Legendary gear and assigned loot pools

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

Edit: wanted to add that I’m happy with the increased amount of loot drops we get in BL3 I just enjoy having bosses with assigned drops*

Gearbox had the formula for the distribution and aquisition of legendary gear perfected in Borderlands 2. If I was looking for a specific piece of legendary equipment I knew that a particular boss or mob was capable of dropping it. There was also a set of specific items I could obtain from Chubby/Tubby enemies as well as Loot Midgets/Tinks. Additionally there was a smaller chance of obtaining a legendary drop randomly from any mob(or source) in the game(world drop).

This was good. However, I can’t get my head around why Gearbox has changed this system with the release of Borderlands 3?.

Especially after Borderlands The Pre Sequel set a precedent on how NOT to handle loot distribution and aquisition. When The Pre Sequel was released it was similar to the way BL3 is now. The problem then was you couldn’t refarm particular bosses for gear.

However, Gearbox listened to the community feedback and realized this was a mistake and in turn, eventually changed it to the superior system used in BL2. I could finally go farm a particular boss over and over for a specific legendary item and all was right again.

So, after Borderlands 2 being close to perfect and The Pre Sequel initially being a disaster(in terms of bosses not being refarmable) why in the world is Borderlands 3 now going to this system that nobody wants?

The recent nerf to the amount of loot that drops in BL3s ‘Mayhem Modes’ wouldn’t be so bad if bosses had assigned lootpools, the issue is however compounded by this fact.

As it is there are very few assigned drops and everything else is just available as random drops. So there is basically no way to attempt to try and obtain a particular item you may want. This is not fun. It also promotes players simply identifying the boss that can be killed the easiest and farming it in hopes that they may possibly eventually get the particular item they want. Or worse case, it promotes gibbing items.

Gearbox can we please go back to the awesome and amazing way loot distribution and aquisition was handled in the near perfect Borderlands 2? At least for some legendaries? Don’t get me wrong I like world drops too. The current system seems like it could be better and has been made even more clear how bad it is by the recent nerf to the amount of loot that is dropped.

Despite the bugs and several QOL issues this is an otherwise great game and I would love to see the endgame loot situation straightened out so I can continue to enjoy it for years to come, as I have with every other entry into the Borderlands franchise!

5 Likes
#2

Tps had loot assigned to bosses but those bosses did not respawn. It was a different thing.

And bosses and unique enemies do have drops on bl3

#3

Correct. I haven’t played Pre Sequel in a while but your right. I just remembered an issue with not being able to target specific loot. I’ll go edit post to reflect my failing memory lol.

#4

So in bl3 from what I have seen every boss and almost every unique enemy has a drop but we have maybe 5 times the red text guns making more of them homeless for now.

Tps and bl2 had world drop gear as well.

This game isn’t really that different except we have so much more gear. Good thing is world drop rates and insanely higher than bl2. A bl2 world drop almost never happened outside a few bosses like Pete, or loot midgets. Here I get them all over

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#5

The Pre Sequel issue with bosses not being refarmable still presented a similar issue.

In Borderlands 2, with the exception of Stormfront(and probably a few others) I knew where to go to farm when I was looking for a specific items. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Borderlands 3 because a large percentage of the drops seem to be random.

#6

We just don’t know all the sources yet. Have you been watching joltz dudes gear videos, he shows the drops for all of them.

So far every boss and unique enemy has an assigned drop, just like bl2.

1 Like
#7

Oh okay. Glad to hear. I haven’t been able to crack into Borderlands 3 as hard as I would like.

If this is a non issue then I’m glad to hear it.

#8

A big part of a lot of what 8m reading here is the game is so new and people are used to knowing everything.

Let the game settle and see what we learn. It took years to learn all about bl2 that we knew. This game is less than 2 weeks old

5 Likes
#9

I actually like it this way. Having to complete, how many, dozens? Hundreds? However many side missions, to unlock a mini-boss that drops one specific item. At the time I was fine with it, but now that I look at what we have and what we had, well…

Having however many legendaries in this game being world drops rather than assigned drops, and bosses having a greatly increased chance to drop world drops and drop several at that, is something I am really enjoying. Usually there will be more than one item that you really want, and often there are others you’d like but aren’t prioritising. Now we can get any of them and more from one source, and you might get something nice that you didn’t know existed or decide to try out. As far as I’m concerned, this beats unlocking and farming one enemy at a time.

4 Likes
#10

I enjoy playing what the game gives me and this loot system a bit more. Not starting a new game, go to priate DLC, get pimp/sandhawk/orphan, ???, profit!

1 Like
#11

Would be cool to see maybe a compromise of both ways? Old and new.

Either way, I’m sure I’ll get used to it and don’t think it’s a deal breaker for me either way.

After all, they brought the Flakker back; it can’t be that bad!

#12

True but the guns you mentioned we’re all quests rewards. I agree that dashboard farming for quest rewards was the lamest.

#13

Sure, so long as most of those enemies weren’t hidden behind side missions. I did them all on normal,
and although there weren’t as many in BL3 than BL2 I still wouldn’t want to do most of them again on TVHM for the sole purpose of farming. I can’t believe I never realised how bad that was.

I hated the Flakker in BL2, overrated rubbish gun with a slow rate of fire and slower reload speed that reloads after two shots. Now, WOW, that’s all I’ll say. Just, wow, in Owen Wilson’s voice.

1 Like
#14

I hated the looted system in BL2. Sure it was nice to be able to get specific gear you want, but at the same time drop rates on EVERYTHING was so abysmal you’d have to spend hours mindlessly killing the same dude over and over. Warrior in particular bothered the hell outta me. Final boss, rarely if ever drops legendary loot. Or farming Bunker for a sham, good luck. It was boring and not fun.

In BL3 I can just pick any area and run through, killing everything and opening every chest. I’m almost guaranteed on TVH/M3 to get at LEAST 3-4 drops in an entire area. Bosses drop like 3-4 at a time. WAY better because you actually get stuff without needing to farm. You just run around and play the game normally and get loot.

I will admit having the ability to get specific loot is great, but not when you have to spend hours just to get an enemy to spawn or an item to drop. That’s ■■■■■■■ stupid. The only change to loot I’d like to see in BL3 is that they make some areas more likely to drop certain types of gear. So if you want class mods, go to Athena. If you want shields, go to Skywell. etc. Not that they would ONLY drops that gear, just that it has a higher chance to drop that gear. If only to make it just a tad easier to make a consistent build for your character.

But beyond that, BL3 loot >>>>>>>> BL2 loot. Farming the same guy for an hour only for a chance to MAYBE get a drop is lame.

#15

I know right! I picked one up the other day, almost vendored it. Stuck it on for a shot and was totally amazed how badass it was. I ‘never’ ever used it in B2.

Mind you, some have changed for the worse. That Krakatoa is a replacement for the Volcano i assume, but ain’t liking that.

I like this new loot system. Just got my first Quasar from an ammo box. Put a big smile on my face :grinning:

#16

The Rough Rider, one of the best shields in the previous game and one of the worst in this one.

I want a Quasar for my build, gimme :frowning:

1 Like
#17

No , don’t take me wrong. I enjoy the increased drop rate we have in BL2(compared to 3). Im just saying I would like that increased drop chance combined with bosses having assigned loot drops.

In other words I like the system that is in BL2 better but not the low chance for loot to drop.

#18

what sucks is that when you start getting up into higher levels, the loot drop stays the same!!! whites and greens some blues and maybe a purple!! and when you work so long and hard on a boss, all he drops are whites, greens and maybe a blue!!! and the level of the drops are mostly 2 levels below you!!! WTF!!!

#19

They should just remove white and green drops in TVHM…only blues or better period