7th Grade Math Problem

Borderlands 2 Maya the Siren
#1

So I have a level 54 Siren with 10 points in her Ward skill (+5 from classmod) so it reads: +50% shield capacity, I also have +7.6% shield capacity from Badass points. So assuming these stack (and Gearbox is really lame if they don’t) I should expect my shield points to be 1.576 times what the item says, but it’s nowhere near that. Here’s the raw data:

Item shield points: 133107
Actual shield points: 171874
Difference: 1.291 times what item says (or +29%)

So my bonus is exactly half of what it should be! Does anyone have an explanation for this? Is there some kinda cap on stat bonuses or diminishing returns which Gearbox didn’t bother to mention in game?

Well whatever the reason, this is really lame and shakes my trust in the game’s entire stat system. If I equip gear that gives me +60% health or +60% gun damage how do I know its not going to be a watered down 30% just like my shield capacity?

Thanks in advance for any explanations or fixes.

#2

If you’d been at lvl 72 with higher capacity, then the explanation below would prolly be the most likely issue. In this case, it might be that you did a respec. Sometimes you need to unequip your COM, and then equip it again after a respec. It’s a bug that can be tricky to spot.

When you get higher capacity, you’ll hit this cap.

"Ward : Great
+5% Shield Capacity and -8% Shield Recharge Delay per level.
5/5 = +25% shield capacity and -40% recharge delay
11/5 = +55% shield capacity and -88% recharge delay

Summary: This suffers on the capacity front because gearbox has a cap on shield capacity buffs at 72 and past the most capacity that can be buffed is 1,128,380."

This is quoted from here.

Even if you had that extra shield capacity, it would still go down faster than a… well… really fast. Ward also buffs your recharge delay, and that’s what makes it such a great skill. Caps is something you just have to live with. Maybe it should be clarified better, but it’s just common sense that fire rate, gun damage, health regen etc. has a cap. It would totally break the game if it wasn’t there.

Also… The game was originally capped at lvl 50, so this wasn’t an issue back then.