What if anointments could only roll on Shields and Grenades?

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

Anointments are king when it comes to making a build in BL3, so much so that it isn’t uncommon to hear that the game is more about farming anoints rather than the weapons they are on. Having said this, I ask the following question: What if anointments could only roll on Shields and Grenades, while also allowing them to drop with 2 types of anointments?

To my understanding and experience of the game, these pieces of gear don’t have the same problem as weapons when it comes to farming for a “perfect” version. Most of them are part locked and even those that aren’t don’t necessarily lag behind if they don’t have a specific passive. There are some exceptions of course, such as the Ward, but that could be easily resolved by making it spawn with all roid parts (cause honestly it should, is just another unnecessary grind, but I digress.).

What I propose is the following:

  • Shields having a Shield Specific Anoint slot and a Class Specific Anoint slot.
  • Grenades having a Grenade Specific Anoint slot and an Universal Anoint slot.
  • Both pieces of gear would always spawn with the two anointments (as in, its either no anoint or the two)

Both the Shield and Grenade slots would include all the already available anoints on them. The Class Specific Anoint slot would be occupied by stuff like SNTL Cryo, GB Rad, Phaseslam Melee, etc. (Terror Class Anointments would go here too, but that’s quite a “what if” considering they are tied to an event). Iron Bear’s Grenade anoint probably should stay as a Grenade Anoint. The Universal Anoint slot contains the common stuff in most builds (Consecutive Hits, U-Rad, 300/90, ASE, etc.) and the other ones that aren’t as popular.

This idea I think would lessen the current low chances of getting a specific version of a weapon and make it so when farming for a gun you are actually farming for said gun and not an anointment. It will also be an indirect buff to some anointments I would say. For example, the Attack Command Life Steal would be consistent since you won’t be giving up DPS from another anoint and you can swap weapons while its active. There are however some anointments that requiere buffs to work with this system, like the AC Move Speed, but that’s not for discussing here. This will also open the possibility for some builds with new anointment combinations. I would certainly like to use GB Rad with other weapon anoints (Terror Cryo comes to mind). Granted, some existing builds would lose a small amount of flexibility, such as only being able to use one type of ASE universal anoint, but being able to use other weapon anointments with them should compensate greatly.

Now I know this wouldn’t really fix the fundamental problems with the current anointment system. This is more of a band aid fix idea that wouldn’t requiere too many changes in the code (since modders can already add multiple anoints to a piece of gear). Only limitation I see in implementing this would be the removal of existing anointments on weapons without outright accidentally deleting the gear. All that said, I just wanted to share and see what the people here thought. Thanks for reading.

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#2

This would actually have a negative effect on the loot grind and would lead to the opposite of what I’m assuming you want ( making people less reliant on anointments ).

I do think it’d make weapon farming a lot simpler because, in theory, you’d just pick up the first weapon that drops since parts don’t really matter in this game. But it’d add an extra layer of farming. At first, you’re farming for the drop, then certain parts since shields are actually dependent on parts, then the correct anointment.

If we were to implement this you’d be farming for the drop, specific parts, a preferred anointment, and then another preferred anointment. So we’d be going from borderlands two where all you needed was the drop and your preferred parts to this where there are two extra layers of rng.

What I think would work better is something that would’ve also saved borderlands 2’s endgame or at least made it more bearable. It won’t fix the dependence on anointments (btw I don’t think you can because while it is a bad system its role in bl3 is too big for the solution to be simple or easy) but it’ll make the grind less of a chore. drum roll, please… My magical “solution” is to just weigh certain anointments, and parts in the case of shields. Make more preferred anointments more common so that the devs won’t have to go and change the drop rates and make legendaries even more common but players will still spend more time playing and less time farming.

Something like this would’ve definitely done bl2 some good and, I believe, the only reason it wasn’t implemented is because of gibbed. The grind was so bad for most people that they just gibbed their gear in and since they weren’t wasting time farming they couldn’t complain to the devs about the attrocious crowded loot pools and low drop rates.

#3

I like to farm things like Kybs Worth, Critical and Starved Beast for their bullet count. Idk why but it’s really amazing to get more bullets on a roll you desired.

#4

While it is true that I would like for this game to be less dependant on anointments, this is not what this idea is about. Like you said, the game is built around them and to change that would requiere a massive overhaul of different aspects of the game (anoints, skill trees, enemies, etc.). The purpose of this idea is to reduce the RNG on weapons, which are heavily reliant on it, and move it to the slots with almost nonexistant grind.

As for the impact of the pieces of gear, most weapons still would requiere a bit of grinding, element and pellet count come to mind (could add sights in there too, but that’s mostly QoL). Yes, I’m not saying it wouldn’t add an extra layer of farming when it comes to shields, but it would be reducing quite a lot of RNG on guns for a bit of RNG on shields. And I believe with shields it wouldn’t matter as much as guns. You say that shields are dependant on parts, but, compared to guns, most shields perform the same with a different passives. I am referring to Unique and Legendaries of course, Purple shields would become more of a grind than before, but the only used one that comes to mind is the One Shotter Shield which is already unnecesarily rare (and for grenades it would be the CMT). The shields most used on builds would probably perform the same no matter the passives: Transformer, Frozen Heart, Front Loader, Stinger, Stop-Gap, Big Boom Blaster, Plus Ultra, Red Suit, etc. The main appeal of these shields is their guaranteed special effect. The new class anoint on them would be a bonus at this point. The only unique shield I think would be harder to farm is the Old God, but that one already has grinding problems for other reasons that should be improved.

Something I forgot to make emphasis is that this would also “clean” the anointment list in a way, since it would reduce the amount of anoints that can drop in a slot. For example, SNTL-Cryo would not be in the same drop pool as 300/90, making it easier to get a specific anoint.

Weighting anointments is a plausible idea, but it is still RNG. Something like this might be already be implemented but it could still be as random as the current iteration of the system.

#5

Annoints should be at 10% of the level they are at… This would make them bonuses not mandatory.
Balance the game to gear, balance the gear to each other so it’s all viable. Farm for gear and annoints would be a bonus to have, but not make it so the gear you farmed is junk if you don’t get the annoint you want.

3 Likes
#6

As stated before, to make the game less dependent on the anointment system would requiere for a complete overhaul of the game. This is not the goal of my proposal. Since the Devs haven’t given any indication of lessening the impact of anoints in the game, I would prefer to discuss a way to build around their design philosophy.

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#7

I’ll acknowledge everything you said I don’t agree with some of it but still. I just wanted to point out that weighing parts is obviously still rng its a looter shooter what do you expect. What it would do is if let’s say, there are 3 bad anointments and one good anointment instead of having an equal chance to get one of the four it would be like a 10 percent chance for the good one and a 3.5 percent chance for the bad ones. Just wanted to clarify just in case you didn’t understand what I meant.

#8

I certainly understood your idea and I do believe is something that should be implemented. However, I also believe that in practice weighting would probably feel the same. After all, its all luck. And given the weird nature of how probabilities sometimes work on this franchise (see Silence the Voices) I don’t believe the change would be very noticeable (like how the loot increase given by Mayhem doesn’t actually do much of anything)

#9

I read someone’s idea on another thread asking, “what if we could put anointments on the trinket slot, guns wouldn’t be anointed, trinkets would be, and then you could easily swap in the anointed trinkets you wanted”.

I think if we had that, then each trinket should be attached to a specific anointment. So once you’ve collected that trinket you have it forever on all your characters.

#10

I’ve read that idea before and I do really like it. If the devs could implement it I would take it no question. However, I would prefer discussing the alternative I’m proposing to explore a different approach to tweak the anointment on weapons.

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#11

Oh yeah I know what you mean, like you can weight the drop rates but there’s still a chance it’ll take you 5hrs to get your drop. But about it still felling the same, that’s why you tweak the numbers until you get to a point where players are happy and the game isn’t “broken.”

Also I don’t hate your idea there’s just no point in taking the grind out of guns just to put them into shields and/or grenades

#12

There is a point though. A weapon’s effectiveness is dependant on a lot more factors than Shields and Grenades:

  • Weapons: Elements, Pellet Count, Mag Size, some special parts like the Boom Sickle, scopes in some cases, firing modes for Dahl.

    vs.

  • Shields: 2 small passives and in a lot of shields they are either limited or can’t spawn.

  • Grenades: 1 or 2 parts with similar restrictions to shields.

#13

it has been said before

shield: provide defensive bonuses
nades:nade damage/cc bonuses
guns: 30% dmg 10% crit max. no bonus elements no bonus projectiles no pomegranates! no no no no pomegranates!

and no condition guns not ase not ass just a bonus on the gun so it is fair access to all vhs

#14

Just turn anointments into trinkets that you can put on any gear you wish.

#15

With the somewhat recent and unnecessary addition (clutter and bloat) of the new anointments I would like to bring back this topic under a new name and see if anyone would like to discuss it in any way.

To add to what I’ve already written, if they don’t want to bother fixing the bugged ASA anointments, having them on shields would fix the issue of losing them after swapping weapons since it’s now always equipped. As for the new anointments, they would be added as only two new anoints to the pools: 100% Hard Points damage (Just one. No need for one for every Hard Point) and 100% Action Skill damage (No need for the same anointment for every action skill). The ASA damage class anoints need to be removed. We already had one that gives double the damage.

#16

All these suggestions to reduce the amount of grinding while the addition of the latest class specific anointments, right after the removal of the ones the community deemed useless, demonstrates that the developers WANT the pool to be diluted to "give choice"to the player (it’s actually artificially lengthening the amount of gameplay, but let’s play along :roll_eyes:)

#17

Oh yeah. I’m certainly playing along knowingly that’s the intention. But trying to find/suggest a way around that is something I feel is worth discussing. A “If you can’t beat them join them” sort of thing or working something out with their “vision” in mind.

#18

All items (shields, grenade, weapons, etc) instead of being anointed, could have a certain amount of slots for “anointed runes” or “eridian runes” These could be attached or detached the same way artefacts worked in Borderlands 1, changing the element of action skills. A similar system could be created for items, replacing this Anointment system.
Imagine you find a legendary with a single rune slot and a blue with 3 slots. Maybe the green has the potential to be better than the legendary.
I think most action rpgs have this system. I sure seen it even in Cyberpunk for armors and weapons, even though they are not runes, maybe cyberware or something.
Me personally, i want more possibilities and options in Borderlands

6 Likes
There are too many anointments & they are too specific
Anointment pollution has pushed me away
#19

Ooooooh. I certainly like how that sounds. Especially the connection with BL1 artifacts. I would take this as a solution as well. Unfortunately it falls in the same vein of reworking the anointment system as a whole, so idk how willing the devs would be to do this.

1 Like
#20

Trinkets could be the equippable annointment.
I’ve said it all over this forum at this point but I’d be alright with mayhem 12 no annointments no modifiers, just difficulty (UVHM). Absolutely HATE doing math so throwing percentages of damage with different elements and other variables that interact differently between pieces of gear----
TOO MUCH! It’s TOO. MUCH.
Trinket annointments, I can get behind because then instead of learning how a specific annoint works on one legendary but differently on another, I could just learn the trinket bonus and slap it on anything.
No annointments I can REALLY get behind because then, I only have a skill tree and a COM to worry about.
Like…

GUH.

1 Like