Yes, checkpoints (or save points) should be added into the story missions.
Many players (like me) have other responsibilities & might need to quit the game early. Being able to save our progression at multiple checkpoints would be a very welcome addition to this game.
I did it solo and both were about an hour long. Dunno how its taking you over 3 hours honestly. I was exploring and taking my time as well.
It took me and my brother about an hour to complete the Algorithm. It might have been quicker for us because we knew the first half of the level from the CTT but we still took our time with it. We were also a bit thick and didn’t notice the weak spot that pops out of the bottom of ISIC in the boss fight until nearly all of his health was gone, but it still only took about an hour.
However, I do agree that the story missions are maybe too long. I love that they take around an hour, you get really immersed in them and it is a rich experience. But this evening, I didn’t have an hour’s worth of free time to play a story mission. I found I was frustrated because I really wanted a Battleborn session, but not the intensity of a couple of PvP matches. But without a good amount of time, the story missions felt pointless as any progress I made in them would amount to nothing when it came to me having to quit halfway through the level.
I think it would be great if Gearbox could add checkpoints that mean if you have to quit, when you come back to the level, you continue from where you left off with all of the Exp etc that you gained up until you had to quit. The levels at the moment are too long for a casual session you might squeeze into your busy schedule.
Interesting. When I was playing solo it kicked me out after 90mins. Was in the middle of the ISIC fight and the clock started ticking down ‘10,9,8,7…’ and the mission failed.
Now that I’ve played a bit more I can do the first mission in about 45 min. I think it’s a case of getting quicker as you get better and unlock more gear etc.
Maybe a ‘save & quit’ option after boss fights for solo runs? I wouldn’t play multiplayer anyway if i was short on time.
3 hours?!?!? Wow. No offense dude, but you guys were doing something wrong.
There is a timer, but it’s not on the HUD. It’s in the pause menu somewhere.
I love that each mission is challenging and is like a dungeon or a raid. I agree it is a bit long but don’t want it removed or shortened. My son and I took about an hour to complete each mission and have now done them multiple times (and loved it all! Thanks for keeping it mostly clean but adult at the same time!) if I had any suggestion it would be to add some sort of 15-20 min PvE gameplay mode so that those of us that only have 20 min windows can jump in for a quick run. (I am going to mess around with PvP more as that my be a partial solution) thanks for this game, looks great so far!
I agree that Gearbox should add some type of PvE gameplay that is of a shorter duration than that of the story missions.
Glad to read that both you & your son enjoy playing the beta together.
I would like to see a “save and quit” option after boss fights not only for solo runs - but also for co-op runs too.
Thank you for your nicely detailed & thoughtful post.
Hopefully, more people (like you & me) will ask Gearbox to add some type of PvE that can be completed in a much shorter period of time than the current story missions on normal difficulty.
Even a horde mode that can be left at any time (but you get to keep any loot etc) could be good. 10 minute stages for the time poor!
A horde would be amazing! I vote yes for this!
Me as Miko, and a buddy as OM did The Algorithm in about 54 minutes, and The Void’s Edge(I think it’s callled.) in 45 or something. We have played the CTT a lot though so we knew what we were doing. Anyways, it seems like a great idea if a PvE game mode would be added that’s shorter.
Dude,I’ve only done each mission 2or 3 times and only once has it taken over 30 minutes to complete and that was only cos the random players I was with didn’t know to stand on the pads to move forward. To be fair the game could be clearer on what’s needed to be done at some points but it’s really not that hard dude.maybe you need to try a different character to your style of play.
Isac is kind of messed up imo some times he just lingeries throwing someone arround at the top of the arena and well sucks if your melee there is nothen you can do but cast ranged skills 
i think Isac needs some work when it comes to that last phase as he can take 2 seconds or 30 mins
I have been stucked underneath and around his legs many times. I get stucked in a jumping animation until i randomly by the grace of ISAC i get knocked away. His physics need to be reworked, the entire fight feels really really really clunky.
Also when u destroy his floating head, it is really lackluster, nothing happens. He just seems to disappear, after such an epic fight i would expect an awesome ending…maybe that’s just me. Fun game for sure, i’m surprised how much i’m enjoying it, i do hope they listen to us and make it even greater and more polished.
Sorry to hear that, but seriously, you did something wrong, no reason to blame Gearbox. 
I played a few Missions, and the longest run we had was 40 Minutes. Thas a pretty good time for a Story Mission.
3 hours is a bit much . . . However I do agree that story missions are a bit long. So far I’ve been looking at 30-40 minutes per mission and that is just a bit much in my opinion.
It’s tough because I’m sure a premade team with proper communication could clear it faster and once we all learn the mechanics, even public groups will speed up. So maybe this issue will resolve itself given time. Still, given we’re expected to repeat these missions, I wish they ran a bit shorter.
With an experienced, semi-skilled team, both available missions can be beaten in around 30 minutes. I am sure if a team focused on running a mission as quickly as possible there might be times in the low 20s, but the best I have done with random teams is just over 30 minutes without playing with any real sense of urgency. We just did not mess around and everyone performed well.
If it is taking your team longer than an hour, something is going wrong. It may just be that your team is new and does not understand the mechanics of the game or the mission objectives, but I do not think the missions themselves are to blame. You could have just drawn some weak teammates (it happens, sometimes my runs take 45 minutes or so due to some, ahem, “baggage” that needs to be carried).
I think targeting 30-60 minute missions is just fine, though. Gearbox cannot really be accountable if a team takes three hours because that is far, far outside the norm. I do feel for you, though. I am not a leaver, by any means, but I do think if my team was doing that poorly I would bow out for the sake of my sanity, so good on you for powering through.