Gearbox addressed concerns regarding the most recent round of hotfixes for Borderlands 3 during its recent Co-op Couch livestream. Borderlands 3 recently received a round of hotfixes that adjusted the balance on over 25 different weapons, including some build-destroying nerfs to guns like the Flakker. During its broadcast, Gearbox addressed worries that these kinds of hotfixes would become routine, informing Borderlands 3 players that these kinds of hotfixes won’t become commonplace.
Borderlands 3 combat designer Grant Kao offered a statement on the recent hotfixes unprompted, likely knowing that fans were worried that their loot would continue to be hit with continued nerfs. “We digested a lot of data and we made a big round of changes” is how Kao explains the reason for the dramatic balance adjustments. Going forward, any further adjustments “will not be as drastic as this week.” Kao says that players can and should continue to loot without worrying about being by a big nerf.
However, Kao also makes clear that major hotfixes like this could happen again further into the future. This recent hotfix just sort of reset their data gathering, so Gearbox needs to gather more data in order to reassess the current state of gameplay in Borderlands 3. If that new round of data shows massively overpowered or underpowered weapons, then they’ll rebalance those weapons accordingly.
While hotfixes have been relatively routine since Borderlands 3’s launch, Kao says that from here forward any such updates will be more intermittent. This last round of major hotfixes was the last based on the game’s previous data. Hotfixes going forward will only be necessary if the new round of data shows it to be. It’s entirely possible, but unlikely, that no hotfixes will be necessary at all. Or that they won’t be necessary until more content throws things out of wack. It all really depends on how much Borderlands 3 players break the game in the weeks ahead.
Exactly when Gearbox would expect to have enough data for another round of Borderlands 3 buffs and nerfs isn’t said by Kao. Given that Borderlands 3 launched September 13 and this wave of hotfixes arrived just a month later, that’s perhaps a good frame of reference. There’s also the likelihood that Borderlands 3’s events, like the upcoming Bloody Harvest Halloween event,or its first post-launch expansion’s inevitable release, could slow down or speed up the process. Expect to know about upcoming hotfixes as Gearbox decides them.
Borderlands 3 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
