With all the excitement that surrounded E3 2016, it was easy to lose track of other happenings within the video game industry while the convention was going on.
Destiny was no different, and while everyone was focused on the future of the game following the reveal of the Rise of Iron expansion, it appeared they forgot that the present is still where the action is and missed Bungie's release of the June update.
In an announcement, Bungie detailed the changes that come with this latest patch. First off is a new range of Chroma, allowing players to apply a green, orange or magenta finish to compatible armor sets. In addition, in an apparent bid to let players see everything Destiny has to offer ahead of Year Three, Bungie has made the "Paradox" alternate ending and "Lost to Light" mission available from the director, and Firewall will become available as soon as players meet the requirements.
While this is all well and good, the real highlight of the June update was the set of balance changes for the Hunter class.
Much like the Warlock class before it, Hunters got sweeping changes across all three sub-classes. Why? According to Grant, who spoke during the April update, these changes came about — unsurprisingly — due to a need to make every sub-class viable and equal relative to one another. Any skills or abilities that seemed particularly underwhelming got buffed, while others that seemed stronger than they should got nerfed.
Here are just a few of the changes that are coming to the Hunter class.
Gunslinger: Swarm Grenades got buffed and deal more damage, while Trip Mines got nerfed and no longer attach to living targets. Meanwhile, the Golden Gun buffed across the board, now dealing 50 percent extra damage and an additional 30 percent against PvE opponents. Lastly, the Throwing Knife has been nerfed somewhat and deals 10 percent less damage, while Circle of Life has been altered so that precision Throwing Knife kills reduce Golden Gun cooldown rather than extend its duration.
Bladedancer: Skip Grenades got nerfed across the board, dealing less damage and tracking enemies for a shorter period of time, and Blink now incurs a -1 recovery penalty. Meanwhile, Arc Blade has been given an overhaul so players actually have to target their opponents rather than mash — in exchange, however, attacks deal 30 percent more damage in PvE, and Encore increases the duration of the super and gives it a 150 percent increase in damage. Furthermore, Showstopper and Blink Strike have been given a longer range, but the valid backstab angle has been reduced by 30 degrees. Lastly, Vanish actually makes players vanish, but the invisibility effect from Escape Artist has been delayed by half a second.
Nightstalker: Spike Grenade got changed so it does the same amount of damage as before but in half the time, and the Shadowshot super now deals its suppression effect on impact. Smoke now deals 34 percent more damage on impact, but its suppression and damage over time effect last one second less, and affected players can jump after being hit with one. In addition, the Smoke cloud now lasts longer, but Vanish in Smoke no longer grants +1 Agility. Lastly, Predator reduces the cooldown on Shadowshot, and Shadestep is now a single dodge that activates once every three seconds.
There were an assortment of other changes, such as weapon and PvP adjustments, however, the Hunter changes were really the star of the show. Some of the changes were long overdue too, such as the Arc Blade's tracking — it's amazing that something so overpowered remained unchanged for so long.
