Jump to content

 

An Open Letter to Gearbox


StayonTarget
 Share

Recommended Posts

Before I start, I want it to be known that I am a huge Borderlands fan. This isn't purely bashing the game. I've got a bobble head next to my bed, t-shirts, and a poster on my wall. I even have one of only a handful of Top Trumps in the US. I really love the retail game. But this DLC has been a huge disappointment for so many reasons.

 

Let me begin. You have an excellent formula that could continue to please the community and get you, Gearbox, more money. But you are missing some key points and just running the game into the ground. The original Borderlands was unique and brought something new to the table. The DLC had it's pluses and minuses and luckily you learned from your mistakes. When it came around to Borderlands 2, everything was great. A few small issues here and there but it was an excellent game.

 

The big one was the lack of bank space. If you advertise a Gazillion guns but then only let us store 60 then something is wrong. We were hoping for more but were at least hoping we'd see SDU and Bank Upgrades in the DLC. When it actually came to DLC we were expecting some basic things to make the DLC as whole and good as possible. We wanted another General Knoxx or Claptrap Revolution DLC (minus the collectibles) and we just got lousy brown landscapes, a joke of storyline, and mediocre side quests.

 

Besides just working on a fulfilling storyline there are many obvious things that would have many many people happy. The obvious next step and it was overlooked. How hard is it to increase a level cap for each DLC? Wether it be 5 levels or 10 it gives us something to do. Instead we are wasting XP and we're just generally bored because we can't improve our characters anymore.

 

Everybody loved Pearlescents in Borderlands 1, so why wasn't that added? Not only would have been an incentive for people to get the DLC but it would have been an opportunity to make it worth killing the bosses. Especially if they were actually half decent. Most orange guns suck in this game so if you added a rarity that was good then people would play the DLC. Instead we got Seraph weapons. And let's be honest. Those are crap. However, if you had made Seraph Crystals able to purchase Bank Upgrades and SDU or even just good weapons... then the raid bosses would have been tolerable.

 

Raid Bosses weren't a bad idea. They were a real challenge. I could argue they are too hard but that's not really an issue here. Everybody loved Crawmerax. But however, they seem very lazily done. You give a boss a shit ton of health and little reward. I don't think I've ever gotten more than 7 seraph crystals and you need 120 to actually buy something. They don't drop any weapons of value. No skins or heads. What happened to the loot Crawmerax dropped? That was easily a hundred items and it was so rewarding. We get maybe 10-15 weapons. Most of them being white. If you are making something challenging, make it worth the labor of completing it.

 

Now I'm going to address the compatibility pack. Don't make us download a glitchy file each time a DLC comes out. Release a title update for it. That way we don't have to troubleshoot every time something is released. And with this compatibility, let us use the vehicles you add in the DLC in the normal game. If you go through all of this trouble of making a new vehicle, especially if it's hardly used (Hammerlock DLC), then let us use it across the entire game. It seems so obvious but you don't do it. It would make the game more fun. Simple as that. Right now Gearbox comes off as a company who is just in it for the money and has a "Screw the consumer" mentality.

 

Sure, glitches need to be fixed. A better storyline is definitely needed. But there's many easy and obvious steps to make the game better.

  • Level Cap Increase each DLC
  • Make bosses worth fighting (BETTER LOOT)
  • Vehicle Cross compatibility
  • More storage space
  • Reintroduce Pearlescents

 

If you did that each DLC the consumer rating would go up several points. The next step is to actually playtest it before release. Fix the weird glitches in the map where you can't walk forward. Consider if people will like giant spores that attack out of nowhere and destroy your shields in a second. Will the consumer enjoy these things? If the answer is no, THEN DON'T PUT IT IN THE GAME. And for christ's sake can you not be so lazy with the achievements? Achievements makes a good percentage of the population interested in a game. If you are added a new feature, then put an achievement in. The Claptrap easter egg in Hammerlock. That was fun! So make it a proper achievement instead of the same thing repeated each DLC. Think of the ones in General Knoxx. A tour of the world's largest bullet? That was genius! Where is that creativity now?

 

The next step is a better storyline. I can't really solve that in a forum post. But if a DLC is about Hammerlock and is about a game hunt then you should go on missions WITH Hammerlock to hunt game and whatnot. Instead of there being one mission where you walk with him 20 feet, kill 200 enemies, then he walks into the lodge and is never seen again. Then take Captain Scarlett for example. Don't make us run and fight a 100 enemies to reach a waypoint, then have to walk all the back to a second waypoint. Be creative instead of just making us travel. The dude was hording all the water? Go into depth! Don't just half-ass the turning points in the stories.

 

Out of personal opinion, the Torgue DLC was the best. It had funny dialogue. The environment wasn't repeated. The quests were original. And Badassarus was pretty freaking funny. But there was so satisfying end. You didn't feel like you won. You felt like you were missing the last 20% of the storyline. You don't really get to enjoy the spoils of what you were fighting for. There is no aftermath besides a raid boss in these DLCs.

 

This may be a rant. But it's goal is to get you (Gearbox Software) to realize that you are missing the easy and obvious features to implement, change, or make better. I haven't lost all hope in having a good DLC. If the next one sucks but there is a MAGNIFICENT 5th one (General Knoxx level) then all will be forgiven. But the way things are looking, I highly doubt that will happen. Please fix these mistakes and actually create a masterpiece. The job isn't done until the consumer is satisfied.

Edited by StayonTarget
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My goal is to get this recognized by Gearbox Software OR Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox). If you would like to help in hopes we may actually see an A+ DLC, paid or free, please send this to @GearboxSoftware or @DuvalMagic on Twitter. If they get enough links from people to the same thing then hopefully it will be read.

 

If you want to share this, here is an easy link to hit.

 

http://clicktotweet.com/56sYc

 

I don't expect to see a good 4th DLC. But there could very well be a 5th one that is great. The reason I say this is because the 4th DLC is most likely almost finished. Game companies begin work on DLC well before the game is even released.

Edited by StayonTarget
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But that was not the mentality with the last game. And the last game it seemed like they did care a ton about the community. But when you have an A rated game then 4 consecutive D+ DLCs, does the game go down in history as an A game? Probably not. Especially for a triple A title.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But that was not the mentality with the last game. And the last game it seemed like they did care a ton about the community. But when you have an A rated game then 4 consecutive D+ DLCs, does the game go down in history as an A game? Probably not. Especially for a triple A title.

 

I know, but you made my point for me. That was their first game. They know they have their loyal following right now, and are guarunteed to make millions on BL3. How much you want to bet the gap between borderlands 1 and 2, will not be nearly as long as 2 and 3. It will just be a rehash and the dollar signs will pop up all over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know, but you made my point for me. That was their first game. They know they have their loyal following right now, and are guarunteed to make millions on BL3. How much you want to bet the gap between borderlands 1 and 2, will not be nearly as long as 2 and 3. It will just be a rehash and the dollar signs will pop up all over.

 

I agree with you. The way everything looks at this point in time is not good. But it's not too late to redeem themselves. That's my point here. There's many easy steps to take to bring your 4.0 DLC to a 6.0+ then more tricky but obvious ones to get a 8.0+ rating. Because as it stands I think we can all agree the DLC is about a 4. This is coming from someone who has all 59 achievements too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with you. The way everything looks at this point in time is not good. But it's not too late to redeem themselves. That's my point here. There's many easy steps to take to bring your 4.0 DLC to a 6.0+ then more tricky but obvious ones to get a 8.0+ rating. Because as it stands I think we can all agree the DLC is about a 4. This is coming from someone who has all 59 achievements too.

 

So far this last DLC is a 1 for me, so yes I agree it is horrible. I liked the main campaign, but the DLc is terrible. Add in no storage upgrades and no level cap raise, makes me very disappointed in BL2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am definitely going to link this. This is exactly how I feel about BL2. I don't necessarily agree that it will do nothing either. Look at the backlash Bioware received about the ending to Mass Effect 3. Because of the fans, they went in and added on to the ending (for better or worse, they added on to it). I have heard that because of the glitches with the vanilla BL2 game, there were people who didn't get to play it until a month or longer after it came out. That is absolutely unacceptable. Then you have the problems with the dlc. The fact that there is no level cap increase, the loot is awful, raid bosses, while a neat concept, are executed poorly, and they keep adding new currency for vending machines that have terrible loot in them. This last dlc (Hammerlocks Big Hunt) is absolutely the worst BL dlc I have ever played.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

...Out of personal opinion, the Torgue DLC was the best. It had funny dialogue. The environment wasn't repeated....

 

 

Agreed about Torque being the funniest, best DLC so far. Mr Torque had me cracking up.

 

I disagree about the environment though. It looks just like the majority of the General Knox DLC.

 

The only DLC that the environment doesn't look mostly like a copy and paste job is the Pirate's Booty DLC, but the enemies are pretty much reskinned bandits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my only gripe with this game, the DLC on the original was a decent length, decent story, increased level cap and the environment was quite big, it also gave more gamer score per DLC, at the moment we are only getting 125G per DLC, the season pass is for 4 DLC's so that means we will only end up with 1500G, but wait, thats there plan isn't it so they can screw more money out of us by releasing a second season pass, with another 4 pieces of DLC with 125G per DLC giving use the gamerscore cap of 2000G.

 

If I knew how little the DLC offered story wise, I wouldn't have bought the season pass, even at the Christmas discount rate of 1800MSP. I'm so disappointed in Gearbox for screwing over all their Borderland fans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to make sure, you guys do know that Borderlands 1's DLC, 1,2 and 4 were only about the same as the current Borderlands 2 DLC, and that DLC 3, Knoxx, was actually the only good one, right?

 

But I do dislike the lack of bank space, should have made it at LEAST the size of your backpack, but I use only 12 spaces in mine, and some of those items are there cause' they be pink and shiny.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to make sure, you guys do know that Borderlands 1's DLC, 1,2 and 4 were only about the same as the current Borderlands 2 DLC, and that DLC 3, Knoxx, was actually the only good one, right?

 

But I do dislike the lack of bank space, should have made it at LEAST the size of your backpack, but I use only 12 spaces in mine, and some of those items are there cause' they be pink and shiny.

 

About the same, yes. Except they didn't make any pretenses about adding new gear and a Raid boss in each one, they focused on a good to decent gameplay and short but enjoyable story. Well for two of them, but I'll take Zombie Island and Craptrap Revolution anyday over hunting or Pirates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About the same, yes. Except they didn't make any pretenses about adding new gear and a Raid boss in each one, they focused on a good to decent gameplay and short but enjoyable story. Well for two of them, but I'll take Zombie Island and Craptrap Revolution anyday over hunting or Pirates.

True, but with the raid bosses in each DLC, I actually wanted to go back to the area's they made, even if it's a quick run to so-so the Invincible. Once I was done with BL 1's dlc, never went back, with the exception of Knoxx, so I can kill that raid boss. But this is me, me and my IMO.

 

I actually have tried and thought how endgame content would work for this game, but I just can't think of any good ideas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, but with the raid bosses in each DLC, I actually wanted to go back to the area's they made, even if it's a quick run to so-so the Invincible. Once I was done with BL 1's dlc, never went back, with the exception of Knoxx, so I can kill that raid boss. But this is me, me and my IMO.

 

I actually have tried and thought how endgame content would work for this game, but I just can't think of any good ideas.

 

Neither can they apparently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with alot of what you've said. I have enjoyed all of the DLCs but I also haven't been that blown away either. A few more monster varieties would have been nice on the hunter DLC as it did advertise all these "exotic" creatures. I found all of them funny and Torgue legendary but I also felt after finishing each campaign something was missing and the rewards minimal. I'm not a big fan of some of the raid bosses especially as I'm primarily a solo player and seem to have little luck farming as a result. 100% agree on the level capping

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can't put up the level with every DLC, BL1 didn't he raise the level until the 3rd. I agree with the rest though. DLC has being crappy. I hated Pirates and Hammerlock and the only reason why I like Tourge was because the the dialogue.

 

Actually you can raise the level. The end level in BL2 is stronger than the first, and more unbalanced. Five levels above 50 would drastically alter character builds (I can do a lot with 50 Skill points), and it would force everyone to begin getting weapons again. Many people still don't mod (they'll trade or dupe other people's though) so they're not going to raise their levels and make their own weapons, they'll actually play the game again to get new and better versions of the same gear that they wasted hours already trying to find.

 

When the second level cap came out in Claptrap Revolution, my friends and I went and got new gear from Crawmerax and the Armory again. What I did was to go through missions with people or find old bosses in game and get Boss weapons which were raised up, as everything in the game went to above level 60, not just the bosses. People will play longer when you give them a better end game, one way to squeeze more is to give level raises if the bosses and loot go with it when your game is about finding gear.

 

Besides the point though, we still don't have an inventory cap. It's a huge problem for everyone, having to make new characters just to hold crap or glitching your bank to have an unlimited stock in it. It also sucks for people who mod their inventories, as Gearbox decided to put a block on people's level raises and inventories. My Assassin got bugged and had 30 inventory slots because when I was boosting him with my friends to get his skill achievement, he got a backpack SDU upgrade from the weapon SDU. Now he's back down to 27, which is bullshit. I don't care if people argued if having more than 48 Backpack spaces in BL1 was a glitch or not (GB never confirmed it), but its retarded that the game advertised of having more guns has less capacity to hold things in a primary, tertiary, and character in-between trade system than the first game's normal end game cap of 48.

Edited by incinerator950
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If Gearbox's bottom line is their only concern as someone suggested (not saying it isn't true, just making a point with it), then perhaps a better petition would be to get people to commit to NOT BUYING Aliens: Colonial Marines until the issues with BL2 are addressed.

 

Because that game drops in like 3 weeks, and as soon as it does, that will be their new baby and they'll let BL2 slide further into neglect.

 

If Gearbox were given a long list of dedicated gamers who would not purchase their next game because of the problems with BL2, maybe they might pay attention. But appealing to them on the level that they need to increase the quality of their games because they should have pride in their product and owe it to the people who buy them is just going to fall on deaf ears.

 

If the money stops rolling in, somebody will have to address the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
  • Create New...