But even if the balance update had some unintended, and less popular changes, it appears that Bungie has, at the very least, shifted the meta away from fast-firing pulse rifles and shotguns, and towards a few different weapon classes. Now the dominant weapons in Destiny PvP are the hand cannons and the sidearms, due in large part to changes to accuracy on hand cannons and changes to special ammo on everything but sidearms.
Bungie’s goal might have been to put the focus on primary weapons with the update, but it appears the studio has shaken things up in some very fundamental ways. Whether that will be for the good of Destiny, however, is yet to be seen.
Xur’s Inventory
Outside the PvP world, Destiny has welcomed Xur back for the weekend and a chance at buying some new exotic armor pieces or weapons. Perhaps something Xur is selling might not have been very useful pre-update, but is now well worth owning. Those looking for Xur can find him in The Reef, in his one and only hiding spot.
Xur’s exotic armor selection this weekend includes the Eternal Warrior helmet for Titans, the Lucky Raspberry chest piece for Hunters, and the Purifier Robes chest piece for Warlocks. Unfortunately, none of the three armor pieces saw any change with the update, and to be honest none of them are particularly useful in PvP or PvE. The Eternal Warrior helmet looks cool on Titans, but that’s about it.
Xur’s exotic weapon, on the other hand, may become a new favorite thanks to a buff to auto rifle damage. Prior to the update, auto rifles were far outclassed versus pulse rifles and hand cannons, but the weapon class has been made more viable by the update, especially those that fire extremely fast and accurate, like Hard Light.
For a full rundown of Xur’s items and prices see the list below:
Eternal Warrior (Titan Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins Lucky Raspberry (Hunter Chest Piece) – 13 Strange Coins Purifier Robes (Warlock Chest Piece) – 13 Strange Coins Hard Light (Auto Rifle) – 23 Strange Coins Legacy Gauntlet Engram – 29 Strange Coins
Destiny: Rise of Iron is out now for PS4 and Xbox One.
