Destiny's December update will add new exotics, further tweak weapon balancing

Bungie will release an update for Destiny in December that will add new and refreshed exotic weapons and armor to the game. The update will also bring about sweeping changes to weapon performance in the pursuit of better balance in Crucible PvP, with specific tweaks coming to six of the game's exotic weapons.

In a post on Bungie.net, community manager David "DeeJ" Dague writes that Destiny's loot tables will get a fresh batch of exotics next month. Two of those are exclusive to Year Two of Destiny, while others are exotic weapons and armor from Year One that have been upgraded.

"A couple of those Year One reprisals might even have some new surprises tucked away in their talent trees," Dague wrote. Bungie plans to start revealing the latest exotics on its Instagram, starting tomorrow, Nov. 20.

In addition to new and refreshed exotics, Dague says that the design team is looking at changes to Titans — possibly the class' extremely powerful Sunbreaker subclass — and that "[we] might even learn more about promises to create a use for those vast stores of Etheric Light and Wormspore."

In a separate post, Bungie sandbox designer Jon Weisnewski outlines changes coming to Destiny's gun types. The changes are extensive, but some of the highlights include a boost in base damage for auto rifles, a decrease in base damage for pulse rifles, improved accuracy for hand cannons when aiming down sights and a long list of tweaks to how shotguns play. Explaining the changes to shotguns, Weisnewski writes that "currently there are still weapon builds that can kill at surprisingly long range (albeit less reliably)."

The six exotic weapons that will see changes in Destiny's December update are The First Curse, Hawkmoon, The Chaperone, Fabian Strategy, Black Spindle and Sleeper Simulant. The full list of impending modifications to weapons can be read here.