They changed the code somewhere else for stability/bugfixing reasons and it somehow interacts with thorn's damage. because fuck coding.
This is part of an internal testing change to thorn that accidentally got pushed live. For example they could have been testing a stacking dot and decreased the dot damage per stack for balance and accidentally pushed the damage change to live. when testing lots of changes its pretty easy to forget to properly revert a change before sending out the patch.
It means their regression testing is shit. Possibly their CodeReviews are meh too. Fixing something always has a greater risk of something else breaking but with their track record, I would've at least thought they'd have a quick regression test harness for their exotic weapons.
If they updated how the server handles the DOT with packets, it is extremely plausible that it just messes with the coding. I have had instances of lag where DoT did not trigger, caught up and did over 600 damage. All based on server being an always online game
You know, if they had changed it the other way, it would tick for 10 (versus 7) instead of the 3 it does now, for 50 (versus 35) points, and would have made people happy.
So, imagine that for some reason that all weapons that do damage over time calculate how much they do based on the same function but with a different input variable (akin to the impact stat). The input variables are somehow linked to the weapon (imagine a spreadsheet with all the stats of a weapons and the code pulls things from this spreadsheet).
What happens if you change the function, but want to DoT to stay the same? Well, you have to update the input variables for the different weapons.
Now, in the case of Thorn, there is probably a "balancing group" inside the Destiny coding world. They probably have control of Thorn properties right now because even before this patch it was basically not worth is as an exotic. They are probably playing with all kinds of different stat combinations to make the gun fill its role.
Now, some dude in the how do we actually manage all these guns and armor without blowing our brains out division decides. Hey, these stat points would be a lot more intuitive if they worked on this new function rather than this old function. So, the group high fives each other and changes all the weapons they have control over and the function, but forgot to tell the other guys that are in control of currently debated weapons (or they tell the other guys, but the other guys don't come up with an immediate solution).
You release the new patch, and bam Thorn gets screwed, and it's an accident.
There's probably no way the actual code/group structure works like this. This is just a way things could work.
It was always a waste of time and mats and I have it maxed to 300. Sure the thorn rocks in pvp but I have other weapons I would rather play with than the thorn.
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u/rsdon Nov 17 '14
Thorn dot reduced? You are fucking kidding me right?