The “Fourth” skill tree is actually

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

The rumors about fourth skill trees have been circulating. Right now the game feels healthy and fun for the most part. I still think some of the modifiers are broken or just plain half baked but let’s talk about new playable character content…

While I do admit, another tree for each character sounds neat and all…

Can we instead have some playable characters?

Before everyone goes all… “It ain’t happen’n bub” on me, I know what’s been said. But, I’ve been tracking script and character phrases… GB could add new VH’s for sure. Instead of pouring time and resources into four trees, balancing them and creating new gear for them - give us some fresh VH’s.

The DLC vault hunters from the previous games were some of my favorites! I’d gladly pay for the extra experiences.

So, back to the subject - the fourth skill trees are actually… totally unnecessary.

8 Likes
#2

playable characters are just something they do not want to do right now
as far as i understood
and if the leaks are legit, the 4th skilltrees are already in the work so…i wouldnt want to wait an other year for new content so…

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#3

Yea, im all for a 4th skill tree. As long as the new skills aren’t super broken that should hopefully introduce alot more build variety than we currently have.

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#4

I hope the new skill trees are well thought out. Like something primarily to address weaknesses or shortcomings of the existing builds/trees or introduce a different play style for the vault hunters.

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#5

I am already considering Guardian Ranks and their perks as a de-facto 4th skill tree. You have your passives and some pretty powerful skills. You can even toggle perks if they interfere with your build or whatever.

So, I’m 90% confident that actual VH-specific skill trees are not coming. Instead, GBX is likely to keep growing GR ‘skill tree’.

1 Like
#6

GR Trees are fun but - they could be developed quickly and without much thought. For example:
-more skin/heads to unlock
-weapon swap perks
-reload perks
-shield bonuses (Dmg at full etc)

I like the GR Trees - I just think it would be fun to add some new character into the game.

2 Likes
#7

yeah the more they increase the level cap the less actual builds there are (more skills = more builds starting to look the same)

tried playing with drone/clone again today… after my clone just staring into the abyss instead of shooting at flying enemies i reverted back to drone/dome.

i just don’t like that i have to “manage” my clone… run into fight, drop clone, run back into fight, run to next fight and activate the clone wich hasn’t despawned and BAM you’re back where you started.

if they would make it so that it shoots flying enemies and i can just spawn the active clone without swapping places with it (hold button to spawn active clone?) i would actualy play with an other build.

other characters i hardly play… (i have a flak and amara but i don’t enjoy them that much -> amara i only like phasecast as phasegrasp is allmost a maya clone and flak… not much to realy enjoy for me… anoying pets are anoying)

#8

I’d rather have all the skills work for current skill trees

Before we get new ones that don’t work

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#9

Rumors? I thought it was datamined or something making it true?

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#10

Yay… more levels and more grinding to gear out again…

New toons would be better.

2 Likes
#11

Still technically rumors. From my understanding all they found were icons that looked like new action skills for each VH.

I personally would love new characters to play. It’s added diversity to each game they’ve done it so far. Biggest reason to not would be money and resources.

2 Likes
#12

i am sedulously sending them new character concepts XDDD

#13

While a new Vault Hunter doesn’t look like a massive jump in needed manpower when compared to 4 new skill trees, it actually is just as costly if not more as you need to hire multiple new voice actors for callouts and mission interactions for the main game and all DLC and have to create a new model including at least 50+ new costumizables like skins and heads. Add to that the writing and concept work and it isn’t even close.

By “just” expanding the existing VH’s Gearbox doesn’t need any new Voicelines or very few to support the 2-3 new skills (per character) that might need a voiceline here and there. Also, considering that on average at least half the skills in a tree are just numerical changes, the programming and testing becomes much less of a workload. And while GBX has to do 4 new trees in terms of concept work and testing, they at least have a baseline for the already existing skills and can go off community feedback, like for example many people would love to have Zane become a solid melee character due to his cool melee animation.

Overall I don’t see any new character(s) being added, at least for now. Maybe Gearbox does that with a second season pass, but I don’t see it for this one, especially as that would basically be free content, which would be wasted profit from a business standpoint.

4 Likes
#14

The very best thing they could do for a new Vault Hunter, would be to make him or her a silent protagonist, who just goes through the motions of the story just as if he or she were excised from one of the multiple cutscenes that the other 4 VH were inexplicably absent from.

Gearbox had the mercy to allow us to skip the cutscenes. Why not just allow a new VH the same as an in-game meta expedience?

1 Like
#15

a guardian VH would be perfect for this role :stuck_out_tongue:

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#16

I am not so secretly wishing for a rogue Maliwan soldier (since we’ve seen a successful Dahl and Vladof).

But, a guardian sounds fun!

1 Like
#17

https://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/vrye-as-the-guardian-vh-concept/4468566/6
maybe you will like this one :stuck_out_tongue:
i’ve already sent them XDDD
it’s documented^^

1 Like
#18

Each new VH would mean balancing and creating gear for 3 new skill trees, as well as creating a new character model with associated skins and heads, and creating new voice lines for the whole game and all DLCs. I would like new VHs, but each one would seem to entail more time and resources than 1 new skill tree each for the existing ones.

5 Likes
#19

Skill trees are free content. Paid in full already.

New DLC VH that 80%+ of the existing game owners are willing to invest an additional $15-25 in to play…?

One investment of time and resources nets a “possibly” better game experience.

The other investment (admittedly more expensive) will net them a viable profit AND additional, dynamic gameplay.

The voice lines are rarely, if ever character specific from the NPCs.

Hey… “VH”, “Sup, Killer…” etc.

#20

They are, however, specific responses from the VH. Unless the VH is mute, that means adding in quite a bit of voice lines. And then there are the enemy callouts that are VH specific.