PS4 Open Beta Impressions (loss of interest in single player only)

Battleborn Open Beta Open Beta General Discussion/Feedback
#1

Pardon myself for not sure where to post this. I wanted to give some feedback here, and see if maybe I was wrong about things.

I am a fan of Borderlands, and like playing it single player offline. Yes, it is odd for my part, but I like procedurally generated loot runs, and also first-person shooters. The NPCs and world was interesting enough, and there were enough characters to try to be able to get hours of gameplay. What I say would fit all platforms it was on. It fit well. Note how I play, single-player, off line.

Now, I had hopes for Battleborn fitting this, but maybe also being even more replayable. So, I was using the beta as a demo of sorts, to see if I would end up being wiorth it single player offline. Well, this is what I saw from the Beta, and word on the Internet, and I am posting to ask for correction here:

  • It appears to be be always online. The game looks like it needs an Internet connection to play, even single player play. The open Beta had originally a very long wait period to try to connect, to even play single player. It looked like it is fixed. However, say that PSN/XBOX ONE, etc… go down, I am concerned that Battleborn won’t be playable at all. Even then, the beta is still sticking with me, in regards to this dependence. After getting a hacked shield trying to play online with someone at the original Borderlands, and a desire to have an integrated experience, I see why the always online would be considered mattering. However, what if I never want to connect online at all, and just want to play bots?

  • Is the only way, single player, to gain experience, to play the campaign levels? I did try the vs bots mode, and I didn’t see any gaining of experience. For myself, being able to gain experience and level up in vs bots would be beneficial. Even split screen, against a human player.

  • I see there is some sense of progression for single player, but am concerned there may not be enough. I am still unsure what these

So, with this, I am feeling that, while Battleborn is done really well, it just wouldn’t be suitable for a desire to play offline singleplayer, with good replayability. Battleborn really seems geared towards multiplayer only, eventhough there is attempts at single player experience was provided. It just doesn’t seem to be enough for me. Now, I can’t speak multiplayer, but that would seem to have a lot of value.

So, please let me know what I may be off here. It might just be that Battleborn won’t work well single player only. I know such was said also of Borderlands, but I didn’t have an issue with it.

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#2

Always online is nothing new, i dont think there is much they can do about it. Most Online-Based Games have always-online. :o:
After all, this game is highly focused on Online Gaming, to play it just with Singleplayer seems like a waste, most content will be online. I enjoyed it extremly. :slight_smile:

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#3

Well, if all you wanted to do was run through the campaign levels once with each character, you’d be looking at over 150 hours of gameplay, before any new characters or campaign levels are added. Sounds pretty good to me.

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#4

The main progression really is your Character Rank and Commander Rank, which you can raise by doing missions or via multiplayer matches.

Don’t know if facing bots gives xp or not, as I’ve not done a bot match.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Rank really doesn’t mean much in multiplayer matches, sure it means the person may have other Battleborn unlocked, or may have some gear pieces to help them, but gear doesn’t make or break the game, and a Rank 1 has just as even chance against a rank 40 in the matches, just depends on how well you play.

I can’t wait to see what new missions and such get added as the game goes, I had to pre-order it after trying the open beta.

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#5

There are a few things you’re complaining about that are part of the game, that you didn’t read. Also some things that may change for the full release.

So first off, always online even for single player:
For the beta, it’s pretty reasonable to have all the gameplay online, because this isn’t a demo or early release of some sort. We’re testing for bugs and whatnot, and what easier way to get data on things than to have the gameplay all be on their servers.
And something someone posted about in another thread, it may require to be online for the full release as well. Because of the game having everything single and multi player, people could hack in things offline single player and then carry them over into pvp.

Exp…from bots, or lack thereof:
It’s said in the open beta announcement (if you actually read it), that PVP bots give no exp.
Command Rank: Command Rank persists across all Modes and all characters played. Every Competitive match (excluding bots) and Story episode grants XP towards your player Command Rank.

And lack of single player progression:
Don’t forget that right now we only have two missions available. And even if there aren’t a lot in total, this game is like an MMO I played, it’s PVP with PVE elements. But don’t forget that a LOT of the unlockables can be acquired in either mode, so that’s still hours upon hours of gameplay.

Not to mention my friends and I are hoping that unlocking characters through command rank is only for the beta and won’t be in the full release. Because why have special unlock conditions when you can just mindlessly increase command rank. So characters like Phoebe would be only unlocked through PVP and Galilea would be unlocked only in PVE (or very slowly in PVP if PVP minions count). But that’s not something I’ve seen anything about other than us hoping for it.

It’s still way too early to judge the full release on the open beta. And even then, if you won’t want to get it if single player requires internet, wait a few days after it’s release to find out from others playing it.

#6

For what it is, if it is a fit for someone, I say it is great. I am tending now to gear more towards a game I can install on my game console, which I can keep on, and not needing to uninstall. There is a focus on replayability for the single-player experience. I guess I had been hoping Battleborn would enable me to do the equivalent of an eSport where I didn’t have to play others online.

For myself, my social games tend to be tabletop/boardgames where I meet others in person and do things that way. I use the videogame side as a way to play single player. I just have had too many bad experiences trying to play online with strangers that I don’t do this now.

I have seen Battleborn compared to a fusion of MOBA with FPS, with a Borderlands flair. I consider it fitting that mode, as it fits.