Borderlands

[Deadly_Nightshade]

 

Heh, yup. That's how BL rolls. A lot of it is dollar/cash bits, but there's a lot of items. Most of which are vendor trash, per usual in this type of game.

 

 

The highest level items being the purple?

 

I think Orange are the highest you can get, with purple being the second highest.

[AGX-17]

 

 

Heh, yup. That's how BL rolls. A lot of it is dollar/cash bits, but there's a lot of items. Most of which are vendor trash, per usual in this type of game.

 

 

The highest level items being the purple?

 

 

Orange is the most rare/highest tier. But level is a bigger determiner of quality than rarity. A level 40 orange can easily be inferior to a level 45-50 blue or purple. Obviously, level 50 oranges are the best. In theory. Because their stats and properties (as well as appearance in many cases,) are randomly generated, two people can have the "same" weapon of the same level and rarity but one can have better stats and/or elemental effects. i.e. One person might have gun x with no elemental effect but slightly higher damage, but the other player has one with slightly lower damage but a Corrosive elemental property, which makes it better overall due to the increased damage to armored enemies and damage over time effects on all enemies. Edited February 8, 2013 by AGX-17

[LadyCrimson]

I found this awesome slag SMG and using it in combo with the Conference shotgun (and other weapons) has been very effective in PT2.5 - to the point I feel almost godly most of the time, even against lvl52ish enemies. So I went to try it on Terra (solo). Unfortunately, slag doesn't last very long on him I guess, so it wasn't very helpful there, haha. By the time you switch weapons and aim the purple color is gone.

 

Change of subject: Did they change the orange drop rates with the last patch/DLC or something? I swear for the first 200+ hours of the game I'd found only 4 or 6 orange weapons (any level)...from first-kills or farming specific enemies ... but since the DLC it's been a lot more frequent, relatively speaking. This last week I've had 8 drop (not from first kills, either). Also, the slot machines seem to give the three legs a lot more often now too. Little changes made they may never mention?

[mkreku]

I bought Borderlands 2 in the Steam 50% off sale. Will install later.

[AGX-17]

I found this awesome slag SMG and using it in combo with the Conference shotgun (and other weapons) has been very effective in PT2.5 - to the point I feel almost godly most of the time, even against lvl52ish enemies. So I went to try it on Terra (solo). Unfortunately, slag doesn't last very long on him I guess, so it wasn't very helpful there, haha. By the time you switch weapons and aim the purple color is gone.

 

Change of subject: Did they change the orange drop rates with the last patch/DLC or something? I swear for the first 200+ hours of the game I'd found only 4 or 6 orange weapons (any level)...from first-kills or farming specific enemies ... but since the DLC it's been a lot more frequent, relatively speaking. This last week I've had 8 drop (not from first kills, either). Also, the slot machines seem to give the three legs a lot more often now too. Little changes made they may never mention?

None of the update notes mention it. Higher levels and more players increase drop rates for rare items.

[Guest The Architect]

Never got into Boringlands myself, I never liked the cartoonish art style. I would have preferred the original graphical design that was scrapped in favour of the one we got, but I'm probably in a minority on that one.

Edited February 10, 2013 by The Architect

[Enoch]

So, one of the 2 friends I have on Steam recently bought a 4-pack of Borderlands 1 and gave me a copy.  I'm not much of a shooter fan-- generally, shooter gameplay that lacks a tactical pause option (e.g., Mass Effect, or FO3/NV's VATS) tends to stress me out to the point where I'm not really enjoying myself.  But co-op with actual friends does make otherwise mediocre entertainment more fun, so I'll give it a shot. 

 

What should I know, going in? 

[Malcador]

Whoops you're playing the first game. Hm, been ages since I played that. I'd recommend Mordecai.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Malcador

[LadyCrimson]

So, one of the 2 friends I have on Steam recently bought a 4-pack of Borderlands 1 and gave me a copy.  I'm not much of a shooter fan-- generally, shooter gameplay that lacks a tactical pause option (e.g., Mass Effect, or FO3/NV's VATS) tends to stress me out to the point where I'm not really enjoying myself.  But co-op with actual friends does make otherwise mediocre entertainment more fun, so I'll give it a shot. 

 

What should I know, going in?

While all characters can use all weapons effectively enough, there are weapon proficiencies that increase with use of a particular weapon type. As the proficiency goes up, you gain (initially small) bonuses while using that weapon type, like reload speed, fire rate etc. If you like SMG's and want to be all you can be with them, you have to use SMG's frequently. So generally speaking, sticking with a few weapon types works best in the long run. In the very very long run (once max level) you can actually max them all out, or close to it, without too much trouble I think, but in the course of going through the game best to stick to 2 or 3 as much as possible. Doesn't hurt you much to use something else when situations call for it...eg don't have to totally metagame the proficiencies, but it does make a big difference as time goes on.

 

Mordecai - sniping was good/fun, fast pistols (Deadly/Gun Crazy/Hair Trigger/Relentless) even better. Use his bird skill to heal you (Out For Blood).

Siren - her skill is for getting through short areas unseen/escaping and for regen health mid-battle. Elemental/SMG focus.

Roland/Commando - rather boring, imo. Turret is ok but nowhere near as fun/useful as BL2's turret. I tried, but I could never get into him. AR and Shotguns, imo, have never been BL's strong suit. He's all-purpose+healing.

Brick - his melee is more than capable, even against most bosses, if you can stand his stupid melee screaming noise. He's awesome with a Launcher, but you need a launcher-ammo regen mod to make it viable as a main way to go.

 

....if you find the difficulty too hard, do all the side quests. You'll overlevel fairly quickly and thus it becomes easy. If you don't want to over-level, you end up having to skip some side quests. Note that the difference between trying to beat an enemy close to your level and one that is more than 2-3 levels above you can be rather ginormous, if not actually impossible at times.

[Deraldin]

Brick - his melee is more than capable, even against most bosses, if you can stand his stupid melee screaming noise. He's awesome with a Launcher, but you need a launcher-ammo regen mod to make it viable as a main way to go.

But his screaming is the best part of his melee mode.

 

I managed to perfect my imitation of it over voice comms much to the "delight" of the group that played with. If you are playing with a Roland with ammo regen, or you can find your own launcher regen class mod then launchers are by far the way to go. We had a Roland with +22 team ammo regen so I didn't bother with any other weapon types. All launchers, all the time! Be prepared to be cussed out by any snipers in your group though. All the explosions everywhere can make it kind of hard to see targets you are trying to snipe. >_>

[LadyCrimson]

Hubby and I typically went Hunter/Siren because those were our favorites (we did try all the possible 2-player combos at least twice, for short periods, but just loved the Hunter/Siren too much).

 

So I forgot about Roland's team ammo regen. That makes Roland far more useful in group play ... but I wouldn't want to be the one playing him. I just found him utterly flat and boring to play.

 

As to Brick's screaming ... gah. It's amusing for the first hour, but then I just want to sew his mouth shut.

[Malcador]

One neat thing about Mordecai is how utterly trivial the last zone of the game is where you fight the Ethereal guardians that have 1 HP or something but a lot of shielding.

[Enoch]

Thanks for the input, everybody.  Does the melee work OK?  A tank-y character might suit my rudimentary FPS skills, but I usually find melee options in first-person games to be rather awkward. 

 

Funny you should mention spousal play, LC, as I believe this purchase was motivated largely by my friend looking for games that his wife might enjoy in co-op. 

[LadyCrimson]

I bought BL1 for myself originally, then after hubby watched me a while, he wanted to try it. Since then sometimes I think I live, eat, sleep Borderlands for weeks at a time ... even when I'm personally a bit tired of it.

 

Melee, to me anyway, feels a bit clunky, at least on the keyboard/mouse. It's just running up and spamming the melee keys and hoping you're facing the right direction as enemies move and the camera/mouse feels like it spins you around with every punch. Slightly better on controller where attack keys aren't part of one of your movement tools. You get used to it and it's certainly doable, but the gunplay is definitely more refined.

[AGX-17]

Thanks for the input, everybody.  Does the melee work OK?  A tank-y character might suit my rudimentary FPS skills, but I usually find melee options in first-person games to be rather awkward.

Depends. Brick's action skill is like Doom's berserk mode, and Lilith has options to get melee buffs while phasewalking (a mechanic which is essentially transferred to Zer0 in BL2, although Zer0's is more refined and focused.) Melee damage scales with your level regardless of which character you're using.

 

But like LadyCrimson said, it's hard to be sure unless you're point blank and the enemy is dead center in your crosshairs. Like most FPS games, the actual hit detection doesn't match the character's melee attack animation, it's still just a hitscan from your crosshairs.

Edited February 13, 2013 by AGX-17

[mr insomniac]

Finished Borderlands 2 yesterday. Took awhile but I got there. Now playing "true vault hunter" mode with Zero. Holy crap do I need better shields.

[LadyCrimson]

Finished Borderlands 2 yesterday. Took awhile but I got there. Now playing "true vault hunter" mode with Zero. Holy crap do I need better shields.

There is no such thing as an adequate shield in BL2.

...seriously, so many things can take off your shield in one hit, no matter how much shield you have, to a point I often think the game is "cheating" in that regard, heh. I tend to place a bit more emphasis on high health instead...not that I won't take high-shield on top of that, when I can get it, of course.

[LadyCrimson]

The town guards in Sanctuary do odd things, which inspired a stupid (but short) music video using bits of that and some other filler bits. eg, I'm still weird and I apparently like to prove it in public.

 

Also, I could probably use to stop playing this game, but at this point, with my lack of interest in playing most other games (plus hubby pestering me to play) it's become a minor "don't wanna think" addiction. Odd combo of often being slightly annoyed at the game yet can't stop messing around with it....

 

 

[mr insomniac]

 

Finished Borderlands 2 yesterday. Took awhile but I got there. Now playing "true vault hunter" mode with Zero. Holy crap do I need better shields.

There is no such thing as an adequate shield in BL2.

...seriously, so many things can take off your shield in one hit, no matter how much shield you have, to a point I often think the game is "cheating" in that regard, heh. I tend to place a bit more emphasis on high health instead...not that I won't take high-shield on top of that, when I can get it, of course.

Agreed on emphasizing higher health. I have actually managed to find a shield, better than my previous best shield, and also giving a nice health boost. Also have a nice class mod giving a high regen rate. Not dying quite so often now, which is allowing me to replenish my funds a little.

[AGX-17]

Finished Borderlands 2 yesterday. Took awhile but I got there. Now playing "true vault hunter" mode with Zero. Holy crap do I need better shields.

Zer0 isn't a durability type of character, to begin with. TVHM will teach you to use cover as much as possible unless you're rolling Gunzerker.

...seriously, so many things can take off your shield in one hit, no matter how much shield you have, to a point I often think the game is "cheating" in that regard, heh. I tend to place a bit more emphasis on high health instead...not that I won't take high-shield on top of that, when I can get it, of course.

Eh, only in TVHM. It's more appropriate to think of shields and health as a single total rather than two independent variables. Unless the enemy is using elemental weapons there's no substantive difference between shields and health. Some shields, like nova, spike or absorb shields, tend to have lower capacities either to increase the activation of their properties (nova/spike) or balance them out (absorb.) Edited February 18, 2013 by AGX-17

[Enoch]

I've now played BL1 for an hour or two. 

 

I remain not very good at shooters.  But no motion-sickness issues yet, so that's a plus. 

 

One thing is puzzling:  I've leveled-up a few times, but there's this whole ability-selection screen that I haven't been able to interact with at all.  At what point do you actually get to specialize your character? 

[Malcador]

Level 5

[LadyCrimson]

I've now played BL1 for an hour or two. 

 

I remain not very good at shooters.  But no motion-sickness issues yet, so that's a plus.

Did you decide to go with Brick, or someone else?

Eh, only in TVHM. It's more appropriate to think of shields and health as a single total rather than two independent variables. Unless the enemy is using elemental weapons there's no substantive difference between shields and health. Some shields, like nova, spike or absorb shields, tend to have lower capacities either to increase the activation of their properties (nova/spike) or balance them out (absorb.)

I know that technically there should be no difference between the two, but both hubby and I could swear that no matter how much more shield you may equip, as soon as you go out in combat again, they seem to take it all off in one hit regardless, and more health somehow feels sturdier overall. Hence why I often feel like they're "cheating." lol.

 

....but yeah, it probably is mostly the shock attacks - and first-shot critical hits against you. Which enemies seem to get fairly frequently. But even in that case, I still think health is somewhat more important, since if that first crit. against you takes away all your shield, you're not left with relatively piddly health to try to escape/find cover with. And once you get past the first half of the game, I feel like there's a lot more shock-wielding enemies.

[AGX-17]

 

 

I've now played BL1 for an hour or two. 

 

I remain not very good at shooters.  But no motion-sickness issues yet, so that's a plus.

Did you decide to go with Brick, or someone else?

Eh, only in TVHM. It's more appropriate to think of shields and health as a single total rather than two independent variables. Unless the enemy is using elemental weapons there's no substantive difference between shields and health. Some shields, like nova, spike or absorb shields, tend to have lower capacities either to increase the activation of their properties (nova/spike) or balance them out (absorb.)

I know that technically there should be no difference between the two, but both hubby and I could swear that no matter how much more shield you may equip, as soon as you go out in combat again, they seem to take it all off in one hit regardless, and more health somehow feels sturdier overall. Hence why I often feel like they're "cheating." lol.

 

....but yeah, it probably is mostly the shock attacks - and first-shot critical hits against you. Which enemies seem to get fairly frequently. But even in that case, I still think health is somewhat more important, since if that first crit. against you takes away all your shield, you're not left with relatively piddly health to try to escape/find cover with. And once you get past the first half of the game, I feel like there's a lot more shock-wielding enemies.

 

 

It's not possible, to my knowledge, for enemies/NPCs to get critical hits in BL2. But for the most part, elemental weapons are rare in the hands of enemies in a normal run.

[mr insomniac]

 

I've now played BL1 for an hour or two. 

 

I remain not very good at shooters.  But no motion-sickness issues yet, so that's a plus.

Did you decide to go with Brick, or someone else?

>Eh, only in TVHM. It's more appropriate to think of shields and health as a single total rather than two independent variables. Unless the enemy is using elemental weapons there's no substantive difference between shields and health. Some shields, like nova, spike or absorb shields, tend to have lower capacities either to increase the activation of their properties (nova/spike) or balance them out (absorb.)

I know that technically there should be no difference between the two, but both hubby and I could swear that no matter how much more shield you may equip, as soon as you go out in combat again, they seem to take it all off in one hit regardless, and more health somehow feels sturdier overall. Hence why I often feel like they're "cheating." lol.

Amen. Joined my brother's game last night, and spent more time fighting for my life than I did anything else. But I'm now high enough level to use some of the good gear I've been saving for awhile.

 

Super Badass Varkids are tough SOBs. We had one stalking us through the whole 'caustic caverns' map, and he pounced on us right at the end. Nearly got us both, but the commando's turret saved us. It's very good at killing things.

 

After that we side-tracked to the awesomely put-together Sir Hammerlock DLC. I really enjoyed that, think I only died once.