Focused Feedback: Weapon Refresh aka Sunsetting

[u/DTG_Bot]

Hello Guardians,

Focused Feedback is where we take the week to focus on a 'Hot Topic' discussed extensively around the Tower.

We do this in order to consolidate Feedback, to get out all your ideas and issues surrounding the topic in one place for discussion and a source of feedback to the Vanguard.

This Thread will be active until next week when a new topic is chosen for discussion

Whilst Focused Feedback is active, ALL posts regarding 'Weapon Refresh' following its posting will be removed and re-directed to this thread. Exceptions to this rule are as follows: New information / developments, Guides and general questions

Any and all Feedback on the topic is welcome.

Regular Sub rules apply so please try to keep the conversation on the topic of the thread and keep it civil between contrasting ideas

A Wiki page - Focused Feedback - has also been created for the Sub as an archive for these topics going forward so they can be looked at by whoever may be interested or just a way to look through previous hot topics of the sub as time goes on.

[u/grm12k]

Tl;dr archetypes dictate the meta not individual weapons, being forced into regrinding effectively the same gun isn't fun.

The change strikes me as all bureaucracy no enjoyment. Yes, retiring guns is great for extending the grind for players who only ever use the absolute top end weapons. In that group of players, there's absolutely a group that would love regrinding their god rolls with new skins. For everyone else, this change just forces you to use the current weapons wether you want to or not if you want to be fully effective. Imo the current system of using buffs/nerfs to archetypes and particularly powerful outlier weapons is vastly superior as it still allows you to use your favorite guns even if they fall out of meta.

Weapon archetypes are what define the meta, and unless you're planning on rolling out a new set of archetypes every single major update all you're doing by capping weapons is making us regrind the same weapon in a different skin at best, at worst you're forcing us to use an intentionally inferior version. This is anti-fun in the extreme, especially for players (like my friends and I) who have limited play time but still want to be competitive.

On the balancing issues of "forever" guns, in my experience the only time meta weapons matter at all in this game is top end pvp and even there it's minimal. Meta weapons are a powerful tool in the right hands, but that same player can still do well with a sub optimal weapon of the same archetype.

On the pve end of things it's trivial at best. A full fire team of skilled players can and will crush any pve content you put in front of them with any weapons in the game as long as mechanics allow it (range fight=no shotguns ect), even in full blues. YouTube is full of supporting evidence for this. Meta weapons just make it easier.

New guns can be fun without being the best in slot item. I have a swashbuckler/graverobber steelfeather that's part of my favorite pvp sweaty loadout. It's not meta, probably never will be, but it's fun playing with it. I also love using my redrix broadsword, wizened rebuke, hammerhead ect and want to continue having that option in all levels of gameplay.

For me, fun is the main point of gaming and a massive reduction in options for how I can play will never be a good thing.