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6/9/2016 6:21:38 AM
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Grenades: The Big Issue

[b]TL;DR AND EXACT PATCH REQUESTS AT BOTTOM[/b] You hear often that bungie should nerf a gun, a weapon type, an archetype of weapon. The word OP is thrown around after other words like Doctrine of Passing, Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, or even the very Last of these Words. Guns, guns guns. Everyone wants one gun to be better one gun to be worse. The way I see it, there is a far bigger issue. Personally, I think everything is right where it should be. Snipers are good, but only when the one behind the scope has skill. Last Word is definitely down in the dumps, and it will only win if the user has serious talent. Shotguns can be beat as long as you keep your distance and a steady hand. Doctrine's recoil pattern is all over the place, making it borderline useless even at medium range. But one thing, one thing that has been around forever, has people using it as a crutch wherever they go, whatever they do, whenever they play. Grenades. I will be going in depth about why I consider these grenades to be much too powerful for their own good. And to start, let's begin with the most (in)famous of all. When paired up with Touch of Flame and Viking Funeral, Firebolt Grenades can be a force to be reckoned with, one which can stop you from getting on the battlefield for over 10 seconds. These have been the bane of many teams, and I can personally say that a team of full burn-setup Sunsingers have stopped me from getting flawless multiple times. But this is just the tip of one deadly iceberg. The next step in our discussion will be another powerful Solar grenade, this time exclusively from the Hunter subclass. The Tripmine Grenade has been with all of us since our very first experience in the game, in the halls of the Fallen in the Cosmodrome. Ours, like theirs, will kill a Guardian instantly. As well, combined with Young Ahamkara's Spine, you can set up to 2 tripmines which stay on a surface for nearly a minute. These nasty 'nades have extreme range, and can be survived by only a max-armor spec Striker or Voidwalker with The Ram. The radius of the explosion is massive, and, as well, have stopped a flawless card of mine dead in its tracks on quite a few occasions. The next in our topic is one of the same general family, but quite different in execution and element. Lightning Grenades, like tripmines, are a stick-like construct that is able to be stuck onto any surface, but instead of an instant deadly explosion, they produce a shock at set intervals. These "lightning" bolts can halve a Guardian's health instantly and, if they stick around, put them down for the count. Combined with The Armamentarium, you can block off an entire sightline from any advancement. These, like the tripmines, have a questionably large AoE, making them an overly-powerful tool in an engagement. The next grenade, or should I say grenades, are significantly more used. The term "Wombo Combo" is used to refer to the practice of rapidly putting down a smoke grenade and another 'nade of your choice in the same spot or on top of the same person. This causes nearly-instant (and massive) damage to anyone trapped inside and is used by nearly 100% of Nightstalker Hunters. They, like Lightning or Tripmine grenades, can block off advancement from a certain area, however much more effectively than the first two. They can even be stuck to players, but they won't do nearly as much as our next grenade, or perhaps, family of grenades. Sticky grenades can be used by every class, and are only not present in the Nightstalker, Voidwalker, Striker and Stormcaller subclasses. (Yes, we are counting tripmines as sticky grenades, and they are potentially capable of much more than any other type.) Once thrown, they can gravitate towards their target, stick to them, and explode, causing an instant death. There are some counters, such as Blink or activating super to gain health before the explosion, but otherwise, assure a rapid demise. The final grenade I'm going to talk about is one used exclusively by Bladedancers, and are among the most fearsome of them all. Skip grenades can be thrown against the ground, a wall, the roof, or any other solid object. This causes them to split into 4 trackers and propel themselves at the logical angle after they hit their first mark. These trackers can chase people across the world, biting them with hits the whole time. At the end, a Guardian is left with only around a quarter to a sixth of what they had before. Our next nade, however, isn't about what it lets the other player do to you, it's about what it makes you not able to do. Suppressor nades didn't see a lot of action in the past. Whether it was due to their lack of effect, better alternatives, or simple neglect is quite unknown to me. However, they are a considerable weapon. A grenade can be used to stop double-jumping, gliding, throwing grenades, using melee abilities, or even activating your Super. These effects can last for an extended period of time (exact time unknown) and can even pull you right out of your super. In my opinion, all of these grenades are easily considered overpowered, and need their respective nerfs. (Or we could buff everything else to match their level, but that would require an insane amount of effort, so let's keep it to the nerfs.) Now you may thing I'm about to say "ruin everything and make only other grenades usable." But I would like to think I'm being as reasonable as possible, to make the grenades just as good, but no better, than all the rest. Here is a detailed list, in order of urgency, of what needs to be fixed and how exactly to do it. Firebolts: Put the burn time down to 3-4 seconds, but only put the damage down to 150. You have to sacrifice a lot of things on your skill tree to make this setup, so it still needs to be potentially worthwhile. Tripmines: Make the blast radius a tad smaller and the range as well, but not very much. Nerf the damage down from a one-hit to 170. It's still gonna leave someone extremely vulnerable. Wombo/ Smoke and Nade Combo: Smoke grenade should do absolutely no damage (unless Envenomed is applied) and slow down the affected less than it currently does. It's still possible to die from it if you just wallow in the cloud. Skips: Should only put a player down 120 health. Make the trackers last less time and not track as aggressively. Suppressor: Should last maximum 19 seconds and gets less time the further you are from the center of the explosion. Cannot pull you out of your super when activated. Stickies: Should only put someone down 170 health, Tripmine sticks do the same damage as stated above to the guy who was stuck and anyone otherwise affected. Magnetic grenades should deal 170 on both pulses, making it possible to one-hit if the target doesn't move, however make the second explosive radius much smaller than the initial explosion. Lightning: Severely reduce the radius and range of the grenade. Do not alter damage. Perhaps add a chaining effect with lightning (does significantly less damage, around 60-50), but not necessary. If you read through all that, you are a complete beast. Thank you very much for bearing with me. If you're on the bungie patch team, I highly advise you consider these options. I have put much thought into these recommendations, and I truly believe they are the best way to fix these issues. TL;DR: A lot of grenades need nerfs, but they shouldn't be beat into the ground and left near-unusable like Last Word. Make them just as usable as other grenades.

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  • I read it, and honestly don't quite agree. Yes some of those grenades are "OP" but really we should just be able to buff tgr weaker grenades that can't do much, not nerf the ones that can.

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