The newer change to barrels and explosive damage to barrels was not something that was highlighted in the patch notes recently since the havoc change and Mortis Trials’ introduction.
I am curious to people’s opinions on the matter as to whether it is preferred or disliked and why as there are benefits and drawbacks to this new change that could be seen via either perspective.
For those who may not know barrels of both types can be detonated now with most if not all explosions caused by the player. This includes examples such as: Shredder grenades, ogryn frag bomb, ogryn box of hurt, rumbler shots at all radii, and even the bolter explosion on enemy kill.
Previously barrels would not be subject to this outside of more direct damage or interference.
My personal opinion is that it makes many builds or playstyles tedious or accidental in that you are signing up to potentially kill a teammate and that barrel explosions in general are not fun to work around when they can be detonated by such actions. For example if an ogryn throws a box of hurt at a crowd that has a barrel to the side you now have about a second to evacuate the area before you are hit by said barrel.
One area that should certainly be changed irrespective of preference is barrels should not be detonated through walls like they currently are due to explosions. Chain detonation of barrels are interesting mechanically as well and again I am curious on opinions on the matter.
Personally I prefer the older way of detonation, but this is also due to having a few years experience with the old system of course so that is my bias.