PvP Tuning - What's in flight?

Hey all,

Over the last few weeks, we've been watching (and engaging with) combat in the Crucible and taking some notes.

We've recently taken a pass on Bolt Charge due to higher damage than intended in PvP, and are just about to release (or already have depending on when you read this) some changes for Redrix's Estoc, Lightweight Pulse Rifles, On the Prowl, and Smoke effects. We have a few more weapons and abilities to tune, and we wanted to give an early heads up on where our heads are at.

1. Warlock "Snap Skating" is an unintended movement technique that gives players some great advantages in map control and general movement during combat. While this can be enjoyable (and fun to master), this presents some rough balance issues within the PvP space - not just 3v3 modes, but 6v6 as well. Additionally, this is creating issues with readability of opponents mid combat; Guardian bodies can become warped/stretched when skating, making it very difficult to fight opponents mid-skate. In a future patch, we plan to address this.
2. The Closing Time perk grants some great stats when your magazine is low, especially when enhanced on Special ammo weapons. As players always spawn in with low special ammo (for now wink wink), these stat buffs are almost always on in the Crucible, making various weapons perform a bit too well in 1v1 combat. Zealot's Reward, as an example, can hit some pretty far ranges thanks to this perk and the "always on" nature of its functionality. We plan to tune this perk, specifically on special weapons (like we have done with other perks), in a future patch.
3. Tommy's Matchbook has become a frequent conversation among our online community, and rightly so! For many years, this weapon has been a bit of a sleeper in terms of the strength of its baseline improved hip fire functionality. With the recent changes to Radiant Dance Machines, we're seeing more Hunters pulling this exotic out for some silly hip-fire-only builds. Like we did with DMT and TLW, we're going to tune this interaction in 8251, and will have more details in a future TWID. We will also be re-enabling DMT and TLW to interact with RDM with a much more limited set of buffs that do not increase range but still provide them with some amount of increased accuracy.
4. Radiant Dance Machines have surged in popularity in Crucible since the rework, but the increased usage has not been unilateral. In fact, we're seeing nearly three times the adoption on MnK compared to controller. After the recent issue with Lodestar's hip fire precision aim assist being significantly higher on MnK (Mouse and Keyboard) than controller, we dug deeper into Radiant Dance Machines setup and realized that the same issue is present, albeit in a less significant amount. In 8251, we will be normalizing the precision angle threshold bonus provided by the accuracy buff between controller and MnK when using RDMs, and have also corrected the issue in a few other places that it could appear, for example the Legacy frame intrinsic perk on Estoc and BxR. This will reduce the ease of getting critical hits when hip firing on MnK when paired with one of these items, and should bring the effectiveness more in line with controller.
5. Regarding Lighting, we've been watching the conversation around our recent Trials weekend featuring Solitude. There are a few spaces on the map, doors specifically, where players can feel blinded by exterior lighting, or have difficulty identifying enemy barricades due to the warm lighting of Mars. As such, this map won't be featured in Trials for the remainder of the season. We're also looking at examples of other maps having rough spots where it can be hard to see. While we can't promise immediate action or changes, we're looking to get some bugs filed for future opportunities to either tune the lighting or make changes to help combat in those spaces.

We're continuing to monitor various strategies and weapons within PvP and will provide additional details for future tuning passes when we can!

Hey all,

Over the last few weeks, we've been watching (and engaging with) combat in the Crucible and taking some notes.

We've recently taken a pass on Bolt Charge due to higher damage than intended in PvP, and are just about to release (or already have depending on when you read this) some changes for Redrix's Estoc, Lightweight Pulse Rifles, On the Prowl, and Smoke effects. We have a few more weapons and abilities to tune, and we wanted to give an early heads up on where our heads are at.

1. Warlock "Snap Skating" is an unintended movement technique that gives players some great advantages in map control and general movement during combat. While this can be enjoyable (and fun to master), this presents some rough balance issues within the PvP space - not just 3v3 modes, but 6v6 as well. Additionally, this is creating issues with readability of opponents mid combat; Guardian bodies can become warped/stretched when skating, making it very difficult to fight opponents mid-skate. In a future patch, we plan to address this.
2. The Closing Time perk grants some great stats when your magazine is low, especially when enhanced on Special ammo weapons. As players always spawn in with low special ammo (for now wink wink), these stat buffs are almost always on in the Crucible, making various weapons perform a bit too well in 1v1 combat. Zealot's Reward, as an example, can hit some pretty far ranges thanks to this perk and the "always on" nature of its functionality. We plan to tune this perk, specifically on special weapons (like we have done with other perks), in a future patch.
3. Tommy's Matchbook has become a frequent conversation among our online community, and rightly so! For many years, this weapon has been a bit of a sleeper in terms of the strength of its baseline improved hip fire functionality. With the recent changes to Radiant Dance Machines, we're seeing more Hunters pulling this exotic out for some silly hip-fire-only builds. Like we did with DMT and TLW, we're going to tune this interaction in 8251, and will have more details in a future TWID. We will also be re-enabling DMT and TLW to interact with RDM with a much more limited set of buffs that do not increase range but still provide them with some amount of increased accuracy.
4. Radiant Dance Machines have surged in popularity in Crucible since the rework, but the increased usage has not been unilateral. In fact, we're seeing nearly three times the adoption on MnK compared to controller. After the recent issue with Lodestar's hip fire precision aim assist being significantly higher on MnK (Mouse and Keyboard) than controller, we dug deeper into Radiant Dance Machines setup and realized that the same issue is present, albeit in a less significant amount. In 8251, we will be normalizing the precision angle threshold bonus provided by the accuracy buff between controller and MnK when using RDMs, and have also corrected the issue in a few other places that it could appear, for example the Legacy frame intrinsic perk on Estoc and BxR. This will reduce the ease of getting critical hits when hip firing on MnK when paired with one of these items, and should bring the effectiveness more in line with controller.
5. Regarding Lighting, we've been watching the conversation around our recent Trials weekend featuring Solitude. There are a few spaces on the map, doors specifically, where players can feel blinded by exterior lighting, or have difficulty identifying enemy barricades due to the warm lighting of Mars. As such, this map won't be featured in Trials for the remainder of the season. We're also looking at examples of other maps having rough spots where it can be hard to see. While we can't promise immediate action or changes, we're looking to get some bugs filed for future opportunities to either tune the lighting or make changes to help combat in those spaces.

We're continuing to monitor various strategies and weapons within PvP and will provide additional details for future tuning passes when we can!