Something often overlooked. . . (Destiny)

by Harmanimus , Saturday, March 31, 2018, 01:14 (2422 days ago) @ nico

. . . that is related to what you said about always being excited to have a new weapon drop is really important. Regardless of having had it before. And that is definitely lost in D2. But with the issue of "god rolls" (which this thread touches on in various ways) there is a pretty easy way of seeing where the problem lies with the grind in D1. Most of the perks you could roll weren't good or synergistic combinations. Someone mentioned Byf's recent video, in it he hammers on synergies pretty hard.

God rolls exist for most people as the ideal roll for their play style, even if that is just whatever is best supported in the current meta. I think Des2ny suffers in light of this circumstance for two reasons. First, overall disappointing perks. The desirable perks are pretty well represented in popular weapons. And then there are a lot of perks that people just aren't excited for. Some of that has been adjusted with 1.1.4, I'm looking at you Dragonfly. Second, weapons with single, set perks. This probably will be better as its own section.

I think it is easiest to illustrate this through Raid weapons. For ease, how they were handled in VoG and KF. VoG weapons (and Exotics) show that having fully static perks can work for weapons to make them worth chasing at low drop rates. So only worrying about the static columns (2/4 for Y3 versions) the Primary VoG perks are Persistence/Glass Half Full, Headseeker/Secret Round, Full Auto/Zen Moment, and Firefly/Outlaw. These were hand designed for synergistic interactions. Fatebringer being the obvious example, but in D2 the perks are mutually exclusive. D2 weapons are flat and uninteresting comparatively. In contrast all KF weapons had Cocoon in column 2, and column 4 each had 4 perks randomly rolled of varied attraction. Generally 2 that most people didn't want, 1 that fit certain gameplay loops well, and one that was the meta roll.

Not getting into base stats (as the KF weapons suffered there) but overall they were not the unicorns that VoG primaries were for many reasons. I think one that usually gets under-represented is that they were single perk weapons. The AR wasn't worth keeping without Crowd Control. Most people were set on Firefly with the Pulse (though Glass Half Full was still solid). You wanted Full Auto for the Scout. Firefly again for the Hand Cannon. I feel pretty confidently that if Cocoon had been an intrinsic perk built into the weapons and we got something else hand picked for column 2 that the KF primaries would have been better received, even if they still only would have one main perk everyone wants in column 4. Something like Persistence/Crowd Control, High Caliber Rounds/Firefly, Triple Tap/Full Auto, and Spray And Play/Firefly. Auto, Pulse, Scout, Hand Cannon respectively.

So D2 suffers from having weapons that are hamstrung like the King's Fall weapons in that when it comes into active play with them they are single perk weapons. KF weapons don't fix having bad perks no one wants. I think that is better suited by just making perks that are better all around, and then having a variety of them available that all feel at least pretty good with the weapon archetype, but avoid having a bunch of weapons dropping that no one wants because they have perks that are just that bad. One curated perk + one random perk from a specific selection for that weapon archetype would go a long way to flexing out people having something to chase for. But if combinations are narrowed, now it is easier to make sure that most weapons don't have one roll that is both the only one anyone wants and highly unlikely to get.

Sorry this is such a long reply that doesn't really directly respond to most of your post.