When you’re making a video game, there’s absolutely a fine line you have to walk when developing combat. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing a fighting game, an RPG, or a shooter title; if you don’t balance things properly, then the game isn’t going to be fun to play. For example, if you’re doing a fighting game, and one character has a combo or special move that is so busted that you can win with it every time, everyone will play that character, and everyone who doesn’t won’t want to fight that character. Or, with Gearbox Software, if they didn’t test everything thoroughly and there’s a character build out there that can basically bleed big enemies in a few shots…that’s also a problem.
The ”Infinite Bleed” Build in Borderlands 4 applies to the character Vex, where you can use a throwing knife mixed with certain skills, amps, and other equipment to create a special scenario where the enemy you throw the knife at will “bleed out” in seconds flat. At first, that sounds pretty cool, until you realize that this can apply to bosses with loads of health, making the game pretty easy to beat if you’re using this combo repeatedly.
Over at GameRant, though, one of the Vex users who likes this build makes a case for why Gearbox Software shouldn’t nerf it in the upcoming patch. According to them, it’s a very specific build that requires a lot of things just to get it to work, and then, it’s not practical in things outside of big boss battles. Plus, there are ways to nerf it so that it’s “less potent” and not an instant killer, which would make them happy.
So, should the dev team hear this request and then go with it? It depends on what they ultimately want the “right balance” to be in the game itself. For example, they made it clear that they don’t want things to be “easy” in the game, even if you are maxed out on levels and have all the best weapons and gear. They want you to still struggle with things on occasion, which is why they’re adding the “Infinite” bosses and other post-game content soon enough.
That being said, part of the fun of games like this is to go BEYOND what the dev team thought was possible and go ape with all the weapons and abilities. So, again, there’s a fine line here. Plus, as we’ve covered before, there are other busted weapons that arguably need fixing over the “Infinite Bleed” build.
