Bungie has left members of the Destiny 2 community concerned after publicly targeting changes to the game ahead of the addition of full crossplay later this year – possibly signalling that it will merge mouse-and-keyboard and controller players in matchmaking.
In the latest Bungie blogpost, senior community manager dmg04 writes, “This Season, we’re making some targeted changes to weapon archetypes that need some love as well as beginning some preparations for crossplay.”
The major change involves increasing recoil on certain weapon types solely for mouse-and-keyboard players, bringing the level of recoil closer to that of the same weapons when used on controller.
While this might seem a relatively small change, the mention that the move is being made with crossplay in mind has led community members to wonder if it means that Destiny 2 PvP will matchmake a mixed pool of PC and console players by default, or even as the only option.
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It plays into longstanding problems for players across platforms, with mouse-and-keyboard play seen as offering an innate advantage, particularly in shooters (although Destiny 2’s heavy aim-assist for controller players complicates that theory a little in this case). Cheating is also generally more prevalent on PC versions of games. Many current crossplay games offer controller-using players the choice to play only with other controller players, but Bungie hasn’t specified Destiny 2’s approach as yet.
With crossplay due later this year but details still somewhat hazy, players are speculating what approach Bungie will take – and even trying to alter the developer’s course. At time of writing, one of the most popular posts on the popular DestinyTheGame subreddit is titled ‘Do NOT mix the console and PC PvP player pool (by default)‘.
“These are exactly my thoughts as well,” replies 1Soulbrotha, “I was really nervous to read about the recoil changes for PC. If they go the route of everyone being lumped into the same queues for PVP then this coming recoil change is just a lazy way to ‘balance’ things.”
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While many console players are concerned about being put at a disadvantage, PC players are also concerned about Bungie’s balances impacting the game they know. In a separate thread, SilverCervy writes, “It just creates a situation where the game has to be dumbed down for some to make things more fair for others. PC players should not have to deal with gameplay nerfs for the sake of console players.”
We’ve contacted Bungie for comment.
Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion already added cross-generation play within console families, with the promise of full crossplay to come. We awarded Beyond Light a 7/10 review, calling it a “solid expansion to the ever-evolving shooter that you know and love, but falls prey to the same content scarcity and repetitious grind it’s always had”
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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.