Upcoming “Destiny” update further weakens shotguns

Bungie recently announced that an upcoming update will nerf the most powerful guns in “Destiny.” Prior to the launch of “Destiny: The Taken King,” the power of the game’s shotguns had been greatly reduced, but it seems Bungie is looking to weaken it further.

Next month’s 2.0.1 update will tweak one of the shotgun perks in “Destiny.” According to Bungie senior designer Jon Weisnewski, the Shot Package perk is apparently overpowered.

"The prevalence of Shot Package on almost every long-range Shotgun has effectively redefined the close-quarters combat experience. Going forward, we'll continue to dial in Shotgun range," Weisnewski said.

To fix the issue, every Shot Package perks found on shotguns will be removed. The perk in question will greatly reduce the spread of bullets, meaning it could increase the accuracy of shotgun shells.

It will be replaced by a different perk, depending on the weapon. Possible replacement perks include Close and/or Personal, Crowd Control, or Knee Pads. Bungie is currently testing out the improvements, which hasn’t caused any problems with the game’s player-versus-environment feature.

The removal of the Shot Package is not permanent. It will be placed back into shotguns but Bungie plans on tweaking several of the perk’s stats before re-release. Bungie is also planning on reducing the effective range of the perk.

Just last month, shotguns were already nerfed along with other weapon balance changes upon launch of “Destiny: The Taken King,” Polygon reports. The previous updated tweaked the Rangefinder and Shot Package perk of shotguns.

The Rangefinder perk increases the range of weapons. This perk, partnered with Shot Package and the massive damage caused by shotguns, make up for a very powerful weapon.

Bungie had to nerf the weapon after several player complaints were made. Apparently, several players had taken advantage of the overpowered weapon in the competitive multiplayer mode of "Destiny."

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