Borderlands has quickly become my favourite video game series. The emphasis on fun over gritty realism, the crazy array of weaponry and unique art style are difficult not to love. I have very much enjoyed my time exploring the universe of Borderlands 3.
Nothing is perfect though and there are a few problems. Nothing is insurmountable and here are a few suggestions for where Gearbox can improve.
Bank Space
This is the big one.
So the maths on this is: having purchased all available upgrades, our character can carry 48 items at any one time plus storage for 50 more in the bank. So that's 98 plus the display wall where you can store one of each item type (one assault rifle, one smg, one pistol, one shotgun, one sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, a shield, a relic, a grenade mod and a class mod): total 108.
The problem is there are 167 Legendaries in the game and as villain Tyreen happily reminds us, as players we are all 'gun sluts'.
The bank and wall are shared between characters, so if we want to collect them all (which lets face it, we do), we will need to have at least three characters and constantly be switching between them. It's not only Lego's though, sometimes we find blue and purple unique weapons we'd quite like to keep. You may even have a green weapon that served you well at lower levels but has now become obsolete, so you'd like to retire it from service.
(for the uninitiated, Borderlands weapons come in five common variety, the colour of which indicating their quality. Generally, white = trash, green = mediocre, blue = good to very good, purple = great, orange/gold = legendary. 'Unique' weapons are blue or purple rarity items that have some special quality to them, such as the Omniloader that can reload all the guns you currently have equipped. Legendaries always have a special effect to them).
With new DLC's and special events to come, that almost certainly means new Uniques and new Legendaries. And on past form, maybe even a whole new tier of weaponry. So more space will be needed.
The solution at the moment, is double the bank space. We players shouldn't really be too greedy but the current restrictions are too tight. The shared bank isn't a terrible concept but it needs expansion.
Ava
Gearbox, you have a lot to do if you want to convince anyone Ava is the future of the Borderlands franchise.
Avoiding spoilers but the writing in Borderlands 3 leaves lots to be desired (I would have gone a whole different way with Troy and Tyreen, that would have been way more interesting and kept to the theme they were going for at the end. That's for another time) but Ava is the worst.
She does little in the game to help but whine and complain about everything and is arguably responsible for one of the games most shocking moments (not that she'd ever accept responsibility of course). Yet by the end of the game, she is in a position of authority despite having done NOTHING to earn it.
Luckily for Gearbox, they have four DLC's to sort this out. The way to do this is 'show don't tell.' What this means is, Gearbox keep telling us Ava's important but they haven't justified why she's important. Lilith and Maya cut their teeth to earn their spots while Ava has done nothing.
Ava is savable but it will need a lot of work.
Cut-Scenes
Not much that can be done at this point but more a note for future.
Too many moments where action is going on and we're supposed to just accept our character is now just standing around watching, doing nothing. Contrast to Borderlands 2: Handsome Jack teleports in, shoots Roland in the back, grabs Lillith, leaves. You could plausibly argue, the sequence of events is so fast you have no time to react. In Borderlands 3 however, there is a part where Tyreen gets into it with Tannis, Lillith and (slight spoiler) Typhon De Leon. It goes on a while and all this time, having spent the previous 10 hours shooting anything that moves, your character is standing idly by.
Also, at least Jack makes time to address you directly before leaving. Too often, that doesn't happen in BL3 leading the player to reasonably question, 'Am I even here?'
Anointed Militants
This is relatively minor and very specific but needs addressing.
To be clear, this is not all Anointed enemies just the Militant type. Tink, Zealot, Maniac and even Goliaths are fine but the Militants are ridiculous. They have too many attacks and are immune to damage 95% of the time. They are particularly problematic in Mayhem mode as they spawn a lot more frequently. They're killable but you have to keep your distance (not easy when they can teleport).
My big worry is if Gearbox implement an Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, like in Borderlands 2, where enemies constantly regenerate health. The regeneration, coupled with ridiculous immune time, these guys could become near unkillable.
Target Dummy
A stationary dummy on the shooting range to test gun damage on. That simple really. Don't want to play your fairground games, Gearbox.
Axton, Gaige, Kreig, etc
As welcome as the returning characters were, there were some notable absentees. Not minor players either but fan favourites: Axton, Gaige, Salvador, Athena, "Dr" Zed, Fiona and Sasha from the Tales from the Borderlands series. Everyone's favourite poop train conductor Kreig only exists in a few Echo-logs.
Even the characters that do return, some of them don't get near enough screen time. I'd love to spend more time with the B-Team (Tiny Tina, Brick and Mordecai). Moxxi barely features in the main story (odd given we know she's actually an engineering genius). I'm sure there's an easter egg somewhere but I would have liked some acknowledgement of Scooter (lots of people missed out on Tales from the Borderlands). I am optimistic however, T.K Baha will find his way into the Bloody Harvest event.
You have time to sort this out, Randy Pitchford. Make it happen.
And one thing they shouldn't do: New Vault Hunters
A lot of people were disappointed when game director Paul Sage there were no plans for new vault hunters. I'm going to put forward the unpopular opinion this is a good choice.
I would question the metrics behind it, though. Essentially, players generally stuck to one main and the DLC's weren't all that popular. Hang on, there is an elephant in the room and he has the shiniest meat-bicycle.
I would also say however, they aren't necessary. Take Flak for example. They have three action skills, three skill trees and three pets to choose from that can all be augmented in different ways. There are so many different ways in which to build Flak based on all the different elements available to them, supporting a wide variety of play-styles.
Not all the characters are there yet (looking at you, Zane. Or maybe your digi-clone) but I'm hopeful Gearbox will figure out the balance eventually.
Feel free to let me know any changes you'd like to see.
