Wednesday morning brought with it the routine Borderlands Show livestream, a broadcast all about what’s happening inBorderlands 3and what players can look forward to. The main focus of the latest Borderlands Show was the announcement ofMoxxi’s Heist at the Handsome Jackpot,Borderlands 3’s first premium expansion DLC. The show revealed several details about Moxxi’s Heist, including its release date and a light introduction to its content, but one aspect of the DLC was surprisingly left unmentioned.
The issue in question beingBorderlands 3’s level cap and whether or not Gearbox plans to increase it as past of Moxxi’s Heist at the Handsome Jackpot. The current max level inBorderlands 3is 50, leaving many fans to expectMoxxi’s Heistto lead to a 5 or 10 level increase, so that the expansion offered an upfront reason for max level players to play it. However, no mention ofBorderlands 3’s level cap was made whatsoever. More than that, Gearbox made rather clear there would be no level cap change, in more ways than one.
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The obvious evidence of no level cap increase coming inMoxxi’s Heistis theBorderlands 3gameplay shown. All gameplay shown forMoxxi’s Heistshowed the player at level 50. It’s possible that between now andMoxxi’s Heists' launch in mid-December Gearbox could change the level cap, but that seems unlikely. However, in addition to the gameplay, Gearbox bossRandy Pitchfordalso discussed the expansion as if it wasn’t increasing the level cap. He mentioned that low-level players can play it right away, the same as max level players.
Gearbox choosing not to raise theBorderlands 3level capin its premium expansion DLC wouldn’t necessarily be a huge surprise. It’s more interesting than anything. In the past, Gearbox has chosen to release extra levels via an entirely different piece of DLC.Borderlandsraised the cap twice, once via a free update and the second time via premium DLC.Borderlands 2sold 2 different upgrade packs separate from story DLC which increased the level cap. It’s entirely possibleBorderlands 3could go either way, with free level cap increasing DLC, new level caps in story DLC, or new DLC entirely apart from the Season Pass that increases the level cap.
The necessity of a level cap increase is certainly worth questioning, of course. After all,Borderlands 3players are likely still wrapping up their endgame loot collection. Having to rebuild it at a new level would be frustrating. But it would certainly also keep theBorderlands 3endgamegrind lively. Perhaps Gearbox will wait a few months more before putting a level cap increase inBorderlands 3.
Borderlands 3is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
