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In Bungie’s last reveal stream of the upcoming April Update, the developer details the weapon and subclass balancing coming to Destiny and making PvP more rewarding.
In less than a week, a lot of changes will be coming to Destiny . In the April Update, and what Bungie is calling the biggest update to Destiny since The Taken King , players will have a new Light level capto reach and new PvE contentto complete.
Today, Bungie discussed changes coming to the Crucible and the game’s “sandbox,” or the balance of weapons, subclasses, and how certain mechanics of the the gameplay work. Here’s a list of the major changes coming in the April Update:
Increasing Crucible Rewards
Fans have noticed a lack of loot drops post-match in the Crucible, especially since the launch of The Taken King . In the April Update, Bungie will increasing the drop rate for Legendary loot after a PvP match. In addition, the weekly Crucible bounty that players can pick up from Shaxx and complete will drop up to 335 Light items. The new Sterling Treasure boxesthat contain new gear will also be earned for completing one match in the weekly Crucible playlist.
Bungie is also looking to make its special PvP events Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner more rewarding as well. Completing Trials of Osiris bounties will now award up to 330 Light gear with the Lighthouse chest (for those who can go Flawless) dropping up to 335 Light gear.
As for Iron Banner, Rank 3 and 5 packages will contain up to 320 Light items. In addition, players should see an increase in Iron Bannergear drops post-match as random Legendary engrams will be removed from the loot table and replaced with a drop of Iron Banner items.
Revives
Revives in PvP modes like Trials of Osiris and Skirmish are also getting a tweak that should make them longer and harder to complete. The change is also set to curb “sprinting revives,” where players with fast-revive armor (i.e. Crest of Alpha Lupi) were able to run past a fallen teammate and get the revive quickly.
Post-April Update, revives will take longer (even with fast-revive armor), players will have to be closer to an orb to be able to revive, the shield gained by completing a res will be weaker, and revive timers will be increased to intervals of 7 seconds instead of 5 seconds.
Special and Heavy Ammo
Bungie reversed the previous Special Ammo nerfand will add Special Ammo back to players at spawn; however, Special Ammo won’t spawn in until three minutes into the match, doubling the previous spawn timer.
Heavy Ammo will also be more precious, now only spawning once per match at the five minute mark.
In addition, players have been able to get around the previous Special Ammo nerf using an exploit with Icebreaker and sidearms. That will be patched in the April Update, making it so players will not get full magazines when switching from those weapons.
Weapon Balancing
The April Update will be tweaking some, but not all, classes of weapons:
Slight damage nerf on High Rate of Fire Auto Rifles Slight damage buff on Low Rate of Fire Auto Rifles Fusion Rifles will get increased Stability and shots will be grouped tighter Hand Cannons will get an increased ammo reserve Sniper Rifles are getting a Stability nerf, the three short range scopes will have increased zoom, and ADS speed will be slowerSome exotics are also getting some attention: The Last Word’s hip fire damage will be nerfed Icebreaker will get decreased Handling and slower ADS speed (it remains a Year 1 weapon) Hawkmoon’s Range will be increased, also resulting in increased Accuracy MIDA Multi-Tool will no longer have High-Caliber Rounds and the Flinch experienced by players being hit by it will be reduced Dreg’s Promise’s rounds will now track enemies when ADS Telesto is being fixed in that projectiles can stick to friendly players but will no longer damage them SUROS Regime – Focused Fire now also increases range and the Spinning Up perk takes longer to take effect Thorn’s Damage Over Time poison will be decreased by one hit point per tick and the green effect that obstructs hit players’ view will be reduced
Warlocks
The last class to go under the design knife was the Titan class. This time, Warlocks are getting adjusted.
Fans expected a major nerf to Sunsingers, but those expectations were slightly unmet. The most common complaint is the powerful nature of the Sunsinger’s Firebolt grenade paired with Viking Funeral, which can obliterate enemies in the Crucible. That combo will remain untouched. Instead, Flame Shield will take longer to charge and the length of Radiance during Fireborn (self-res) will be reduced.
Stormcallers Landfall ability will no longer destroy Titan Defender bubbles and its blinding effect will be reduced. The subclass’s super, Stormtrance, will also drain more quickly.
Voidwalkers are actually getting a buff – Energy Drain will be more efficient, allowing it to charge the Voidwalker’s abilities faster.
Bungie says everything revealed these past three weeks are the highlights, but there will be more revealed in the Patch Notes that will come out the day of the April Update, April 12.
What do you think of the changes coming to Destiny ‘s gameplay in the April Update?
Source: GameInformer