Earlier this month, Destiny received the June update, which brought changes throughout the game but most notably nerfed the Hunter class. Following fan outcry, Bungie took the opportunity to shed a bit more light on why the changes had to be made.
“When one Class becomes the default choice for anyone who wants to do well in the Crucible, we see that as a problem. We chose to bring the Hunters down from their position of dominance because it is our hope that every variety of Guardian will have a fighting chance,” Sandbox Designer Grant Mackey says.
“We’ve seen the common suggestion that we could just add more power to the less successful Classes. Our concern is that this would eventually make the game way too lethal and chaotic overall. We want you to feel powerful when you’re playing Destiny. At the same time, we want to make sure that you still have the time you need to react and make tactical decisions when you are engaged in combat.”
With all this in mind, the Bladedancer and Gunslinger Hunter subclasses were simply too powerful. As can be seen above, prior to the update both subclasses preformed noticeably better than any of the others.
With a few key changes however, namely reducing the Bladedancer’s mobility and altering how the Gunslinger’s grenades work, Bungie hopes the changes will bring more balance to Destiny. While it’s too early to see the long lasting results of the update, Bungie is still tracking the numbers, and promises to let players know more soon.
On an interesting side note, the graph also shows Defender Titans to be performing the worst.
This all comes in the run up to the release of the game’s next expansion, Rise of Iron, later this year. Kicking off Year 3, the expansion will hit PS4 and Xbox One September 20.