This thread is inspired by another: view original post
First off, let me say I believe that Bungie's development has been doing a phenomenal job maintaining the fluid dynamic in the massive multiplayer world of destiny, and thus far has effectively utilized user input to try and equalize the playing field. That being said, the most recent update has got me extremely baffled. I had to try the update for myself prior to commenting on it, because I though maybe it was manageable. It seems to me, that the development department took a very generalized parameter about K/D ratio to make major shifts in players dynamics.
I'm no professional statistician, however I noticed that the K/D comparison was a little inconsistent for hunters. In fact, the standard deviation(or variation of the K/D ratio) of them would alone disqualify that as an acceptable statistic to use. Excluding that statement, If you consider the K/D ratio difference between the classes, i.e. hunter vs titan, or hunter vs warlock, you can calculate a value called NNH, or what we will call, NNO (number needed to out-kill). If we say that along the timeframe depicted by the graph, there was an average K/D with hunters of 1.05 and .95 of all the others (except titan defender who shouldn't have a high K/D anyway considering their subclasses title/role) you calculate each characters difference in likelihood to gain 1 kill per 1 death (1.05-.95= 0.10). Now we calculate our "NNO" which represents how many kills a hunter would have to get before having an EXTRA kill when compared to the others with the lower average k/d (1.05-0.95 x 100= 10). In other words, the average player as a hunter would have to kill 10 opposing guardians in order to out kill his opponent or peer by only 1. Now lets bring that back down to a one game example. If the average leader of the scoreboard has 15-30 kills per game, that means he/she will only outscore their peers/ opponents by a range of 1.5-3kills.
After all of those statistics are presented, though it might be significant that one player has a 1.05 k/d and the other has a .95, the in game example does not reveal an astounding variation in performance. I would like to see the statistics when considering things like "how many hunters achieved kills with precision sniper shots" or how many knife throw head shots were achieved. You need to assess each subclass by the skill of the player, not the perks of that class. In a gaming environment with an infinite number of variables, an infinite number of confounding factors must be considered. Plain and simple a hunter was designed to be an aggressive multi-kill character. Not to mention the hunter has low defense, and only middle of the road power. They are easily defeated in one on one combat, but offer great potential to those who have the skill to unlock it. If anyone from Bungie would like to discuss this topic more I would love to expound on my argument.
Thank you,
FR_son
#balance #nerf #Hunters
@bungie
@bungiedev
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I agree. Basically the metric of k/d is wrong and if anyone knows stats it's that you can skew the same stats a million different ways. So basically the only nerfing or buffing should be based on a more detailed approach. Just because a hunter has more attributes of a "typical" fps character doesn't mean it doesn't take an immense amount of talent/skill to use the tools given to counteract, what I would consider to be, easier characters to play. What I mean to say is that Warlocks and Titans are inherently easier characters to assimilate into from an fps standpoint. Let's breakdown some of the tools each character has at their disposal, which Bungie has meticulously chosen to be the standard for each of those characters (grenades, melee and super) I won't be listing all for each category. Warlocks grenades are by far the most powerful in my opinion. Axion bolt can not only track enemies for a long period of time, but it can split into 2 and track. Now the warlock gets hit markers so those enemies hiding around corners are basically sitting ducks, and those who are getting traced are essentially abandoning their post and running to avoid the powerful hit and subsequent shots from the warlock. No other grenade boasts this type of ability and it's way too powerful. Also a close second is the firebolt which is almost the same only you get hit too quick if you're within striking distance and it can also split into multiple targets. Scatter grenades are just as bad and can kill with just one grenade and it doesn't have to stick because it also TRACKS ENEMIES. Titans have the lightning and magnetic grenades. Lightning lasts a long time and also has an absurd range. how can anyone work around this ? They can't and thus the heavily charging titan with a shoulder charge can easily crush any hunter who is the victim of the grenade. Also Magnetic grenades explode twice and are allowed to stick to enemies. Hunters just had their only sticking grenade removed. Hunters have tripmine, skip and arcbolt. None of which at this stage in the game can do anything more than barely harm the enemy targeted. Arcbolt is as close to firebolt but definitely not as powerful because the subclass it's attached to doesn't have self resurrect or a flame shield upon melee. the tripmine has just received a huge nerf not allowing it to stick to enemies and less damage. and skip grenade again does decent damage but also attached to a subclass that doesn't have the same perks as the opponents class of the same style grenade. Now moving to melees Warlocks again take the cake. If you're a sunsinger you get an instant 100% overshield upon impact, plus you have a firebolt grenade and instant Resurrection so even if you lose the 1v1 you can come back and kill that enemy easily because they are most likely at 1% health. Also energy drain is just over powered. Kills enemy health and shortens cool down of grenade. a deadly combo. Scorch burns and now burns plus adds the recipient susceptible to 5% outside damage during burn. basically rendering that player dead Titans have the shoulder charge which apparently just kills in one shot against 100% health. and then they can hit you with any of their powerful melees: disintegrate, storm fist, and sunstrike. They are a freighttrain up close and no hunter can even think of out doing a 1v1 from close range with this enemy. So hunters keep distance Hunters have a knife, smoke and blink strike. Blink strike essentially just gives you greater lunge ability but brings you closer to a more powerful melee opponent. More than likely you're dead if you don't kill the enemy with the strike. Smoke either makes you invisible or barely stops charging titans or blinking warlocks. and knife is the only solace and counter that a hunter has and Bungie has nerfed the damage by 10% making it nearly useless to escape more powerful opponent melees. No replenishes, no overshields, no drains, and no area of effect damage. Hunters again are inherently at a disadvantage. Supers Again warlocks are crushing. The nova bomb has a helmet that allows instant replenish of the super bar upon killing enemies which it does with ease. The nova bomb has crazy range and AOE damage AND FURTHERMORE you can't begin to kill a warlock upon activation unless that warlock is at 1% because activating the super makes the warlock unstoppable and unaffected by bullets. Also they can resurrect with sunsingers and are the most powerful Sith when they are stormcallers. The stormcaller super is the most powerful. They are floating lightning that lasts forever and easily kill opponents while taking minimal damage. Titans can't be killed and have helmets to further assist taking 0 damage when activating fist of havok. the range as well is devastating because you can be airborne and the ground pound fist takes out airborne enemies. The bubble shield has perks and instant defense against anything and can barely be taking down by gun fire unless it's rocket based or a TWO, YES TWO, GOLDEN GUN SHOTS. Insane. And the hammer of thor lasts way too long and has now gotten more range and power which is unnecessary hunters? oh they get golden gun which doesn't give them more defense, in fact you're a beam of light and will take all the fire from enemies and die quickly, plus the burn rate to 0 on the golden has been increased. you activate it takes a split second so everyone knows what's coming and then you're the human torch running around drawing fire. And the auto aim on the titan hammer super is so heavy and the hunters is so precise it makes it barely a super. The bladedancer has decent power because you're harder to kill with jagged movements but I've taken out more bladedancers than any other arc based super upon activation. And for reasons I've stated before a hunter up close is basically a dead hunter if you don't kill the opponent with the bladedancer hit. And the nightstalker is worthless in my opinion because it's a decent damage and holds enemies but it doesn't always kill all enemies in the area you have to still shoot the trapped ones and they can shoot you back. No other super allows enemies to be trapped and still fire back at the opponent. Plus it's attached a far inferior subclass. I could go on and I've probably rambled enough but seriously penalizing the perks and builds of hunters because those players who choose to play as hunters have a greater k/d makes no sense. The play style of a hunter is vastly different than those of warlocks and titans as per the reasons I've pointed out above. Hunters have to steer clear of close encounters. They can't charge into battle. That's why they die less. They stay far away and probably get easier kills because they aren't able to charge into battle so their usage of guns is more precise. giving them more kills and assisting their up close and personal teammates of titans warlocks. If I see a 1v1 melee battle i'm throwing fire from a distant at to help my teammate; probably taking kills in the process but those kills were easier to get because I'm not taking the up close damage. I'm simply peppering fire. I want to know how many hunters use pulse rifles, scout rifles and hand cannons and snipers. I also want to know how many warlocks and titans use shotguns and autorifles. That should be your metric bungie NOT K/D. It's absurd that this nerf is taking place. I hope it's immediately reversed.