I had a conversation the other day, with a friend who firmly believed, and very angrily attempted to affirm that Hunters are OP. On the other hand, I went through a phase of believing that Titans were OP, and my best mate has always felt that Warlocks (me) are OP. So which of us are right?
I'd say that we're all right...but for argument's sake, let's look at this. Hunters, to begin with. Both subclasses have a throwing knife, which, as a mid-range accessory that can remove almost all of an opponents health, alongside a melee and grenade component, is most definitely an advantage over the other classes - to which you can point to the Sunsinger and the Armamentarium's extra grenade as balance, but the fact remains with Gunslinger you can have two throwing knives. Begin able to either begin with or follow up with a throwing knife during an engagement effectively means you have to deal very little damage in order to win, comfortably. Also, another advantage is that you just need to pop round the corner, throw it, and walk away - and let's not forget that the extremely generous hit radius on the throwing knife doesn't hurt either. Next, blink strike. Several times, I have been killed by blink strike when I have hit my opponent several seconds previously with a melee attack, several times I have been killed at a ridiculous range with blink strike, and several times, the enemy has not even appeared to move (built-in latency aside) while we kill each other. Both the range and speed of blink strike, as well as the one-hit kill ability, again, the radius of what is considered someone's 'back' being pretty generous.
Now, grenades. I have a problem with both tripmine and arcbolt grenades. My friend says 'but it's a tripmine, it's supposed to kill in one hit.' I'm not saying that the tripmine shouldn't kill in one hit, I'm saying there shouldn't be a grenade with one-hit kill capability that doesn't even need to stick to someone (easy though that may be). On Firebase Delphi, during the opening engagement focused around (B) in control or clash or pretty much any mode, a tripmine grenade on the wall guarantees you a kill. The power, dexterity and overall utility of the grenade names it as easily one of the best. Alongside the arcbolt grenade. I am so sick of this grenade. The number of times the ridiculous range and damage of this insanely frustrating grenade has resulted in my death is countless. Combine this grenade with lucky raspberry and you have, despite the chest's disgusting looks, an almost unbeatable combination. Your grenade does not need to land anywhere near you opponent to hit them, and the damage almost completely kills you. The tripmine grenade is acceptable as it is, due to its often vertical placement thanks to its mechanics, but the arcbolt grenade's range, radius, chaining abilities, and damage mean that this is probably one of the very few things that needs a nerf. And, unlike the rest of the Destiny community, I use the term 'nerf'' sparingly.
Supers? I will refuse to hear that the Golden Gun is OP, but there's an argument to be made for Arc Blade + hungering blade being OP. The Golden Gun's main advantage is that it allows players to space out their super kills, eliminating the need for enemies to be grouped together for an effective use, and has a well-judged hit radius for each shot. However, it has to be activated prematurely, and there is no damage resistance at all. Take on an active GG from opposite directions, and you are almost guaranteed a kill with one of the more effective weapons in the game - any of the 3 Legendary Auto Rifles will do the job. The Golden Gun is extremely powerful in the hands of a skilled player but they must be careful and precise while using it - not to mention that without Combustion, you cannot take on a large group of enemies as their combined fire will kill you before you do all of them. Also...you only have 3/4 shots.
Now I hear a lot about how Arc Blade is OP, and about how their health is ridiculous. Honestly though? If someone is idiotic to activate their Arc Blade at a good/medium range to me, if I am equipped well, magazine full and a clear line of sight, I will kill them first. Movement horizontally is just not that fast - but. If the blade dancer gets one kill...one kill on anyone else close to you, on the other side of the room to you, you are dead. With the hungering blade perk, the health and extended duration you get from each kill effectively empowers you to a degree which I would consider OP. But, using a Bladedancer is a very different experience. A large number of times, I've been shut down after one, two kills - without the hungering blade perk, it is extremely difficult to combat at range or combat a large number of enemies a reasonable distance apart. Even with it, marksmen on the other team who keep backing away are often able to get the kill and close you down.
I think individual elements of each class need addressing - the tripmine grenade, perhaps...but the arcbolt grenade and hungering blade definitely. I would not, however, consider Hunters OP.
And so we come to the Titan. I think that complaints against Titans would mostly be against Strikers. I think that the biggest problems with regards to the striker are the lightning grenade, and the damage resistance granted by the unstoppable perk, which is insane. The lightning grenade, like the tripmine grenade, activates in a long line along one axis - but the line drawn is so long, and actually wide, that it gets you kills very easily. The damage of the lightning grenade is extremely high - combine this grenade with the extended duration for Pulse, Lightning and Aftershock, and you're guaranteed some kills. I once finished off the entire team in a skirmish game with a lightning grenade facing upwards. Yes, they were initially grouped together - but even once they spread, the radius ensured a swift doom for the noobs. Next, the Unstoppable perk. I feel that this resides in the same category as Hungering Blade - it evolves the Super into something significantly more powerful. With unstoppable, you can actually survive a golden gun shot. You can survive direct contact with the light of the sun, you can survive direct contact with a Super. The super was applied correctly, yet with unstoppable, was rendered useless, which goes against everything we know about supers. They're meant to get you kills - supers are also able to cancel out other supers. Also...Fist of Havoc is a little too strong. I find that the blast radius of it has killed me at a range which I would consider totally safe - ten metres, outside the range that shotguns can do any appreciable damage. I've used the Fist of Havoc to kill enemies in mid-air, jumping away from me,with full health. On the other hand, out of range, it's completely useless, and leaves you open to a casual dismissal - without death from above, you require to get within a certain distance to use it, which actually proved surprisingly irritating and difficult at times.
Ward of Dawn, though...totally balanced. A lot of the time, I see Titans deploy the Ward of Dawn and than start dancing, convinced that they are totally safe. Then someone runs in behind them and shotguns them. It doesn't make you invincible, it doesn't make you indestructible, it just makes you extremely powerful, with correct usage based on selected perks. Even with the Helm of Saint-14 and it's main ability, the automatic lock-on for melee means you won't have a problem doing some damage to whoever's inside. It's used very frequently in control to lock down or complete the capture of an objective point, which is...I mean, it's cool. It's how this kind of stuff is supposed to be used - it's tactical, like sunsinger has potential to be in Crucible. It's not brute force, like Nova Bomb or Fist of Havoc.
Titan, then, not OP.
Lastly (almost there), Warlocks. In the beginning, it was all about the Warlock master race (which i'm still a part of). It was all about 'Warlocks are OP!' On my first visit to the bungie.net forums, the first article I read was detailing the many perks warlocks have over the other classes. I can't remember what the article said, but the main things that come to mind are the increased range that melee provides, the extra grenade for the Sunsinger, and the flame shield. The fusion grenade + extra grenade is an extremely irritating combination - I played a clash game where 4 enemies where using this combo. I died more than I had done the last 3 games, entirely to their grenades. The flame shield is fair - it's a 1UP, like the throwing knife or AOE striker punch. It guarantees survival from a 1-1 melee based fight, if barely. If anyone else comes along, they're dead. If anything, force barrier is much more of a problem, as flame shield provides about a 50% health buff, whereas force barrier is 100%.
Nova Bomb. Large blast radius, can cover a ridiculous area with Shatter, can leave a damage-dealing field in its wake, damage resistance while using. On the other hand, less damage resistance than Titans and Bladedancers (however, rectified if using Skull of Dire Ahamkara) - not to mention that this is the only super you can kill yourself with. I did it...once...it was humiliating. I've seen people do it, a fair few times, and it's not cool when your enemy gets the kill thanks to his few shots, but mostly your Nova Bomb. You're not invincible, even with the Delusions of Grandeur perk from SDA, and you get shut down every now and then. The cast time contributes to this. The super also has a short range, unless using Lance, which change the way you use the Super. It's a very powerful perk that is somewhere between GG and Fist of Havoc. Mid-range, but with a steep drop, and also high power. However, to be truly effective, like FOH, you need your enemies to be grouped up. It does have the greatest potential, as you don't need to be right next to your opponents like the striker. I've never seen anything more than 4 kills with the Fist of Havoc, but have seen, and got 5 kills with one Nova Bomb. You also need to select a perk to increase the size of explosions - otherwise the effect is truly localised, and will get far fewer kills.
Each class is mostly balanced. Despite a few things that it might be ideal to change, I truly believe that the class system is really working - not to say it couldn't be improved, but none of the classes deserve the flak they get.
