Those quotation marks around "nerf" were to demonstrate sarcasm, by the by.
Seriously, have any of you ever done math or played an MMO before? This coming update is not a nerf. It's hardly a change at all.
SUROS Regime Focus Fire Headshot : 35 (6 shots to kill)
SUROS Regime Focus Fire Headshot -2.5% damage : 34 (6 shots to kill)
That is THE SINGULAR most powerful auto rifle in the game, in terms of Impact. No auto rifle can hit for more than 35.
So no auto rifle is losing more than 1 off of its highest damage value in the Crucible. Times to kill will be identical.
The real kicker to this tweak is shortening auto rifle range, not reducing the damage. It will relegate auto rifles to the ranges at which they belonged in the first place. I guarantee you that [b]most of you will notice no difference at all.[/b]
The damage decrease will truly only manifest in PvE, where 2.5% of, say, 465 would actually be a significant figure - but it's still a ridiculously small percentage. 31s doing Crota's End on Hard - you're doing [i]40%[/i] less. And you still kill things.
Auto rifles are almost exclusively used for trash mobs anyway. Bigger enemies have you taking out the sniper or rockets.
Pulse rifles are also not going to become "the new auto rifle".
Back before its most recent update, Red Death could kill in 2 bursts to the head (6 shots - same as the Regime!).
Its damage was for whatever reason decreased and now it takes 3 bursts again. The coming update will push it back over the 2-burst threshold.
Remember that guy who kept kicking your ass with the Red Death? No? Oh, right, it never happened. It was second-rate then and still will be after the patch. But it will be [i]viable[/i].
I want to thank Bungie for finally righting what wrongs there were in terms of balance, but I can't. For one it should have been this way out of the gate, that's why we did the beta. For two, I have my doubts that even this contentious update will be sufficient. Something more extreme may be in order... or else more and more tweaks in small increments.
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Red death has a faster fire rate now though. It will wreck.