Most Destiny 2 players will no doubt be familiar with the Crucible, the game's high-octane combat arena. Keeping pace with the competition in Lord Shaxx's clash of Guardians means keeping up with the PvP modes' constantly evolving metagame, and optimizing one's loadout with the best guns and gear. A sizable amount of the Crucible's top performers are special and heavy weapons with less plentiful ammunition, but Destiny 2 YouTuber AztecrossGaming makes the case for a boost in damage for primary weapons with a recent video.
To see what the future of Destiny 2's PvP could look like, Aztecross looks to the series' past, comparing damage numbers for today's Shadowkeep-era guns to the original Destiny's arsenal around the time of Rise of Iron. The content creator argues that updates made to the combat pace, maps, and other weapon types have left Destiny 2's auto rifles, scout rifles, and hand cannons behind weaponry like shotguns, grenade launchers, and machine guns.
Aztecross breaks down the damage numbers and time to kill of classic Destiny weapons like hand cannons Imago Loop and Eyasluna alongside newer counterparts like Better Devils and Austringer. Most of the examples suffer from similar problems: small differences in damage that end up requiring a higher amount of precision damage or body shots for Guardians to score a kill. According to Aztecross, weapons in the affected classes aren't as forgiving as others, and are balanced in ways that push players toward more effective weapon classes or Exotic guns.
The video points out a notable exception to the problem, however: Destiny 2's pulse rifles, with time to kill numbers that stay consistent or even got shorter between the original Destiny and today. The burst-firing weapons have been a fixture in the Crucible for most of the Destiny series' history thanks to their mid- to long-range effectiveness.
Players will likely have to stay tuned to see what changes, if any, are in store for Destiny 2's primary weapon metagame in Season 10, set to start on Tuesday, March 10. Fans have heavily speculated that the upcoming content will feature a revived Trials of Osiris competitive PvP mode, and if Bungie wants or needs to shake up the current weapon landscape, the new and improved quest to the Lighthouse may end up being a perfect opportunity for it.
Destiny 2 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia and Xbox One.
Source: AztecrossGaming on YouTube