Destiny’s House Of Wolves Expansion Arrives Sometime Between April 1 And June 30

If you were hoping to jump into Destiny’s next expansion, House of Wolves, soon, you’d best sit down. The studio confirmed today that the add-on will be arriving in the second quarter of the calendar year.

That means the magic date is some time between April 1 and June 30. That should give you more time to get your character (and any alts) to the magic level of 32.

In addition to this bit of info, Bungie says that it will be rebalancing weapons. Based on player data (as shown below), pulse rifles aren’t getting a lot of love. Here’s what players can expect across weapon types when the 1.1.1 update drops sometime later this month:

Auto Rifles

• Base damage decrease by 2.5 percent on average, with higher rate of fire weapons taking a smaller nerf
• The effective range of auto rifles has been reduced
• Range stat will be further emphasized, such that the greater it is, the less the new range penalty will be applied

Pulse Rifles

• Base damage is increasing by 9.7 percent

Hand cannons

• Reduced effective range
• Damage falloff is closer to the player and subsequent shots will be less accurate at longer ranges
• Initial accuracy will be decreased at longer ranges, but likely won’t be terribly noticeable at short- and mid-range

Fusion rifles

• Shot dispersion will be greater for bursts, but close- and mid-range groupings won’t be affected much. This essentially reduces fusion rifle utility at longer range.
• Starting ammo reduced, primarily for Crucible balancing. This will only be noticeable in PvE when you first load up the game.

Shotguns

• PvE damage is being increased by 100 percent
• Range values are being reduced and damage falloff will start closer to the player. This will impact Crucible use of long-range shotguns.
• Initial starting ammo is being decreased

Other weapons types (scout rifle, sniper rifle, heavy machine-gun, and rocket launcher) are not being changed in this update. In other words, No Land Beyond is still cosmetically wonderful, and that’s about it.

For the entire weekly update and more on balancing weapons, check out Bungie’s website.

[Source: Bungie (1), (2)]

Our Take
I’m glad to see that pulse rifles are getting some love. I’ve been looking forward to using Bad Juju again, but there are better options. I’ve also avoided shotguns in PvE, and now look forward to seeing what they can do after the patch.

As for the news about House of Wolves, I’m disappointed. I don’t know if The Dark Below is going to keep people hooked for too much longer, especially given the wonky economy in place to reach maximum level.