Bungie’s changing how special ammo works in Destiny’s Crucible

February won't only bring Valentine's Day festivities to Destiny, but an update that — among a number of changes — will tweak how special ammo works in certain Crucible modes.

"Have you ever wondered how the opening sprint might play out if that clever Sniper didn’t have bullets right at the outset? We’ve asked ourselves that question," teased senior designer Derek Carroll before revealing the change to the special ammo economy in the Crucible.

As it's planned, after the update, players will start "certain matches" without special ammo. These matches include all 3v3 playlists — Skirmish, Salvage, Elimination, Trials, and any rotating 3v3 playlists. Rumble is safe from the change.

Once the match begins, green special ammo crates will behave normally; however, the goal with this change is to "increase the use of Primary weapons, especially at match-start."

"Sniper rifles and shotguns, in particular, inspire great happiness or sadness depending on which end of the weapon you find yourself. We wanted to somewhat delay that gratification (and sadification)," said Carroll.

The changes, at least for now, won't be applied to 6v6 because Bungie isn't noticing the same issue in the larger game modes.

"The larger gametypes are generally less sensitive to initial conditions, which gives us more freedom to have Special Weapons going from the beginning," explained Carroll. "Also, smaller gametypes like Skirmish are a bit more hardcore, with more weight applied to each player in the match, so we felt we could try pushing Primary weapons for those initial engagements.

"Conversely, Control is the friendliest place to enter the Crucible, so we wanted to make sure that we don’t present new players with a fundamentally different game than what they’re used to."

What do you think of the changes to special ammo behavior in Destiny's Crucible?