Borderlands 2 Catch-All

Didn't they say the old vault hunters would feature in this one, but not as player characters?

Sweet... put my $20 Amazon promo code to good use and pre-ordered.

I bought the GotY edition from Steam in the 2011 Summer sale and have put 80hrs into it. I don't remember having issues connecting to my 2 friends who I must have played 40+ hrs with and I was not bothered enough by anything in the game to even want to mod it. The steam btest patch came out after I had put in a significant amount of time to the game.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Does the same class have to have both, or are you OK with two separate classes having their own pets?

I suppose I'd accept two separate classes. You know, assuming that Gearbox cares deeply about my random whims.

Chumpy_McChump wrote:
Happytime Harry wrote:

I'm not sure they will be able to recreate the feeling of the "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" opening of the original, which was in my eyes, perfect.

Agreed. I still find myself humming that tune... and wanting to run down roadkill. :)

I'l admit, this is the only part that I've had any concerns about. Still haven't heard if Cage the Elephant will be attached to 2 at all...

Happytime Harry wrote:

See to me I don't even really see it as being a serious dubstep trailer. I think they just wanted to type of music because it goes along with their ridiculous claims in huge pink letters.

I can tolerate it more in a trailer for a game like Borderlands, but still, I'm suffering from dubstep saturation I guess. I blame SR3.

Plus a little claptrap breakdown is never a bad thing.

Indeed.

LiquidMantis wrote:

There's a Mordecai looking guy in the beginning, jumping down to the platform on the tower that has a bird landing at 0:21. Of course there's no mention of him in the PC expo segment but I also can't believe there's no sniper class. Perhaps that's Zero's alternate role?

Yeah, that's certainly Mordecai. I think I read somewhere quite a while ago that the character classes from BL1 would appear as NPCs in BL2.

And yes, I think it's safe to assume that Zero is the new sniper specialist. Same goes for Axton as the new soldier class.

TheGameguru wrote:

Sweet... put my $20 Amazon promo code to good use and pre-ordered.

same here!!!

And the dwarf guy is the new Brick. And Maiya is the new Lillith.

Can't wait. This is looking like the same distinction between Diablo and Diablo 2. That is nothing but gravy for sure.

Add another to the list of banner games this year.

The short list of things I would want from this over the original would be:

-Few more enemy types
-Better Co-Op

Like I said, short list

Happytime Harry wrote:

The short list of things I would want from this over the original would be:

-Few more enemy types
-Better Co-Op

I agree about having more enemy types, but could you elaborate on "Better Co-Op"? I played a good bit of co-op and really enjoyed it. No complaints with the gameplay, just wish it hadn't used Gamespy.

How about supporting asynchronous quest lines? An easy way to compare quest progress would also be nice.

LiquidMantis wrote:

How about supporting asynchronous quest lines? An easy way to compare quest progress would also be nice.

This was the issue I had with the Co-Op, you might finally get a group together and be stuck doing 4 quests to get everyone up to the exact same point before you can actually start playing. Through these frustrations I just said screw it and played solo pretty much the whole time.

The only thing I want changed in the sequel:
The soldiers turret to stay out if he's in-capped. The damn bird gets to stay out and, have a chance at getting you a Second Wind; why not the turret.
/rant

The trailer makes it look like more of an expansion pack rather than a new, full game. But I'm ok with that. As long as the guns are as zippy and fun to try out as before, as long as the loot chase is still there, and as long as there are a ton of missions to get lost in, I'm excited. I don't mind if the classes are the same, as long as the new skills add some more flavor and re-playability. I'm excited to see the sniper class switch to a ninja class, as well.

Tigerbill wrote:

Soldier turret rant

Yes! Can't tell you how much that annoys me.

Yeah, I hope there are instances/dailyquests/randomquests that you can do with 3 other people to ensure that it's worthwhile for everyone. Really though I just want a FOV slider and Steamworks and I'm pretty sure it will have both.

I would love to feel a greater sense of connection with my arsenal. Finding a good basic frame and then swapping in better and better parts to create my own "Vera." It doesn't matter if there is nothing left of the original weapon by the end... I was just constantly bothered by having to throw out my old weapons. That rifle mowed down more than a thousand zombies with me... but this one reloads .05 seconds faster. So why can't I just swap the faster part into my tried and true rifle? Or steal that scope? Or swap in that bigger magazine?

The worst was the fact that certain weapon stats had no visible aspect. You couldn't tell how a rifle would perform until you actually try to fire it. So even if the stats are fantastic it could just suck for your shooting style. EDIT: Something that would be less of an issue if you could swap in some different parts to find a better performance combo rather than just immediately discard.

Good point, I'd like to see weapons evolve by cannibalism rather than always throwing something out after 20 minutes.

A crafting system would benefit this franchise a ton. I'd be surprised if that wasn't one of the more requested features for a sequel/DLC.

shoptroll wrote:

A crafting system would benefit this franchise a ton. I'd be surprised if that wasn't one of the more requested features for a sequel/DLC.

I'm not so sure. I was routinely disappointed with the Borderlands DLC. They put out a lot of good content (no, not you, Moxxi) but it wasn't the content I was hoping for. It's a class-based loot game. You expect new content to include more classes and/or expansions to the loot system. Not just new enemies to kill in the same old ways.

Especially since people were building their own items anyway. If people are willing to build the items out of and port them in, it's a pretty obvious sign that they would love the function in the game.

I don't particularly need crafting or modifiable weapons; what made Borderlands so great for me was the incredibly easy drop-in, drop-out co-op, and how you could just start the game off and go have fun. It was quick and easy, and the disposability of weapons was great in that I didn't need to sit and debate back and forth between things. I had a gun, I shot stuff, and, if I got a new gun, I shot stuff with that.

I don't want complexity here. Borderlands is probably the most fun I've ever had in co-op, and slightly-tweaked more of the same is more than OK with me.

When I first saw the preview news for Borderlands in Game Informer I thought that that was the way it was going to work. I was disappointed there was no crafting mechanism. I doubt it's going to be in BL2 but it would be great if it was.

There is a crafting mechanism if you're willing to hack the game a bit and learn how to use an editor. I made a machine gun that fires three corrosive bullets at a time! I know that doesn't really sound THAT impressive but it's remarkable how many things weapon stats are tied to. Appearance, item level, etc. You can't just click a field and put, "9999-damage rockets plz."

It would make 2 a launch game purchase rather than a wait for $30 sale for me. Between the all-or-nothing weapon swap and the crazy-limited inventory space in the early game I just wasn't having as much fun as I could. Even when I suppressed that part of my brain it was constantly digging at the back.
This gun plus that scope would be perfect! But in-game magic says that no one has a screwdriver or duct-tape or pliers or any sort of scavenger instinct.
I know I'm overthinking it. But I can't help it. We ARE wishing here, right?

I'd be concerned that a crafting system could sort of reduce the choices you have to make. In Borderlands, you frequently get guns that are better than your current main gun in one way but worse in another, and you have to decide which to use, or whether to keep both and swap them in and out. Here's a sniper rifle with a better scope but worse damage output; here's a pistol with a smaller magazine but a better chance of an elemental effect. That kind of thing.

If you could just steal parts from anything, you wouldn't have to make that kind of tradeoff. You'd just check to see if any of the individual parts are better than what you currently have and swap in whatever you can use.

Of course there are different ways they could implement crafting than simple part swap out.

LobsterMobster wrote:

There is a crafting mechanism if you're willing to hack the game a bit and learn how to use an editor. I made a machine gun that fires three corrosive bullets at a time! I know that doesn't really sound THAT impressive but it's remarkable how many things weapon stats are tied to. Appearance, item level, etc. You can't just click a field and put, "9999-damage rockets plz."

But you could do something like Diablo II where you take a base gun, some raw materials, throw it in a blender and get a special gun with some level of variance between results.

I think there were also some recipes that took lower quality guns and jumped them about 30-40 levels in terms of stats. Or just flat out re-rolled the modifiers on the gun. I know Borderlands randomization system is a bit different than Diablo's prefixes and suffixes, but it would be nice to do something with the guns instead of just dumping them for cash.

Demyx wrote:

I'd be concerned that a crafting system could sort of reduce the choices you have to make. In Borderlands, you frequently get guns that are better than your current main gun in one way but worse in another, and you have to decide which to use, or whether to keep both and swap them in and out. Here's a sniper rifle with a better scope but worse damage output; here's a pistol with a smaller magazine but a better chance of an elemental effect. That kind of thing.

If you could just steal parts from anything, you wouldn't have to make that kind of tradeoff. You'd just check to see if any of the individual parts are better than what you currently have and swap in whatever you can use.

Of course there are different ways they could implement crafting than simple part swap out.

Yep, and I don't want to have to think about it. Something like that would make co-op suck; "No, no, just another five minutes while I calculate the damage output with barrel A vs. barrel b along with the expected hit ratio of a better scope." I don't want that. Make it fast and fun. If you do anything like crafting, then I'm going to have to stand around and wait for you to do it when I should be out shooting insane midgets in the fact with an explosive autofire shotgun.

See I think it could do wonders for their little backstories of the various gun manufacturers. Something that doesn't get much play in game because you don't look at brand you look at raw stats. Only allow same brand part swaps (with maybe a perk that lets you create mutt guns out of similar enough off-brand parts). Maybe build in affinity that builds up for certain manufacturer lines with use. 1000 kills with a Remington means you'll get a slight boost with other Remingtons (and a larger boost with Remingtons of the same type, model etc)

Again, the point is just to make the weapon decision less binary. Better stats, yes/no?
You could keep the current system entirely intact and you could play it exactly like you do now... but for the insane people they could have a 'Keeper' that grows alongside them. Something to keep an eye out for and bring out when the chips are down and you need an ace up your sleeve. A trusted friend.

EDIT: It would also help split loot drops. Yeah, that gun is awesome... but I generally don't use that maker. Take it.

Rezzy wrote:

You could keep the current system entirely intact and you could play it exactly like you do now... but for the insane people they could have a 'Keeper' that grows alongside them. Something to keep an eye out for and bring out when the chips are down and you need an ace up your sleeve. A trusted friend.

You could just do weapon mods like Deus Ex does in that case.

I like the manufacturer-affinity idea though, although that's a little superficial since each manufacturer skews toward a certain type of weapon anyways, right? Or at least it's a little redundant if they're retaining the weapon type proficiencies from the first game.

EDIT: While I don't think it's terribly likely, it would be pretty neat if the game could import some data from the previous game. Like have one of the old guard hand you a weapon from your previous game or something. Or some acknowledgement of having played the last game if it detects a save from Borderlands 1. I'm a sucker for stuff like that.