‘Destiny’ Shotguns Getting Nerfed Again, Shot Package Perk Being Removed Across The Board


Bungie today announced another update to nerd shotguns in Destiny, despite the massive rebalancing that was done with The Taken King and the 2.0 update. PlayStation and Xbox players have both continued to complain about their overuse and deadliness in Crucible PVP multiplayer, resulting in the complete removal of one of the controversial weapon perks.

The Destiny 2.0.1 update will be released Tuesday, October 13, that will remove the “Shot Package” perk from all shotguns and replace it with another.

“One piece of community feedback that has been unanimous is that the changes to Shotgun perks were not enough to curb their lethality at extreme ranges in the Crucible,” Bungie Senior Designer Jon Weisnewski wrote in the weekly update. “The prevalence of Shot Package on almost every long-range Shotgun has effectively redefined the close-quarters combat experience. Going forward, we’ll continue to dial in Shotgun range.

“With the deployment of Update 2.0.1, we will wholesale remove the Shot Package perk from all Shotguns,” he continued. “Any shotgun with Shot Package (depending on the exact weapon) will now have Close and/or Personal, Crowd Control, or Knee Pads. This change has not negatively impacted our PVE playtests.”

The initial shotgun nerf done in the Destiny 2.0 update reduced the Shot Package accuracy buff by 30 percent and reduced the “Rangefinder” range bonus when aiming down sights (ADS) from 20 percent to 5 percent. The precision damage multiplier for the weapon was also reduced by 10 percent along with the damage done to AI combatants.

The problem with shotguns in Crucible is that players were able to continually reforge weapons prior to The Taken King until they received the “perfect” mix of perks that buffed a weapon its most deadly configuration. “Shot Package” was one of the coveted perks for shotguns along with “Rangefinder.”

Bungie removed the ability to reforge weapons completely with the 2.0 update, but there is still a wealth of older weapons tearing it up in regular Destiny Crucible and some of the new weapons have gotten favorable rolls with “Shot Package” and other perks.

This solution effectively puts “Shot Package” in a timeout so Bungie can further research how to make “Shot Package” effective without making shotguns dominating in PVP multiplayer.

Weisnewski did explain that shotguns will still be effective in Crucible despite the nerf. Maps are built with flanking routes and players often find themselves fighting in small spaces. The removal of “Shot Package” should bring their range down.

News of the shotgun nerf has been positively met by the Destiny community so far. Players in the Destiny Reddit group generally gave it a thumbs up though some hate to say goodbye to the weapons they spent much time reforging to get just right.

Destiny: The Taken King - Shotgun (PlayStation, Xbox)

In other Destiny news from the weekly update, Bungie responded to player complaints about Sleeper Stimulant Exotic Fusion Rifle quest. The weapon was seemingly hyped up prior to the launch of The Taken King with players expecting a massive quest to get a weapon that came close to Gjallarhorn levels of damage output. They even spent hours combing through various parts of Destiny that led to the discovery of a hidden “basketball court” in the King’s Fall Raid that was just an Easter Egg with no loot.

“The response to Sleeper Simulant was humbling because we did not predict the community reaction,” Design Lead Tyson Green wrote. “When we try new things, players often teach us a lesson about how to do it better, and this one has us thinking hard about how Quests communicate their availability. Our challenge is balancing between the secrecy that makes these hunts exciting, and transparency that could spoil the fun for the hunters. As long as the community is giving us feedback, we’ll keep seeking the ideal balance.”

So far, the Destiny 2.0.1 update will include the shotgun nerf and the introduction of micro-transactions via the Tess Everis and her Eververse Trading Company, as was previously covered for Inquisitr. Tuesday is shaping up to be an interesting day for Destiny players to discover the effect of the shotgun nerf and the price of individual emotes.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.

[Images via Bungie]

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