Immunity all over again?

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

Well since we never made a specific topic in regard to this subject i thought its time to talk specifically about how immunity heavy this game is.

Now we could list all the enemies that have immunity phases in this game, but this would not be productive in any way so how about we are talking about the good, the bad and relating to games with and without immunity phases and what would be good boss design in 2020.

For instance there are bosses in Nintendo games that only can be killed by hitting certain vulnerability spots. That would be a design choice I am actually happy with. This gets harder by covering the spot and so on.

Another example would be make the actual fight the challenge and not hitting that next immunity phase.

Also, a good way to make a boss fight challenging is to make certain items that are ā€œkeyā€ in order to fight a boss properly, imagine getting into the ghost tower in PokĆ©mon red / silver / emerald without having the item necessary in order to see those ghosts.

Well thatā€™s just a few examples.

How do you feel about immunity phases in this game?

This topic is inspired by the latest addition to the game cause as it seems GBX didnā€™t realize that Immunity is just a boring way to make a fight last longer

At least my opinion is Immunity phases hurt this game, and they are boring in general.
That said I donā€™t think its all that bad but i donā€™t wanna hang around in a boss fight that least for 2 minutes when 1:30 sec of it is waiting for animations to end.

5 Likes
#2

Most people seem to dislike them. Someone on the forum said it was done good on captain haunt. Just my thoughts.

1 Like
#3

Yes, that was me. Capt Haunt did it well.

Immunity phases you can do nothing about are every poor.

But Capt Haunt (like the Boā€™sun in TPS) has a player option. You can shoot the 3 shield generators and remove his immunity.

Iā€™m OK with that. I can take some action to eliminate the immunity. With risk, his minons could certainly take you down.

Taking action good. Waiting around mindlessly for immunity to go away bad.
ā€“RoA

7 Likes
#4

Immunity phases should only be allowed if there is something the player can do to end the immunity.

Captain haunt you shoot the totems to end it.
Wotan shield phase two. Get inside the shield and take it down.

These are the correct ways

Annointed militants that go immune every 3 secondsā€¦ All you can do is wait
Tyreen stomping around immune to damage . Just wait it out
Rampaged collecting guardian soulsā€¦ you can shoot the soulsā€¦ but that does nothingā€¦ Still immun eā€¦ so just wait.

This game is fast paced and full of actionā€¦ Immunity phases kill that feelingā€¦ Give us something to do to make these boss fights interesting not waiting for the next time we can play

No one farms boss fights with immunity phases unless itā€™s a dedicated drop

4 Likes
#5

Bluntly, immunity phases should be rare, and like all boss mechanics should be considered from the perspective of how the player interacts with them.

They should not exist simply to drag things out.

2 Likes
#6

I think itā€™s just their approach to guarateeing a minimum killtime on bosses and compensate for the fact that thereā€™s a stark difference in how much burst damage certain builds are capable of. In Borderlands 2, certain bosses could basically be murdered in an instant, just with the right setup. Zer0 could b0re Hyperius the Invincible to death, Krieg could bloodsplode Pyro Pete, Sal couldā€¦ well, do the Gunzerker thingsā€¦ you know, that kind of stuff. Immunity phases are just a cheap and easy way to prevent bosses from getting one-shot like that.

3 Likes
#7

Look how people loved BL2 ā€¦ And all of the examples you gave (except the vague sal one). Took setup, skill and a lil luck. They werenā€™t guaranteed. Immunity phases should have a trick to end themā€¦ Not just be time filler

1 Like
#8

Unbreakable immunity is an abomination before Nuggen. Shouldnā€™t be allowed. Breakable immunities or damage type specific immunities are reasonable game mechanics. Amaraā€™s unique capability to break the annointed militantā€™s immunity with phasegrasp while other VHs lack that capability is also reasonable, given that it requires a siren power. Otherwise, an opponentā€™s immunity should be no longer than that provided to a vault hunter through a Stop Gap or other shield - very brief.

1 Like
#9

I think there are probably sometimes logistical reasons the bosses have immunity. For example it lets the boss get into the correct place before the next phase of the fight. Or perhaps it helps prevent some exploit or bug. I imagine Tyreen the destroyer has something like this going on to prevent her dying while out over the abyss.

Iā€™m willing to give the designers some benefit of the doubt here. But in these cases, the immunity should be as short as possible.

Prolonged, technically unnecessary immunity phases like the anointed guy who makes the floor lava are surely annoying to absolutely everyone though.

1 Like
#10

I personally donā€™t really see what the problem is with immunity phases, itā€™s never really bothered me - with the one exception if Iā€™m trying to speed kill a boss for a gun farm.

For instance the new takedown boss Scourge is an awesome fight. I actually like the immune phases because it gives me time to either reload, proc ASE, or if Iā€™m good to go can just line up to kill the glowing dudes who will knock him out of the immune phase

#11

I like the idea of an immunity phase that is somehow interactive. Someone mentioned Captain Haunt. Troy has a similar phase; if you shoot the 4 crystals soon enough you can lay into him while sheā€™s still parked up the back.

Like, if the anointed immune phase could be overridden by, say, shooting 3 minions in a short time limit, or maybe by hitting his shield with every element, or some other skill-based manoeuvre, then that might be cool.

But if the gameplay result boils down to ā€˜you gotta run around in circles and wait a tedious amount of timeā€™ then I donā€™t think thatā€™s game design at its finest.

#12

I donā€™t really mind immunity the first time I fight a boss, cause it part of its story, but it make them unfarmable.

#13

I despise them with a passion. They just make repeat fights a chore that wastes even more of your time. Tyreen as an example can usually be killed quickly but slip up a little and sheā€™s wasting what feels like minutes of your time, to the point you might as well suicide to try again.

#14

What isnā€™t?

#15

only if they realize how good crawmerax fight is , the difficulty is almost 90% depend on how well u aim and the rest of 10% is luck