On Thorn... (Destiny)

by Xenos , Shores of Time, Friday, July 17, 2015, 21:48 (3517 days ago) @ Morpheus

But why would it say "reduced in PvP and PvE" if PvE isn't being reduced? That's misleading.

When the shotguns got the PvE exclusive buff, what did it say?

Increase damage by 2x (100%) against all non-Guardian combatants (aliens)

Boom. Wipe hands. Done. Doesn't get any simpler or straightforward.

Now why not just put down "Increase Thorn's MoD to whatever the hell this garbled wording means against non-Guardians"?

Easy, right?

They didn't do that because the change is more subtle, and needs explanation. Here is a simplified explanation of what the MoD changes will be:

Right now MoD can only affect a target a single time. This means if you already hit a target, hitting them a second time has 0 effect on MoD damage. Now that MoD can STACK it will do more damage with each shot that lands on it up to 5x. This means when you hit a target 5x it will now do 5x33% damage it used to do which equals up to 166% the current damage it does now if you hit a target 5 times. The reason they did this is so that the gun still gives you a similar effect to the current usage, but since the target in PvP will be dead by the time you hit them 5x, it is not overpowered in PvP. This could not be explained the way you requested since the new mechanics have to be explained, not just "It now does 166% damage against non-Guardians" because that's not 100% true since it relies on you to continually hit the target.

This is a much more clever use of the mechanic as it actually makes the gun feel better in PvE as you do sustained damage, while at the same time removing the crazy power of the gun in PvP.