I see posts both defending and faulting Bungie for their decision to strip elemental primaries from the game. Here are my thoughts, anyone agree?
Bungie already set the precedent of elemental primaries in year 1 so it's both appropriate and understandable for us to expect them as reward for completing hard mode in year 2. Cacoon is a cool perk but doesn't even compare to elemental damage. Bungie's decision to strip them out tells me that they are intent on making the content as much of a grind as possible (artificially inflating play time) and that they are once again trying to micromanage how we play (more on that in a moment).
Bungie used the same argument about countless other weapons, namely that they fostered elitism. But guess what? I never once missed out on events or activities because I didn't have a Gjallarhorn. I always found good groups to run with and, frankly, wouldn't have enjoyed running with those of the elitist mentality anyway. On the contrary those handful of truly awesome weapons gave us something to grind for. That argument is a cheap cop out on Bungie's part... a lame excuse to nerf/remove content and thereby make end game activities more time consuming. Their obsession with manipulating and controlling how we approach playing Destiny is borderline psychotic. No game should need all the patches and overhauling that we've seen in Destiny. They are clearly bent on micromanaging their player base, which I've had quite enough of.
This is just the latest in a never ending string of missteps... and every one brings me closer to walking away.
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I agree, and honestly the argument that they place higher value on special weapons is pretty much a copout in encounters where you face multiple shield types. Additionally the special weapons are all pretty bad for what I'd call general use. Snipers are super clunky at anything closer than medium-long range, shotguns are useless at anything beyond sword range, and fusion rifles are slow and stop being effective long before sniper rifles start. Additionally, the penalty the game puts on you for switching weapons in a given slot really kills the idea. Primaries are the only ones you can switch and be immediately effective. Specials and Heavy you lose too much ammo switching. Because what do we really do? In a nightfall burn situation we equip weapons that play to the burn. The rest of the time we equip weapons that have the perks we want and ignore elements altogether. I will say that I never liked the fact that for many raid weapons the only thing that set them apart was the elemental damage. I'd prefer they just let us infuse elements into any primary and then it wouldn't be so special anymore.