In all honesty.
Borderlands 4
Not because I want a sequel. I just think the core design of BL3 is fundamentally flawed and irreparably broken. I don’t believe they can fix what is wrong with it at this point. Not without completely changing the way the whole game works. It would be easier to simply move on to the next game and try to make it better.
What they need to do in a nutshell is simple:
Make the core game. No Mayhem, no modifiers, just the core game that people will play when they first start the game. Play balance the entire product around the core game. No modifiers, no mayhem levels, just the core game. Play balance it and create your difficulty levels around just the core game.
Then make modifiers a toybox that players can have access to after they’ve completed the game. Make the modifiers do all sorts of things. Some having a direct effect on gameplay, others just being goofy changes for the fun of it. Doesn’t matter, they’re entirely optional and entirely selectable by the players rather than chosen for them. If you feel you must have a randomized option, make a Random button so players can use that if they want. The whole point here is to make modifiers an OPTIONAL way to alter the game and add to the end game fun. Think of a Clown Foot modifier that gives all of the human enemies big floppy feet. Or a Fart Grenade modifier that makes a fart sound every time a grenade explodes. Toys. Ways to have fun. But NOT forced, and does NOT alter the core game or game balancing in any way. Modifiers should be made and balanced to work within the core game settings, the core game should never be balanced around the modifiers.
Anointments should be massively reduced to only offer small boosts, not game changing results. A 10% increase in damage, not a 300% increase in damage. Passive boosts of no more than 25%. An increase, something better, something desirable, but not game changing and definitely never game breaking. They should also be something you can buy and apply to weapons rather than randomly finding them. Optional parts that can be applied like a Trinket. That eliminates a major problem with the RNG when trying to farm for a specific gun or item you want. It also has an added bonus. Now suddenly you have a use for all that money you have lying around.
And then they can move to the weapons and items. With annointments being changed to a purchased trinket Gearbox could rework the weapon balancing and drop rates. They could rebalance the gameplay so blue and purple weapons are more effective and viable, and change the drop rates of legendaries to make them properly rare items rather than being a golden shower of piss. Then you’ll actually get excited when you see that legendary drop because you know it’s not just going to be yet another Woodblocker.
And finally, work on an actual AI and make it actually intelligent. That way you can scale difficulty by a combination of increasing the number of enemies, and making them smarter, not just turning everything into massive bullet sponges. This game would be SO much more enjoyable if the fights were tougher because the enemies fought more intelligently rather than the 1980s mindset of throw more bullet sponges at them until you overwhelm them game design.
And finally, remember, this is NOT a competitive PvP game. It’s OK to be OP at times. It’s OK to allow players to mow down waves of enemies without breaking a sweat. Part of the fun of finding that amazing god roll legendary weapon is being able to go into combat and lay waste to everything like you were using a god roll legendary weapon. Give the players raid bosses and hunts and specific challenges to test their builds, weapons, skills, and personal abilities against, but also give them that turkey shoot, hilariously overpowered place to where they can just walk through and melt everything in their way just for a laugh. Give them a place to play with some of those quirky guns that aren’t the best in the game, but are good for a laugh.
