Borderlands 3 Patch 1.03: 3 Biggest Takeaways
By Ryan Borja
Borderlands 3 Patch 1.03 came out Thursday and includes bug fixes, Vault Hunter adjustments to FL4K and Moze, and other miscellaneous adjustments. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the recent Borderlands 3 Patch 1.03.
Borderlands 3 Patch 1.03 Takeaways
1. Gearbox Isn't Afraid to Nerf Bosses
Borderlands 3 Patch 1.03 shipped with boss nerfs, including health reductions for Gigamind and Billy the Annointed, while the Katagawa Ball has lost its ability to regenerate shields.
What has left people scratching their heads is the nerf to Gigamind, an early game boss many people have already had little problem getting past. The nerf has rendered him to an easy loot-farm for higher level Vault Hunters.
The changes seem to be more aimed to increase quality-of-life for players on the first run and to make loot grinding less tedious, but they show Gearbox isn't afraid to make balance changes in favor of less experienced players.
2. Another Patch, Another FL4K Nerf
With yet another week with a FL4K nerf, the Borderlands 3 community is already poking fun at the Vault Hunter's consistent balance changes.
Gearbox nerfed the Leave No Trace Skill in Borderlands 3 Patch 1.03, believing it was "returning much more ammo than intended." In response, they added a re-trigger delay of 2 seconds that applies once the skill is activated. The Leave No Trace Skill, which grants players a 36% chance to get back ammo, essentially gave players infinite ammo. With the addition of the re-trigger delay, players that used this skill as part of their build will no find it much less effective and limiting the skill's usefulness to weapons with large magazines or return ammo.
Players in the community have voiced their opinion on FL4K's constant nerfs, saying that the constant decreases to the character's effectiveness is making playing as everyone's favorite new Vault Hunter less enjoyable.
Let's just hope that FL4K remains untouched next patch.
3. Gearbox is Targeting Game Balance
Last patch saw Gearbox disabling the use of the Hollow Point Guardian Rank, as it was not working as intended. With this most recent patch to Borderlands 3, the skill has now been re-enabled and no longer damages yourself or allies, now working as intended.
In addition to this change, Moze also saw that his ability to produce infinite grenades was removed with the addition of a 2 second re-trigger delay, preventing the grenade spam from being a possible build for the Vault Hunter.
These changes (along with the attempt to nerf FL4K to the ground) exemplify Gearbox's dedication to make all Action Skills and Vault Hunters viable with no one skill or character prevailing over the other. While the community might not agree with all the changes, we appreciate the attempt to make gameplay that will stay fresh and unique as more and more hours are poured into the game each day.
Photo courtesy of Gearbox Software/2K Games