Bungie Upgrading ‘Destiny 2’ Sandbox With Faster Movement, Faster Super Abilities, And Weapon Buffs

Bungie laid out the Destiny 2 development roadmap on Wednesday and followed that up today with details on how the studio plans to upgrade the shooter’s sandbox of weapons, movement, and abilities. PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC Guardians should be happy to hear things are moving back in the direction of the original Destiny.

As previously covered, Bungie has major Destiny 2 updates scheduled for February, March, and May, with the last also heralding the start of Season 3 and the launch of the second expansion. However, the “Go Fast Update” will arrive with the 1.1.4 patch dated March 26.

Movement

Character movement has been a constant complaint in Destiny 2 since players first got their hands on the beta. The slower movement combined with downgraded jump abilities has resulted in less exciting gameplay moments, particularly in Crucible PVP. Bungie is currently testing a higher ground speed cap to allow for faster movement speed while also re-tuning the mobility stat.

“In short, everyone gets faster and the high end is higher,” Design Lead Josh Hamrick explained in a Bungie blog post.

This increase in speed extends to the Arcstrider, Sentinel, and Striker abilities. All three see a boost in speed, with the Arcstrider also gaining faster attack and dodge animations, plus an increased range of attack.

Additionally, the jump abilities for all Guardian classes are being re-tuned and buffed to “make them more unique and faster.” There’s no mention of Titan skating returning, but Bungie also plans to fully revert recent changes to the Titan Shoulder Charge.

Supers

Super abilities have also been a sore point for Destiny 2 players as their recharge rates were nerfed enough to make is unlikely to get more than one Super off in a Crucible match. This disappointment extended to PVE activities as well until the addition of Masterwork weapons.

Guardians will enjoy a faster Super recharge rate when the sandbox update is deployed.

This Week at Bungie, we deployed an update to Destiny 2.https://t.co/X93kHVbupf pic.twitter.com/9G74Ph18db

— Bungie (@Bungie) February 1, 2018

PVP

The overall PVP experience is getting a buff to make combat faster and to allow for more powerplays. Power Ammo respawn timers will be reduced for all Quickplay modes along with Survival and Countdown modes. Power ammo counts will be adjusted, and enemy players will drop power ammo on death.

Weapons

Weapons will get some love in the Destiny 2 sandbox update as well, with buffs being worked out for Hand Cannons, Pulse Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, and a few specific weapon perks. Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, and Fusion Rifles are rarely used since being moved into the Power weapon slot and Bungie is attempting to make them more useful.

The Sniper Rifle, in particular, has suffered from a heavy flinch when being shot by enemy players. Hamrick stated a deeply embedded bug is preventing Bungie from properly tuning the weapon class, but explained the developers are working to get that fixed and deployed as quickly as possible.