The Destiny 2 development team has recently revealed sniper rifles may be receiving another pass of buffs in upcoming patches—but elements of the weapon’s archetype were holding them back from pulling the trigger immediately.
Last week’s final episode of Destiny Massive Breakdowns on July 29 saw original show hosts Mercules and Kyt Kutcha (now both working at Bungie) return to discuss weapon tuning in both PvE and PvP. When pressed about the state of snipers, Bungie weapons designer Mercules couldn’t help but agree they were underwhelming to use.
“I think we can safely say they are underperforming,” Mercules said, pointing out that despite the archetype receiving a 10 percent damage boost in May’s Season 21 update just recently, snipers do still feel lackluster in PvE.
While a further boost to sniper damage would see them rise in popularity, Mercules was quick to add there were limitations for snipers, for one very good reason.
Mercules said the devs were taking time to adjust snipers primarily due to the archetype’s unlimited range. Should snipers become the norm, it would disrupt the delicate balance between archetypes and invalidate other subsets.
Contract tester Kutcha noted snipers, and longer-ranged weapon archetypes as a whole, were one of the first things tested whenever a new activity is created.
When dealing damage at range is added to any Destiny 2 encounter, Kutcha continued, there was always a reason why, such as a mechanic or an element of the map’s design. Taking away such an element would “trivialize” an encounter. “When you can just sit in the back and plink away in safety, why are we even here?”
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Mercules also added buffs to the weapon class would mean buffing the likes of heavy snipers like D.A.R.C.I and Whisper of the Worm, both of which have held stints in Destiny’s past as top-tier boss damage weapons. “If we focus too heavily on buffing snipers, we end up with special weapons that outclass heavy weapons—which is one thing we want to avoid.”
The duo hinted snipers will receive more buffs but none were slated for Season 22’s launch on Aug. 22. Instead, fans should watch for future seasons.
Snipers lay almost unused alongside sidearms right now, according to weapon stats site DestinyTracker. Succession, a Legendary Sniper Rifle that drops via Deep Stone Crypt, is topping the charts but has only recorded a 0.381 percent usage rate in PvE. For comparison, Exotic auto rifles Quicksilver Storm (2.61 percent) and Centrifuge (2.28 percent) top usage charts in this current Destiny 2 season.
They may be a little more than viable in Destiny’s PvP, but it might still be some time before we get to pull our god-roll PvE snipers out of our vault.
Nevertheless, I’m keeping my Cloudstrike dust-free just in case.
