The Destiny 2 1.1.4 update coming tomorrow will rain buffs upon us, as we noted earlier this month: Faster Crucible respawns, more accessible power ammo, quicker ability cooldowns, and of course upgraded guns—because at the end of the day, it's all about the firepower. In a video released ahead of that update, design lead Josh Hamrick talked a bit about why the studio is taking the game in this direction.
Hamrick summed up the approach by explaining how the team picked out a few weapons that are "kind of hot—probably too hot for D2," as he put it. But instead of nerfing them, which is what would have happened in the original Destiny, the plan now is to "bring everything else to them."
"We've also learned the lesson of, 'Don't sand the coolness down'," Hamrick says. "Leave the jagged spikes of personality in there."
As the "Go Faster" moniker suggests, speed is at the core of the update, which Hamrick says changes the flow of matches and enables "ridiculous plays."
"'Hero moments' are back," Hamrick says. "With the power weapon changes and speed boosts, like they're moving at a million miles an hour and jumping through the air and pulling off headshots—we're gonna see some crazy shit."
It sounds promising, although truth be told I have no complaints with Crucible combat as it stands—and I worry just a tiny bit that any meaningful increase in speed will leave my old bones in the dust. But I also really like the sideways reference to Prometheus Lens near the end of the video, a "broken-as-hell gun" that Bungie deftly turned into a PR coup late last year. At this point (and as Tim recommended in February), "What's the worst that could happen?" is not a terrible approach to take. Who knows? It might pay off.
