M34 Novaline

The M34 Novaline is receiving an overall damage boost to help it feel more powerful as a slower, precision weapon. - Damage increased by 50%. A few discoveries came up as we investigated adjustments to the XR-3 Ion. The first was that the Sharpshooter Exotic Mod was unintentionally boosting headshot damage in addition to its intended function. The second was that the Explosive Bullet Exotic Mod was disproportionately increasing damage for the XR-3 Ion, given that it fires a three-round burst. We decided to take a more holistic look at snipers as we addressed the XR-3 Ion. For the Sharpshooter issue, we opted to remove the extra headshot bonus and just bake it into the base power for the three bolt-action rifles. The Shadow SK, with its faster rate of fire, received a partial refund. We think the Explosive Bullet Mod is fair in its current tuning for the bolt-action snipers, so those weren’t touched. The Shadow SK received a damage cut but remained mostly the same. The XR-3 Ion, of course, took a large damage reduction. Finally, we made further adjustments to hit location modifiers on the Shadow SK and XR-3 Ion to make them more effective at body shots. - Removed an unintended headshot damage modifier that resulted in an additional 33% damage.