Intro

PvP is rarely, if ever, discussed in the TWAB outside of promoting IB events. Posts about PvP on this sub or other forums are rarely, if ever, responded to.

Since Forsaken, there have been 6 updates with a non-trivial effect on the PvP sandbox. I'm going to summarize the updates as concisely as possible and only include things that had and still have a meaningful impact on the Sandbox. I'm also going to focus more on what you'd see in the Competitive playlist, as people generally use the better options for weapons/subclasses since players are trying to win, as opposed to using something "just for fun" in Quickplay where nearly anything can be viable. Each title also includes a link to the associated patch notes if you'd like to re-read them for yourself. So without further ado:

2.0.4 - Oct 16th

• Y2 subclass, exotic armor, and UI bug fixes

2.0.5 - Oct 30th

• Proximity Grenades blast radius nerf for Heavy Grenade Launchers
• Slight full choke nerf
• Dynamo/Distribution nerf

2.1.0 - Nov 27th

• Y2 subclass, exotic armor, and UI bug fixes
• Re-tuned and buffed Spectral Blades super reliability
• SMGs, MGs, high-impact scouts slightly buffed
• Ace of Spades Momento Mori buffed to fully refresh on each kill

2.1.1.1 - Dec 4th

• Chaos Reach early deactivation tuning
• Fixed 150 RPM scout fire rate bug
• Nerfed Gwisin Vest
• Nerfed machine gun scavenger

2.1.1.4 - Jan 29th

• Y1 super/subclass tuning; in summary, it made several weak supers/subclasses decent options, but didn't really change the top-tier options, except:
• Hunter: slight nerf to Blade Barrage; buffed arcstrider's ranged attacks
• Titan: buffed Sentinel super shoulder charge damage; buffed bottom tree Striker super via reducing shoulder charge cost
• Warlock: greatly nerfed Nova Warp super as a whole; buffed Dawnblade duration
• Slight buffs to auto rifles, scout rifles, and sniper rifles; again, this mostly made weak archetypes decent options, but didn't really change top-tier options, except:
• Made MIDA slightly more forgiving; rapid fire sniper rifles can two-shot to the body against any resilience
• Nerfed Telesto and Wavesplitter
• Nerfed the super return for Gwisin Vest and Shards of Galanor
• Increased the spawn timer for heavy ammo in Competitive and Rumble, effectively reducing the amount of heavy ammo available by more than half

2.2.0 - Mar 5th

• Nerfed full auto shotgun fire rate by 90%; slightly increased RoF of shotguns; slightly decreased shotgun damage, which slightly reduced the OHK range
• Fixed two bugs that prevented Momento Mori from applying properly
• Nerfed Titan skating on PC by reducing their max speed when using macros
• Nerfed One Eyed Mask
• Doubled the Glory both gained and lost in the Competitive playlist

Summary

I know this is a just a concise summary of these patch notes but I tried to include as much relevant and impactful info as I could. I realize there's some things I left out or glossed over. But the changes were either so minimal that they didn't have much of an effect, are so underused that they weren't worth including, or are not viable, competitive options.

In summary, the 2nd, 5th, and 6th updates were the only ones that had much of an impact on the Sandbox as a whole. And even then, in the 2nd update - 2.0.5 - the Dynamo/Distribution nerf was the only very impactful change.

Obviously the 5th update - 2.1.1.4 - was the largest sandbox update but let me reiterate what I already said - that update mostly made weak supers/weapons somewhat more viable, but didn't really change the top-tier options (other than nerfing Nova Warp so much that nobody uses it anymore). It also nerfed Telesto and Wavesplitter, along with severly decreasing the amount of heavy ammo in Competitive, which were all highly requested and welcomed changes by the community.

The 6th and most recent update - 2.2.0 - brought some much-needed changes to shotguns, namely nerfing full auto and slightly decreasing the OHK range. It also finally nerfed Titan skating on PC, which had been a major issue since the Go Fast update in March of 2017. It also facilitated the nerf of One Eyed Mask, which had been by far the best Titan exotic since September, and was considered by many to be more overpowered than Y1 pre-nerf Wormhusk. Lastly, it doubled the Glory points both gained and lost in the Competitive playlist, allowing for faster progression if you get on a win streak.

Update Frequency

That was a bit of a lengthy setup to my next point, but I wanted to set the stage as best as possible. Excluding the Dynamo/Distribution nerf in October, the PvP sandbox had the first meaningful and impactful sandbox update on January 29th, which is 21 weeks since the launch of Forsaken on September 4th. The next sandbox update, 2.2.0 released on March 5th, finally addressed full-auto shotguns and One Eyed Mask, which had been running rampant in PvP since Forsaken launched, 26 weeks or 6 months, until they were finally addressed. It also finally addressed Titan skating on PC, which had been an issue for 52 weeks or 12 months.

Overall, the sandbox updates have been generally well done and well received (other than over-nerfing Nova Warp, which I know Bungie will be addressing soon), but the biggest issue is they are very infrequent. Waiting 21 weeks for the first major sandbox update, and letting certain obviously over-powered and over-used things go unaddressed for 26 weeks is simply too long.

Current Plans?

Now, this post is not meant to be an attack or to place blame or anything like that. While we'd certainly like to see more frequent sandbox updates, I think the biggest thing that the community desires right now is some information and some transparency from the Crucible Team. I see jokes along the lines of "lol what Crucible team?!" or "there is no Crucible team anymore" every single day. So let me break this whole post down to a single, important question:

Bungie, what are you currently working on in regards to the PvP sandbox, and when can we expect the next sandbox update?

If that question could be answered in this weeks TWAB, I think it'd go a long way to improving the morale of the PvP community as a whole, which is currently at a very low point and the population is dwindling as a result. If you really wanted to appease the PvP crowd, you could also talk about some other hot topics in the PvP community as well:

• Spectral Blades being by far the best roaming super in the game (very forgiving, a ton of damage resistance, long duration)
• Supers in general being very frequent due to super mods and picking up teammates' orbs, having a ton of damage resistence (which severly limits shutdown potential), and having a long duration
• On Console, non 180 RPM Hand Cannons are hard to use and very inconsistent due to bloom and recoil
• As a result, Luna and Not Forgotten are very commonly used on console; they aren't nearly as used on PC due to not having the same issues mentioned above, so more Hand Cannons are viable as a result
• No suicide penalty in Clash or Control
• Games not offically ending until several seconds after they say they do
• Wardcliff is still by far the best heavy weapon choice - can you reduce it to only 1 shot per ammo pickup?

As outlined above, there's several concerns with the current sandbox. And based on the post-Forsaken track record regarding update frequency, a lot of people, myself included, are expecting these things to go unaddressed for awhile. While the console Hand Cannon bloom/recoil is probably a bigger engine-level issue (but we'd still like it at least talked about!), the other requests seem reasonable enough and in line with what's been addressed in previous sandbox updates.

Why I Care So Much

I'm extremely passionate about PvP in Destiny 2 and I want nothing more than a thriving PvP community that enjoys the Crucible as much as I do. This post isn't meant to be an attack or place blame or anything of the sort. I'm just very passionate about PvP and am a bit frustrated with the lack of updates since Forsaken and especially frustrated with the lack of communication regarding the future of Destiny 2's PvP, and I know a lot of other people are too. Many close friends of mine that also mainly play PvP have moved onto other games, and I'm sure many others can say the same thing.

The biggest news regarding PvP since Forsaken released was that Trials isn't coming back anytime soon, which was a big disappointment to the PvP community. We also haven't received any new maps or game modes (ahem 3v3 elimination ahem). But I truly think some transparency and dialog between Bungie and the PvP community would go a long way in increasing the communities' morale regarding PvP. On a personal level, I understand how priority, timelines, and resourcing works in the world of development, and you may not be able to address as much as you'd like to or do it as quickly as you'd like to. But I'd rather know something, even if that something isn't happening for awhile, than know nothing at all.

Bungie has created an incredible game that is a lot of fun. Myself and many others would just like to see the game improved upon more frequently, so both ourselves and others can find more enjoyment in it as well and help facilitate a large, healthy population of all skill levels.

My Background

I'm an admin of a PvP focused clan on Xbox and we both play and discuss PvP every single day. And between my awesome clanmates, other friends, Twitch streamers, and various forums, we keep a good pulse on the PvP community and have a vast network of players spanning the entire skill spectrum. On a personal level, I play on Xbox and I've obtained every pinnacle PvP weapon from every season, and spend a lot of time both playing and watching other people play in the Competitive playlist, mostly at high ranks.

I'm a firm believer that the PvP sandbox as a whole is put under a magnifying glass in high Comp as players are doing everything they possibly can to win and to get an edge over their opponents. They'll use the best classes, subclasses, weapons, strategies and tactics to try to win, and I personally think that's where the game really shines. Quickplay is fun to hop in with some friends and mess around, but even an average player can make most things viable. It takes a very good player trying their hardest to win to truly shine a light on the state of the PvP sandbox as a whole.

TL;DR

Sandbox updates are generally well done but are too infrequent. There's several issues in the current sandbox (mainly super frequency/power) that many fear will take awhile to resolve, again. Bungie, can you please talk about your current plans for PvP in this weeks' TWAB? And can you please have more frequent dialog with the community regarding PvP going forward?

Thanks for reading, cheers! :)

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