3/26/2023 0 Comments An insurmountable skullfort![]() ![]() Many players hated it, or at least disliked it. Special abilities didn’t do much damage, and ammunition for the best weapons was scarce. Teams were small, and weapon loadouts were limited. At launch, Destiny 2 crucible was unusually well-balanced, but it was also boring. That overzealousness was best exemplified by the studio’s approach to remaking the Crucible as a more grounded, team-oriented affair. Over the past year, the general consensus among Destiny 2 players has been that Bungie was overzealous in its pursuit of balance. Must we covet our mighty treasures while we have them, cherishing these fleeting moments when Destiny is so wild, ridiculous, and fun? Some form of balance is important for any online game, particularly one with such wild sci-fi weaponry and outsized magical abilities. If players could kill too quickly in the Crucible, every gunfight would be mostly decided based on who saw whom first. If players could output enough damage to end every boss fight before it began, no one would actually get to experience fights as they were designed to be played. If every weapon in Destiny 2 destroyed every enemy with a single hit, the game wouldn’t actually be very fun. It’s a thankless task but, of course, a necessary one. If we’re the kids, throwing toys around the playroom and seeing what mayhem we can cause, then Bungie is the parent, periodically shooing us away, surveying the mess, and setting new ground rules. Over the years, Destiny players have been conditioned to expect Bungie to act as the fun police, swooping in to nerf overpowered weapons and abilities for the sake of balance. Among dozens of other bullet-points would be something along the lines of “Ballistic Strike damage radius reduced,” or “Insurmountable Skullfort will now only refresh a portion of melee energy on a kill.” And a million Titan hearts would break, if only just a little bit. I can just picture it: in a week or so, players would wake up to a post on the Bungie blog. This is too fun, isn’t it? Bungie is going to nerf this, aren’t they? I’m having so much fun that, naturally, my first thought is a fiercely protective one. During public events and missions, I’m running around like a maniac, blasting from sky to earth and back again while cackling into my mic. The incredible synergy between the Insurmountable Skullfort and the Striker’s melee abilities has led to some of the most fun Destiny playing I can remember. Fruit in a video titled “The MOST BROKEN LOADOUT in Destiny 2.” Provided you land your attacks, the Skullfort will give you an endless supply of them, as ably demonstrated over the weekend by the always-entertaining Mr. The melee ability, Ballistic Slam, works almost like a mini-super. The Titan Striker’s new tree is called “Way of the Missile,” and it’s all about launching yourself around the map and destroying everything in your path. In Forsaken, all subclasses have gotten a new ability tree built around a new super. One of the armour pieces I brought up was the Skullfort, an exotic-tier Titan helmet that’s designed to synergise with the Arc Striker subclass. In the process I finally “infused” some of my best pre- Forsaken gear, bringing it up to a level that makes it relevant to the new areas and enemies. Last night, I finished Forsaken’s campaign and began to plumb the depths of its considerable post-story endgame. It’s called the Insurmountable Skullfort. The question now is: will things stay this way? Whether you’re using new gear introduced in the expansion or weapons carried over from last year, everything you own is now dramatically more deadly. The overwhelming majority of the changes Bungie made to gun damage, ability damage, weapon perks, armour perks, and loadouts have been in favour of making players do more damage, move faster, and kill enemies quicker. When the base game launched a year ago, players had far fewer ways to feel deadly and powerful, no matter which game mode they were playing. ![]() With the launch of the Forsaken expansion, weapon balance in Destiny 2 has shifted significantly in favour of making players more powerful. ![]() I added a hasty follow-up: “I mean, I hope they don’t!” The words just spilled out before I even realised what I was saying. “They’re totally gonna nerf this,” I said into my headset mic. ![]()
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