well the periodic events, vault cards rewards (if they update it … say on a quarterly basis?) .
I mean people played BL2 for years without these update, if they update stuff regularly, or provide patches regularly, people will stay for literally years.
BL2 was a vastly better game. The main real issue is map design. There are a lot of BL2 maps which are a well defined circle, that allow me to get into the game, do a lap of one of them, and then get out again. That almost single handedly is what gave that game nearly 10 years worth of replayability for me.
The Athenas map is really the only one in BL3 that I know of, which is designed like that. Most other maps in the game are very open ended; there’s no definite end point, which means I don’t have that sense that I will only be in a certain map for a specific period of time, before I can decide whether to stay in the game and do something else, or just finish that one map and get out again.
well the maps are bigger in BL3 and some areas (not the whole maps, but sub section) do have a sort of route to it. But that’s understandable due to it being bigger.
I mean I miss a little of the smaller maps / dlc like something I can finish in 5 mins and repeat and with good loots possible - hi, snowman -.
But that isn’t necessary a bad thing, just need to plan a little bit more in BL3. Also the fact that you probably didn’t know the maps as much due to 1) it’s much bigger and 2) no need to re-run it (uvhm) as much and 3) you spend less time in it in comparison to in BL2.
If they add more fast travel points in BL3 probably helps too.
i personally dont look at maps like that
maps are a way for the devs to express creativity and create a beautiful and immersive world
when playing BL2 i sometimes just stick to a certain area and reload over and over
like the bunker entrance in caustic caverns where i camp varkids or looking for the loader caravan in wurmwater
but i guess i can understand seeing maps as a 10 min playthrough session
I didn’t play BL2 but there are some maps similar to Athenas that have a linear layout with definite endpoint and those are the ones I find myself playing the most in addition to Trials and Circles of Slaughter. Pyre of the Stars, Jakobs Estate, Anvil, Cankerwood, Impound Deluxe, Jacks Secret, Guts of Carnivora, first 3 DLC6 maps to name a few
Not to mention the side quests don’t follow a logical ‘run of the map’ in 3 like they did in 2. Makes it even more difficult to memorize.
So much more back tracking and retreading ground kills the flow of the game.
Anyone remember Sandblast Scar? I know it’s a driving map but if you haven’t been in a while, I’d suggest getting out and walking around.
The sense of scale is unlike any other map and it’s not been overly touched up and art passed. It’s allowed to be sparse with interesting and pretty bits along the way. It remind me of HL2 maps.
There’s a lot to be said about the level design being too much, just too much everything
Heck, they made that huge open area for the carnivora and it’s just empty space. Sure it rolls around but I mean, maybe taking it out in an open map we’ve explored before would have been more meaningful? Have it drive over a massive cave ala Caustic Caverns and open a new area?
Instead it was just a huge open area so you could… Drive for the gimmick to stop the ‘boss’. Gimmicky. Reminds me of the bed of chaos from dark souls.
The Anvil is one of my more commonly visited maps, yes; also in order to farm for cryo Recurrent Hexes, which is the best grenade mod I’ve found so far.
I can understand wanting that as well. Sometimes just losing myself in something for however long is good, too; but sometimes I want the short/structured thing.
i mean bl3 kinda has maps or at least parts of maps like that
just like bl2 also had the dust
Personally I kinda like the layout of dungeon maps like MTD, Digi Peak, etc. I also enjoy steamrolling Lectra City though too, it’s one of the best BL3 map designs IMO, it reminds me of the Dust or Sawtooth Cauldron (everyone’s favorite LOL).
But the events and vault cards do not add one minute of new content to the game. They’re just ways to get you to play the same content over and over.
According to Howlongtobeat.com, it takes about 69 hours to beat 100% of the content in BL3. It takes 124 hours to beat 100% of BL2. For a completionist BL2 is nearly twice the game that BL3 is. And for a completionist, BL3 offers very little to do once you have completed the game 100% where BL2 offers you the option of resetting the game so you can replay the entire game, story and missions, with your maxed out character with great gear. All BL3 offers is replaying the same 1 level challenges over and over.
3 forced playthroughs of the same content will do that. You may like it, I don’t.
That was the beginning of the end for me with that nerf.
Fun Detected: Obliterate indeed.
But you like playing the same single level or single raid boss over and over and over hundreds of times?
Do you even see the contradiction in saying you don’t like replaying something just 3 times while at the same time supporting a game that makes you replay the same small bits of content over dozens or even hundreds of times?
If you don’t like replaying something 3 times then tell me something. What exactly do you do in BL3 once your character has played through everything once or twice? Stop playing? Or play through smaller portions of it 3 times or more?
Bro… Other people have different perspectives. Learn to see that not everyone is going to think exactly like you do. Accept that your point of view isn’t the only right one.
I have done the True Maliwan Takedown at least a thousand times… Get into speedruns. It’s addicting and prolongs the fun of BL3… and BL2
Before we get into discussing replaying aspects of the game - my comment about BL2 forcing you to replay the story 3 times to get to the max level was mostly in the context of comparing the quoted numbers for the time it takes to complete the game. Just pointing it out that if one game takes 120 hrs to complete, but it includes mandatory 3 campaign playthroughs in order to reach max level, it’s a bit unfair comparison to the game that does not force you to do that and still comes out at 69 hours or something like that to do all content.
No, I don’t. And I don’t do that, with raid bosses for sure.
I’m actually not feeling that BL3 makes me replay the same bits of content hundreds of times. If you are referring to ‘farming’ - I almost never do that (and would even avoid small amount of farming I did, if ALL items were in the world pool). If you are saying that number of maps is limited and eventually you ran out of truly new things to do - well, that’s true for every game, no? Procedurally generated maps exist in other games, but is that really ‘new’ content?
To further clarify - I view re-playing the same quest with another character as being distinct enough, so it’s not truly a ‘replay’ for me. They play differently enough, so I find it appealing. I never did TVHM playthrough or DLC reset with the same character - it feels the same. Perhaps it helps to explain why I was not a fan of BL2 approach which required me to go through the same content multiple times with the same VH.
I start new character (have about 25 of them) - it should be obvious from my comments above that to me they represent sufficient variation in gameplay to keep me interested. Oh, and I still did not clear ALL content with a single character: meaning all quests, collectibles, challenges, trials, takedowns…
Hope it helps
I don’t see a contradiction when every BL game has had the same endgame loop of just doing the same maps or bosses over and over. BL3 just cuts down on the amount of time it takes to play the endgame content over and over, while the other games prolong the time it takes to get to that point.