I have noticed a substantial increase in the use of the Fusion Rifle in Crucible.

I am even using and enjoying them myself. As a Hunter if you primary a Universal Remote and secondary a Vacancy or Ashraven's Flight ally that with Invisibility and I think you will see the benefit. Your opponents won't lol

The buff seems to be something that Bungie got right.

The most popular FR (Vacancy, Thesan, the ones with very high stability) barely even changed. People didn't realize how strong FR could be ;).

Selling a bunch of god rolls at the vendors didn't hurt either, and the buff did make the ones that didn't start with mega stability more viable too.

I'm not sure this is true.

I mean at close range, yes, you're right, they are about the same.

High stability fusion rifles are now (again) viable at the short end of mid range, where they were really right around shotgun range before. They're not full mid-range, but they are now usable where they just didn't quite keep up before.

I never used Fusion rifles because of their 'bad press' until I started to notice them more and more in the Crucible. I therefore have no personal experience of them pre the recent change. I thought that the 'cone' on fusions had been tightened up in the recent update but I am no expert and could be wrong.

I would certainly recommend the ones I use now, they are quite fun.

I'm not sure this is true.

I mean at close range, yes, you're right, they are about the same.

High stability fusion rifles are now (again) viable at the short end of mid range, where they were really right around shotgun range before. They're not full mid-range, but they are now usable where they just didn't quite keep up before.

The description of the buff describes it as such. From the april patch notes.

"Fusion rifles are more stable across the board. The maximum stability for a fusion rifle has not changed much, but the baseline minimum stability is much stronger (40% recoil reduction), and we linearly ramp up from there."

A Braced frame Thesan or Vacancy already pushed up near max stability, so they basically saw no buff (and I see very little change in my Braced Frame thesan.

I don't think many people HAD a braced frame Thesan or Vacancy though, and that's a big difference.

I had a braced frame thesan. it was pretty good, but I'd way too often almost kill people at mid-range. The projectile spread was uneven enough that it was very difficult to hit anything with all projectiles at mid-range.

I did not have a braced frame vacancy, though I had tried it. I discarded it in favor of ashraven's flight and the thesian. I think the new roll is overall superior at short to mid-range to anything else I've used. It's a touch slower than I'd like, up close that can be a problem.

Short range has indeed improved as far as stability goes. I used to aim at people's feet to kill them. Now I'm aiming center mass. You're right that this patch did change that. I guess I was commenting on their overall power level -- short range is still about the same, you use them a little differently, but their power hasn't really changed. Mid-range some fusion rifles are now usable where they haven't been in the past. That's the big change.

pre-patch I was all about impact and range. I'm now all about impact and stability -- at mid-range the range stat doesn't matter as much because of projectile spread -- it's better to get damage falloff and hit with more projectiles.

I wish damage was better at super short range with fusion rifles in general. The gjallar-sword is what I think it should be like when getting hit by a fusion rifle at point blank range. This is probably fueled by the pocket infinity flavor text and the like.

I never used Fusion rifles because of their 'bad press' until I started to notice them more and more in the Crucible. I therefore have no personal experience of them pre the recent change. I thought that the 'cone' on fusions had been tightened up in the recent update but I am no expert and could be wrong.

I would certainly recommend the ones I use now, they are quite fun.

So much about game design is not based around those numbers, but about how you tell people "this thing is strong" or "this thing is weak. As a designer you can do that through sounds or art, or gun feel. Or sometimes it's just a matter of exposing people to some use cases where it's strong, then the rest takes over.

It was pretty good, but I'd way too often almost kill people at mid-range.

In House of Wolves, I often had that same experience with fast charging fusion rifles. Even the ones with relatively high stability. I've always maintained that the range stat does far more for fusion rifles than stability. When I'd switch off the range upgrade on my Purifier, I did somewhat worse. And that has very high base stability to begin with. Fast charging fusion rifles never had high range stats, so I think that explains it.

Mid range is where you WANT to be killing people with fusion rifles. They don't really do much good if they only reliably kill at close range!

I've shared this video in another thread, but it seems relevant here too :)

14 of my 34 kills were from my Fusion Rifle. More importantly, I think I only fired 4 or 5 shots that didn't result in a kill. That thing is a BEAST!

I don't think they have ever fully "undone" the projectile spread nerf. I think they tweaked it to be a little less pronounced, but it's not gone. Ever since that patch I've struggled to find a fusion rifle that I was consistent with. I now finally have the Vacancy, which fills the "consistent" spot. Pre-patch I was running ashraven's flight, which was usable, but only really within mega shotgun range due to projectile spread.

Wow, great use of that Vacancy, it certainly is awesome in your hands.

I am torn between using that and Ashraven's Flight both of which are excellent Fusion rifles. Hidden hand on the Ashraven's is pretty good but there is not much between them in all honesty.

Enjoyable video, thanks for sharing

I know very little about game design, other than what feels right for me, but what you say makes a lot of sense.

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No fusion rifle should be remotely that strong. Shotguns, maybe.

Didn't realize we actually got 5 out of six of their team with two grenades on B. That was awesome!