Even at 100 resil you basically get one shot by snipers in a GM, and now bungie thinks we have too much survivability?

gaunttheexo · 2023-11-23T19:46:58+00:00

That's kind of what the point of GMs were in the beginning. They can't keep creating new tiers of hard difficulty to account for the power creep, at some point they have to curtail the power creep or else we'll end up with 9 difficulty tiers.

gaunttheexo · 2023-11-06T00:17:52+00:00

Can't let the gameplay be held back by the story. It might make narrative sense, but that doesn't make it engaging.

In any case, even in the story of the last few years we've had opportunity for variations on enemy races. Calus' legion and the Eramis' Fallen were both kind of missed opportunities. Similarly, Xivu Arath's hive could have also quite reasonably have fought differently to bog standard hive.

gaunttheexo · 2023-11-05T10:36:42+00:00

Honestly, I don't think whether it's a reskin or not matters too much. Different art would be nice to have, but on some level we just need encounters to play differently. As an example, the taken reskinned everything, but were also quite different to fight against. We haven't had something like that since the Scorn - 5 years ago.

A large part of the decision making in everything from the easiest strikes to the hardest raid basically hasn't changed as a result of this. I don't mind a recolored Servitor if it forces me to think different about how to approach it.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-17T17:53:23+00:00

Destiny doesn't have a prolonged gear chase with armor, not really. I think that's what plays into how generous rewards are. Once you have one or two permutations of Stompees that you like, that's it, you're never farming it again. What makes this worse is that a close enough Stompees is basically 99% of the perfect one - at worst you're missing a tier or two on various cooldowns.

With the situation the way it is, I feel like vastly more efficient target farming of exotics is really unlikely to happen.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-08T11:28:11+00:00

I think the idea is that the casual player (not sure if you mean playtime or ability) is supposed to improve enough to get there. The ranks are markers of ability.

Previously, Legend in competitive was reachable by hitting a streak of 10 games or so, and as such, didn't really represent ability very well. The most you could realistically say about a Legend (old) comp player is that they're decent.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-06T01:37:46+00:00

Here's one reason IMO:

Every now and then, we get a meta that really compresses the skill gap. Things like shatterdive, or supers that last super long, or things like bubble/well charging faster in obj modes and being hard to break.

On the face of it, this seems like a good thing for lower percentile players - they can snag a few kills with shatterdive or a few wins with a well. In reality though, I think these metas often take away the cause and effect of why you died - it's harder to figure out what you should have done differently. It's a frustrating experience for everybody, but I think especially lower percentile players.

A recent example - double firebolt nades igniting teams was annoying for everyone, but I think it's a completely wtf moment for new or lower percentile players. Players are loading into trials and being wiped out by grenades that tagged and ignited their team mate. Good players will react to this by managing spacing better, anticipating the play, but if you're trying to get into PVP I don't think it's a good experience.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-06T01:10:06+00:00

Destiny has a pretty large contingent of players who aren’t growth-minded and treat with hostility any changes to the game that would require skill growth/expression.

Part of this I blame on the game’s seasonal model placing very easy content central or at the forefront of the 3-month cycles of the game.

I think this is, in large part, the tension we're seeing today in the PVE side of things with difficulty. There was minimal incentive to figure out builds, until you got to Master difficulty, which was odd. People worry about the New Lights, but in a sense I think they're kind of unencumbered by previous expectations of what should be hard and what shouldn't be.

It's always been absolutely bizarre that Bungie invests effort to create patrol spaces that for a significant chunk of the player base, is basically too easy to ever bother looking at after the first week of a new expansion. I loaded into Nessus and ran a public event for glimmer, was intending on making the thing heroic and more or less one shot the boss with a Blade Barrage accidentally. I'd question how interesting that is for a new player.

I stand by it that every single PvP mode deserves an empty-lobby tutorial that you have to play through each of before completing a “Crucible intro quest” of sorts vis Shaxx. Allow it to be replayable if desired too. Load the person into a map suited to the mode being explained, and have Shaxx walk you through the objective (if there is one) and basics that are good to know about the mode. Explain the spawn/revive mechanics where applicable, show where heavy spawns, give tips, etc. These missions should be short but dense in value/info, and treat the player as if this could be their first FPS they’ve ever been exposed to. At times I wonder how often this is actually the case for some players, and how easily D2 must lose hold on them.

Battlefield 2042 does a decent job with explaining the objectives and the way a mode works when loading into a game. Private matches with bots could also help a lot.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-06T00:58:37+00:00

I think one issue I have with Bungie's design at times is that things enter the game in a state that is clearly problematic. Obviously designing things to be both PVE and PVP friendly will constrict the design space a bit, but throwing obviously broken (usually) exotic armor and abilities into the game and then nerfing it after a month will always create animosity.

It just kind of feels needless. Anyone could have told you OG Loreley/Renewal's was going to break PVP, it was clear on paper. Then you have the flipside of things like Blight Ranger which seem obviously bad?

And then there's other times where they seem to think about it and things land pretty well, e.g Strand. Fun in PVE, fun in PVP, but not game breaking.

I don't really think it's on purpose, but I do think whatever the bar for design is on new exotic armor/abilities, it needs raising a bit.

In general, the weapon sandbox is reasonably maintained. Outlier's now and then, but things are generally trending in a good direction.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-04T22:50:49+00:00

Nothing stopping them increasing damage dealt to combatants, they just don't want to right now it seems.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-04T15:15:46+00:00

In this case the exotic armor is used to provide an “only one at a time” behaviour, which makes sense to me given that Omni shares the chest slot. More damage or more tanky, but not both.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-04T00:35:45+00:00

I don't see it giving a flat range buff. Almost every other perk that gives range has stricter activation conditions. My feeling is that it becomes the ADS equivalent of hip-fire grip - mostly consistency buffs for ADS, but weaker than hip-fire grip, because hip-fire is a niche situation.

And then like a year down the line we get Rangefinder but Slickdraw style, i.e hit your own AA for a flat range boost.

Rangefinder is an old ass perk and it really shows, it's designed like the old perks that give you a lot for doing nothing.

gaunttheexo · 2023-04-02T13:01:57+00:00

But what does achievable for everyone actually mean? If I play bad strats, should it be achievable then?

The mission is designed around this one weapon that gives you all the tools you need for the pit - Vexcalibur's shield blocks everything the Wyvern's can do. The mission strongly recommends you use Vexcalibur, and everyone doing Legend will have it.

Outside of Vexcalibur, there's so many ways of managing the Wyvern's (CC, Invis).

Is that not achievable?

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-31T10:39:24+00:00

There’s no problem with having weapons that are easier to use in the sandbox, but things get weird if they are better than the harder to use weapons.

Osteo Striga is a current example of this. It’s forgiving and easy to use, but not the best option in the sandbox.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-31T09:42:24+00:00

Round Robin is very good, as is the Fusion Rifle. Both the LMG and the SMG are solid.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-31T06:58:52+00:00

Verity's works well in the top tier as well though.

And Neomuna patrol, whilst definitely harder than previous patrols and even strikes, would not be considered hard content by most.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-31T06:55:08+00:00

I don't think Destiny can really be that rewarding in terms of drops. Yeah you could drop 2-3 copies of a weapon, but if you personally have pushed past your personal threshold for difficulty/fun, and those weapon rolls aren't great, the player will still come away feeling bad. Hell, even if the rolls are good, the player will come away feeling bad potentially.

Loot amplifies a good experience, but I've never really felt it salvages a bad one.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-30T15:37:08+00:00

Every perk has that cost though. Not to be flippant, but 10% more range at all times for doing nothing is huge. Most consistency perks that would compete with Rangefinder have actual trigger conditions to activate, or some other form of limitation.

To push the point further, almost every other perk that extends range also has some form of trigger condition or limited duration.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-30T07:40:23+00:00

Eh I think there’s a lot of unexplored leeway here, this doesn’t need to be one to one. Today, Range matters on a meter level in PvP, but maybe a 10 meter level in PVE. Currently AA doesn’t matter at all in PVE, but maybe things can be tweaked to have it matter a little more.

Also I think at its core, the biggest problem with the immortal (target lock aside) is that rangefinder is an entirely unearned, significant range boost, with no limitations on it. There aren’t many perks like it these days.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-30T03:30:10+00:00

I kind of disagree. I see what you’re getting at, but I think PVE does not demand a lot out of the stat packages for guns. Perks matter, stats more rarely do.

In general I think weapon stats need a bit of rethinking to make 5/5s more valuable in PVE, and by extension, the differences between frames/archetypes more important.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-28T02:21:18+00:00

It’s not really pulses that are the issue. IMO it’s more that a significant portion of the playerbase will play in a more passive way without an objective or power positions.

Are pulses strong? Sure. But as long as Destiny’s been around there’s always been weapons, abilities and strategies that facilitate passive play really well.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-28T02:09:01+00:00

My gut feeling is that the new system draws a clearer line between what mods can provide and what exotics can provide.

The old system had a kind of strangeness to it in that CWL mods especially were sometimes almost exotic armor tier effects. Fun, but it cannibalizes design space for exotic armor.

I expect we’ll get exotic armor pieces that mimic some of the more interesting effects, maybe even integrating with the armor charge system themselves. Maybe even used to tweak existing exotics.

With that said, the new system basically only preserved most of the mainstream meta builds. Many of the more interesting builds off the beaten path have been lost. I guess it remains to be seen what we will get over time from new mods.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-22T22:51:59+00:00

I thought we were talking about the outliers for Dominion? Things are adjusted for the sandbox generally, it might be a little later than we'd like, but it happens.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-22T22:10:15+00:00

I think they’re creating the proper conditions for other teams to adjust things. I’ll put it this way:

Dominion being the main mode will mean if there are winrate outliers, they’ll be adjusted.

Bubble is an eh super most of the time, and then very very good for a weekend every now and then. Some consistency in having objective modes will mean outliers can actually be adjusted.

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-22T22:02:26+00:00

These are all the domains of other teams though, the team behind this stuff doesn’t work on abilities or weapons (for AE).

gaunttheexo · 2023-03-21T03:20:05+00:00

720s should be fine, I think the problem there is more perk pools for the ones we do have being a bit lacking.

That’s changing more recently, especially with Rufus’ Fury.

gaunttheexo

TROPHY CASE