Gjallarhorn, Thorn - Destiny Will Nerf Its Hottest Weapons
The popular and coveted weapons that will be taking the hit in the 2.0 update include the hand cannon Thorn and the rocket launcher Gjallarhorn.
Big changes will be in store for Destiny players when they update the game, and not all of them will likely be too happy to get receive the update.
Although some weapons will be beefed up, other favorites, including elites, will be nerfed. Some downgrades will be longer reload times or reduced damage among others.
According to its Weekly Update blog, Destiny will be rebalancing weapon effectiveness in order to make gameplay fairer and more inclusive, especially for those who do not have exotic weapons such as Gjallarhorn.
Jon Weisnewski, Sandbox Designer, posted on July 17 a comprehensive list of the updates that will help to even out the playing field in the shooter game. He shares that the updates are based on player feedback and they want to address weapon concerns as a whole with the 2.0 update instead of patching them up individually.
Although the list and explanation of the weapons re-balancing is quite extensive, overall, Weisnewski says they want to preserve the functionality of the weapons but at the same time do not want players, especially when in PVP mode, to be excluded from player-to player-combat, simply because they do not have certain weapons.
"We definitely intended to have a high damage Heavy Weapon that was ideal for PvE destruction. What we did not intend, and what we unfortunately saw, was pick up Raid and Nightfall groups gating participation based on whether or not players had this weapon. Gjallarhorn was so strong that for many people it had become the only answer to getting through tough encounters, and therefore they were less willing to spend time with other players that didn't have it," he says of the Gjallarhorn changes.
Some players may not be too happy with the news that their favorite elite weapons will be hit by this balancing act, but Bungie feels it's all for the greater enjoyment of the game and the community as a whole.