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Gearbox has made an announcement that may seem innocuous at first, but may mean that Borderlands 4 has entered a new development phase.
They made this announcement on Twitter:
We’re rolling out a Minor Update to Borderlands 4 today that resets your weekly endgame activities.
“Minor Updates” take care of smaller, more pressing issues outside of the planned update schedule (primarily balance changes, if needed) and refresh your Weekly Endgame Activities, and they’re scheduled weekly, on Thursdays.
“Major Updates” deliver larger-scale changes, including new content, more sweeping balance adjustments, performance improvements, and the addressing of any reported issues.
These are planned to deploy about a month apart.
What Is In The First Minor Update?
There really isn’t a lot reported in this minor update at all. Gearbox advises fans to restart their game to make sure the update finishes installing.
They also name the weekly activities and Maurice’s location. There are no new rebalancing updates for characters, weapons, or gear.
Is This Really A Big Deal?
Apparently, it is. For fans who don’t remember, Gearbox had been working hard to rebalance the game as early as the days after Borderlands 4’s launch.
At this time, Gearbox clarified that they intended to focus on buffs before doing any rebalancing nerfs. They then made all these high profile nerfs intended to encourage players to experiment with their builds.
So, they didn’t really want to nerf the Crit Knife, so much as they wanted players to go for more than just the Crit Knife. It seems that Gearbox would have been happy if the players all find other setups and builds as powerful as the Crit Knife.
The New Phase In Borderlands 4’s Development
Now, it does seem like Gearbox could still do a lot to rebalance the game. Regardless, we did notice something in the three months since launch.
Gearbox is done with all these huge performance and balance focused updates. They are slowing down the pace of their updates because the more urgent issues have been addressed.
Now, the work of rebalancing the game will be more nuanced. Gearbox has a reputation for communicating closely with their fans, to a fault.
But no fan is rabid enough to understand how game development looks for these studios unless they have experience making AAA games themselves.
This is a situation where, like a magician, Gearbox has to do all the work to wow their fans without having to explain it.
Of course, as we have reminded everyone many times, Gearbox is also still busy with their Switch 2 port, and on their commitment for cross-save cross-progression.
So there’s a lot on top of Gearbox’s shoulders, but they’re no longer in this urgent emergency mode. At this point, we feel it’s fitting to congratulate Gearbox for a job well done and wish them a happy holidays.
