Trying to think long term

Battleborn Battleborn General Discussion
#1

I’ve thought about this a lot. Like a whole lot, you guys. I think that there is hope for the future, it’s just not Battleborns future. Now, hear me out. I love this game. The art style and characters to the imo unmatched gameplay (outside of glitches and bugs and balancing issues and things obviously not working as originally intended. When it is working as intended, it is stellar) and a community of players that are passionate about the game and are more interested in the game doing well than doing well in the game. It’s great. If you didn’t think so than you probably won’t be reading this anyway but the game is dead. It may chug along for a few more months but it is terminally ill without chance of recovery. There may still be hope.

The foundation that they used for Battleborn was not intended for a moba. They never marketed it as a moba. Let’s be honest, it’s a fps moba. I’m not even sure it fits the “hero shooter” description that was coined around the same time as release. I’m not even sure that it is possible for anyone to fix some of the problems with it, without starting over. What I propose is that they start over. I know. I know. “It’s expensive and hard and what if it fails again?” Well I’m glad you asked. First off, it is expensive and I haven’t figured that out yet. Sorry :neutral_face:. Second it is hard but with everything learned from Battleborn it will be much easier and might make updates less of a hassle if they are working from a different foundation. Third, it will not fail! Because it will not be a sequel! Or a pre sequel! But it will be borderlands! No I didn’t misspell, I mean a borderlands moba. Take the best parts of Battleborn and put it on pandora. I stood in line at midnight behind 100 people to get borderlands 2. I probably won’t stand in line for it now but I will be buying borderlands 3. So will a lot of people. I hope that it does so amazing that they can give us Battleborn 2: pandoras mobaning! The name is subject to change. Honestly what harm can come from piggy backing on the success of borderlands? It helped me buy Battleborn when I saw it was “from the makers of borderlands”. Yes it will suck to lose solus but the way things are going that’s going to happen anyway. Rendain won.

I know I’m going to get salt for this, bring it on!

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#2

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#3

Why not?

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#4

Call me delusional, but I’m still thinking that this deafening silence lately is a sign of some things being put back onto the drawing board and of “starting over” in some sense.

PvP is quite dead on PC and I could see that for myself yesterday (couldn’t find a team in solo queue or even Bots Battle in a reasonable amount of time and played private Bot matches and single player Heliophage instead) and matchmaking being wonky (not starting games when full teams are built) and rigged (building teams based on player skill but no Elo when matching teams together is the definition of Elo hell) doesn’t help improving that.

The game has potential and I still play it almost daily. It’s not for everyone, but which game is? With some improvements in the heavily discussed topics (matchmaking, balance, stability, maybe throw in direct matches between teams, a chat wheel, …) and maybe a well made re-release, I could see it come back from the dead. If it doesn’t: Well, I still can have fun in single player or play some games with friends until the servers are shut down. I personally don’t need public PvP to find the game fun. But I’m not the target audience they should shoot for, not everyone is satisfied that easily.

I find a PvP-Borderlands a risky business. People have expectations in a game called Borderlands, expectations Battleborn or something in that style can’t fulfill. Even a (imho) great game like Tales from the Borderlands got some hate for ruining the franchise. I’d like to see them kept separate.

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#5

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Just being funny, haha…

Seriously though, i like Solus, not Pandora, and would prefer that Battleborn stay that way.

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#6

it’s complicated OP. I hear you.

I feel that save a few character balance changes and perhaps a “competitive game mode” gear overhaul, the only thing needed to break this game into “Paragon” status is a large infusion of player base and a thorough recognition that Gearbox knows how to retain said player base. Do they know how to do the latter? No one really knows… … …I’m not too sure they do but we will find out once the big theoretical push theyve been hiding comes out. Maybe they’ve grown and learned from their past mistakes or maybe they havent learned anything at all?

The foundation of the game is pretty solid imo and still interestingly an untapped niche entirely to itself. 2K never took advantage of acknowledging this special niche and instead tried to pigeon hole it as a direct competitor to Overwatch the second that Blizzard released Overwatch which is both hilarious and awesomely suicidal at the same time.

At the very least, I’m sure there will be another 1 to 2 month surge in player base coming up soon that I can enjoy with this new rollout. Maybe more than 2 months if GbX shows theyve learned from their past mistakes but at the very least, a solid healthy player base for 1 or 2 more months post rollout. I’m looking forward to it :slight_smile:

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#7

I get this and I can see how some might feel that way. Hell, even the pre sequel got some flak, but people still play it. I don’t want to tread on borderlands toes but it would be nice if we had some more borderlands fans playing Battleborn too.

That is a reason.

I hope we get another surge because I don’t even play much anymore because matchmaking takes so long now (a vicious cycle, I know) If a friend invites me I will gladly play with them but other than that, waiting forever just to get into a bot match to get my daily rewards is not keeping me going.

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#8

So basically what I think you are saying is you want to ruin Borderlands.

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#9

The future of this game depends on the quality of the next update and how quickly it can be implemented.

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#10

The future of this game has already been written and it does not at all look good me thinks.

Ouch! 29 active players on PC at its daily low is a new low for this game. That is less than 3 full matches. People still assume this is going to change with an update. I must say though the ones who are queueing are extremely patient folks.

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#11

I kinda disliked every character in Borderlands 2, so while I don’t necessarily mind the setting as much, the IP doesn’t get me excited.

I like Athena from TPS though!

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#12

There will be one final “hail mary” coming. My gut says it’s that limited free to try for an unlimited time model.

If they’ve been keeping notes:

  1. New players should be a certain level before hitting true PvP. They should be queued against bots (think Paladins) until they hit a certain rank to ensure they have some of the basic mechanics of the game down before getting thrown into the reality check of organized PvP. (and obviously bots bottle may have to take a backseat here for a while as it divides the player base more than it can handle.)
  2. The solo/duo queueo should be full time. The game lost a poop-ton (actual measurement) of players at launch because of the imbalance of full pre-mades going against 5 random people. These people would have most likely stayed due to the fair and balanced matchmaking that the solo/duo queue would offer with larger numbers. (Right now it’s shite due to how easy it is to cheese the system and queue with people you want. You know who you are…)
  3. No chaos rumbles or bird hunts while new players acclimate to the game. Yes they’re fun, but they can wait a while.
  4. Loot drops… Up them for a few weeks to let new players “catch up” and get geared for going into PvP.
    and, lastly, for all of us left.
  5. Try to go a few weeks without stomping all the newbies. Unless your goal is to ultimately play a game with an almost non-existent player base. I’m not saying toy with them, but don’t go full CC on them. Intentionally try to play a gimped line up or go with stupid helix choices. Yes, you’re still going to win but at least the game won’t end with the other team uninstalling!

(And cross platform game play… man I would love me some cross play form play. And this isn’t a PC vs console thing. Just missed opportunities to friend up some cool peeps.)

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#13

stop editing! I cant read D:

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#14

LOL sorry. I normally type first, post, then edit check!

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#15

1 in my experience this game is harder to understand than paladins or overwatch. Not enough information; basic information like:
Shields prevent crit
Who has a shield how long it takes to recharge or battleborns basic dmg/hp etc.

2 it shouldnt be easy to cheat solo/duo if we had more ppl it could take to long to get in the same team, but right now i get matched vs the same ppl over and over.

3, 4 agree

5 this should be fixed creating a special queue for new players where they face new players and everything is chaos and fun. This will not save them from smurfers… But hey if ppl want to be a pain in the ** they will always find a way.

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#16

Speaking selfishly here (only partially since a lot of people have expressed distaste with this setup)

Somethings that could help:

  1. Allow players on the same console or at least split-screen players to access each other’s DLC (ops specifically).
    It is absurd that if I want to play operations with my wife that we would each have to throw down $20 on the season pass. I have never bought DLC before (usually only buy GOTY and Ultimate editions for it) but I love this game enough to finally throw down. Just. Not. Twice.

  2. Something else that could increase players (which although possible is highly unlikely to the tenth degree):
    Allow public matches without a PS+ membership.

  3. All Lore should have two methods of unlocking it. One through PVE and one through PVP. Or have lore unlockable in PRIVATE VERSUS. Bots battle is not a substitute because it still relies on PUBLIC matches.

That’s my entirely pseudo-selfish wishlist.

For a non-selfish way of increasing the game’s longevity:

  1. Advertising. Advertising. Advertising. The free demo (or whatevs) will help but when you can get the game for $5-15 anyways, it isn’t going to make or break. This game needs some oomph behind its marketing to actually push people to try that demo.
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#17

Borderlands fans are some of the most vehement haters of Battleborn though. Overwatch fans make fun of it, Borderlands fans actively hate it.

Aren’t you able to do this already? At least the desktop PSN store has no mention of needing a PS+ membership to play Battleborn online. Games that do need it seem to have it clearly written in the products description.

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#18

Unfortunately, I can say with 100% certainty and self-verification that you cannot. You can only play PRIVATE STORY, PRIVATE VERSUS, and (presumably, cannot self-verify) PRIVATE OPERATIONS.

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#19

Wow, interesting, shouldn’t that be listed on the store page?

EDIT: It’s listed on the Digital Deluxe page but not on the default game page.

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#20

And then we have this:

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which is IMPOSSIBLE to complete right now in quick match because of this:

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4 months (112 days!) and still no fix for the bots battle either.

FeelsBadMan.

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