Borderlands 3 Multiplayer Features a New Instanced Loot System

Gearbox had previously said that it was making improvements to co-operative multiplayer for its upcoming Borderlands 3, and the Borderlands 3 gameplay reveal went into detail how exactly the developer plans on making co-op a little more streamlined. Instanced loot will not only allow each player to have their own loot streams, Borderlands 3 will also allow players who are at disparate levels to play together more easily.

In prior Borderlands games, the loot stream would be shared across all players. However, now loot streams can be separated among players, making co-op a little less competitive. Even better, loot streams for will be balanced for each player, and will reflect their current level.

That’s not the only way Gearbox is attempting to make co-op in Borderlands 3 more accessible. Enemies will also be scaled to how each person is playing. While the level of enemies will reflect your specific character, their damage will be balanced in a way that allows even the lowest-level character to contribute without fear of being wiped out. As it’s likely that Borderlands 3 characters won’t be strictly playing in co-op, this mechanic ensures players can play however they like, while not needing to worry about their fellow Vault Hunters. Borderlands 3 offers a variety of unique characters with diverse abilities, so adding a mechanic like this definitely allows for more experimentation in that regard.

While the changes will make the experience of playing Borderlands 3 in c0-op much more appealing, if you’d rather play it in a more traditional way, you can. “Classic mode” reverts to the standard Borderlands co-op style, shared loot and all. In addition, it does away with the level scaling, making things a little more challenging across the board. So while the co-op improvements will likely prove to be popular, they won’t be forced on players.

With Borderlands 3 having such an emphasis on co-op, it’s definitely exciting to see Gearbox make some refinements to the series staple. While cross-platform play hasn’t been confirmed, 2K has said it’s looking closely at implementing the feature, and these changes could definitely help that experience.