In Destiny’s latest weekly update, Bungie threw in a major curve ball that will dramatically alter the early game of Trials of Osiris and other 3v3 PvP playlist game types. Snipers, you may want to sit down for this one. Here’s the change via the Bungie Blog:
“How will the February Update change the Special Ammo economy in the Crucible?
Derek: After the update, players will start certain matches without Special Ammo. Once the match has begun, those green Special crates will behave in the same ways you’re used to (although you may be looking for them a bit more).
In which playlists will these changes be part of the new Meta?
Derek: Please don’t say “Meta.”
Meta, meta, meta (deal with it). Where will Snipers be shopping more urgently for their cans of whoop-ass?
Derek: All 3v3 playlists will feature the new Special Ammo behavior. Skirmish, Salvage, Elimination, Trials, and any rotating 3v3 playlists are covered. I will take special care to say that Rumble is not a 3v3 mode, and is safe from this change.”
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Yes you read that right. You will no longer spawn with special ammo to begin any Destiny 3v3 PvP game type, and yes, that does include Trials of Osiris. While players will make due in other 3v3 matches such as Skirmish and Salvage, not spawning with any special ammo in Trials of Osiris is a huge deal.
Most teams have at least one sniper to watch the other team as they funnel out from their spawn into commonly used battle grounds on any given map. Hell, sometimes the whole team just hangs back and snipes. On the flip side, that also means no shotgun rushes either. You’re going to have to duke it out with just your primary weapons to start off the game.
Clearly, the changes to the Last Round perk way back wasn’t enough to curtail the dependence on snipers in Trials of Osiris in Bungie’s eyes. Obviously by removing starting with special ammo all together, players will be forced to use different weapons to begin the match.
Remember however, this change is only for 3v3 types. 6v6 games (Control and Iron Banner for example), will be unaffected. Why you ask? Let Bungie tell you:
“Why not 6v6? People get sniped there too you know!
Derek: There’s no proof of that. No, seriously, there are several reasons to limit this change to the 3v3 modes. First, the larger gametypes are generally less sensitive to initial conditions, which gives us more freedom to have Special Weapons going from the beginning. Also, smaller gametypes like Skirmish are a bit more hardcore, with more weight applied to each player in the match, so we felt we could try pushing Primary weapons for those initial engagements. Conversely, Control is the friendliest place to enter the Crucible, so we wanted to make sure that we don’t present new players with a fundamentally different game than what they’re used to.”
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There you have it! You can expect these changes to roll out with the Destiny February update which goes live on Feb. 9. You can also read the full weekly update which discusses new Freelance PvP game types (no pre-made fireteams), improvements to reduce lag, and bug fixes for King’s Fall.
Are you excited to see Destiny’s PvP shaken up? Or are you going to miss your special weapon early on? Let us know in the comments.
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