Bungie to reduce the delay in weapon swaps after the launch of Destiny 2’s 21st season

Following concerns expressed by the player base, Bungie recently confirmed its plans to mitigate the weapon swap delay in Destiny 2. The delay, which was originally pitched as a broader solution to an exploit issue, will be reduced to around 1 second shortly after launch in Season 21, according to the game’s developers. .

Below are the exact details of Tweets from Bungie:

We’d like to give some additional context about the gun swap delay change. Exploiting the gun wasn’t the only issue we saw and to safely fix the underlying problem we needed to introduce a global fire delay when switching weapons via the inventory screen.

Due to network differences between players and environments, we were unable to guarantee the shortest possible exploit processing delay.

Having closely monitored the current behavior in the live game, we have enough information to request this more precisely, and plan to reduce the weapon exchange delay to around 1 second after Season 21 launches later this month.

Bungie had initially addressed a bug involving swapping the Slug Shotgun for another shotgun, which allowed for heavy damage to be produced. To fix this, a two-second delay was introduced where a weapon cannot be fired after switching to it from the inventory screen, as mentioned in the latest Destiny 2 Hotfix 7.0.5.3.

While 2 seconds may not seem like a huge delay, its impact has been felt during gameplay, especially among higher levels of players. Speedy racers and seasoned Guardians who are adept at quickly swapping weapons have expressed concerns that this delay could cost them valuable time and DPS. This change affects all weapon swaps, not just Slug guns, which apply to gear swaps, and even the Hunter’s Solar Golden Gun, a super ability that is technically a weapon.

A two-second delay is unlikely to affect the majority of Destiny 2 players. For many Guardians, switching weapons in the middle of an activity isn’t common practice, particularly in stressful combat situations. Lag is primarily a concern for those players who swap weapons so frequently and have honed the skill that a two-second timer can detrimentally affect their gameplay.

The decision to introduce a global fire delay when switching weapons via the inventory screen was motivated by the need to correct a fundamental problem beyond exploiting the gun. The Bungie team emphasized the challenge of ensuring the shortest possible exploit processing delay, given the changing network conditions across different players and environments.

Despite the controversy, some players have acknowledged that the fix, while unorthodox, may be a workable solution to a more complex problem. Overhauling Slug Shotguns to prevent malfunction would have resulted in a more expensive repair. Furthermore, this issue only affects a fraction of the game’s player base and should not interfere with players’ abilities to complete other in-game activities, wins, and objectives.