Target Dummy is nice, but it only does half of the job

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

While it’s nice that we got a target dummy in Sanctuary now, this dummy’s only purpose right now, is to see how much damage you can do with your current weapon, and that’s it. You don’t get to see how fast you can kill a tough enemy, or how much damage you can dish against enemies that have different heath pools, for example.

With that in mind, I’d like to propose some improvements to the target dummy, that should make it more useful to the player, when testing their average DPS:

-Give the Dummy a very large health pool… something like 3mil+ health or so at level 50 and make it killable.

-Add two more Dummies and have each one have a different health pool based on the 3 possible health pools that enemies can have. The first dummy should have a Red health pool, the second should have a Yellow health pool and the last one a Blue health pool.

-Make so that the dummies can get respawned through a console nearby, or have them respawn after a few secs have passed.

This way, the players can make different tests with their characters and see how long it takes them to kill the dummies. The players will be able to check how fast is their killing speed, how faster they can deal with shielded enemies without a shock weapon, etc.

8 Likes
Let shooting range area be unlimited ammo area
#2

Even better, in the next DLC, just add a small practice map, like that of Overwatch. We need killable bots in various scenarioes so we can test and practice builds.

3 Likes
#4

With that mindset, might as well just remove the dummy we currently have, then, because I can just go to any map and do exactly that.

By having a dummies like the way I suggested, I can test mutiple gun combinations in a single map, and I have a new U station and my stash nearby, in case I wish to try different setups with different skills and so on.

It would help players to have a rough estimate on how fast they can kill a dummy, even with the lack of mayhem modifiers. If a player can destroy a dummy with 5mil health in a matter of secs, for example, then that player can have an idea that his DPS is good to tackle tougher challenges.

1 Like
#6

I thought you were replying to my OP, because I didn’t see anything showing that you were replying to the person above.

Usually when you reply to someone in a Discourse board, a small picture of the poster you’re replying to appears on your post, but it didn’t show for me, so sorry for the mistake, I guess. Not sure why it’s not showing on my end (I’m using Mozilla, so I dunno if it’s a browser issue).

1 Like
#8

All good :slightly_smiling_face:

#9

This is true unless you’re the very next response to the person you’re replying to. Additionally if you want to quote the person you’re replying to (because the icon will not show) it typically ignores your attempt to use the quote feature because you are the very next response…

Sorry for the off topic response but yeah these forums barely work better than in game ui imo.

1 Like
#10

The answer should be obvious. Consistency and replication of results.

#12

:man_facepalming:

#14

I disagree, not everyone can get consistent results from targets that move, not every mob type can be easily practiced against.

What if I want to test an addition to my radiation build? Since weapons have a chance to proc and if I want to see how reliable it is on eating through shields and procing on health - there is no simple way to test that.

The target dummy could (maybe not easily) be given a health amount with 3 switches - armor, shield, and health. Toggle which ones you want on and test away… Just a qol that while not necessarily a priority, should remain on the horizon if they plan to retain customers for 7 years without another title again. No real reason not to include it other than ‘other people have been doing it fine’.

#16

I didn’t disagree with the target dummy. You are the third person to take my comment out of context to argue with me on something I already agreed on. So I just deleting everything.

Please don’t respond to me in this topic anymore since nobody wants to actually read the comments in it.

#17

Can i add that some weapons don’t work 100% in there?
try using a queen’s/king’s call in there…
the room is so little that most of the extra projectiles don’t hit the target, they get stuck in the wall and disappear after a sec

2 Likes
#18

Sort of necroing this post, but given the limitations of the target dummy, does anyone have a favorite location to test damage output? I’m thinking locations with a lone mob would be perfect for testing, if there are any.

#19

DLC 2’s Eista the Invincible.

He has triple bars and you can reset him by going back to the sanctuary and visiting him again.

#20

Really you don’t have to save quit? I never tried that damn :anguished:

#21

Gearbox, please add the target dummy in The Pre-Sequel: Claptastic Voyage into the 4th DLC.
The target dummy in The Pre-Sequel: Claptastic Voyage is great because you have 3 different elements to try your guns on. It was a simple way the average player could tell what gun really worked the best on each different element. The health bars allowed you to factor in fire rate, reload rate, weapon damage, elemental damage modifiers, etc, and made gun selection in that game much simpler. We need something like this currently in BL 3. We could pair artifacts, shields and skills to a gun much faster if the average player had this type of target dummy. Gearbox, the code already somewhat exists. Please add this into the next DLC. It would also be nice for ricochet weapons to hit the other target dummies to evaluated that as well. Thanks

Test dummy
Test dummy3360×2100 1.02 MB

2 Likes
#22

All I would really change is adding more information. Let it actually show your dps so it’s easier to compare loadouts. And maybe add a shielded or armored version to test against those types of health bars.

#23

I agree a DPS meter would help and be an improvement. :slight_smile:
Overall, Borderlands mixture of different guns and paired up gear with different stats, different elemental modifiers, and how that matches up with different passive skills is very complicated and not always logical. Gearbox could make the game much friendlier with target dummies of each element. Making BL3 friendlier could attract new players as well as remove a lot of frustration with existing players.
Heck, I think they still have the moving targets where Jack is in Sanctuary. Maybe they could add elemental health bars to those creatures and give us a simpler way to compare different loadouts. Making BL3 and all of its stats, anointments, etc. simpler to deal with for the average player would be an improvement. Thanks

#24

The damage formula is so complicated that even regular players, even way beyond casual players, can’t determine the proper gear, anointments, and skill combos to put together. An example version of the basic damage formula is below.
Basic Formula:
(((Base Card Damage of Gun x Dahl Fire Mode)+ Overkill) * (1+ weapon charge) * (1+all Gun Damage boosts)) * (1+V1) * (1+V2) * (1 + (Splash Damage+AoE damage)) * (Elemental Damage e.g 1.75 for fire vs flesh)(Misc)((Critical Damage = 2 × (1 + SniperBonus) × (1 + WeaponCritBonus) × (1 + ManufacturerBonus) × (1 + Skills + ClassMod + Crit GuardRank + Anointment))(Debuff) Amp Damage = (1 + Zane’s barrier ) x (1 + amp shield ) *(Guardian Rank Damage) + Bonus Element damage
The above formula does not factor multiple pellet weapons, certain anointments, fire rate, etc.
Thus, a DPS meter or target dummies with health bars would make this game so much more understandable / user friendly. I would gladly pay for a head hunter pack that could even closely give a player an indication of DPS. Players would not have to become masters of the game mechanics and coding to put together the best build they can with the gear they currently have. Please join in if you think a DPS meter or better target dummy could help this game.

1 Like
#25

I agree with most of what has been said here, especially about the TPS target dummies. At least we can melee the current one (we can, can we?), so that’s an improvement. But we should also bear in mind that a target dummy can never fully represent actual combat. Be it ricochets, additional projectiles, kill skills, stacking, healing and whatnot.

While it’s undoubtedly a great tool for min-maxing DPS and figuring out game mechanics, my own preferred method of testing how well my current setup works is going out in the field. I still go to the dummy, to compare different annointments on similar guns for example, but in the end I go by how the actual combat feels. If I can kill stuff well and quickly enough, and am having fun while doing so, then all is good.

1 Like