The problem with BL3 skill trees

It lacks uniqueness un-tied to the action skill. There is one skill in the game that really changes how you play, Amara Blitz. No other vault hunter melees from range except her. Almost every skill in the game is the boring “+[damage] when [condition]”. So congrats, build variety, but the only difference is the action skill and the colors of the skills you chose.

Here’s a clear contrast to display what I mean. Flak’s dominace works on ADS crit. So what, before you got this skill you weren’t trying to ADS crit? Now Aurelia sniper wheel, the superior interactive ADS skill, element wheel on sniper scope, selector cycles through element, shoot to select element, bonus element damage and crit element novas until scoping out. New UI, extra mechanic of timing your shot on the new UI, and rewards damage. This is actually changing how you play.

Not crit ricochet, not small orbs that come from taking damage or killing an enemy, not crit body shot, not crit grenades. Why? Because they basically reward what you already were doing.

To be clear, this is fine, but there are almost 0 skills like Amara blitz in the game. Where’s a skill as impactful as having two pistols permantly like Nisha? Where’s the FFYL overhauls that are as visually unique as Wilhelm termination protocol and Krieg’s suicide psycho? They added slam back in the game but there are 0 slam overrides. Where’s Athena shock tether and singularity? Where’s Athena’s unique bleed status? Where are the cool skills that give you reason to do something different that no other vault hunter can do visually or mechanically that have nothing to do with the action skill?

How about a Moze wrist mounted rocket launcher as a melee override that lets you rocket jump or damage people? Flak is so off theme as a beast master, give him a double jump where the Rakk can carry him upwards. What happened to changing mechanics during the action skill? If Zero didn’t have Kunai skill, what reason did you have to press the action skill button during Deception? None, because Kunai actually changed the REAL button mechanics. What if during Zane clone, he can throw his melee weapon and he can teleport to his melee weapon? Let me throw actual skag shit as Flak and have a built in piss grenade. Have at least something in the skill tree no one else can do at the bare minimum visually, and bonus points for mechanics.

the sound effects and the unique animations play a huge part in feeling unique especially since it’s first person. Wilhelm’s voice becoming robotic as he gets cyber commado skills was awesome. Anything like that in BL3? No, from level 1 to 72, your uniqueness is your action skill and the skill trees you chose. No one has Maya scorn, Fistful of hurt or Come at me Bro from Salvador. Even simple melee overrides add character. Even then, Amara’s blitz has to be the most boring melee override I’ve ever seen and that’s why she also struggles to stand out.

Synergies be damned, who shoots longer? Who can crit from this unconventional source? Who has more crit damage? Splash damage? Boring. All numbers stuff. This game has more build variety but it somehow feels the same. Unique skills that add something mechanically or visually are important too. Then you can get your body shot crit synergy or grenade crit synergy.