I acknowledge that by posting here I lose all legal ownership to the ideas posted here. I renounce all rights to the IP presented in this blogpost. [b]First step: Slot and Element agnosticism[/b] Merge the 3 3x3 inventory slots into one 3x9 grid and let us carry any combo of 2-3 weapons into activities. Merging the slots and allowing 2 weapons per loadout would allow each loadout to feel more custom as well as leaving space for more loot when grinding before resorting to the postmaster. Machinegun and a Rocket Launcher, Two Primaries, three special weapons...but hopefully that distinction won't be a thing much longer either. [b]Second step: One ammo bar[/b] There have been people calling for a return to primary ammo from Destiny 1, but it doesn't solve the issue of the underperforming weapons or the guns that feel somewhere between special and heavy. Alongside the ammo generation stat that all weapons now have, all guns would have an ammo use stat as well. While it's still going to be useful to think in old terms like primary, secondary and heavy slot for the sake of this post, assume more nuance as this frees us up to have different varieties in-between.These two changes combined should be the base for a new sandbox with some familiar loot and some that look familiar but play differently. [u][b]New Weapon Ideas[/b][/u] [b]-Precision-Frame Trace Rifles[/b] They fire a bit like the alt-fire mode on devil's ruin or like 1k voices but without the explosions. The first weapon with a built-in lasersight that indicates the element of the weapon, precision frames do good damage if you are able to leave the burst on the enemy's crit spot for the duration, but do poor damage to body and unmatched shields. They fill a niche of a special-ammo pulse rifle, reaching out and hitting mid to long range enemies so long as you can manage the (fairly low) recoil and enemy tracking. [b]-Area-Denial Rocket Launchers[/b] A bit like a legendary Dragon's Breath, these weapons act a bit like special ammo rocket launchers but are a go-to for sustained damage instead of burst damage and can be pressed into a ad-clear role if the fight isn't going well. [b]-Hybrid Heat Weapons[/b] These are envisioned as being staged or magazine-reloaded weapons with small magazines that represent some section of a heat gauge that only overheat in sections. So if the capacity is 5, then you can fire up to 19% until there's no going back. Once you overheat the first shell, reloading takes from your ammo bar. Therefore, these guns can be used for light ad-clear with no penalty but then turn around and deliver big burst damage to a miniboss. [b]-Hitscan Rocket Launchers[/b] I don't know how this would play out in PvP, but I think it would be interesting to have a class of rocket launcher that has hypervelocity rockets. Something that could just cause a section of the boss or arena to explode suddenly. Maybe the balancing factor is explosion radius or it cannot 1-shot or maybe its that you have to detonate it manually like a trap. They're distinguished by the warhead being on the front of the gun like an RPG-7. [b]-High-Impact Trace Rifles[/b] Special characteristics are a propensity to being chainsaw grip weapons. These have a bit of charge time and shoot considerably slower streams with a bit of projectile fall. Think flamethrower but with the ability to use other elements. This is what area denial frames should have been. They can end up leaving pools on the battlefield and damaging targets with damage over time. An excellent tool for warlocks who want to spread effects across the battlefield and hunters who want to buy some space or stun bosses for precision hits. Uses and produces ammo like a machinegun. [b]-Lock-on Frame Fusion Rifles[/b] You do the most damage when all eight locks are engaged, but you can fire it early to only hit with a few of the wiggly rounds characteristic of support-frame auto rifles. I think this would be a good change in general for adaptives since they don't have much going for them. Being able to press them into an ad-clear roll or do decent DPS would be interesting in boss fights with a lot of ads that share the arena with you and try to throw your sights off (Golgoroth, Hefnd's Vengeance, etc) [u][b]Archetype Changes[/b][/u] [b]-Troop Rifles[/b] As a gun pervert, the more I think about the fact that a weapon's status as bullpup or not determines whether it fires in bursts or full auto makes no damned sense. Especially after the release of the Choir of One, I have been daydreaming about a combined class of weapons that fires in full auto when hip fired or when taking a knee and burst when ADS or standing up (or maybe alt-reload since there aren't that many exotics that are in the affected categories). Between high-impact, precision, support frame, adaptive and rapid-fire autos and heavy burst, high-impact, adaptive, aggressive burst and rapid fire frame pulses that's 25 combinations, nearly as many as there are weapon foundries (according to my own weird tabulations). It means that Hive Troop Rifles may be the only way to get a support frame (600 rpm) auto mode and an adaptive burst mode (390). This makes the loot much more varied and produces a weapon that dominates the midrange combat scenarios. [b]-Scout Rifles[/b] What would a special ammo scout look like? A primary ammo sniper? Why are these separate gun types? Let's merge them and use their capabilities to determine whether they produce more ammo than they use (primary equivalent) or use more than they produce (special ammo). If this seems too redundant or a loot table seems to have too many redundancies (Last wish, King's Fall, DSC) then one or the other can be converted into a Linear Fusion or Precision Frame Trace Rifle. Also, even though it's somewhat taxing on resources, I think dual-rendered scopes are cool as hell. If any set of weapons deserves this unique quirk, it's these guys. Slug Shotguns might be a good addition to this group since there are so few frame types for the snipers. Heavy Snipers may be single-shot or bolt action, or may require the entire barrel be replaced. [b]-Scatterguns[/b] While spread-shot hand cannons are kinda cool, they seem like a lacking solution to the question posed during The Craftening; what if a shotgun fired real fast? Ever since seeing my Ammit AR4 fire like an AA-12 and melt minibosses, I have been eager to see it become an official archetype. So I think if we nerfed the rapid fires and gave them characteristics like a primary-ammo weapon, it might fulfill the AA-12 fantasies. They will be easily readable as having box magazines or maybe even belt-fed for the heavier ones (ones with special or heavy-ammo characteristics). Lightweight Frames are usually Revolvers or Semi-auto and Precisions are easy to distinguish with their lever actions. Aggressives are usually deliberate pump actions. Anything more specialized may have a revolver cylinder that is replaced completely on reload and fire multiple rounds through multiple barrels per trigger pull or be Heavy shotguns with a break action or a falling-block single shot. [b]-Directed Energy Weapons[/b] I'm tempted to say that the rapid-fires should also have primary ammo characteristics like the scatterguns and nerf their dps and one-burst kills. If that were the case, every other frame should probably get a charge time buff. I don't get why precision frames exist when linear fusions also exist. Why can't we have Special Ammo Linears (besides exotics like Arbalest and Lorentz Driver)? Why can't we have heavy fusions (besides 1k Voices)? I think there's space for these and more; kinetic fusions (heavy and special) and even Trace Rifles (that fire in a non-visible spectrum, a stealthy suprise). [b]-Personal Defense Weapons[/b] If a sidearm is a single shot, why shouldn't it hit like a handcannon? If a handcannon fires in bursts, is it any different from a burst sidearm? If a sidearm fires full-auto (rapid fire frame), doesn't that make it an SMG? I'd like to see single-shot pistols hit like 180 RPM hand cannons, Heavy burst, adaptive burst sidearms and heavy burst hand cannons merge and rapid-fire sidearms start to emulate the slowest-firing smgs. Or alternatively, the fastest-firing ones since that imitates real life a bit better. This new class of weapons would be considered PDWs and all grouped together when considering mods from the artifact (if that system still exists in D3). These weapons are also going to have the best characteristics with regards to ammogen and use to the point of still being infinite ammo. This would also be the ones to pick from for dual-wielding, whether it be because you got two of them to drop exactly the same (down to the barrel and mag perks) or because they introduce an exotic. Dual wielding would lock you out of using your grenade and melee, but would double your damage, your reload time and how much ammo you use to reload both weapons while not allowing you to ADS. But short of a shotgun, it would be hard to lose a gunfight in the shortest ranges. [b]-Heavy Weapons[/b] Grenade launchers and rocket launchers should cause gore and "gibbing" like a cursed thrall explosion. A treat for the aging audience of the game. Machine guns should be easy to point out from the number of barrels they have, the rapid fire frames having the most, then the aggressives having five, the adaptives having three and the High-impacts having reciprocating barrels to add to the visual flair. [b]-Antiquities[/b] Bows could stand to be buffed a quick-scoping weapon for short to medium-range anachronisms. They ought to use a good bit of ammo, but that ammo is retrievable by pulling it out of the target the way crossbows work right now. Glaives should probably be heat weapons or something, but they are in a decent place right now. Maybe it would feel better if they looked more like a gun with a bayonet on it than a spear with a gun in it.