While loot-based RPGs often tend to see quite a few nerfs made in the days after their release to prevent things from getting too overpowered or broken, Gearbox has noted that is getting ready to make its first round of buffs for Borderlands 4. Taking to social media platform X, creative director Graeme Timmins wrote about the discussions that have been taking place about the co-op looter shooter online, with many players having discovered builds that can be considered overpowered.
He also noted that, while there are builds that make use of “unintended interactions” between different gameplay mechanics, changes to those will be happening at a later point. Rather, the studio is more focused on bringing classes and skills that are considered to be on the weaker side of things up to par before the it nerfs anything that might be considered too overpowered.
“We’ve seen the discourse about builds that use unintended interactions and/or the knife,” wrote Timmins. “We’re not going to act on those immediately, instead, we’re looking at our first round of buffs. Those will get addressed but we’re going to start with underperforming gear/skills first.”
Fans of Borderlands 4 have responded to Timmins’ post quite positively, with some even trying to be helpful by offering suggestions for changes that need to be made. One player, for example, notes that “there are a lot of dead / useless skills and guns that could use some love,” while another noted that “knife and stacked damage needs to be nerfed.”
Borderlands 4 was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S earlier this month, and has already managed to see quite a bit of success. Just last week, a report indicated that more than 2 million copies of the game had been sold so far. However, this success has also been a double-edged blade for Gearbox, since there have been many players criticising the studio for the performance issues with the game.
These criticisms reached a boiling point last week when Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to social media to tell players that they should make use of technologies like DLSS to get the frame rates they desire, and that those unhappy with the game should just get a refund.
“You can do whatever you want,” wrote Pitchford at the time. “The game is the game. Please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy with it. You made an analogy to a vehicle. I would not put a Ferrari engine in a monster truck and expect it to drive like a Ferrari. If you tell me about your specification, I can help you optimize your performance.”
These performance issues, which also seemingly includes memory leaks on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game, have ultimately led the studio to announce that the Switch 2 release, which was planned for October 3, has now been pushed back to an undefined time.
In the meantime, for more details about Borderlands 4, check out our review. Also check out our thoughts on why it’s difficult to avoid the chaos surrounding the game.
