Borderlands 3 is an incredibly fun game, but it’s not without issues. Gearbox has been making strides towards addressing some of them in hotfixes and some recent patches, but there’s still lots more to do.
We recently learned of the studio’s plans to address some of the bigger requests and pain points players have raised and it sounds like the team’s got a finger on the pulse of the community right now. Let’s talk about some of the fixes and additions coming down the pike.
Performance
There’s not a ton to say here, but Gearbox did want to let players know that some significant improvements to performance and stability will be coming in BL3’s November patch. The game runs OK for me, but could definitely run better, so here’s hoping!
Bank Space
This is probably the biggest reason I don’t play BL3 as much as I’d like to. 50 slots is not enough of a stash for one character much less multiple characters, but that’s all we’ve got to work with in BL3 right now. It’s hard to want to farm for items when you have to throw so many away. Thankfully, Gearbox is working on expanding bank space, more than doubling the current limit with the Maliwan Takedown patch in November, with plans to add more space over time.
Boss Drops
BL3 has tons of fun loot to farm, but for whatever reason Gearbox opted to make most of the game’s loot available as world drops. This makes it hard to target farm for items you’re looking for and also reduces endgame farming to bosses or activities that are considered the path of least resistance. In practice, this means lots of Graveward farming and not a whole lot else. While I enjoy farming Graveward for his generous loot drops, it’s not good for the long term health of the game. Giving players reasons to participate in specific activities or farm other bosses will go a long way towards keeping BL3’s content evergreen. We won’t have to wait long for these changes, either. The current plan is to have these changes ready for the November patch.
Buffs
Balance is clearly on the radar at Gearbox and despite community sentiment, it isn’t all nerfs. The team has buffed characters and items over the last few weeks as well and it looks like that will continue, with a goal of creating a ton of build diversity. Specifically, Gearbox is looking at making the various pets/clones viable in the endgame, which is something I’m looking forward to as a Moze player who actually wants to have a reason to get into Iron Bear.
Mayhem Mode 2.0
Mayhem Mode is something I’ve been critical of and I’m glad to hear Gearbox is looking to improve it. Mayhem 4 will be coming with the November patch and Gearbox promises it will be a significant challenge requiring optimized endgame builds to tackle. New Legendary gear will also be exclusively available in Mayhem 4, which is pretty cool.
Beyond that, Gearbox has plans for new Mayhem modifiers that “change gameplay more dramatically” which is music to my ears. They’re also planning Mayhem playlists, rewards and more Mayhem levels. They’re calling this plan Mayhem Mode 2.0 and it can’t come soon enough, as far as I’m concerned.
Quality of Life
Some smaller, but important additions coming include additional vending machines in some of the bigger areas, skippable cinematics (!), and a target dummy to test builds with.
All in all there’s a ton of good stuff coming to Borderlands 3 and I’m excited for the additions and changes to start rolling out with the new content in November.
What are you looking for Gearbox to add or change about BL3? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
