Destiny 2 is getting a pretty significant change to its weapon slots compared to how that system worked in Destiny 1. Players in Destiny 2 will now have a Kinetic, Energy, and Power weapon to choose from instead of Destiny 1's Primary, Special, and Heavy weapon system. That change has been the topic of a lot of conversation among fans, which has included both support and skepticism.

According to Senior Gameplay Designer at Bungie, Jon Weisnewski, changing the weapons slots in Destiny 2 was something that caused a lot of similar skepticism internally at Bungie during development, even from key leadership on the game:

"The new weapon system […] was a tough sell. It was a bet that the Sandbox Team made, and there was a fair amount of healthy internal skepticism...from people like Luke Smith, the creative director of the project. And that’s a tough spot to be in. [...] I remember over the period of a couple months, as the content was coming together—the audio was coming in, the effects were coming in, the artists were doing final passes on the guns. And people are playing it, and random people are coming up to me telling me stories about the things they are doing in the game. And then, Luke [Smith] is coming up out of a playtest being like ‘Oh my god, I have this combination of these perks, and it was awesome.’"

So, it sounds like the change to Destiny's weapon slots went through a lot of discussion and work before making it into the game. Weisnewski said he always believed in the change, but that there was plenty of doubt that the new weapon slots may not be accepted, and could even be rejected entirely. However, apparently it took some playtesting and convincing to finally land it as a feature in the game.

Destiny 2 PC version recoil

When Weisnewski refers to the combination of perks between weapons in his quote and that being one turning point for convincing his fellows, he is likely referring to a feature of Destiny 2's weapons that Bungie is still keeping under wraps. From what little detail has been hinted at, the weapons in Destiny 2 will likely have perks that combine, stack, or otherwise compliment one another between the Kinetic and Energy slots specifically. That is almost surely what Mark Noseworthy, project lead on Destiny 2, was referring to as well when said that there will be some interesting interactions between weapons.

Even here at Game Rant, we have questioned if the change to the weapon slots will benefit PvP in Destiny 2 but at the same time negatively impact PvE, especially in terms of raids. Weisnewski insists that is not the case and that the change will positively impact both PvP and PvE, but fans may have to reserve initial judgement until they can get their hands on a myriad of weapons and play around with the new system in the Destiny 2 Beta next month.

That said, it is also encouraging to hear that such a big change to how Destiny has worked in the past was kicked around by the developers, and was hopefully fully vetted with the intention of making it a better and more fun system for the player. Hopefully it will all work out to improve the overall experience.

Destiny 2 will launch September 6 on PS4 and Xbox One, with a release on PC on October 24.

Source: IGN