Mitsu and Tess invited Anthony from Gearbox Software to the BorderCast. There they asked him everything about Borderlands 3 and what was shown at E3. They offer their opinions and perspectives throughout their conversation. For the Q&A Summary, I have shortened some of the questions and only gone over the essence of the question and answer.
Hosts
Live Stream Summary
- Where does the story of Borderlands 3 pick up in relation to Borderlands 2 (including the new DLC)?
- Borderlands 3 takes place like 6 years after the events of the Commander Lilith DLC. In that DLC we learn what happened to our favorite characters and how they ended up as they do in Borderlands 3.
- What are some of the new things we can expect from the weapons in Borderlands?
- For example, the Atlas weaponry has smart bullets. You can tag enemies with a grenade and all your bullets will home into them.
- What is your favorite Jakobs weapon?
- Classic pistol. I deliberately ended the Moze gameplay on Eden-6 with a pistol because of that and the theme.
- What can we expect from raid bosses?
- I can only speak about normal bosses at the moment. We want to test you with boss fights, to challenge you with different mechanics. Bosses can go through phases. You might need to use different elements. We added new ways to move around in the game that you might need during these boss fights. We will have multiple big boss fights.
- Will farming bosses be more accessible?
- Yes, we have bosses and other rare enemy types that you can farm. We implemented some new features to make those accessible for you and your friends. If that’s better than BL2 that’s up for you to decide.
- How big is the game?
- We have multiple planets you get to travel to. There are still a few locations that we haven’t revealed yet. I don’t want to spoil too much here. (Randy Pitchford did mention something about the scope of the game)
- How Big is Moze’s Mech?
- It’s gigantic, it might be twice the size of Moze‘s character. You should spawn it everywhere, except if you are crouched underneath something for example.
- Will dualling be back?
- Yes, it is!
- Was there any consideration for adding other PvP modes to Borderlands 3?
- No, Borderlands is a campaign-driven page so no PvP modes were considered.
- What brought the new playable characters to Pandora?
- That’s an excellent question you should ask one of the guys from the narrative team.
- Why did Lilith step up as the leader of the Crimson Raiders and what happened to Brick & Mordecai?
- Play the Commander Lilith DLC to learn about Lilith’s path and you will learn about Brick & Mordecai in Borderlands 3
- Why did you guys decide to leave Pandora?
- Borderlands is a growing franchise and at the end of Borderlands 2, you get to see that there are more Vaults on other planets. It’s also exciting for us to do that.
- Why did you guys give each playable character 3 action skills instead of keeping it at one?
- 3 is better than 1, right? We take the formula of Borderlands and expand on that to bring it to the next level.
- What is the max inventory space, is it more generous than in previous games?
- It’s generous, I cannot supply specifics as these are the things that we are narrowing down at the moment. But you will have more ways to keep the items that you collected. For example, you can hang them on the wall on Sanctuary 3. (There will be storage deck upgrades for your backpack and bank space)
- What does the future of Borderlands 3 look like?
- At the moment we are focussing on the main game so we can deliver a nice and polished experience. After that, we will tackle the 4 story DLCs that are part of the season pass.
- Will there be any returning bosses?
- We just have to wait and see…
- Will there be any loyalty rewards?
- There is the Vault Insider Program that gives you special rewards for free.
- Are there any functionalities that support community-created modes?
- We don’t have any specific things I can go into at the moment. But it’s awesome to see, for us developers, what the community comes up with.
- What did the demise of Handsome Jack have on the Borderlands world and who is running Hyperion now?
- Welllll… … … go play the new DLC, there are some things in Borderlands 3… but I don’t want to spoil it. There is so much I would like to say but like I said I don’t want to spoil it.
- The Borderlands 3 easter eggs in Battleborn mention that Tannis is not what she seems, is that true?
- She is not what she seems. (Battleborn Easter Eggs, also here is a new interpretation of those easter eggs)
- Are the actually 1 Billion guns in the game?
- How does the gun sound get selected and do you have a favorite?
- You can see some of the sound recordings on their social media. My personal favorite is the reloading sound of a single-barrel shotgun is awesome. The “UNK” sound is actually a golf ball going down a metal tube but it’s a satisfying sound.
- Will there be a gun-making machine like the grinder from the Pre-Sequel?
- We don’t have a gun-making machine like the Grinder from Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. There are a lot of other ways to get loot and if it falls off the edge of the map, we do have the lost and found machine now. But you can always get loot from your friends as there is a mail system but if they sell it through a vending machine that weapon can also show up in your vending machine.
- How does the ‘Lost and Found’ work?
- Here you can find an in-depth article about the Lost and Found.
- What stats enhancements can we expect in the end game?
- I can’t go into detail about this just yet. (Check out this article about Guardian Rank)
- Are there any new Vault Hunters in development beyond the current four?
- No. We would like to expand on the current roster.
- Why does Borderlands 3 have pre-made characters rather than having a character builder like other games?
- It allows you to give the character more personality and that lets you grow and love them more.
- Where did the idea of the secondary fire mode come from?
- It’s all about the weapons and loot. Making things new and appealing again. You have Maliwan weapons that can change elemental types. Dahl weapons can switch between auto and burst fire.
- In the new co-op rules can I still share loot with my friends?
- Yes, or you can mail it.
- Can we customize guns and shields?
- We have weapon skins that you can apply to every weapon in the game. How higher the rarity of that item is, how cooler the skin is. We also have trinkets that you can hang on your gun.
- What was the inspiration for the Calypso Twins?
- We can’t deny the popularity of streamers and their influence in the real world. We got inspired by that and how we could fit our narrative.
- How do planets contrast from each other?
- Will Borderlands 3 have all the same rarities as Borderlands 2?
- No, we start out with the standard rarities for now. I cannot say what we will release in the future.
- What was the inspiration for Moze?
- The classic tank character, a soldier with a mech. There are a couple of genres mixed there but I think she fits well into the Borderlands universe.
Tristan D Ivy
GOOOOOO Anthony!