Borderlands 3's post-launch is going very well, with the Bloody Harvest Halloween event and the Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite free updates keeping things fresh. But as more and more players reach Borderlands 3's endgame and the grind for endgame loot, certain glaring flaws become all the more apparent. Borderlands 3 players, particularly on Reddit, are trying to call Gearbox's attention to Borderlands 3's lengthy loading times, which can make trying to farm endgame gear a nightmare.
In one of Reddit's recent top upvoted posts, the big issue with Borderlands 3 endgame loot grinding is made transparently clear. The graph shows the typical gameplay loop for farming a boss. The vast majority of the player's time is shown to be caught up in loading screens, while only a small amount of time is allotted to actually fighting and looting the boss. To a degree, the post is an exaggeration for the sake of clarity and humor. But it also delivers a blunt message about loading times being a problem.
This conversation has jumped back to the forefront of Borderlands 3 community discourse due to a change Gearbox recently made. Gearbox recently made it so each boss has a defined loot pool associated with them. As such, players are resorting much more heavily to farming individual bosses to earn specific loot. Players have to constantly restart specific missions hoping to get a single piece of loot. It's great for players who love to plan ahead, but exacerbates the loading times issue.
In turn, Borderlands 3 players are beginning to discuss ways in which Gearbox could help lessen the impact of long loading times without a lot of development resources invested. One example currently being upvoted on Reddit is a method of allowing players to pay in-game cash, which otherwise becomes superfluous in Borderlands 3's endgame, to respawn bosses. Devs would just have to install small devices next to boss spawns, which seems a much simpler task than significantly cutting down loading times.
It's almost certain that Gearbox already knows that its loading times are an issue, particularly for Borderlands 3 endgame players. The team has been very proactive in responding to player frustrations and criticism since launch. It's likely already working out solutions that make sense. As ever, though, the more constructive a game's community is in its feedback, the faster and smarter a development team can respond to ongoing issues.
Borderlands 3 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
Source: Reddit