Before I start a game, I invest an hour or three before starting the character, so all my builds are made the way I want them, and all of them are memorized. Perhaps your friend ought to sit down with the online skill tree and work out how to play his game effectively. On a side note, a friend of mine (who normally plays Gaige) one day told me that he had created an OP8 Zerker. I was very appreciative that he told me straight up, and politely asked that he stick to using the character he and I had taken to OP8 together, but that if he chose to start a new character, I would gladly level up beside him and take them OP8. He decided he didnât want to be Sal, and now heâs a level 62 Maya to my level 60 Krieg. So there are solutions to these situations.
Yep, canât stress enough the fact that Borderlandsâ games are ultimately games of knowledge. I havenât played a ton of BL2 yet (more than he has, but I havenât even reached TVHM yet), but I do have 2500+ hrs in BL1 most of which is endgame, and I have done things in BL1 that are REALLY hard to do (ex: craw solo with Rocket Launchers only as Brick for instance, longest damn craw fight of my life, literally over 20mins). The very first time I hit PT2.5 in BL1 was quite unsettling. I was used to being well-above my enemyâs level and generally ROFLstomping them because of it (level difference was even more powerful in BL1 than in BL2), suddenly they were my level +/-1 and no longer weaklings, and I wasnât used to this and it was kinda kicking my butt. At first it was kinda annoying, but I learned, and it eventually started becoming easy. At this point BL1 is honestly too easy most of the time, even if I give odds of not using the correct element, I can still usually trounce most enemies in the game like it was nothing.
The important thing is knowledge is power and its corollary is also true: a lack of knowledge is powerlessness. Your friend is powerless in OP8 because of his lack of knowledge. The sooner he acknowledges this reality, the sooner his frustrations will subside and the learning can begin.