Bring back proficiencies?

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel BL:TPS Discussion
#1

So what do you guys think?

Should proficiencies make a return in future Borderlands games?

I vote yes; realistically, especially if characters have certain established backstories, I don’t think every character should be instantly a master of every gun / weapon type they equip.

Ok, so your soldier or merc types, maybe that would apply, but what about for characters like Gaige or Krieg, or potentially the Sirens, who may be more used to using their powers than weapons?

Krieg may have neven used a gun (as @ACNAero just said in a recent post) and Gaige probably wouldnt have crazy weapon training either.

Character backstories aside, it felt very satisfying in BL1 to choose one or two weapon types that really synergized well with your character and their abilities.

Especially since, in BL1, most COMs would grant the different classes specific bonuses for using specific weapon types.

Sure, you could master every weapon type, but it takes a WHILE!
Also, i think character size / strength should come into play, especially if they introduce heavier weapon classes in future installments.

Rocket / grenade launchers, machine guns, huge shotguns, etc?

Brick and Sal and Wilhelm type characters should get bonuses for using them, and smaller characters should incur penalties, unless they grind up their proficincies in those weapon types.

Alternately, smaller characters should get bonuses for smaller guns or lightweight melee weapons.

This could also apply to shields and maybe armour of varying strengths and heaviness.

What do you guys think?

#2

Sees title.

YES!!!

1 Like
#3

Misread it at first and thought you were asking to bring back profanities…

As for proficiencies, I’m not entirely sure. The BAR is OK in principle, but the implementation (especially the infamous reset bug) needs revisiting.

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#4

I want profanities back too!

“Look at this s**t!”

Brick, every 3 minutes, while in the Crawmoury…

@VaultHunter101

#5

That too. I’m tired of hearing bleeps that aren’t coming from Mr. Torgue.

1 Like
#6

No, I’d rather have BAR. Less buggy and more useful (no +accuracy for snipers!?! Seriously???)
If they were to make a remake of BL1 sure prof’s would be fine but it’s a pain to grind them and most were pretty generic. BAR would’ve been much better even if limited to a handful of things (gun accuracy, fire rate, damage, grenade damage, shield cap, shield recharge rate and shield delay for instance)

3 Likes
#7

Fixed by a Brick player :P.

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#8

Proficiencies : Yes

Profanities : Yes.

7 Likes
#9

You heard it here GBX. One of your mods wants more cursing

:P.

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#10

Perhaps a mixture of both? Add weapon proficiencies to the options for spending one’s Badass Ranks? I’m good either way, really.

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#11

I think BAR is stupid, just cuz it’s poorly regulated and can basically make even weapon choices negligible. I can optimize a weapon for a character and then farm the best version for that character, ooooooooooooor we can just have any version of the weapon and smooth over those intricacies by having a BAR high enough from “completing challenges” (ye right). I honestly think background stats that aren’t universal should not be in the game.

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#12

Ive talked about this on the BL1 forum i think (given my opinion anyways).

Yes. So much yes. Because as said i liked as Roland you could see that i focused on my MGs. And was rewarded for it.

I like BAR but the proficiency kinda felt better. And felt more rewarding endgame.

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#13

I have always advocated for proficiencies to return however not at the expense of BAR. People love both and to take BAR away would surely piss off a lot of people. I thought of a way that could accommodate both modes interactively.

During play both the BAR and Proficiency calculations are updated as you play each player. If you enable proficiencies for you character this will override BAR and you character will now behave with respect to what your proficiency calculations are (probably drop back overall but your character might get boosts in the weapons you have used the most and become most proficient in). You could still do BAR challenges as this would aid to both weapon proficiencies as well its just that you would not gain benefits of BAR until you disabled (toggle) proficiencies off for your character.

The added benefit is when you start a new character you can use proficiencies to get a clean start but still build on your BAR for when you want to go back. This idea might work but it may cause balancing issues or be to difficult to implement. I think it would really add value and individuality back to the game which seems to be somewhat narrowed with maxed skill trees and overall boosting by BAR.

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#14

Hells yes, I want them back. BAR bonuses are hardly noticeable, but you bet your sweet ass that you’d notice that difference between Level 1 Proficiency Reload Speed and Level 50.

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#15

I think that they should have both and just keep BAR like it is right now as shared on all characters and have weapon proficiencies like it was in the first game, as in per each character.

What they could do is make Proficiencies for using all the different gun types and have BAR for buffing things like Action Skill Cooldown and Health like it is now that way you can still have bonuses to survivability and cooldowns, but you would still have to grind weapons proficiencies to make you character better with the different guns in the game.

I also like the idea about having each character be better with some gun types and worse with others to encourage using different guns on all the characters.

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#16

No, I think BAR is a better concept. It’s biggest advantage is that it doesn’t require constant use of a single gun type. There was nothing unique about weapon proficiency other than that it indicated you play with a certain gun type a lot. Then you’re stuck only using that gun type if you want the advantage.

BAR can also be fine tuned for how you want to play your characters. And if you don’t need or want the help just turn it off.

2 Likes
#17

Some class mods and skills already address this. Another reason why we don’t need weapon proficiency back.

#18

It would be really nice if you could reset it without having to get hit with a bug in the game!

1 Like
#19

this might be a long shot but what if Assault rifles were balanced with proficiencies in mind before they switched to BA rank? would explain their near enough overall shittyness right?

just a thought.

#20

One of the reasons I like the proficiency stats is because of this. I was rewarded for using a particular weapon. I liked that. I don’t get that same sense of reward or accomplishment with the BAR. If I use one weapon, I inherently should become better with said weapon type. Proficiencies did that in a way.

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