Destiny 2 update patch 1.1.4 brings final 4v4 Iron Banner, Crucible changes and boosted PvE damage

In their “This Week at Bungie” blog post, Bungie outlined a number of changes coming to Destiny 2 in the coming weeks with the arrival of patch 1.1.4.

The laundry list of changes include an increase in the player count of some Crucible modes and events, updates to the Crucible formula in general, as well as tweaks to damage and abilities in sandbox.

The majority of the Crucible changes seem to be aimed at trying to smooth out the downtime across all game modes, with more consistent action and less running towards the battle.

Iron Banner has had its player count increased from 4v4 to 6v6, and Rumble – which is equivalent to something like the free-for-all game type in Call of Duty – is adding two more players to the current six.

“When we looked at the core feedback on “Time to Kill” in the Crucible, we saw that it mostly stemmed from a lack of excitement or spikes of intensity you all came to expect from a Destiny experience. This came in the form of feedback that stated the game was too slow, or the core loop was too stale,” said Kevin Yanes, senior Crucible designer, in the blog post.

“We agree, and have worked with Sandbox to increase the pace of the Crucible as a whole.”

To shake up the Destiny 2 competitive Crucible scene, Bungie are removing the tracker from both the competitive playlist and Trials events.

“During development of 1.1.4, we realized that while we’d reduced the ‘Team Shotting’ in Quickplay and Iron Banner effectively, we hadn’t quite done the same to Competitive. Knowing this, we looked for a change that reinforced the following goals: reduce team clumping, reward individual plays, and incentivize flanks,” Yanes said.

“With those goals in mind we looked to take a big step in shifting the gameplay in Competitive and Trials: starting in 1.1.4 we’ve opted to remove the Tracker from all Competitive and Trials game modes.

“This means more communication is required to secure victories in Competitive and Trials matches. It also means that a crispy flank with Power Ammo is all the more powerful.”

The full list of Crucible changes coming with update 1.1.4 is as follows:

• Respawn and Revive were tuned in all game modes
• Player respawn timers for all Quickplay modes have been reduced to 2s.
• Player respawn timers for Survival have been reduced to 7s
• Revive lockout time in Countdown has been reduced to 7s
• Players no longer lose Revive Tokens on death
• Power Ammo respawn timers were adjusted across the board
• Power Ammo respawn timers in Iron Banner have been reduced ~50%
• Power Ammo respawn timers for all Quickplay modes have been reduced ~30%.
• Power Ammo respawn timers in Survival have been reduced ~40%.
• Power Ammo respawn timers in Countdown have been reduced ~25%
• Ammo counts have been adjusted in relation to these timers, and in relation to weapon type.
• In almost all cases weapons either retained the same ammo count or received a buff. Swords and rockets were brought down to stay in line with the rest of the weapon offering.
• Enemy players now drop their Power Ammo on death.

Sandbox

As for sandbox, Bungie are trying to address concerns that the player character didn’t feel powerful enough in the base PvE Destiny 2 experience. Along with the already announced buffs to movement speed, range, jump mobility and attack speed, many weapons and abilities are having their power levels increased.

The full list of new changes is as follows:

Dawnblade has been improved:

• Reduced cost for throwing swords, allowing for one additional throw
• Increased super duration extension gained from “Everlasting Fire”
• Removed all in-air accuracy penalties while “Swift Strike” is active
• Reduced the Icarus Dash cooldown
• Increased the Grenade and Melee energy “Heat Rises” gives you per kill

Invisibility on Dodge / Smoke Updates:

• Invisibility on Dodge no longer breaks Aim Assist or Projectile Tracking in PvP (unchanged in PvE)
• Dodging still breaks both Aim Assist and Projectile Tracking, but only for the duration of the actual dodge
• Increased the duration of Invisibility on Dodge by 1 second
• Increased the duration of Smoke Bomb Invisibility by 1 second

Misc.

• Supers now recharge 1:40 faster, a cooldown reduction of 25%.

• Mods that reduce Grenade, Melee and Class Ability cooldowns have been buffed to allow for up to 2x faster cooldowns.

Pulse Rifles

• Increased PvE damage for all pulses
• Increased rate of fire for adaptive and high-impact pulses
• Increased base damage for adaptive, high-impact, and rapid-fire Pulses
• Increased precision multiplier for lightweight pulses
• Decreased precision multiplier for adaptive pulses
• This keeps precision damage close to where it is now, putting most of the buff into body shots, though it is still an increase in precision damage overall.

Scout Rifles

• Increased PvE damage for all scouts
• Increased base damage for High-Impact Scouts

Hand Cannon

• Increased PvE damage for all Hand Cannons
• Increased precision multiplier for precision hand cannons
• Increased hip fire accuracy on consoles
• Increased ADS accuracy on consoles

Sidearms

• Increased PvE damage for all sidearms
• Increased hip fire accuracy
• Increased ADS accuracy
• Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)
• Increased minimum range
• Added an ADS movement bonus

SMG

• Increased PvE damage for all SMG’s
• Set Optics to 1.3x
• Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)

Linear Fusion Rifle

• Increased PvE damage for all linear fusions
• Increased precision multiplier
• Increased aim assist
• Reduced flinch multiplier

Shotgun

• Increased PvE damage for all shotguns
• Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)
• Increased aim assist for Suros precision shotguns

Sniper Rifle

• Increased PvE damage for all snipers
• Increased precision multiplier
• Increased aim assist
• Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)

Grenade Launcher

• Increased blast radius

Assault Rifles

• Decreased range and aim assist stats for precision autos (Uriel’s Gift). Base damage is not changed.

Bungie first spoke about these new balance updates more than a month ago when they released a development roadmap for the remainder of Destiny’s 2 Season 2 and the start of Season 3.

Towards the end of last year, Bungie drew criticism for implementing hidden cool downs on the amount of XP that players could earn, and communicating updates poorly.

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