On February 14th, Hotfix 2.5.0.2 hit the Destiny arena. With it we saw a number of changes that took effect in the Crucible ranging from subclass abilities to ammo economy.
Age of Triumph will be our final live event in Destiny 1, so it’s possible that the accompanying Sandbox Update – Twitch preview stream scheduled for tomorrow – will contain the final changes we see to the Crucible until Destiny 2.
Bungie moved us into a special ammo economy that reflects their status as “power” weapons with one-hit-kill potential as opposed to an endless primary option. Trials has its shortcomings, but the overall health and variety of the Crucible is trending up.
“Tinkering” is needed though; share what you would like to see in the comments!
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Our research for this article includes important tweets from Mr. Josh Hamrick.
Given the quantity of material, we limited the quotes to the most insightful & relevant.
The spirit and intent of this article is to give Crucible enthusiast an educated guess with regards to what we can expect in tomorrow’s preview stream.
Given the complexity and number of moving parts that is the Sandbox, it is very important to remember that only time will tell if such changes were appropriate. Josh Hamrick has held hundreds of informative, forthright, and sincere conversations with community members since Feb. 8, and I found a vast majority of them to be extremely fruitful from both a community member and Bungie perspective.
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Special Ammo
2.5.0.2:
- Players start Crucible matches with Special ammo.
- Special ammo is lost upon death but Sidearms are not affected by this change.
- Special ammo crates appear every 60-seconds.
Josh Hamrick said that Specials were accounting for way too many kills. And in TWAB 2/23:
We are currently working on a change that would allow Sidearms to continue to spawn with a small set amount of ammo post-death, but keep them from stacking anything extra.
easily keep up with it and then use it to outclass other specials, esp sidearms.
*To be clear, I want you opinion why it happens..— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 16, 2017
Predictions: Sidearms no longer retain “rollover” ammo, but simply spawn with their normal approximate clip and a half. Not much suggests the Hotfix will contain any changes to sidearms different than what was already mentioned.
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Elimination & Trials of Osiris
2.5.0.2: Players start with Special ammo for Round 1. Special ammo is wiped at the beginning of subsequent rounds but Sidearms are not affected by this change.
Prediction: Probably no changes to special ammo boxes, minus the changes to sidearms.
Hand Cannons
2.5.0.2: Increased initial accuracy, reduced base range, reduced Aim Assist and Magnetism at longer ranges, reduced damage after falloff.
Josh said that Hand Cannon Range “before the damage begins to fall off is a little too long, yes.”
Prediction: Reduce base range to 32m from 35m OR reduce minimum damage after falloff from 33% to 28. Though often asked and replying to questions about exotic hand cannons, this was the only instance I was able to find Josh speaking towards the topic of hand cannons in general. If my prediction is correct, this will likely be one of the more surprising changes to the community and thus hopefully will be expounded upon in some detail.
Auto Rifles
2.5.0.2: Increased Precision Damage modifier, increased base damage of low rate of fire Auto Rifles, increased in air accuracy.
Prediction: Increase to precision modifier to 1.35x (up from 1.3x). This one is pure gut prediction. One often asked and replied questions by Josh was if there were any future plans to Auto Rifles. Josh’s answers were always vague and without agreement but given the sheer volume of AR questions he entertained, I’m lead to believe we’re going to see some very moderate changes.
Pulse Rifles
2.5.0.2: Reduced rate of fire (“ROF”) for very high rate of fire Pulse Rifles, increased ROF for low ROF Pulse Rifles, reduced Magazine Size of Clever Dragon and Grasp of Malok, reduced effect of High Caliber Rounds, increased in air accuracy.
Prediction: No changes. Very few if any questions and answers from Josh regarding this topic.
Scout Rifles
2.5.0.2: Increased in air accuracy.
Prediction: No changes. Very few if any questions and answers from Josh regarding this topic.
Shotguns
2.5.0.2: Shotguns no longer deal precision damage except for Chaperone and Universal Remote (UR: only while aiming down scope), significantly less magnetism when hip fired, significantly less in air accuracy, no longer have movement penalty, deal 20% more damage to combatants, Rangefinder now increases ADS by 25%, Universal Remote Magazine reduced from 5 to 3, Universal Remote has greater reload time.
Did change Aim Assist and Magnetism… but that doesn't effect true spread especially at point blank range.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 11, 2017
the most difference. However, I'll then watch shotgun usage while simultaneously looking at things we might want to tweak…
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 17, 2017
Prediction: In-air accuracy is reduced as intended in 2.5.0.2 and Rangefinder slows ADS as intended in 2.5.0.2. As seen above, the aim assist and magnetism were properly applied in the most recent hotfix however the in-air accuracy never made it through. Similarly, Fallout Plays discovered that Rangefinder unintentionally increased ADS speed rather than decreased it.
Truth
2.5.0.2: Reduced Magazine size from 3 to 1
JH, TWAB 2/23: “… we are looking into adding one additional rocket into your backpack AND bumping Truth to the max Rocket Launcher reload speed.”
Prediction: Inventory increased by 1, to 2.
Sticky Grenades (Flux, Magnetic, and Fusion)
2.5.0.2: Increased damage of Flux and Magnetic Grenades to ensure effectiveness across all Armor values.
Prediction: No changes to sticky grenades. This question was asked and answered the same way, many times. The reduction of special weapon ammo, and the ability to one-hit-kill, makes sticky grenades more dangerous.
I predict pushback regarding this topic. Admittedly, it may be uncalled for. The reason being: Sticky grenades, generally, are all-or-nothing. You either get a kill or whiff. Whereas other grenades can be used to either finish an opponent off or prime an opponent for a primary/special weapon engagement and kill.
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Hunter – Bladedancer
2.5.0.2: Hungering Blade gives a flat amount of health/shield per activation
2.5.0.2: Quick Draw no longer readies weapons instantly, but now grants a large increase to weapon handling speed
2.5.0.2: Shinobu’s Vow no longer adds an additional seeker
About QuickDraw, Josh says it “was changed to make those matching weapon perks matter more.
Assuming shotguns are used less, BDs become more dangerous / prevalent. Needed HB not to fully erase prev non lethal damage.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 10, 2017
No, the QuickDraw nerf is intended to make you have to consider the QuickDraw weapon perk more…
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 15, 2017
Prediction: HUD removal will be reduced by 30%. This one previously left a lot of people scratching their respective heads, and the questions & answers kept rolling in for the duration of the month examined. Even after very careful investigation all comments from Josh and others regarding this topic, I am still finding a number of points that may require further explanation including reasoning, rationale, and purpose, with greater clarity and possibly hard numbers & charts to assist viewers.
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Warlocks
2.5.0.2: Ophidian Aspects no longer readies weapons instantly, but now grants a large increase to weapon handling speed
2.5.0.2: Thunderstrike melee range reduced to be consistent with other Warlock subclasses
Prediction: No changes. Very few if any questions and answers from Josh regarding this topic.
Blink
2.5.0.2: Blink now disables your Radar and HUD for a short time after activation
JH, TWAB 2/23: “…we are looking into removing the old Recovery nerf entirely. Additionally, we’re looking at pulling back the time that you’re HUDless by just a bit.”
This change is intended to balance the burden between the user and the victim, whereas previously it was harder for the victim.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 14, 2017
for what you're doing before you do it. That's the goal.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 15, 2017
Simply asking the initiator to share the burden… to also need to keep up with where they are.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 16, 2017
Prediction: Blink will no longer give -2 recovery. As illustrated above, in the same vein as Bladedancers, it may require further explanation, and possibly hard numbers & charts to assist viewers.
Health Regeneration Perks
Many health regeneration perks were unintentionally affected by the application of new Hungering Blade changes. Health regeneration of the following perks will now function the same as Hungering Blade – Red Death, Lifesteal, Transfusion (but without cooldown), and Cauterize (but without cooldown). The following will be reverted to their previous functionality – Suros Regime, No Backup Plans, Ward of Dawn cast, Apotheosis Veil, Embrace the Void.
58% more health than the are currently giving out… These numbers may change but it is currently 36 now and will be 61.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 19, 2017
Prediction: Exact changes mentioned in the Feb. 18 post.
Icebreaker
I mean IB is not a great sniper comparatively. In trials you CAN gen 4 shots within the window, so it's helpful but.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) February 25, 2017
Not yet, no. IB bypasses ammo, for sure, but it's not the best of snipers. It's an option, but with sacrifices.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 6, 2017
Rarely is strong, but I understand what you're saying. I personally don't find it worth the tradeoff.
— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 6, 2017
Prediction: No changes. Josh has made it clear that yes, Icebreaker circumvents the special economy, but Icebreaker requires the tradeoff of being a less than ideal sniper stat-wise, and that said exotic ability to circumvent the ammo is the only thing that makes it exotic.
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Miscellaneous
2.5.0.2: Removed intrinsic Perks Kneepads and Icarus on some Talent grids
2.5.0.2: Fixed High Caliber Rounds to were properly on Hand Cannons, Scout Rifles, Machine Guns and Sniper Rifles
Memory of Skorri
JH, TWAB 2/23:
The change currently in testing requires a kill to jumpstart Skorri’s unique ability for the next minute. Once it times out, you’ll need another kill to jumpstart it again. We believe you won’t have any problems killing one enemy every 60 seconds for maximum uptime in PVE, but Trials may offer a greater challenge.
Prediction: Exact changes mentioned in the post above.
No Land Beyond
JH, TWAB 2/23: “…we’ve found a potential workaround for making NLB flinch like the Sniper Rifle it is.”
Prediction: Increased flinch to match its sniper counterparts.
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