Yesterday Bungie revealed that they were rolling out a new Destiny patch that would include several nerfs to some fan-favorite weapons. While fans are used to this occasional tinkering by the developers, not everyone was excited when they found out that two of the targeted weapons were the Thorn and Gjallarhorn. Having the potency of two of the most coveted weapons in Destiny reduced is not something fans ever wanted to hear. Needless to say, this change is being met with opposition.
For Thorn, the nerf is pretty straight forward and you can make the case that Bungie is getting it right with this one. It is one seriously powerful hand cannon that has the ability to decimate anyone with ease. Its Mark of the Devourer perk was enough to piss off even the most seasoned of PvP players. Two shots from this difficult to obtain exotic was all that it took to eliminate anyone foolish enough to cross a guardian’s path, and that was something many fans were split over.
On one side you have those who worked hard to obtain Thorn. It is the hardest exotic bounty to complete, especially if you aren’t very good at the Crucible component of Destiny. It’s one of the only guns in Destiny that you really have to earn and isn’t based on luck. The difficulty of completing all of the required tasks initially turned people off to the end reward. After a small buff though, Thorn eventually became an absolute beast in PvP worthy of the trials players faced.
On the other hand, you have those who don’t have the weapon who feel it is way too powerful and unfair. So nerfing this weapon was an attempt to find a middle ground; one where the weapon is still powerful yet more fair and balanced.
For Gjallarhorn, this may be the first time that Bungie took a look solely at PvE before tuning down a weapon. The developers noticed that groups in Destiny were excluding players who didn’t have this powerful exotic rocket launcher in their arsenal. Naturally, the team didn’t want their online game to promote exclusive behavior so they felt the proper approach to take was to weaken the weapon so that it would no longer be a factor in putting together fireteams. The issue here is that Bungie may not have fully considered why the behavior became so popular in the first place.
There is a reason why players seek out those who have the Gjallarhorn. It’s because this rocket launcher is one of the very few weapons in Destiny that actually pulls its weight against the bullet sinks Bungie has created for their boss encounters. Gjallarhorn became a solution to an issue that has existed since the alpha days of Destiny by pure necessity.
As fans know, the endgame of Destiny is a set of different challenges for high level guardians to participate in. Strike playlists, Nightfall strikes, Weekly Heroics, Raids, and Prison of Elders, are all activities that ask for each guardian that enters to give their very best. Hordes of enemies, environmental challenges, huge bosses, and the need for teamwork are all elements that lend to the strict nature of each of these activities, mostly to fan praise. There is nothing like having something in a game that offers some serious difficulty for players to test their maxed out characters against.
But, things started to grow a bit sour when Destiny players realized that there was a pattern among the boss level enemies in the game. They all had a ton of HP. Even if you figured out the ins and outs of every single encounter, fights were reduced to a chore of slowly whittling down the health bar of whatever major boss (or Devil Walker) you happen to be facing. It’s no secret that Destiny isn’t known for being a game with a lot of content to offer, so to face the same chore over and over as you grind for specific drops was difficult to stomach.
That’s when fans started figuring out quicker ways to do things. Some of these were exploits that removed all of the challenge from the game and were promptly addressed, but others involved figuring out the tools Bungie offered players. It turned out that one of the best tools in the game was the elusive (if you didn’t buy it during the second Xur appearance) Gjallarhorn.
Here was a weapon that felt like it deserved the exotic title. Compared to the other exotic rocket launchers and the heavy machine guns it stood head and shoulders above the rest as a damage dealing behemoth of a weapon. It’s ability to lock on to targets was welcome, but it was the Wolf Pack Rounds that made this weapon a true godsend to those who just didn’t want to waste time on bullet sink bosses.
That power however would eventually be its undoing.
For many, Gjallarhorn is the very answer to the exceedingly large health pools allotted to Destiny‘s toughest aliens. Taking down enemies in a much quicker fashion meant they could start another activity that much sooner. Of course, there were those who felt that was the easy way out, but it was still an option for guardians looking for one.
Unfortunately, this led to the practices that Bungie was forced to address. The game they created was made for people to play together, whether that be with friends, new people you meet in the social spaces, or elsewhere online. The fact that a large amount of players were barring access to their team if someone didn’t have a fully upgraded “gally” didn’t fit in with that plan, so they did the only they they felt they can do, even the playing field. While that may remove the exotic rocket launcher from being a requirement to playing with new people in Destiny, it may prove to only be a temporary fix.
The Gjallarhorn was an answer to a PvE problem that existed since day one, nerfing it doesn’t change that. Fans will figure out another weapon that fills the need, and Gjallarhorn will just be replaced by another name. It’s a cycle that won’t stop until the real issue for players is addressed. Removing the appeal from one of the few exotics worth having anymore isn’t the answer, even if Bungie’s goal was a noble one.
Bungie is solving one problem that stemmed from a completely different one. In order to truly remove the chance of these types of practices cropping up within the Destiny community, the root of the problems must be addressed. A game that relies on creating enemies who take forever to kill in order to create a challenge is the biggest issue when it comes to weapon selection. Game developing is hard, creating a challenge that everyone can enjoy is doubly difficult. But, the developers need to find a way to make something challenging and engaging while also not relying on creating bullet sponges to create a false sense of urgency.
While the nerfing of Thorn definitely hurts those who’ve put in the time and effort to obtain it, it does fix the issue many fans had with the weapon with sound reasoning. It affected an entire game mode, and by adjusting it they managed to find an actual fix right at the core. That just isn’t the case with the Gjallarhorn.
It’s definitely good to see that the devs care enough about the experience to risk the vitriol of nerfing one of the best PvE weapons (if not the best) in all of Destiny. Credit must be given to the team, but the issues found in the game cannot be ignored either. If they are, you can be sure that another patch, just like this one, will have to be issued as fans discover a brand new ultimate weapon.
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