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I think my -What Are You Playing- thread is going to take a change in direction. For me anyway.

I have it pre-loaded through steam. After I finish my homework, I'm totally getting on and playing.

I'll be ready when it'll be 75% off at X-Mas!

Pre-loaded, definitely excited about this one (hopefully the multiplayer works better this time)

I already have so much on my current playlist I think, as much as it's going to kill me, Borderlands 2 is on hold for now.
I already have a FPS on my playlist (Black Mesa) and I think I'm going to play through the Half Life series after that.
However, once that's done, I'll probably play through BL1 again for a refresher on all the little things before moving on to the awesome sequel.

That launch trailer though, just damn juicy.

I'm also so backlogged on games (and was replaying BL1 before GW2 came out) that I'm figuring on waiting for the GOTY edition. Or at least a 75% off sale, as Jay is.

I put in 6 hours or so last night. Game is pretty damned good. It's harder than the original (or at least feels that way), the fights are definitely more interesting, as are the guns. The voice acting/comedy factor is better than the original as well. Only beef I have with the game is that they somehow made the inventory system even more confusing/less intuitive.

Pretty much agreed w/ ^^

I love how the baddies shuck and dive for cover, and the badass point system and I've had more fun with Zero's Decoy ability in the first 4 hours than I did with any of the special abilities in the first game (which I liked, JTBC).

But that inventory system is actually hard to read and make sense of. The first one wasn't great, but at least you didn't have to scroll to look at more than 3-4 weapons at a time.

And the guns

oh lawd the guns

They be so amazing.

Zero is fun on a bun to play as. I like the new skill trees. Also, spiked shields are the bomb.

They throw a lot more badass enemies at you this time.

I haven't had much chance to play, but what I have has been much better than the first. The biggest improvement for me is the environments. The vast majority of the first one is all desert, all the time. One of the reasons I got bored with the first one was the lack of variety. This one doesn't make me feel like I'm always in the same place.

I'm actually a little annoyed by the return of fill-in-the-map.

I get that it's more real and exploratory and w/e, but it doesn't feel like it fits the game. It's too fast-paced, and the maps really are a bit too small and a bit too restricted in how they're set up to be fun to explore. It's not like Skyrim or WoW where you're plodding along filled with certainty that you can more or less go from Point A to Point B with some adjustments for terrain or passage. You're zooming around in the car and constantly having to stop and turn around because you missed a miniscule little passage in between hills. And this rock? You're not allowed to climb/drive over this rock.

Also, you're on a world where you get GPS mapping software as part of the actual gameplay, it's a bit weird that you don't get at least some form of default map in the larger areas.

It's a very minor nitpick to be sure, but they have managed to make travel slightly more frustrating.

I love that weapons are more diverse now. Every maker feels and works differently, with tons of different weapon types (Torgue has 4 rifle types alone, all that work differently).

My only real complaint? They LOVE to make you walk back after you do a quest. If I'm done with my quest, let me port back to Sanctuary or the quest giver immediately! If I'm just walking back through an empty corridor, it's really boring and kills the pacing.

I nearly hit lvl 20 last night. One thing that I think I can say for certain is that this game seems much longer than the original. It's taking longer to lvl, firefights are taking longer, etc etc. It's really rewarding.

One other issue I've noticed with the game, however, is that a 3 level gap is pretty significant, which makes it hard to play with your friends.

Necronic said:

I nearly hit lvl 20 last night. One thing that I think I can say for certain is that this game seems much longer than the original. It's taking longer to lvl, firefights are taking longer, etc etc. It's really rewarding.

One other issue I've noticed with the game, however, is that a 3 level gap is pretty significant, which makes it hard to play with your friends.

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Dead Island was actually pretty smart about this. They simply scaled all the enemies to you on your end of the game and converted your damage into a percentage. This meant that lower level guys could hang with higher levels (and vice verse) and still be useful. It didn't affect loot so if you wanted new gear, YOU had to kill a zombie or open a chest though.

I am going to hold off on the game till the character I really want to play is released next month.

I may even wait till GOTY edition and play it with Adam.

I just watched a quick look of the Xbox 360 version of this, and it looks like ass compared to the PC version.

AshburnerX said:

My only real complaint? They LOVE to make you walk back after you do a quest. If I'm done with my quest, let me port back to Sanctuary or the quest giver immediately! If I'm just walking back through an empty corridor, it's really boring and kills the pacing.

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What's worse is if it's been so long that it's NOT empty corridor anymore. The Firehawk quests had me running through Frostburn several times, thus making me clear some areas twice.

Other complaints? The number of times I've done the Apollo Creed with putting the last mob down as they put me into FFYL has been infuriating.

My major complaint - flavor audio. Half the enjoyment of the game for me is the little audio breakins at the top right. But most of them trigger on events, especially quest goals. SO when you pick up an item or kill a quest mob, it triggers the audio update. Unfortunately, usually I'm still in the middle of a firefight to be able to pay attention or even HEAR all of what's going on up there - even with subtitles on. Even without this, if someone you walk close enough to in Sanctuary decides to say "Hey man, what's going on?" while you're listening to one of these files, it gets drowned out. Borderlands 1 at least had a menu where you could listen to all the audio files again, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on Xbox.

I'm still waiting for GOTY edition, but got this in my RSS and had to share -

redthirtyone said:

What's worse is if it's been so long that it's NOT empty corridor anymore. The Firehawk quests had me running through Frostburn several times, thus making me clear some areas twice.

Other complaints? The number of times I've done the Apollo Creed with putting the last mob down as they put me into FFYL has been infuriating.

My major complaint - flavor audio. Half the enjoyment of the game for me is the little audio breakins at the top right. But most of them trigger on events, especially quest goals. SO when you pick up an item or kill a quest mob, it triggers the audio update. Unfortunately, usually I'm still in the middle of a firefight to be able to pay attention or even HEAR all of what's going on up there - even with subtitles on. Even without this, if someone you walk close enough to in Sanctuary decides to say "Hey man, what's going on?" while you're listening to one of these files, it gets drowned out. Borderlands 1 at least had a menu where you could listen to all the audio files again, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on Xbox.

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I hate when you get killed right next to the NewU station and get dumped right back into a hail of gunfire.

Early on in the game, I was getting into FFYL quite often, but I'm playing as Zero and he was really fragile, until I got a shield that casts a big ass fire nova on depletion almost always killing everything around me.

Other than that, I do love the game.

You really NEED to dump as many Badass Points as you can into Shield Recharge and Delay Reduction and to also have a way to regen your health. Otherwise, later bosses are impossible because of the diminishing returns you get from FFYL.

Finished it last night. Good ending. Story was strangely compelling.

BL2 feels much tougher than 1. I blew through it with a few rough patches as Roland in 1, but this one's requiring a lot more gun-swapping and sniping to clear areas. Playing as the Gunzerker and going into the Brawn tree, it's not bad but I've hit a few points that are absurdly difficult. Flynt comes to mind as the first real nasty fight.

I'm also a little annoyed with the fog of war on my map, especially once I got Catch-a-Ride opened. The car moves way too fast to wait on map uncovering.

It's a fun game, just like the first was, but I'm finding a lot more frustration in it. I definitely wouldn't have said no to a cover mechanic or a better dodge capability since NPC's seem to duck/roll/etc all over the place.

CynicismKills said:

It's a fun game, just like the first was, but I'm finding a lot more frustration in it. I definitely wouldn't have said no to a cover mechanic or a better dodge capability since NPC's seem to duck/roll/etc all over the place.

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I wouldn't say no to a dodging mechanic but a cover system? That would have just turn this into another wack-a-mole, pop up from cover game and that's counter-intuitive to the design philosophy of this game. Borderlands is all about returning to that old-school philosophy of throwing tons of enemies at the player and expecting them to be able to deal with it thanks to armor and health pick-ups. This is why the game relies so much on monster closets (you know where they are, so you can start a fight on your terms), exploding barrels, and weakness memorization. The game expects you to learn.

I do have a few complaints though...

- Why is ammo still a mechanic? Gathering ammo from boxes is tedious and boring. Just give us infinite ammo (or only limit it on the REALLY powerful stuff like Rocket Launchers and Grenades) and make us reload like normal. This would help avoid the issue of running out of ammo for your only corrosive weapon when faced with machines or fire when facing bandits. At least they give you a generous amount of ammo every time you die.

- Bandit brand guns are basically worthless (unless it's a rocket launcher, then it's AMAZING because they usually have multi-launch). Why would I want a gun that has a huge ammo pile but doesn't shoot even close to where I'm firing? Bump up their accuracy or reduce their recoil. The lengthy reload animations for Bandit guns are already a good enough penalty.

- There really isn't any incentive to use Slag weapons unless your playing Co-Op. By the time you've switched to another elemental weapon, the slag effect is almost over. Increase slag time.

- There really isn't much incentive to use normal, bullet shooting guns ether unless you get a perfect stat setup. Elemental weapons always do more damage, which is ironic because elemental weapons are supposed to have lower base damage to make up for their effects.

- I never touched a sniper rifle in this game because of the slow fire rates and low ammo pull. It always more effective to just pull out a SMG or AR and just use those from the same range, as the firing speed would make up for the lack of damage and even missing crits... and in a game where fighting 10+ guys at once is pretty common, you need more ammo than they give you.

- Add a confirmation choice to using your keys in the Sanctuary Chest. Had more than one friend use up their key without knowing WHAT the chest was or that Keys were per a Live/Steam/PSN account and not per a character. Making them per a character was stupid too. Why would I want to use one before level 50? Purples aren't that rare with the Vault Hunter Relic.

Sniper rifles are my favorite! I clear out a bandit camp before ever getting close to it.

Forgot to add one more thing.

- Constructors. These are way too strong to fight without cheesing them. Seeing a Constructor was basically my cue to ether find a place they couldn't see me at, go far enough away that I could shoot down their rockets and avoid their beam, or just look for a way to not fight them. These are the ONLY enemies I even care about when I see them.

Ravenpoe said:

Sniper rifles are my favorite! I clear out a bandit camp before ever getting close to it.

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This has been the way I start a fight every time, at least early game where I am now. Once I've dived deeper into the Brawn tree I might swap Sniper rifles out for something that'll Gunzerk a bit more effectively.

And that makes sense on the cover thing, Ash. Dodging/sidestepping is really what I'd like to see.

Maybe I just didn't see the point in SR because I play as Axton and his turret recharges fast enough that I can basically use it anytime I want... and it 's powerful enough to do most encounters by itself. I could literally just toss it out and just mow down anything I want.

For Gunzerking, I find Jacobs Revolvers and Vladof Assault Rifles to generally be the best choices. Jacobs Revolvers have that thing that lets you just mash out a ton of really damaging rounds really fast and Vladof mini-gun rifles just put out a ton of lead. But really, as long as it fires fast it's good for Gunzerking.

I'm playing as Zero, so SR headshots are my bread and butter (along with backstabbing and flipping out)

I really do love Zero's special ability. So much better than the Bloodwing from the first one for a sniper.

AshburnerX said:

Forgot to add one more thing.

- Constructors. These are way too strong to fight without cheesing them. Seeing a Constructor was basically my cue to ether find a place they couldn't see me at, go far enough away that I could shoot down their rockets and avoid their beam, or just look for a way to not fight them. These are the ONLY enemies I even care about when I see them.

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My strategy for Constructors is as soon as he lands, walk towards the red eye, and blast my explosive shotgun into it.

LordRendar said:

My strategy for Constructors is as soon as he lands, walk towards the red eye, and blast my explosive shotgun into it.

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I could dump round after round of acid into a constructor and it would barely phase it, even if I aimed for the eye. They just have so much health... and it doesn't help that it's hard to use FFYL with the bots, as I'd still need to dump 2 clips of acid into a gun bot to take it out at the end game.

Constructors are bad. Badass ones are worse. But I've had to fight a Super Bad Mother Constructor. When THAT shows up, you just break out the cheese because they will one-shot you with missiles otherwise.

Fun Fact about Varkids: If you keep letting them evolve, they will eventually turn into something almost as hard as the raid boss. Farthest I've gotten one to is Ultimate Badass.

With Zero, I tend to clear out the initial guys with a Sniper Rifle, then walk into the area with a shotgun and elemental pistol, use his decoy ability and then run into a group of guys, Backstab one, shotgun/set on fire the rest, then walk away.

Sniper rifles annhialate constructors. Keep a corrosive sniper rifle around for them. Shoot the arm linkages and the eyes. Honestly constructors are one of the easiest enemies to deal with when I'm using a sniper rifle.

That's also why ammo hsa to be in game. With unlimited ammo I could just walk straight through the game with my sniper rifle out. It's bar none the best gun in the game. That said you have to find a good one. I prefer the Vladof sniper rifles. They have huge clips (15+), fast firing rates, and zero recoil. If you can find one with elemental you are gtg.

Edit: Even the badasses/super badasses are mor or less a joke with a sniper rifle. Take off their arms with a couple shots and then make sure you don't get shot in the eye. I would rather face them then a badass fire scag.

Necronic said:

Edit: Even the badasses/super badasses are mor or less a joke with a sniper rifle. Take off their arms with a couple shots and then make sure you don't get shot in the eye. I would rather face them then a badass fire scag.

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See, a Badass Fire Scag is NOTHING to me. I could drop my turret and it would kill it or at least get 75% of it's health down or just spray it down with acid. But a Constructor? The laser would burn down my turret in 5 seconds, then turn on me.

Maybe it's a design decision to make people work together with different characters?

Oh wait, I thought you were talking about walkers, you're talking about the constructors (whihc is exactly the word you used.) Sniper rifles are still the way to go with them. Just unload a clip into the eye. Getting a high speed sniper rifle is key though.

I'm fairly certain that they intended to each class to not play exactly like the other. Otherwise, why have different classes?

One of my favorite things that they did in this one was to remove the Skill Point system for guns, which allows you to use any gun at any time. This is incredibly valuable when you take ammo and different monster types into consideration. I try to keep 1 sniper, 1 AR, 1 pistol, and 1 RL in my gear at all times. I switch up to the thing I have the most ammo in whenever fights are easy. And I switch to the RL whenever I have to "Fight for your life!"

Necronic said:

Oh wait, I thought you were talking about walkers, you're talking about the constructors (whihc is exactly the word you used.) Sniper rifles are still the way to go with them. Just unload a clip into the eye. Getting a high speed sniper rifle is key though.

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See, the thing with that is Constructors can protect their eye with a shield, even without a shield drone. Also, being in position to hit it in the eye also means that your able to be hit with the laser and missiles. My strategy is usually just to find a place where it can't target me and just whittle it down to nothing, if able.

Necronic said:

One of my favorite things that they did in this one was to remove the Skill Point system for guns, which allows you to use any gun at any time. This is incredibly valuable when you take ammo and different monster types into consideration. I try to keep 1 sniper, 1 AR, 1 pistol, and 1 RL in my gear at all times. I switch up to the thing I have the most ammo in whenever fights are easy. And I switch to the RL whenever I have to "Fight for your life!"

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Yeah, I mean some classes still get bonuses for certain guns in trees (Commando for Rifles, for example), but they're not big deterrents like in 1. I felt like an idiot for using a Sniper Rifle as a Soldier in 1, but sometimes you just needed to.

AshburnerX said:

See, the thing with that is Constructors can protect their eye with a shield, even without a shield drone. Also, being in position to hit it in the eye also means that your able to be hit with the laser and missiles. My strategy is usually just to find a place where it can't target me and just whittle it down to nothing, if able.

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Whenever they throw the shield up you pretty much just have to hide or kill other stuff.

Just wanted to warn folks that there is a profile bug going around in all versions of the game that wipes out your badass ranks, skins, and keys. There are some PC workarounds in the forum thread listed in the article, but console players are SOL for the moment (and the PC work-around is more backup&restore than a fix).

I'll likely be staying off the game until the patch is in, since hopefully it won't be too long.

Finished my first playthrough the other day with Zero. The final fight is pretty amazing. It's a well designed game in that it really brings out some emotional ambivalence with some situations. I've started playing through on the higher difficulty and boy-howdy is it tough. There are mobs I've never seen before that really ramp up the difficulty. One of the nastier ones I've fought so far are the Armoured psychos, they can only be hurt by shooting them in the head.

I think explosive weapons work well on the armored ones, as the AOE helps hit the head more often. I know explosive weapons make the shielded Nomads a joke by doing damage through the shield.

AshburnerX said:

I think explosive weapons work well on the armored ones, as the AOE helps hit the head more often. I know explosive weapons make the shielded Nomads a joke by doing damage through the shield.

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Fire worked well on them too (I hadn't found a Corrosive weapon when I first ran into them).

I rely far to heavily on fire weapons, especially when Zero starts getting the sniping ability that ignores shields.

Didn't know one of those skills existed. I've dumped everything into the sniping tree so far, guess I should look through some of the other skills. Can't say I'm that impressed with the top skill on the sniping tree tbh. Even though it's possible to stack it 1k times it's pretty much impossible to get it above 5 or so. Although it is pretty good for dealing with constructors or other baddies where you have to dump a full clip into their critical spot.

As for the shield carrying nomads, my experience is that the special skills can negate the shield. With Axton and Zero it draws their fire to your ghost or your sentry, with the siren it puts them in the fetal position. Dunno if the gunzerker has an easy way around it.

I generally avoid explosive weapons (other than RLs) due to the slow bullet speed.

I love Explosive shotguns. Doesn't matter if it's slow since you're in their face anyway.

The slow bullet speed isn't really an issue unless your fighting Rats or Marauders. I've been using the gatling gun explosive weapons and they tend to be kinda awesome against anything that isn't a boss.

True enough, I guess that playing as Zero I'm almost always at range. For other classes/styles it would work better.

Necronic said:

Didn't know one of those skills existed. I've dumped everything into the sniping tree so far, guess I should look through some of the other skills. Can't say I'm that impressed with the top skill on the sniping tree tbh. Even though it's possible to stack it 1k times it's pretty much impossible to get it above 5 or so. Although it is pretty good for dealing with constructors or other baddies where you have to dump a full clip into their critical spot.

As for the shield carrying nomads, my experience is that the special skills can negate the shield. With Axton and Zero it draws their fire to your ghost or your sentry, with the siren it puts them in the fetal position. Dunno if the gunzerker has an easy way around it.

I generally avoid explosive weapons (other than RLs) due to the slow bullet speed.

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The quick reload after kill ability is a must if you're going sniper spec. Same as it was with the sniper from the first borderlands. I've found that much of the sniper tree is pretty much the same as the first Borderlands. Then again, it was my favorite tree, so I'm kind of glad.

As for Nomads carrying shields,i find it helpfull to shoot their feet (if you can see them) with a flame weapon.
They will then usually put the shield to the side to yell something and BAM! headshot.

You can actually hit them in the head if you're really good with your aim. You can shoot through the slot that they look through. Their arms are also exposed on their non shield arm.