Year 1 vs Year 2 weapon testing

[Sennex 1,909]

https://www.reddit.com/r/CruciblePlaybook/comments/3k8u4t/year_1_vs_year_2_weapon_testing_extensive/

 

This thread is huge, not even going to try to cut and paste all the links or tables

 

This is not comprehensive by any means, but I primarily wanted to compare some of my favorite weapons before and after the 2.0 rebalance, and this is the result of my efforts. This has taken about 8 hours altogether to create, assemble, edit, upload, and then format into a reddit post, so I hope you find it useful.

 

First of all, there's a YouTube video here: Year 1 vs. Year 2 Weapons Testing [2]

 

It shows:

Shot package compared on the Matador 64 before [RES ignored duplicate link][3] and after [4]

 

Recoil on the High Impact Pulse Rifle Holy Trinity: Super Pox VLO with Perfect Balance, Hopscotch Pilgrim with Braced Frame, and The Messenger with Perfect Balance before [5] and after [6]

 

The most pronounced difference can be seen by trying to snipe beyond normal range with these three weapons, before [7] and after [8]

 

Hopscotch was dethroned by changing archetype. Lest you think the remaining two contenders have been made unusable as headshot machines, they haven't [9] . The Messenger is only slightly less stable than this.

Perfect Balance as it pertains to auto rifles [10] .

 

Thoughts:

 

Widening shot package by 30% has had hardly any effect at usable ranges. Reports of shotgun sniping's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Suggestion to Bungie: Remove shot package altogether from the Felwinter's/Matador archetype. Have it widen by 30% on the Comedian/Hard Luck Charm archetype. Leave it at full effectiveness on the Secret Handshake/Dry Rot archetype.

Super Pox VLO with Perfect Balance is now the most stable high impact pulse rifle in the game. Its advantage over The Messenger is much less pronounced than pre-2.0, but it's still just enough to be felt.

 

Bungie pretty much achieved their stated aim. You can still crush things with the HIPRs, but now you'll need to finesse your aim just a bit rather than put your sights on someone's head and pull the trigger to win.

 

Hopscotch Pilgrim is largely unchanged except that it now fires faster and does less damage; it's been dethroned by virtue of moving to a different archetype. This makes sense. Base stability and Perfect Balance being nerfed brought Super Pox VLO and The Messenger down a peg, but left them still highly dangerous in skilled hands. They're around where Three Little Words used to be. Braced Frame wasn't getting nerfed. By virtue of that, Hopscotch Pilgrim was going to be a monster going forward if it wasn't directly addressed.

 

Secret Round used to only activate and fire the fourth round on a miss if at least one round had struck an enemy. Now it activates even if you hit nothing.

 

Auto rifles with Perfect Balance are actually more controllable now. The stability bonus is less than it was, but Perfect Balance seems to now alter the recoil pattern to straight up. The net result is they're easier to control under sustained fire despite less stability.

 

Screenshot comparison on the nerf of some Year 1 perks:

 

Super Pox VLO with Perfect Balance Year 1 [11] vs. Year 2 [12]

 

Hopscotch Pilgrim with Braced Frame Year 1 [13] vs. Year 2 [14]

 

The Messenger with Perfect Balance Year 1 [15] vs. Year 2 [16]

 

Shadow Price with Hammer Forged Year 1 [17] vs. Year 2 [18]

 

Payback SOS with Perfect Balance Year 1 [19] vs. Year 2 [20]

 

Payback SOS with Hammer Forged Year 1 [21] vs. Year 2 [22]

 

Payback SOS with Field Scout Year 1 [23] vs. Year 2 [24]

 

The Comedian with Field Scout Year 1 [25] vs. Year 2 [26]

 

Secret Handshake with Hammer Forged Year 1 [27] vs. Year 2 [28]

 

Jolder's Hammer with Field Scout Year 1 [29] vs. Year 2 [30]

 

Thunderlord with Field Scout Year 1 [31] vs. Year 2 [32]

 

Thunderlord with Perfect Balance Year 1 [33] vs. Year 2 [34]

 

Plug One.1 with Send It Year 1 [35] vs. Year 2 [36]

 

Give/Take Equation with Enhanced Battery Year 1 [37] vs. Year 2 [38]

 

MG18A Harm's Way with Field Scout Year 1 [39] vs. Year 2 [40]

 

MG18A Harm's Way with Perfect Balance Year 1 [41] vs. Year 2 [42]

 

Vision of Confluence with Perfect Balance Year 1 [43] vs. Year 2 [44]

 

Comparison of some of these weapons to each other or House of Wolves weapons to better visualize the change

 

Super Pox VLO with Perfect Balance vs. Hopscotch Pilgrim with Braced Frame Year 1 [45] vs. Year 2 [46]

 

The Messenger with Perfect Balance vs. Hopscotch Pilgrim with Braced Frame Year 1 [47] vs. Year 2 [48]

 

Matador 64 with Rifled Barrel vs. Invective with Send It Year 1 [49] vs. Year 2 [50]

 

MG18A Harm's Way with Perfect Balance vs. Unending Deluge III Year 1 [51] vs. Year 2 [52]

 

Plug One.1 with Send It vs. Give/Take Equation Year 1 [53] vs. Year 2 [54]

 

Secret Handshake with Hammer Forged vs. Matador 64 with Rifled Barrel Year 1 [55] vs. Year 2 [56]

 

Vision of Confluence with Perfect Balance vs. Zero Point LOTP with Braced Frame Year 1 [57] vs. Year 2 [58]

 

Thoughts:

 

Invective dodged the Send It nerf. It still has maximum shotgun range on two out of the three ammo perks when using Send It.

Matador 64 had a stealth stability nerf. Stability is half what it was before. It gained one extra round in reserve, though. You can now carry 20 rounds for it without a special ammo armor perk instead of 19.

 

Aggressive Ballistics appears to have gotten a stealth range nerf on machineguns. Notice in the drop in range on my AB-equipped Unending Deluge III vs. the same-archetype MG18A Harm's Way with different ammo between year 1 and year 2. The drop in range is slightly greater in year 2.

 

Enhanced Battery had a stealth nerf. It now only boosts a fusion rifle's magazine to 6 shots instead of 8.

 

As mentioned above, I'll need to do more testing to be sure, but Perfect Balance seems to have inherited Counterbalance's recoil straightening despite losing some of its stability bonus. Depending on the weapon, this ranges from no effect (Super Pox VLO) to a stark improvement (Payback SOS).

 

Field Scout no longer grants a larger magazine, but it does still max out spare ammunition capacity on primary and secondary weapons. See Comedian Year 1 [59] vs. Year 2 [60] . It can only hold the standard 5 rounds now instead of 7, but its total capacity remains at 28. Spare ammunition capacity has been cut as well for heavy weapons though; machineguns will no longer hold the maximum amount of ammo without the heavy ammo armor perk.

 

The vendor Secret Handshake's viability in Crucible has been slain by the Hammer Forged nerf. It has been a solid quick-firing alternative to the Felwinter's archetype thanks to Field Choke + Shot Package + Hammer Forged. Now? It needs Field Choke and Hammer Forged just to reach The Comedian's base range. Flip it over, it's done.

 

Shadow Price with Hammer Forged still has range that is nuts even after the damage falloff and Hammer Forged nerfs. Toland the Shattered's personal auto rifle indeed.