Summary
- Bungie has added different weapon types in Destiny 2, like Support Frame auto rifles in Episodes Heresy, but these weapons may not always perform well in every situation.
- Support Frame auto rifles, like the Adamantite, are good for healing in Destiny 2, but lacking hitscan functionality can make them feel subpar during fast-paced gameplay.
- To enhance the game’s feel, Bungie could tweak Support Frame auto rifles by making the portion aimed at enemies hitscan while preserving the current system for healing allies.
There are many different weapons in Destiny 2 as of Episode Heresy, with the Collections tab in the game holding data for 1,071 of them, mixed between Primary, Special, and Heavy. Over the past few years, Bungie has tried to introduce not only new archetypes, like the glaives in The Witch Queen, but also new weapon types that change what guns within the same family can achieve. Not all weapon types in Destiny 2 are equally successful nor do they all have multiple guns under their name, but most of them undergo some changes when new major patches are released. One such weapon type is good, but unless changes are made to it, it risks never being great.
One could argue that a weapon in Destiny 2 being mediocre is a fate worse than death, as not having that gun at all wouldn’t really make much of a difference, whereas its presence makes getting one a disappointing experience or some players store it in the Vault, taking precious space. This inevitably happens with each release, as it would be impossible to constantly reinvent the wheel and add the best weapons in Destiny 2 with every update. As it stands, Support Frame auto rifles are very good weapons, but the lack of one functionality makes them feel subpar.
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Destiny 2’s Adamantite in Heresy Highlights a Critical Issue of Support Frame Auto Rifles
Destiny 2‘s Adamantite Support Frame auto rifle is great, and it’s the second-ever weapon of its kind after the introduction of this type of gun in The Final Shape with No Hesitation. Adamantite even offers a unique interaction when healing allies, as it will shoot Unraveling projectiles, making it quite valuable for Strand builds or combos with Artifact mods. As much as Support Frame auto rifles can be good for the game both in terms of buildcrafting and actual gameplay, they fall short when it comes to the lack of hitscan.
Hitscan weapons fire projectiles in a straight line and immediately affect any enemies hit by the shot, or, they will immediately bounce off the wall if the gun has Ricochet Rounds. This is incredibly useful to have, and most weapons in the game are indeed hitscan, but not Support Frame auto rifles. It makes sense for this type of weapon not to be hitscan when healing allies, and it can make the healing effect feel more interactive. However, Destiny 2‘s endgame often has a lot of clutter on the screen due to many different effects, and both players and enemies move quite fast when outside of cover, so without hitscan, Support Frame auto rifles can feel quite bad to play.
This is particularly noticeable in Destiny 2’s Nether activity, where a lot of Grim are encountered. These enemies are airborne and move very fast, so Support Frame auto rifles hardly do anything against them.
By the time projectiles reach far-away enemies, they will have likely moved, they may have been killed already by other effects or teammates, or obstacles that weren’t there before may have been placed – like Stasis walls. With slow-moving projectiles, Support Frame auto rifles may feel out of tune with the hectic gameplay of Destiny 2. Hitting enemies is also needed to gain enough healing energy to actually heal allies, so in endgame scenarios, it can still be a good thing to have these weapons, but not feel as satisfying to shoot.
How Destiny 2 Can Fix Support Frame Auto Rifles
Since Destiny 2 is first and foremost a shooter game where guns matter, having weapons that may occasionally feel bad to use or miss the mark in the frenzy of a fight can be rather problematic. To make up for this, Bungie could make the portion of outgoing projectiles aimed at enemies hitscan, and maintain the current system for healing allies. Otherwise, even at the cost of reduced healing, having all hitscan projectiles would still be better overall. It remains to be seen if Bungie decides to make this change, but with Destiny 2‘s Frontiers coming later this year, it would be wise to at least experiment hitscan on future Support Frame auto rifles to see how they perform.
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence