Bungie's New Destiny 2 3.2.1 Update Brings Some Controversial Gameplay Changes

Bungie recently dropped a fairly major update to Destiny 2. While the update contains the usual list of fixes, there have also been some changes that have received mixed reactions from fans. Destiny 2 players should expect some changes to the damage capabilities of weapons like shotguns, hand cannons (120 RPM), Exotic Scout Rifle Dead Man’s Tale, and Exotic Linear Fusion Rifle Sleeper Simulant.

Let’s dig into the changes made to shotguns and hand cannons first.

 Shotguns

• Increased Aggressive Frame Shotgun cone angle from 4.0 to 4.25 degrees.
• Reduced Shotgun damage falloff min by 2m.
• Increased Shotgun damage falloff max by 2m.

Hand Cannons (120 RPM)

• Reduced precision damage multiplier from 1.8 to 1.6, preventing a 10% damage bonus from allowing 2-tapping in PvP.
• Reduced aim assist minimum falloff distance by 1-2m depending on the Range stat.
• Reduced damage minimum falloff distance by 1m (this gives them a 1m advantage over other Hand Cannons).

We would highly recommend checking out this video from Destiny 2 content creator Aztecross. Their video demonstrates the distance from which players had previously been able to get critical shots and kill their opponent and the updated distance. Their video includes some of the most previously used weapons like the Legendary Shotgun Felwinter’s Lie.

The common theme is that the weapons do not do as much damage from as far of a distance. Shotguns and hand cannons have long been the “meta” or preferred weapons in PVP activities like Crucible. It has been argued that Guardians with these weapons have been able to quickly kill their opponents without needing too much skill or thought.

Many players believe that this update is the death knell for shotguns and hand cannons. However, we think that Aztecross’ video demonstrates that while shotguns and hand cannons will certainly require more skill to use, they are still a viable option. They may simply no longer be the PVP “meta” in Destiny 2. We are personally looking forward to hopefully seeing a greater variety of weapons in PVP activities. We believe that the updates are reasonable and are personally bored of being killed by the same weapons repeatedly.

The other weapon updates are to Exotic Scout Rifle Dead Man’s Tale and Exotic Linear Fusion Rifle Sleeper Simulant. They are as follows:

Dead Man's Tale

• Removed hip fire damage falloff scalar (was 1.8x to match zoom).
• Reduced Aim Assist cone angle hip scalar from 1.5 to 1.2.

Sleeper Simulant

• Fixed an issue where Sleeper Simulant was benefiting less than other Linear Fusion Rifles from the Season 14 Linear Fusion Rifle precision damage buff.

Dead Man’s Tale has also long been dominant in PVP. Dead Man’s Tale is already a powerful Scout Rifle, but its Exotic Catalyst has made it a bit of an annoyance in activities like the Crucible. Its Exotic Catalyst increases the rate of fire while shooting from the hip and removes the hip fire accuracy penalty. This has allowed Guardians to fire off shots at opponents without really needing to think about where they were shooting. The above update therefore seems appropriate.

Very few Guardians frequently pick up Linear Fusion Rifles. Bungie recently added a precision damage buff to make them a more viable option, but Sleeper Simulant did not receive the promised 15% damage buff. The latest update was therefore intended to balance this issue.

The update also reissued Moon and Dreaming City weapons with new perks. We are very much looking forward to chasing after these weapons and seeing how the updates to other weapons will impact PVP. Overall, we applaud Bungie for trying to make PVP activities a bit more balanced and therefore hopefully more enjoyable.

Images courtesy of Bungie.