Anyone else hyped for Borderlands 3 [Release date 9/13/2019]

[Keltest]

Meh, who cares? I'm sure we'll be able to buy it somewhere when it launches and that's all that matters.

I care, in as much as im hoping the relationship goes the rest of the way belly up and BL3 launches on steam the same day as on consoles.

[Resileaf]

There are multiple reasons why the games were pulled from the shop for the sale.

First, it devalues the games. Perception matters, and if the game is seen to be on sale before it even releases, people are going to believe that the game is worth less as a result.
Second, putting the game on sale before it releases breaks some EU laws. If I understand right, it's to prevent companies from unfairly competing by slashing prices before something actually exists.
Third, it might break deals with consoles, as the publishers' contracts would ask that the price be the same across all platforms.

As such, there is no reason to believe the games won't return to the shop after the sale, those companies signed exclusivity contracts with Epic, they just didn't want their game to be on sale.
But I will admit I'm feeling smug satisfaction at the situation.

[Erloas]

Do you mean to say that the Epic store can't manage to only put some items on sale?
Steam had sales all the time where new games aren't included or only games from specific publishers. And generic coupons that can be "used on everything" from various stores still have exceptions at times. So having to pull an item because of a sale makes no sense. Unless of course their backend controls are really bad.

[Resileaf]

Do you mean to say that the Epic store can't manage to only put some items on sale?
Steam had sales all the time where new games aren't included or only games from specific publishers. And generic coupons that can be "used on everything" from various stores still have exceptions at times. So having to pull an item because of a sale makes no sense. Unless of course their backend controls are really bad.

Epic Games wanted to put a 10$ sale paid by themselves on every single item in their store (in addition to the slashing done by the devs for their own games if they wanted). I do not know whether they couldn't choose to remove the sale on certain games or if the devs removed their games as a warning to Epic. It could be either.

[Anteros]

Do you mean to say that the Epic store can't manage to only put some items on sale?
Steam had sales all the time where new games aren't included or only games from specific publishers. And generic coupons that can be "used on everything" from various stores still have exceptions at times. So having to pull an item because of a sale makes no sense. Unless of course their backend controls are really bad.

Sure they can, but they wanted to advertise "Everything in the store is on sale!!!"

[Narkis]

Sure they can, but they wanted to advertise "Everything in the store is on sale!!!"

It wouldn't surprise me if they can't, actually. The epic store lacked a search function for months, and it still doesn't have a shopping cart.

[Man_Over_Game]

After recently sinking several dozen hours into Borderlands TPS, I REALLY hope BL3 makes characters like they did in TPS.

Despite BL2 being an overall better game, it REALLY failed on the character development front.

TPS did exceptionally well at making most of the individual builds feel extremely unique. You don't have to make a new character if you want to spice things up as Athena, you just need to buy a rebuild and you've practically got a whole new character. I could play Aurelia as a sniper, OR I could play her as a freezing tank, both with completely opposite playstyles that she can support equally.

However, after playing the Presequel, I was really scratching my brain on how to play the playstyle I enjoy (Support). I could go Zero, but Zero's Action Skill doesn't really do anything for a sniper. There are few instances where being invisible for 5 seconds for x1 shot would be better than just shooting x5 times. You can...run away, I guess? Maya does fine, but it doesn't matter if you're control, healer, or elemental Maya; they all play exactly the same (Phaselock the biggest guy you can, shoot bad guys). I've played Maya the exact same from level 5 to level 60, and....it's getting stale.

Now, I've seen firsthand that the trees for each character are MUCH bigger (looks to be about 20 or so different skills per tree), I just hope that they help you mix things up rather than just buffing up passive stats (Less Wilhelm, more Athena).

[Keltest]

After recently sinking several dozen hours into Borderlands TPS, I REALLY hope BL3 makes characters like they did in TPS.

Despite BL2 being an overall better game, it REALLY failed on the character development front.

TPS did exceptionally well at making most of the individual builds feel extremely unique. You don't have to make a new character if you want to spice things up as Athena, you just need to buy a rebuild and you've practically got a whole new character. I could play Aurelia as a sniper, OR I could play her as a freezing tank, both with completely opposite playstyles that she can support equally.

However, after playing the Presequel, I was really scratching my brain on how to play the playstyle I enjoy (Sniper or Support). I could go Zero, but Zero's Action Skill doesn't really do anything for a sniper. You can...run away, I guess? Maya does fine, but it doesn't matter if you're control, healer, or elemental Maya; they all are exactly the same, and play exactly the same.

Now, I've seen firsthand that the trees for each character are MUCH bigger (looks to be about 20 or so different skills per tree), I just hope that they help you mix things up rather than just buffing up passive stats (Less Wilhelm, more Athena).

The multiple action skills I think will really help on that front. As you say, sniper Krieg or Salvadore are not really things theyre equipped to pull off remotely competently, and only Maya and Zer0 really get anything that actively aids them in sniping. But with larger skill trees and more action skills, you can have characters with a wider style of play. You could build the new siren sniper or shotgun as desired, and have an action skill for both hopefully.

[GloatingSwine]

However, after playing the Presequel, I was really scratching my brain on how to play the playstyle I enjoy (Support).

Non-Anarchy Gaige.

Spec through her green and blue trees, ignore red tree.

[Man_Over_Game]

Non-Anarchy Gaige.

Spec through her green and blue trees, ignore red tree.

But from what I've seen of those trees, there's no "active" support.

Nothing you do "does" support. Support happens, sure, but not by anything the player did. All of it is passive, automated stuff that Deathtrap does for you. It's not really part of the "playing" part of the game.

I like "playing" support. Maya, for example, has to decide to:

• Shoot allies to heal them when she's down, or go for the kill on an enemy to try and rez herself back up.
• Revive an ally at range, or phaselock an enemy and rez the ally manually.
• Focus on phaselocking and killing a weaker enemy to generate healing orbs, or phaselock a powerful enemy to mitigate damage.

Similarly, Support Athena has to physically maneuver herself near allies with a very limited aura range WHILE those allies are behind you (so you can't see them), while also paying attention to facing to have her defensive cone face towards the highest area of threat, then determining the best angle to throw her shield so that she can best use her ricochet effect to best revive allies or deal massive splash damage to enemies.

Hell, even Aurelia can revive allies by landing sniper critical hits. Do I trust my ally to get the finishing kill to revive themselves, is the ally within range of my healing nova that would be centered on the enemy I crit, can I safely reach my ally without getting myself killed, am I even at an angle to land a critical (or do I just start spamming sniper shots in trying to land one and lose all of my I Never Miss stacks?). And that's a single ability in Aurelia's Damage tree!

With Gauge, your support gameplay decisions-making process seems limited to:

• Is my ability available?
  
  • No: Shoot things.
  • Yes: Press L1. Then go back to start.
  
  
  

[Anteros]

After recently sinking several dozen hours into Borderlands TPS, I REALLY hope BL3 makes characters like they did in TPS.

Despite BL2 being an overall better game, it REALLY failed on the character development front.

TPS did exceptionally well at making most of the individual builds feel extremely unique. You don't have to make a new character if you want to spice things up as Athena, you just need to buy a rebuild and you've practically got a whole new character. I could play Aurelia as a sniper, OR I could play her as a freezing tank, both with completely opposite playstyles that she can support equally.

However, after playing the Presequel, I was really scratching my brain on how to play the playstyle I enjoy (Support). I could go Zero, but Zero's Action Skill doesn't really do anything for a sniper. There are few instances where being invisible for 5 seconds for x1 shot would be better than just shooting x5 times. You can...run away, I guess? Maya does fine, but it doesn't matter if you're control, healer, or elemental Maya; they all play exactly the same (Phaselock the biggest guy you can, shoot bad guys). I've played Maya the exact same from level 5 to level 60, and....it's getting stale.

Now, I've seen firsthand that the trees for each character are MUCH bigger (looks to be about 20 or so different skills per tree), I just hope that they help you mix things up rather than just buffing up passive stats (Less Wilhelm, more Athena).

Basically tripling your damage output for a single shot doesn't do anything for a sniper? Huh? It's arguably the best use for his skill.

[Man_Over_Game]

Basically tripling your damage output for a single shot doesn't do anything for a sniper? Huh? It's arguably the best use for his skill.

But in that time, you could have just fired 3 shots.

When playing with friends, I found almost no use from his action skill that just shooting normally couldn't do better, unless I'm using it to run away or revive someone.

[Anteros]

It's a damage boost even if you don't sit and let it charge. Also good for dropping aggro.

Sniping is bad no matter what you build on any character though so it's mostly irrelevant. That's a problem with sniping itself though, not the action skill.

[random11]

In all Borderland games, when I play with my brother and not solo my favorite is the sniper.
In large crowds I manage many head shots before I switch to the alternative close range weapon.

I wonder what character I'll pick this time for this role.

[Man_Over_Game]

It's a damage boost even if you don't sit and let it charge. Also good for dropping aggro.

Sniping is bad no matter what you build on any character though so it's mostly irrelevant. That's a problem with sniping itself though, not the action skill.

Actually, I've found that Aurelia just melts Badasses with ease.

My wife runs around as her Doppleganger, spamming her explosive clones, and she does great against mooks. But when it comes to a Badass, she occasionally has some grief. If I can get a good lock on the enemy with something like The Machine (Blue rarity Sniper rifle with a chaingun barrel, fairly common from loot sources and vendors), I can melt a Skulled Badass in seconds.

Aurelia is the Sniper done right. Zero is just far too slow for sniping to be relevant, I think, and I'm not sure if sniping will ever be the same for me, especially since Aurelia refunds back sniper bullets (which solves the biggest problem with sniper rifles: Ammo).

*********

I also hope they paid close attention to melee combat. Melee Zero was terrible at later levels (and mediocre in the mid-game), Melee Athena was borderline unplayable until you get her capstone, Melee Krieg was overpowered. They seem to have a hard time getting a handle on how powerful melee builds are supposed to be. Although they've been getting better since the days of...Brick.

[Keltest]

I also hope they paid close attention to melee combat. Melee Zero was terrible at later levels (and mediocre in the mid-game), Melee Athena was borderline unplayable until you get her capstone, Melee Krieg was overpowered. They seem to have a hard time getting a handle on how powerful melee builds are supposed to be. Although they've been getting better since the days of...Brick.

The problem with melee builds, I think, is that there isn't a dedicated melee item slot. Its just a property on some guns and shields, which means A: youre severely limited in viable weapons and B: if you ever want/need to use something else, you've probably sacrificed a lot of gun power for that melee bonus. There simply aren't enough levers for them to pull to have melee compete with bullets consistently.

[Anteros]

There's usually one melee build per game that relies on getting a specific gun for it to really work. Not a great design, but at least there's something for people who want this kind of build.

[lefty2shoes]

YES!!!! I hope they do more with armor and melee weapons this time.

[Keltest]

YES!!!! I hope they do more with armor and melee weapons this time.

As far as armor goes, I think shields fill that slot nicely. I wouldn't mind seeing a greater variety of shields that have more inherently useful bonuses than just the actual shield value though. Some of them are interesting, but not a lot of them are something that I would actively hunt for over other types of shields unless im playing a very specific build.

[Erloas]

They now have that physical shield as part of one manufacturer's guns. They did have quite a few shields with various effects that could make a big difference in how effective some classes were. I loved the nova shields for the more aggressive characters because you are always in the middle of things and half the time you go down the nova gets you a second wind almost instantly. Granted only a few special shields novas on health loss, but both shields and health tended to drop fast and a good corrosive or fire dot was still taking people out when your health ran out. Then there are the damage boosting shields like the Bee, and the roid shields.

As for melee, I rarely ever used it for any character in any of the games. Not sure if it was just because there wasn't a lot of things to boost it, but just never felt as good as just shooting things.

[NeoVid]

Arghhhhhhhh.... I was considering gifting a friend a copy of Tales from the Borderlands because I feel bad for anyone who's missed out on playing it, and when I went looking for the current price, I found out it's no longer available for purchase on Steam. The hell. I was expecting some sort of Borderlands bundle to include it, not for it to be made impossible to play.

[factotum]

It's still available on GOG, but apparently only until tomorrow, so you can get it there if you're quick.

[Man_Over_Game]

They now have that physical shield as part of one manufacturer's guns. They did have quite a few shields with various effects that could make a big difference in how effective some classes were. I loved the nova shields for the more aggressive characters because you are always in the middle of things and half the time you go down the nova gets you a second wind almost instantly. Granted only a few special shields novas on health loss, but both shields and health tended to drop fast and a good corrosive or fire dot was still taking people out when your health ran out. Then there are the damage boosting shields like the Bee, and the roid shields.

As for melee, I rarely ever used it for any character in any of the games. Not sure if it was just because there wasn't a lot of things to boost it, but just never felt as good as just shooting things.

You really gotta try a high level Athena or Krieg.

Krieg just facesmashes entire armies of badguys. It's a high-risk/high-reward kinda game, as you rely on killing them to get your health back, and you often have to gauge whether or not you're going to reach the enemy before you start dying. But once you reach them, they're usually mulch.

Athena is a weird, ninja, DoT build where you cause enemies to bleed when you melee them. Your capstone makes you dash and deal extra damage and knockback on your melee...that resets if you start a bleed on an enemy that's not bleeding or if you kill them. Not to mention that you just deal more damage and regenerate HP the more enemies that are bleeding. So you just kinda....ninja dash between enemies, circling back around to finish the first guy off.

Zero required everyone to already be near death to utilize his capstone, but Athena actually is faster and cooler at the start of the fight, and gets slower when there are fewer enemies to bleed. Krieg just kinda...murders everything in a slow motion blood bath, and yells loudly at everything he can't reach.

[Man_Over_Game]

There's word of a new DLC being made for Borderlands 2 in preparation for the new game. I think it's called Assault on Sanctuary.

Also, of note, the ship in BL 3 is called Sanctuary 3, and one of the hidden messages for the new game (and something they have mentioned a few times), is the phrase "don't talk about Sanctuary 2".

Ominous, but maybe we'll get some answers with this DLC.

[Erloas]

Well they did fly sanctuary into the sky before. Maybe they've upgraded it to be a flying space city.

I've heard the rumors of the DLC too. It would make sense, build more excitement about the game and give players something to do and back into the setting just before launch. Also if/when players get their old groups back together to play BL2 it will entice more of the group to pick up the game earlier rather than waiting.

[Man_Over_Game]

So....

The Battle for Sanctuary is out, if you haven't seen any info on it, yet.

• It's free.
• It's almost as big as the other big DLCs (took me and my wife about 6 hours of nonstop playing to finish it and all the sidequests).
• They bumped the level cap out to 80.
• They bumped up Overpowered levels from 8 to 10.
• If you have Overpowered 8 weapons, they are converted into level 80 weapons upon reaching level 80.
• They introduced a new rarity level, called Rainbow.

Rainbow weapons seem to be similar to legendaries, but focusing more on being generically good rather than having odd gimmicks. For example, the Rainbow SMG I picked up turns into a Bouncing Betty grenade upon reloading.

[NatureKing]

Bit late to the party, but kinda excited yeah. Always been a sucker for the Siren class. 6 Armed psychic nuker? Go on then.

[Man_Over_Game]

Bit late to the party, but kinda excited yeah. Always been a sucker for the Siren class. 6 Armed psychic nuker? Go on then.

They just showed some Moze combat recently. Looks like she kinda plays a bit like Athena, where she is generically good at everything, and uses her Action Skill to become nigh invulnerable for a short time. It looked...fine? But I wasn't too impressed. I like to have awkward mechanics that you have to play around, and Moze just looked like "The same thing, but better". Like every Soldier before her.

But considering all the new stuff that BL3 has, including the revamped grenades, the sliding, climbing and ground-pounds, you could probably have lots of fun just playing around with the basic mechanics.

[Chen]

So....

The Battle for Sanctuary is out, if you haven't seen any info on it, yet.

• It's free.
• It's almost as big as the other big DLCs (took me and my wife about 6 hours of nonstop playing to finish it and all the sidequests).
• They bumped the level cap out to 80.
• They bumped up Overpowered levels from 8 to 10.
• If you have Overpowered 8 weapons, they are converted into level 80 weapons upon reaching level 80.
• They introduced a new rarity level, called Rainbow.

Rainbow weapons seem to be similar to legendaries, but focusing more on being generically good rather than having odd gimmicks. For example, the Rainbow SMG I picked up turns into a Bouncing Betty grenade upon reloading.

I haven't played Borderlands 2 in ages. Whats overpowered levels? Has 2 continued getting updates or something? I played the pre-sequel but then kinda lost track of things.

[Man_Over_Game]

I haven't played Borderlands 2 in ages. Whats overpowered levels? Has 2 continued getting updates or something? I played the pre-sequel but then kinda lost track of things.

Overpowered Levels are something to increase the challenge past the max level. For example, when you hit the level cap (now level 80), you can complete Tannis's Digistruct Mountain challenge DLC to gain an Overpowered Level, which causes all the enemies and gear to be treated as one level higher than the normally scaled level.

Well, now Overpowered levels go up to 10. So you can play as a level 80 character...fighting enemies and getting gear as if you were level 90.

You have to complete the Overpowered challenges in order, so once you get OP1, you can work on getting OP2. Don't take the challenge lightly, though. It's brutally hard, quite long, and allies are locked out when they die, so you only ever get one "life" to complete the challenge (but you can retake it as many times as you want). It's basically like one of the Circles of Slaughter, but in a massive spiraling mountain that has randomized bosses and every enemy type in the game.

Also, if you're not familiar with Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, you ABSOLUTELY NEED SLAG. They bumped up the length and effectiveness of Slag to counter the amount of HP each creature has, to the point where it's now a necessity. Unless you're going some kind of ludicrous damage build (like a 400 Anarchy Stack Gauge), you aren't going to get far in UVHM without relying on Slag. They also bumped up the resistances and weaknesses of the other elements.

Basically, the game punishes you for being unable to adapt. Use shock to take out shields, use fire to take out HP, Slag everything, or you're going to have a hard time.