I don't know why we can't just comment directly to the weapons patch post, so here it is...
You talk about what your intent is for each type of weapon to be used for each kind of encounter, as directly quoted from your notes post:
AR - "close-to-medium"
Hand Cannon - "close to medium"
Pulse - [nothing useful, my words], according to you, "optimal at medium range, but can still effectively harass enemies at close or long range distances," or in other words, good in ALL situations
Scout Rifles - No comment given, other than "these weapons have not been changed", but we know it's medium-to-long by design
So what's the point? You say we are using Hand Cannons and Auto Rifle too much, which really means from too far away. You want us to have to go into our weapons menu and switch while in combat to change out what weapon we have equipped so that we can hit those buggers who are just outside out newly intended reach... hope we don't die while switching, cuz it could take a while. God forbid you are on a PS3 or 360, cuz it could take a while to even see the weapons in the menu in order to change it out.
Then given the fact that you punish us for the same kind of approach when changing out any secondary weapons or heavy weapons by removing ammo by half and you are actually dictating that we find one gun that works best in all situations for each slot and stick with it. The reason shotguns don't get used more in PVE is because when you switch, you lose ammo. There are plenty of times when I would have taken a shotgun into a fight for a couple of big baddies, but then the loss of sniper or fusion ammo deterred me, not to mention the switching time in the menu. It's clunky, risky and punishes you for switching unless it's in the primary slot.
You are trying to force us to use Pulse Rifles as the all around gun when it just won't work. Make it easier to change weapons for the same slot and you will see more varied weapon usage. Stop punishing people for changing secondary and heavy weapons and you will see more varied usage of weapons. You drive the weapon usage more based on the UI and ammo consequences than just the stats of the weapons.
Suggestions to actually change the usage of weapons:
1) Buff Pusle - doing it in the patch
2) Make same slot weapon changes easier/hot button - Primary for Primary, etc.
-Use a long Square (reload) hold change to the next weapon in the inventory, or the "Alt" position in inventory
-There have been many suggestions about how to implement this, so I trust you to read them
3) Don't punish changing Secondary / Heavy weapons in PVE, as PVP is a different story all together
Unless you do at LEAST #2 above, don't design the game to force us to use your crappy Pulse Rifles as the one-size-fits-all.
One a side note, your changes to Hand Cannons make the Word of Crota's bullet return for crits perk even less reliable. Now, good luck getting three crits in a row. It was really only reliable on bosses, and with the distance nerf for artificially removing crits, even if one should have hit, it will make this proc even less.
Change the UI for easier weapon swapping and remove the ammo punishment for using non-primary variety and you will see more people using more varied options.
HEAR THIS, BUNGIE... You data results should show that most people don't fight at close range, cuz they tend to die more that way. Oh, and I do love the game. I have a Grimoire score of 2675 and counting. I have every exotic weapon in the game except 4th Horseman, and have raided more that I'd like to admit with 3 32's of each class. I want to play and love to play this game, but some of these changes will just reduce my enjoyment of playing, thus I will play less. Think about it.
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I don't agree with what your saying because you aren't acknowledging the special weapon slot. If our only slot was a primary the your argument would make sense to me. If you use a Pistol you can pair it with a sniper or you could pair a scout with a shotgun.... The decision to NOT have a primary that excels in all combat situations is deliberate and completely necessary. Would paper rock Scissor be a game if it was just called rock and that's all anyone used! Also quick switch for weapons in combat? Are you mental? If people could switch their Suros for a last word instantly or a shotgun for a sniper THAT WOULD BE BROKEN AS HELL. No thanks.
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Edited by Sollus91: 2/7/2015 2:50:37 AMI also commented this on a different post. The thing about Pulse Rifles is... They're unnecessary. This whole system of making a weapon type based on a FIRING MODE is stupid. I served in the Army and do you know how many times I've fired an M4 on Burst? Maybe twice, and both times because I was at a range all day and we had to expend all ammo to go home. Seriously. In combat, using a burst firing mode is stupid, on semi-auto you can fire as fast as you squeeze the trigger, and firing in controlled pairs (two rounds) still lets you keep stability and not waste ammo. I can sorta understand Scout Rifles having higher damage (maybe they're a higher caliber?) but it doesn't make that you can't fire them as fast as you want. If anyone understands how an automatic weapon works, they know it has to function quickly or else the gasses will dissipate, so an artificial fire rate is nonsense. I really don't know how much of a difference this 2.5% nerf on Auto Rifles will make, but before they go changing Autos, they really need to look at the other weapons first, and find a really clever reason to keep Pulse Rifles around or just get rid of them entirely. I wonder if anyone who works on Bungie's weapons has actually held a firearm before. If they're gonna make a shooter game and talk about all this "balance" they first need experience operating an actual weapon in real life. EDIT: if they really wanna "balance" things, they should consider a realistic approach: in real life when aiming down sights you focus on the front sight post so both the rear sights and THE TARGET become blurry. That's why you usually don't use pistols, even "hand cannons" on targets further than 30 feet. (Also, the rounds tend to tumble and/or lose velocity and precision.)
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Genius
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How about weapon with a firing selector?
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/SIGN and bump!!!
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