Bungie explains why the Auto Rifle and Shotgun were nerfed in the 17/10 Bungie Weekly Update
Balance is everything in a PVP game so in a recent hotfix for Destiny Bungie nerfed the Auto Rifle by 2% and the Shotguns range was decreased. In the same hotfix they increased the damage of the Scout Rifle and in the 17/10 Bungie Weekly Update Bungie explained why the reasons behind the rebalancing.
Why were players allowed to upgrade the range on Shotguns so much anyway?
Starting with the Auto Rifle its damage got decreased by a whole 2% because “The Auto Rifle archetype is designed to appeal to players who like to throw up a wall of bullets and not worry if a few miss their target. It is intended to inflict sustained damage at close to medium range, but to lose effectiveness at longer ranges. “Today the Auto Rifle is too effective at long-range, even beating Scout and Pulse Rifles in some circumstances. Expect stability and/or damage adjustments to the Auto Rifle to address this in the weeks ahead.”
So it looks like Auto Rifle users are going to need to get ready for yet more Auto Rifle rebalancing. To be fair the Auto Rifle does need rebalancing since all you need to do is play a couple of matches in the Crucible for prove. Speaking of rebalancing the Shotgun was also rebalanced because it was too effective at extended range, especially when players upgrade it for that purpose.
According to Bungie “Shotguns are for those situations where you need to deliver a massive spike of damage, right now, to the thing standing next to you about to do you harm. Today shotguns are effective beyond their intended range, especially when upgraded with that intention”. Expect changes soon to address shotguns which push the envelope of what it means to be close quarters“.
Just like the Auto Rifle, it looks like the Shotgun will be getting more rebalancing done to it in order to “push the envelope of what it means to be close quarters“, so it looks like they’ll be lowering the shotguns range again soon.
But the recent hotfix didn’t just nerf weapons either because the Scout Rifle saw a damage improvement of 6% since as they already said the Auto Rifle can beat it at range and that “Scout Rifles are for players who like to keep their enemies at medium range and hate to miss.They are intended to be an awkward weapon to use at close range but to be dominant – as long as you land your shots – at medium and longer ranges. Scouts just aren’t hitting hard enough today when compared to other precision weapons. We’ll be addressing this soon“.
In the 17/10 Bungie Weekly Update Bungie explained why they rebalanced certain weapon types. Players should also be warned that the Shotgun and Auto Rifle will be getting nerfed again in later hotfixes and they also named the next raid, which will be called Crota’s End.
Over the weekend GamerHeadlines reported that in the 17/10 Bungie Weekly Update, Bungie explained how they will be fixing the glitch that allowed players to defeat the final boss in the Vault of Glass Atheon in seconds, and you can read that article here.
The original source of this story was on Bungies blog and you can read it here.