Borderlands 3’s first big patch includes many stability fixes, completely nerfs the Porcelain Pipe Bomb

It has clunky-butt menus, writing on par with a workshop for treffer music and there’s a whole host of performance issues that need to be addressed…and yet Borderlands 3 may be one of my highlights of 2019. When it shines, the Gearbox developed game runs like a dream thanks to its many many quality of life improvements that fine-tune its signature action to an absurd degree.

Those performance issues are about to get a big fix as well! Well, kind of. After a few weeks of coasting on hotfixes, the first proper Borderlands 3 patch has arrived and is ready to begin fixing some of the issues that have been plaguing players. You can read all of the notes here, but for a quick cliff notes summary on some of the other quirky bits of gameplay that hampered player progress, check this out:

• Addressed a reported issue where KillaVolt’s Shield Storm attack does not disable the tiles around KillaVolt, resulting in the entire floor being activated (oops).
• Addressed a potential progression blocker in the mission “Footsteps of Giants”.
• Addressed a reported issue where Guardian Rank had the potential to become non-functional and/or the player could potentially lose Guardian Rank tokens into the negatives.
• Modified vending machines so it will now sort items by rarity.
• Console FOV is now set to 75 by default. This will not affect players who have already started the game.
• Special prompts for particle text (Tediore guns, “critical”, “immune”) are now properly localized.
• Addressed a reported concern that certain players experienced where their vehicle’s boost could continue into the next map.
• Addressed a reported concern with “Porcelain Pipe Bomb” where it set off multiple explosions when colliding with objects.

Porcelain Pipe Bomb might have caught your attention there. It may look like just another blue-tier (SCOFF TO THE MAX) reward in Borderlands 3, but that grenade happens to be the most OP weapon in the game currently. Able to explode and scatter radioactive detonations around itself, it’s a weapon that is capable of melting through even the toughest bosses with ease if you happen to have it equipped. Throw a few of those at the hardiest foes in Mayhem mode, and you’ll be dinging those experience points before you know what’s what. Gearbox even acknowledged this, with a witty breakdown:

This grenade was never meant to explode multiple times. All enemies in the Borderlands universe are now safe from being instantly melted by radioactive poop.

Other tweaks will include texture streaming issues being rectified for PC gamers, general s-s-s-s-stability fixes and some fairer gameplay overall. There’s still a long road to travel down before Borderlands 3 can purr like a cool cat whenever you boot it up, but here is as good a start to any to one of the most fungasm games of the year.

Last Updated: September 27, 2019