One week since the game’s launch, Gearbox has released the first significant Borderlands 3 patch. The update addresses a variety of bugs discovered since launch, and also makes some important balancing changes. This includes changes to loot drop rates, spawn rates, and even pain sound effects in one case. It also makes it harder to exploit certain areas which players had found which were good for farming loot.
What’s Included in the First Borderlands 3 Patch
When it comes to bug fixes in the Borderlands 3 patch, there’s only a few specific instances. For instance, the first Guardian enemy in the mission “Beneath the Meridian,” was spawning significantly over-levelled, and it should no longer do so. Elsewhere, an Eridian chest in the Grotto near the Jakob’s Estate is now visible (it has been invisible, it seems). Additionally, two of the game’s New-U stations have had their activation ranges increased; the station at the Halcyon Suborbital Spaceport, and the station at Titan’s Gate (both in the Meridian Metroplex).
When it comes to balancing, Gearbox have mostly reduced overpowered weapon damage (in the case of Torgue shotgun sticky damage and E-Tech shotgun elemental damage), or lowered loot rates. For instance, Eridium will now appear less frequently in the Voracious Canopy. Elsewhere, the Chupacabratch will no longer drop so much loot. In an interesting alteration, the patch also removes pain-sounds from Troy during his boss fight. (Possibly to stop him groaning in pain for extended periods of time if hit by damage-over-time elemental damage.)
Additionally, Gearbox has also scaled down the loot drop rate for Mayhem Mode; the game mode which is unlocked at the end of the story. “Mayhem Mode will still greatly increase higher rarity drop rates across all the worlds in Borderlands 3,” they clarify; “[…] The targeted adjustments seek to keep the grind fresh while still retaining an increase to unique drops for all parts of the game. We will be closely monitoring the changes to make sure players are still enjoying all the unique gear in the game.”