Exotic Changes Coming To Destiny 2 With Season Of Opulence

Last week Bungie announced that a number of changes are being made to Exotics with the next season, Season of Opulence. These changes haven’t been very well received by the community so far, but they’re an important part of Bungie preserving all of their game modes. Without changes like these Gambit and the Crucible would be dominated by a few weapons, as was the case so often in Destiny 1. Let’s dive in and see which Exotics are changing to help preserve fair play in Destiny 2.

Whisper of the Worm

This Sniper Rifle already saw an adjustment with Season of the Drifter, but the fact that it’s still able to generate Power ammo out of nowhere makes it a real asset to any Guardian’s arsenal. Bungie say that they’re changing Whisper of the Worm because, while it’s novel and fun as an Exotic, it bypasses the ammo economy. Anything Bungie did in the past to change Sniper Rifles in general because of Whisper of the Worm just punished everything but it, so now White Nail will pull ammo from your reserves and load Whisper of the Worm, instead of generating ammo. Reserve ammunition for the weapon has been increased to 18 to compensate for the loss, and that’s without other perks.

Sleeper Simulant

Bungie have already altered the bounce shot damage from Sleeper Simulant on a number of specific enemies, but now that reduction is being applied to the weapon as a whole because it’s still too damn powerful. The issue is that the difference in damage between a precision shot from the weapon, and a bounced shot that penetrates an enemy, is just too damn big. Making changes to the weapon now, rather than even more enemies, will allow for a much more balanced Exotic in the long run. As a result the ricochet/bounce damage from Sleeper Simulant is being reduced, and non-precision shots are much more forgiving. Precision damage is largely unchanged.

Lord of Wolves

Season of the Drifter buffed all Shotguns massively, and Lord of Wolves benefited from that. Bungie say that this made the weapon more popular, but Guardians are overall a bit annoyed when using it because they can’t control their ammo consumption. The issue is that having the perk, Release the Wolves, activate on every shot simply blasts through everything a Guardian is holding. As a result damage is being nerfed, but it’ll be possible to switch between the two core modes of the weapon. PVE damage for Lord of Wolves has been reduced by 20 percent, and Release the Wolves now no longer activates automatically on a kill, but in fact activates when holding reload.

Ace of Spades

Ace of Spades is just popular, it always has been. Bungie say that the combination of perks makes it far too powerful and advantageous compared to other weapons. So now Memento Mori will end when Ace of Spades is stowed, meaning that Guardians need to make a choice every time as to whether they need that perk active. The PVP damage bonus from Memento Mori has been slightly reduced to stop Guardians killing others in two shots with Vengeance active on the Exotic Helmet, One-Eyed Mask. Bungie actually point out that if a Guardian has four Resilience then they’ll survive the shot, but not otherwise. Finally Memento Mori is now active for six shots instead of five.

Exotic Armour

A number of Exotic Armours have become the go-to choices because they help recharge your Super much faster. In fact they’re so powerful that taking on an activity without a Guardian in the fireteam having one will make it automatically harder. Examples Bungie gave of these Exotics are; Orpheus Rigs, Phoenix Protocol, and Skull of Dire Ahamkara.

Now Skull of Dire Ahamkara, Orpheus Rigs, and Phoenix Protocol will now will now give you back Super energy with diminishing returns, making it far rarer that you get a Super back right after using one. Shards of Galanor and Ursa Furiosa have also seen their Super regeneration reduced to bring them inline with other Exotics.

The energy you get from Gwisin Vest has been reduced to 8 percent from 15 for killing one to two Guardians. When killing three or more Guardians it will still scale up, and the energy return in PVE will remain similar to before this change.

There is always push back from the community when weapons are nerfed, even slightly. However I stand by the point I started with, these changes are needed to keep the game interesting. If there is a single set of god-like weapons and armour then the game won’t be as fun as it once was. By constantly shifting what weapons are the best in Destiny 2, it remains interesting for all of us, those who play every day, and those who log in less often as well.

Let us know how you feel about the changes in the comments.