AR's are short with mid as backup. Scouts are mid-long range and hand cannons seem to vary between being better for short or mid range depending on the loadout.
I think both scouts and pulse rifles need some tweaking, but I'd prefer pulse rifles to be stronger at what they already are -- hip fire short range and zoom mid range weapons.
Do they need fixing?
by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Wednesday, February 04, 2015, 19:15 (3377 days ago) @ Ragashingo
If pulse rifles can compete and even win at most ranges do they really need fixing?
I will bet money I can kill you faster with a TDKY than you can kill me with your three little words.
Huh, apparently Bungie disagreed with me...
by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 12:55 (3376 days ago) @ Ragashingo
And holy cow. +9.7% damage with other guns getting debuffs?! I already do well with select pulse rifles. Soon I will be completely unstoppable!
Fixing Pulse Rifles
Pulse Rifles should be to Auto Rifles what Scout Rifles are to Hand Cannons.
Scouts and Pulses should shine at longer ranges, while Autos and Hand Cannons should shine at mid range.
All Pulse Rifles become automatic fire (bringing them inline with Autos) and the bursts are tightened, inspired by one of the best Pulse Rifles in the game, The Strangers Rifle. Pulse rifles sill have a lower impact than Scouts, but Rate of Fire and Stability become more interesting factors as they do on Auto Rifles. And like Autos, Pulse Rifles get really big magazine sizes (this is important, 27 would be the min with 60 the max).
Perks should also be redone. Missing a shot fires a fourth should be dropped. Instead, some of the Auto perks can trickle over like, Persistence and Bottom Half.
I really like this proposal!
by CyberKN , Oh no, Destiny 2 is bad, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 10:46 (3376 days ago) @ digital_ronin
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A big part of today's BWU addresses a Pulse Rifle buff
by Speedracer513 , Dallas, Texas, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 13:02 (3376 days ago) @ Cody Miller
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Time to dust off my super pox vlo.
Perfect Balance. Full Auto. Glass Half Full.
Maybe I should get Red Death outta the vault for once
by Speedracer513 , Dallas, Texas, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 13:09 (3376 days ago) @ iconicbanana
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Bad Juju gonna wreck
by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 13:24 (3376 days ago) @ Speedracer513
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Bad Juju gonna wreck
by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 18:08 (3376 days ago) @ Cody Miller
Got my 331 Red Death maxed out a few weeks ago, just completed my 331 Bad Juju bounty on the weekend. Gonna be fun trying them out after the buff.