Warning: Wall of text inbound.
Disclaimer: This is not simply a "Crucible sucks and Thorn/TLW are OP nerf now or I quit" thread. I want to draw this community's attention to a problem Bungie saw with the Crucible a long time ago and how they "fixed" the problem.
So I was playing Iron Banner today and was reminded of something from about 8 months ago. Quoted directly from the [url=https://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-Weekly-Update---10172014/en/News/News?aid=12295]Bungie Weekly Update[/url]from 10/17/2014:
[quote]>"There should be no single answer for how to win in Destiny"[/quote]
>Also quoted from the same update:
[quote]>"It turned out that the vast majority of you were, in fact, using the same weapons to turn your enemies into burning cinders to be carried away on the wind"[/quote]
Here's another one:
[quote]"Today shotguns are effective beyond their intended range, especially when upgraded with that intention"[/quote]
One more?
[quote]"We don't want any one Exotic to be the only answer to the question 'what should I bring into PVP.'"[/quote]
These are all things that Bungie set out to fix after an instance of Iron Banner EIGHT MONTHS AGO. This was mainly in response to the slightly overwhelming use and effectiveness of Auto Rifles and the Vex Mythoclast in PVP. And for those of you who remember, this was absolutely true. Auto Rifles were just too effective at extended range, and the Mythoclast was a monster. And so then came the great Auto Rifle nerf which basically sent all your ARs to the vault to collect dust. And lets face it, ARs just aren't viable in the Crucible anymore. Yes, there may be games you've played recently with your favorite AR where you crushed it, but this success is nearly impossible to maintain.
I want to revisit that BWU where they addressed the problem they saw with ARs:
[quote]"The Auto Rifle archetype is designed to appeal to players who like to throw up a wall of bullets and not worry if a few miss their target."[/quote]
We can throw up a wall of bullets, sure, but not worrying if a few miss their target? Forget about it. Miss and you're dead. The time-to-kill (TTK) is just way too high and Thorn/TLW/any shotgun will have gunned you down before you can get back on track. Auto Rifles are supposed to be used at close to medium range, which I whole heartedly agree with. But even with this intention, ARs just aren't viable because just about every close to medium range weapon has a much lower TTK and will outclass the AR at every turn.
So now that I have addressed just how poorly the modifications of ARs met Bungie's actually vision, I want to go back to the first few quotes (seen at the top of the page) from that very same update and make it apparent that even now, EIGHT MONTHS after this update, nothing has changed. The same problems still exist, just manifested in slightly different forms (I think you can see where this is going).
The changes that Bungie has made to the Crucible have not even began to fix the problems they spotted eight months ago. There should be no single answer to how to win in Destiny (quote 1), but there is, especially in the Trials of Osiris. Thorn/TLW/shotgun reign supreme and I don't really think thats debatable, although Im always open to hearing counterpoints. This also ties in perfectly to quote 2. The vast majority of us were using the same weapons back then (ARs/Mytho), and now today we are all still using the same weapons (Thorn/TLW). Eight months ago, shotguns were too effective at an extended range (quote 3). Today, the amount of times you've been sniped by a Party Crasher +1 or Matador are testaments to the fact that this hasn't been changed even slightly (if not made even worse, especially when upgraded with that intention). And finally, quote 4 I think speaks for itself. We don't want any exotic to be the king of PVP, but we all know which two rule supreme.
[url=https://www.bungie.net/pubassets/35453/iron_banner_graph.jpg]This graph[/url] was enough for Bungie to completely rework and rebalance ARs, is [url=http://imgur.com/a/Fg21M)(credit to /u/MKerrsive from his post [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/39aho2/may_2015_crucible_statistics/]this[/url] here not enough to get another reworking?
I want to leave you with just one last thought, again quoted directly from the Bungie Weekly Update from 10/17/2014:
[quote]"Balance is not about everyone being equal, but rather that not everybody is doing the exact same thing. If everyone is doing the exact same thing, something is not balanced. Everybody is trying to pursue the same unbalanced thing"[/quote]
Is this not exactly what the Crucible is now? I love this game and will continue to play it, and whenever I go into the Crucible I will continue to bring my TLW and Thorn and shotguns. I don't know how it can be achieved, but I just want to see a more balanced PVP
TL;DR: Eight months ago, Bungie found ARs were being used too much and didn't want all guardians to use the same weapons. Although the weapons may have changed, the problem is still the same. The Crucible is unbalanced and is ruled by just a few weapons. This post is simply meant to draw attention to the Bungie team's inability to make the significant change that they promised eight months ago. I don't know how to balance the weapons or even where to begin, but I don't want this game to fall into a vicious cycle of PVP being ruled by a few guns, having them nerfed to oblivion only to be replaced by a few different guns and so on and so forth
Edit: formatting
Edit 2: added ([url=https://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-Weekly-Update---10172014/en/News/News?aid=12295]link[/url]for the weekly update Im citing
[spoiler]Ripped directly from this Reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3boax2/i_want_to_draw_attention_to_something_bungie_said/?sort=confidence [/spoiler]
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http://youtu.be/UZ5BpeHVTWY