WSTE-M (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, 11:10 (2765 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to look back at where we were pre-Destiny to and take note of just how much changed vs the previous 10+ years of Halo multiplayer. Essentially, the Special weapons slot was "...a failed experiment, a calculated risk. Nothing more."

I don't think it failed. I think it was a huge success. Destiny PvP in the beginning was wonderful and unique. Maybe not the beginning beginning, as the interceptor in the Alpha was pretty broken. It just needed some tweaking to get right. Their tweaks generally went the wrong way though.

Just about every major balance update worked to nerf Shotguns and multiple updates also worked to nerf Sniper Rifles. Armor piercing, shot package, range finder, reserve ammo, flinch, critical damage, scoped zoom. They both had their effectiveness reduced over and over and now Bungie is effectively removing them from normal play.

I largely supported the inclusion of Special weapons. Balance through superior firepower and all that. But ultimately, it just wasn't possible to balance someone zipping around with a shotgun or camping a lane with a sniper rifle for the entire match. So, they'll both soon be put back in the Power Weapon role they probably should be in.

I'll miss my Invective, but at the same time I think having far less one hit kill weapons in play will greatly improve things. And I felt that was already true as of the recent beta.