Bungie director Luke Smith on 'Destiny 2': Our goal is to 'unhide the fun'

According to Smith, the inspiration for the weapon changes came from "the community's desire to have cool primary-feeling weapons with energy types on them," as well as the desire at Bungie internally to balance PvP, or "player versus player" multiplayer matches. In the first "Destiny," PvP was fast-paced and frenetic, but lots of people complained about getting killed in a single shot, usually from a shotgun.

Smith explained why minimizing the impact of one-hit kills was so important in "Destiny 2":

"One-hit kills are often something you couldn’t react to. You don’t know how you could’ve done it better, right? And if you don’t know how you could’ve done it better, it means you’re never going to improve. So, improvement is a huge part of mastery, wanting to get good at something. One of the reasons I believe people love video games as their choice of entertainment and hobby is because it’s an opportunity to improve at something. You’re gaining mastery. No matter what game you’re playing, you’re ultimately getting better at it. And the weapon slot changes also spark a desire to do things like reduce the amount of one-hit kill weapons that are available — and when they are available, we let you know when they are available. We’re presenting more information to you because when we present the information, players consume it, and it’s an opportunity to get better. Teamwork, facilitation, it’s all based on more information."