An interesting point of view found on Steam

Battleborn Battleborn General Discussion
#41

Overwatch is just a much simpler game (I own and play both). BB is tactical, deep, and demanding. OW is simple, accessible and welcoming. I call OW a shooter designed for people who don’t play shooting games. That’s not perfect language for it; there is definitely a skill factor in OW, and more skilled players WILL dominate new players who lack shooter reflexes and (almost more importantly) knowledge of how to coordinate with their team. But OW in general does a great job of welcoming players with no or next to no shooter skill, since it has characters like Mercy, Symmetra (etc) who rely on simplified mechanics and don’t need aiming. (Fair point that Sym players MUST have map knowledge to use turrets effectively and Merc players MUST have cover skills to avoid chain deaths - but those are not AIMING and SHOOTING skills, they are PLACEMENT and POSITIONING skills.)

Battleborn is basically the lovechild of two games I dearly love: Borderlands and Guardians of Middle-Earth. From BL you get the polished shooter mechanics, from GoME the simplified MOBA structure (no in-game shop, choose all buffs before match and activate as resources permit). BB is indeed an avant-garde effort in a risk-averse industry, and (worse) in Overwatch it’s fighting a massively-funded advo campaign featuring (among other things) a TV and web ad blitz, and a slew of youtube movies that look like they came from Pixar. Battleborn has a couple of cute TV commercials. 2K ad GBX are being totally outgunned on the advo front.

We all already know the outcome here. OW is outselling BB, and I expect that will continue. BB will enjoy diehard fan support from a much smaller, but (after winnowing) highly committed playerbase who will eventually become excellent at the game. Relatively small groups of new players will trickle in with content releases, some will stay, some will go.

In 10 years game design schools will teach Battleborn as a game ahead of its time that was dramatically underappreciated. We who fought on the front lines will remember it as the awesome effort it was, and know that the people who write history books don’t know everything.

(Sorry long post.)

4 Likes
#42

Most MOBAs don’t have a lot of maps, especially not around launch. I see the MOBA side of Battleborn as being heavily influenced by Guardians of Middle-Earth, which had (IIRC) 2 or 3 maps. I believe it had two maps with 3 lanes and one map with one lane. BB has 6 maps, 2 per game type. Actually I think that’s pretty good.

Also, BB has the PvE raids, which represent a sh*t-ton of development time and budget (it’s a lot of digital real-estate that isn’t used in any of the PvP maps, other than re-use of specific assets/textures). And (unlike Destiny at launch, as an example) all the raids have wave randomization - it’s the same battle areas, but the spawns/order/types of enemies will have some variance. (I love that, for the record.)

I am a voice actor (or trying to be :confounded:), so I also pay very close attention to voice work in a game. BB has amazing voice, and it has a freaking ton of it. You can play the same mission 5 times, and never hear the exact same dialog lines (you’ll hear some repeats, but there’s variation). Hearing Deande get pissed off because everyone HATES the Jennerit was hilarious. There’s loads of little character-building stuff like that.

When you look at the total amount of stuff in BB - all the resources, all the polish - I am very impressed with the amount of content. We have one added hero already, some details on the next, and the promise of new PvP maps and raids coming. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m very satisfied with the BB experience so far, controlling for character balance (which they’re continually patching) and the too-high price of DLC skins.

(Full disclosure: I’m a bit of a GBX/Borderlands fanboi. I’m sure you couldn’t tell :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:)

3 Likes
#43

Blizzard is no stranger to destroying competition. Anyone who was around for Warhammer Online’s slaughter in the face of Wrath of the Lich King knows that. It was quite cunning, adding achievements and world PvP when those were WAR’s selling points.

And yes, Blizzard has made an art form out of recycling other’s ideas and simplifying them for the casual gamer.

I am glad that at least these games are now being made. It wasn’t that long ago that indie games were almost nonexistent, and only big name publishers made anything. Places like Kickstarter and Patreon have done wonders for bringing variety back to gaming, and reviving previously dead genres.

It just sucks for multiplayer games that companies like Blizzard still have the majority of gamers in their pocket.

#44

Oh great. I agreed with your point right away and liked it, buy you changed your post more hostile afterwards, and now I can’t even get my like back. :expressionless:

#45

Oh great. I agreed with your point right away and liked it, buy you
changed your post more hostile afterwards, and now I can’t even get my
like back.

Oh well, It wasn’t the primary goal of my edits. I’ll tone it down a tad :3. There, reduced the amount uneccesary mean pokes (the directed ones.) I came from steam forums It’s kill or be killed over there, poison tipped words, double tapping.
I hope it’s something you can enjoy better in it current form.

2 Likes
#46

Yup. Nailed it. People have a tendency to clamor for something different, but what they typically mean is they want something familiar that changes up just enough to feel different.

When you do something more revolutionary, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Really hoping they can find a way to right the ship.

I expressed the concern before the game released that this isn’t Borderlands and having a slow-build launch was going to be a problem.

We are seeing the result of that now in the matchmaking. In an effort to reduce queue times, the matchmaking restrictions have been loosened up and are seeing way more steamroll matches like in beta, which is not inviting for new players, which hampers efforts to increase the player base. It’s a bad cycle to be in.

1 Like
#47

I really can’t find anything revolutionary about battleborn tho.It took the main idea from SMNC(then make it a fps) , upgrade system from hots and gears are basically a dumbed down version of moba items.People have been trying to add a new spin to the moba genre for years.There’s nothing new about it.

#48

Sometimes it isn’t the elements themselves but the way they are combined. Whether you think the game is “revolutionary” or not, I think we can agree they aren’t just going along with what is popular.

At any rate, for me at least, the game is more than the sum of its parts.

6 Likes
#49

Yep. Every part of it (aside from the bugs) is what I love about it. I’m even starting to enjoy PVP because each match is different.

5 Likes
#50

I’ve said it elsewhere, but I’ve been playing games for decades, but never enjoyed PvP until Battleborn, even when getting my butt kicked (I.e. Most of the time)

2 Likes
#51

Same here. I’m getting better, but I just don’t have the twitch reflexes the kids do. :dukesad:

1 Like
#52

Well, another thread in the forum of a dying game in which people keep wondering why everybody drives on the wrong side of the road. Well, there is a Steam sale for Battleborn. You get the game 50% off. Currently, Battleborn sits at sales rank #387. That’s right, people won’t buy this game even at half price. What’s the consensus? “Ah, Gearbox simply want to draw out some money from the last suckers before they go f2p or shut down development”.
You can wail all you want how those stupid gamer kids just don’t get innovation but PLEASE understand: Battleborn is not a brilliant or genius game. Gearbox tried to replicate the Borderlands success by mashing elements of different genres into a new game but this time they failed. Wait, not “failed”. Battleborn isn’t a bad game it just fails to stand out in any aspect compared to the competition.

2 Likes
#53

The game will be forgotten and nobody will care within five years pretty much like Brink.

1 Like
#54

Battleborn stands out more than any other FPS I’ve played in the last few years. The competition are mostly just clones of one another.

1 Like
#55

Pretty much this.Even system shock was forgotten.This game is just a transition of moba to fps.

#56

Unfortunately, that’s an even stronger possibility.

For the record, I’ll be playing Battleborn as long as the servers are on. Even if I’m the only one there, I’ll run PvE and bot matches. I love the game, warts and all.

2 Likes
#57

[quote=“HipHobbes, post:52, topic:1525493, full:true”]You get the game 50% off. Currently, Battleborn sits at sales rank #387. That’s right, people won’t buy this game even at half price.
[/quote]

The perceived competition with Overwatch, coupled with 2Ks failure to understand the microtransaction DLC market and performance problems on PC are hurting Battleborn as well. There is a reason the game is nicknamed “Stillborn” in some places.

Also, I didn’t realize this until maybe a month or so ago, lots of people on the internet hate Randy Pitchford, and by extension hate Gearbox. The PC community never really seemed to like Borderlands as much as console players, as well.

I do believe Battleborn innovates in some areas, but it doesn’t do so perfectly and fails pretty hard in some other places. Part of me thinks that this current release was rushed by 2K for some reason to compete with Overwatch given how many quality of life or competitive things are missing from the game. It’s almost like 2.0 Beta build. If Battleborn can hold on on consoles and Gearbox commits to their DLC promises, maybe everyone will have a different perspective 4 - 6 months from now. Though, that is right around the release of Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare so we’ll see.

#58

Did you ever happen to have any experience with an older Double Fine game called Brutal Legend? Heavy-metal themed open-world action game with heavy ARTS/MOBA influences.

It was - though raddled with painful flaws, rather worse than Battleborn IMO - a thoroughly awesome game, again IMO. I still have it for 360 and still play it, just against the vapid AI - I seriously love it that effing much.

I suspect that Battleborn may face a similar fate - dearly loved by few, dismissed or ignored by many, and deserving of far more credit than the market eventually gives it.

I’m still going to be here as long as the lights are on. (PS4 player BTW.)

1 Like
#59

^ thousand times this. It’s why I love Battleborn as much as I do. All the FPS coolness of Borderlands with the MOBA-lite elements of Guardians of Middle-Earth.

#60

I have Brutal Legend on my PC. I love the theme and storyline of that game more than anything. I could definitely see Battleborn facing something similar. I hope that’s not the case, but only time will tell.

1 Like