Over its eight-month life span Destiny has seen many changes, some big and some small. Developer Bungie ensured players before launch that they would continually improve the Destiny experience as part of its 10-year plan, and so far they have stuck to that promise.

The latest Destiny update, numbered 1.2, just recently hit Bungie’s MMO-FPS hybrid this past week, and brought with it yet another set of gameplay changes and improvements. As the last update before House of Wolves launches and delivers a bounty of new content, number 1.2 is rather significant, and more robust than the typical Bungie patch.

However, while Bungie was diligent about detailing all the pertinent information with regards to this new Destiny patch, they left a few things out. One item that should have been on the patch notes, but was seemingly slipped in under the radar is a buff to sniper rifles. Why exactly Bungie didn’t think to mention the buff is unclear, assuming the change was intended.

The devoted Destiny community on Reddit was the first to spot the sniper rifle damage improvement and noted the changes via a few handy charts. As readers can see below, the Praedyth’s Revenge sniper rifle saw a slight bump in impact, which in turn made it a little more damaging to enemies and PvP opponents.

It’s obviously not a major impact change, but enough that some players took notice. Sniper rifles have, by no means, been a weaker Destiny weapon class – like pulse rifles were at launch – but there are a few out there that don’t quite pack as much of a punch. No Land Beyond, for example, is billed as an exotic sniper rifle, but it’s barely capable of scratching an enemy.

Now it could be the No Land Beyond’s perceived weakness that inspired the stealth buff, or it could simply be one of many small behind the scenes changes. Bungie has been known to change a few things in Destiny without calling attention to them, but most of those tweaks have been cosmetic. For example, Bungie changed the icons specific materials, consumables, and weapons to make them a bit more prominent.

This sniper rifle buff, on the other hand, could have an impact on gameplay, both cooperative and competitive. With many players favoring shotguns in Crucible after the last update, perhaps this is Destiny’s way of nudging players back towards the long range weapon class. Whatever the case may be, sniper rifles are a little stronger and Bungie didn’t say anything.

Did you notice an improvement to sniper rifle damage after the Destiny update? Will you ever use the No Land Beyond as a genuine weapon?

Source: Reddit