Borderlands coming Oct 20th

[digiram]

I'm contemplating picking this game up, question though. To play over XBLA do you have to be friends or is there some sort of matchmaking lobby where you can join others randomly?

I've heard it's alot better in a group but I only have one person on my friends list (hopeless) who has it.

Feel free to add me... "digiramm" on xbox live

 

[Hopeless]

You'd max them in that order or do I need to spread things out over time? I'm not sure if there's a level limit for certain skills and such or how others are unlocked (I only have the first row unlocked).

Also, is the soldier only proficient with shotguns and assault rifles or can he use the others well? Is the machine gun considered a rifle or is it a separate entity?

All skills can have a max of 5 pts. When you get around lvl 20 or so you start getting class mods. They go in a slot around where your sheilds are and they give bonuses to skills and are suppose to allow you to go over the 5 max, IE you have 5 pts in impact and class mod gives +2, it's suppose to stack making it actually 7 in it. With Roland I use the support gunner class mod as one of the bonuses is +ammo regen, which comes in real handy. My current is a lvl 48 version that is +20 ammo regen, +4 impact, +3 barrage & +39% team mag size.

You have to spend pts to unlock the next tiers, each tree is seperate though. Spending 5 pts in the medic tree will unlock tier 2 of medic only, but you don't have to put all 5 in the same skill. It just goes off of total pts spent in that tree to unlock the higher tiers.

You can use any guns you want. I'm currently using SMGs with on mine. It's just that he has skills if you wanted to specialize in one of those types. From what I remember though niether gives +dmg so I skipped them both as earlier on you never know what type of gun you will get that is better than your current. I believe the machine guns are considered combat rifles, which is what I used most of the time in the beginning. I can't stand the burst fire ones though. Mag size is too small & I use metal storm which works best with something that is full auto.

 

[JoPh]

with my solider i was most effective withs SMG... u get a double anarchy..

my smg is 130x4 and its blue level weapon

kills everything. i wasnt a fan of assualt rifles. i didnt really find any.

 

[Kabob]

Roland was my first char & it took me a bit to remember to use the dang turrent also. It can be a life saver, more so at low levels depending on how lucky you are with drops. Bonehead is a pretty tough fight, I think he alone is around lvl 11 the first time around & I died the first time I fought him.

I used snipers with Roland but the sway can be annoying. After playing the hunter a little, I really notice it when going back to him. It seems that the hunter at start doesn't have quite as much sway & has a skill to reduce it.

Edit:
Here is how I've got him spec'd so far Roland. I have some good gear but not great so I may do some changes with better gear.

Ahh, so the game is more gear dependent than skill dependent (or should I say you build your skills around what weapons you have?)

I'll take a look at your build later, blocked where I am now I'm sure.

All skills can have a max of 5 pts. When you get around lvl 20 or so you start getting class mods. They go in a slot around where your sheilds are and they give bonuses to skills and are suppose to allow you to go over the 5 max, IE you have 5 pts in impact and class mod gives +2, it's suppose to stack making it actually 7 in it. With Roland I use the support gunner class mod as one of the bonuses is +ammo regen, which comes in real handy. My current is a lvl 48 version that is +20 ammo regen, +4 impact, +3 barrage & +39% team mag size.

Wow, the last half of that paragraph is WAY over my head...barrage, impact, etc. What are the important stats to look for?

You have to spend pts to unlock the next tiers, each tree is seperate though. Spending 5 pts in the medic tree will unlock tier 2 of medic only, but you don't have to put all 5 in the same skill. It just goes off of total pts spent in that tree to unlock the higher tiers.

So to unlock say the second row of the left upgrades (bullet damage and turret damage) I could put 2 points in bullet damage and 3 in turret and row 2 would open?

You can use any guns you want. I'm currently using SMGs with on mine. It's just that he has skills if you wanted to specialize in one of those types. From what I remember though niether gives +dmg so I skipped them both as earlier on you never know what type of gun you will get that is better than your current. I believe the machine guns are considered combat rifles, which is what I used most of the time in the beginning. I can't stand the burst fire ones though. Mag size is too small & I use metal storm which works best with something that is full auto.

Do any of the other characters have say SMG skills because honestly the best weapons I've found thus far have all been SMG's. Can you swap gear between your characters or with other players?

with my solider i was most effective withs SMG... u get a double anarchy..

my smg is 130x4 and its blue level weapon

kills everything. i wasnt a fan of assualt rifles. i didnt really find any.

What do the colors of weapons mean? I too have a blue weapon...it's X2 I think.

 

[digiram]

with my solider i was most effective withs SMG... u get a double anarchy..

my smg is 130x4 and its blue level weapon

kills everything. i wasnt a fan of assualt rifles. i didnt really find any.

double anarchy...ftw

 

[Hopeless]

Ahh, so the game is more gear dependent than skill dependent (or should I say you build your skills around what weapons you have?)

I'll take a look at your build later, blocked where I am now I'm sure.

Not so much as gear dependant as your gear can allow you to change things up a bit. Like if you have a real good shield that has quick health regen, you really don't need to spend as many pts in health regen skills. Also there is a skill that triggers shield regen when killing an enemy, which you could use fewer pts in if you have have good guns & can kill quickly.

Wow, the last half of that paragraph is WAY over my head...barrage, impact, etc. What are the important stats to look for?

Sorry about that I started off using a skill name just as an example. The main point was that skills max at 5 pts, but there are items that can take it over that cap.

So to unlock say the second row of the left upgrades (bullet damage and turret damage) I could put 2 points in bullet damage and 3 in turret and row 2 would open?

Exactlly. It's all based on total pts spent in a tree, no matter how you go about it.

Do any of the other characters have say SMG skills because honestly the best weapons I've found thus far have all been SMG's. Can you swap gear between your characters or with other players?

I'm not sure but I think Lilth has some kind of skills for smg. Unfortunatly there isn't an easy way to move gear from one of your char to another. The only way to trade between others though is to drop it on the ground so they can pick it up, no real trade window or anything.

What do the colors of weapons mean? I too have a blue weapon...it's X2 I think.

Least to highest
White -> Green -> Blue -> Purple -> Yellow -> Light orange -> Dark orange

Most only talk about orange as a whole, but I've noticed light & dark orange.

 

[Hopeless]

Here is a list of Roland's skills that Joph posted earlier in the thread. I changed the order around a little to try to group them by tree as best as I can remember


Left tree
Row 1
Impact – Increases bullet damage with all weapon types.
Sentry - Increases turret damage.

Row 2
Scattershot – Increases shotgun damage and spread.
Metal Storm – Killing an enemy increases your fire rate and reduces recoil for a few seconds.

Row 3
Refire - Shooting an enemy reduces the cooldown of your turret.
Assault - Increases magazine size and reduces recoil with combat rifles.

Row 4
Guided Missile – Your turret launches guided missiles in addition to using its regular gun.


Middle tree
Row 1
Defense – Increases how quickly your shields recharge.
Stockpile – Players near turret regen ammo for the currently held gun.

Row 2
Quick Charge – Killing an enemy causes your shields to quickly regen for a few seconds.
Barrage – Increases the number of shots your turret fires in each burst.

Row 3
Grenadier – Killing an enemy increase your grenade damage and causes you to regen grenades for a few seconds.
Deploy - Reduces the cooldown for your turret.

Row 4
Supply Drop – The turret periodically fires out supply pickups to players.


Right tree
Row 1
Fitness – Increases your maximum health.
Aid Station – Allies near turret regen health.

Row 2
Overload – Increases magazine capacity with all weapon types.
Cauterize – Shooting team members heals them.

Row 3
Revive – The turret has a chance to revive nearby friends when deployed.
Grit - Increases your resistance to bullet damage.

Row 4
Stat- Killing an enemy increases health regen for you and nearby friends for a few seconds.

 

[Kabob]

Not so much as gear dependant as your gear can allow you to change things up a bit. Like if you have a real good shield that has quick health regen, you really don't need to spend as many pts in health regen skills. Also there is a skill that triggers shield regen when killing an enemy, which you could use fewer pts in if you have have good guns & can kill quickly.

I'm not sure but I think Lilth has some kind of skills for smg. Unfortunatly there isn't an easy way to move gear from one of your char to another. The only way to trade between others though is to drop it on the ground so they can pick it up, no real trade window or anything.
Least to highest
White -> Green -> Blue -> Purple -> Yellow -> Light orange -> Dark orange

Most only talk about orange as a whole, but I've noticed light & dark orange.

The SMG I have is Purple actually, I think I said blue earlier. I got it off of the lvl 11 bandit guy that had the car parts, it has an x2 damage multiplier thing. BTW what is "double anarchy" and such?

I may take a look at Lilith as well, although I dunno if I wanna restart already as I'm fine with Roland.

As a soldier do I need to work on maxing out my turret or my weapon damage skills or what? I'm not sure what I need to focus on.

 

[digiram]

The SMG I have is Purple actually, I think I said blue earlier. I got it off of the lvl 11 bandit guy that had the car parts, it has an x2 damage multiplier thing. BTW what is "double anarchy" and such?

I may take a look at Lilith as well, although I dunno if I wanna restart already as I'm fine with Roland.

As a soldier do I need to work on maxing out my turret or my weapon damage skills or what? I'm not sure what I need to focus on.

Those skills can always be reset at the new you places. I usually set it to extra weapon damage and turret damage when playing alone, but change it up to healing and ammo re-gen stuff when playing with friends.

double anarchy is a 4xdamage smg, with zoom, and high fire rate.

I have a level 48 purple double anarchy.

 

[Hopeless]

The SMG I have is Purple actually, I think I said blue earlier. I got it off of the lvl 11 bandit guy that had the car parts, it has an x2 damage multiplier thing. BTW what is "double anarchy" and such?

I may take a look at Lilith as well, although I dunno if I wanna restart already as I'm fine with Roland.

As a soldier do I need to work on maxing out my turret or my weapon damage skills or what? I'm not sure what I need to focus on.

From my understanding. If it's listed like "dmg" X2 , than it fires 2 bullets per ammo used at a time each doing that amount of dmg.

I haven't gotten one but I believe they are "dmg" x4 , so you are looking at a lot of bullets flying around.

Forgot about not being able to see that while at work. Here is my current:
Left tree
Impact – Max
Sentry - 1 pt
Metal Storm – Max
Refire - 2 pts

Middle tree
Defense – Max
Quick Charge – Max
Barrage – 1 pt
Grenadier – 1 pt

Right tree
Fitness – Max
Aid Station – Max
Overload – Max
Stat - Max

As I get some better sheilds & guns I'm thinking of taking some pts from quick charge and maybe stat to put elsewhere.

 

[Kabob]

Hrm, so you didn't focus on your turret much at all hopeless? Interesting. I noticed that Roland has skills that raise his shotgun or rifle damage but Lilith has a skill that raises her damage with everything...hrm. She's not the typical character type I'd usually play though.

 

[Kabob]

Oh, and another note. The fact that 2K went with the default Call of Duty controls is brilliant. I picked up Borderlands yesterday having never played it and instantly knew the controls. Such a good idea, wish more games would standardize.

 

[JoPh]

i used a turrent build but its more of just a side thing. lilth when jacked up is pretty much the most powerful class in the game. here dmg multiplers esp combined with the smg is crazy.

fyi.


my solider focus on the turrent more than hopes does. the recharge rate for them i found is useless and the missle is worthless cause its to slow to be worth anything. while hope like the healing aspect i feel stat is the only one nesc.

just get a sheild -- i have 1400 with quick recharge and stat takes care of the rest.

also the ammo regen mod is the best. u can pretty much run and gun with my build. im sure hopes is very similar.

 

[JoPh]

start reading around post #414 in this thread for more soldier discussions

 

[Hopeless]

Hrm, so you didn't focus on your turret much at all hopeless? Interesting. I noticed that Roland has skills that raise his shotgun or rifle damage but Lilith has a skill that raises her damage with everything...hrm. She's not the typical character type I'd usually play though.

Earlier on I did have refire maxed and was going for the missiles, but I had to make sure to keep healing pots on me. Joph mentioned the stat skill which is the last one on the right tree. I tried it and really do like it.

I think the shotgun skill adds dmg, but the combat rifle doesn't. I skipped over both as I was switching weapons quite a bit in the beginning.

I only got her to lvl 5 just to get the achievement and didn't really pay attn to most of her skills.

Edit:
Also I have an item that gives me +3 to Barrage, so that makes it like having 4 pts in it. That is the main reason I went ahead and put a pt there.

 

[Hopeless]

my solider focus on the turrent more than hopes does. the recharge rate for them i found is useless and the missle is worthless cause its to slow to be worth anything. while hope like the healing aspect i feel stat is the only one nesc.

just get a sheild -- i have 1400 with quick recharge and stat takes care of the rest.

also the ammo regen mod is the best. u can pretty much run and gun with my build. im sure hopes is very similar.

I've found Refire to work pretty good, as it starts working as soon as you throw the turrent out, just have to shoot the enemy. I've seen the cooldown meter start filling back up while the turrent is still out. That's why I put 1 in the + turrent dmg and 2 in refire, even though it doesn't do as much dmg I can us it more often.

Stat is a really good skill. But to get to it you have to spend 15 pts in the right tree and more healing with aid station is about all I've got as:
Fitness – 5
Aid Station – 5 just to get to stat.
Overload – 5
Cauterize – Heals teammate only, makes it a waste for solo
Revive – Read that even maxed it dosen't work very often, and coop only.
Grit - Sounds good, but doesn't seem to really help much at all.

Ammo regen class mod is great, at least when using the soldier. I spent so much time playing with the soldier, that when I started my hunter I had to backtrack a few times to get back in the habit of picking up ammo again.

 

[Hopeless]

Couple of things I forgot to mention.

You can start a single player game, and still send out game invites to others to join. I think it just makes it so you have to have an invite to be able to enter.


About the only way I can think of to transfer items between char would be:
Have someone host a single player game (invites only hopefully)
Enter with char that has items then either drop or give to host
Re-enter with other char and get them back

I wish there was at least a small space to be able to move items between char as I've held onto a lvl 25 sniper & have some pistols that I'd like to move over to my hunter.

Edit:
Also when playing in a group. The enemys get tougher per person that joins in, but the xp rewards goes up also. Me and another guy went through the cave to collect the crystals, both of us were around 15-16. After it was over I was lvl 19.

I'm thinking the game really doesn't like me that much anymore. The last few times I've hosted, some as my soldier & once as my hunter, there were tons of badasses & bad mothers everywhere. Like the cave I mentioned above every "section" where skags spawn we had 2-3 badasses and a few of the times that all came charging at once.

 

[Kabob]

So, hopeless and I played...too much last night. I'm going to be a zombie today at work. Seriously I intended to get off about 2 1/2 hours before we did but I got distracted since we were going through quests so quickly! I played maybe an hour before he got on and then we went from the start of the quest to get the key to Sledge's place all the way to New Haven. I leveled from 12 to 20 in that time.

We played the shock crystal mission after killing sledge, that was fun. The crab worm guys were easy but at one point he was being chased by like 4 alpha skags, a corrosion skag and a fire skag. They were respawning like crazy...and he ran out of ammo. Sledge was a bit of a pushover. And killing the mercs in cars was a pain, my aim was awful.

Good fun, although honestly the more I play the less I think I'll buy it. It's alot of fun and I'd rate the overall game as Good+ but in a world of Stellar+ titles like Batman: AA and Excellent+ games like Assassin's Creed 2 (both which I just finished) my money goes where the awesomeness is. Fun co-op, infinite weapons, good gameplay, but (to me) not worth my $40-50. Still, I'll enjoy it while I've got it and my mind may very well be changed as I play more.

 

[Hopeless]

So, hopeless and I played...too much last night. I'm going to be a zombie today at work. Seriously I intended to get off about 2 1/2 hours before we did but I got distracted since we were going through quests so quickly! I played maybe an hour before he got on and then we went from the start of the quest to get the key to Sledge's place all the way to New Haven. I leveled from 12 to 20 in that time.

We played the shock crystal mission after killing sledge, that was fun. The crab worm guys were easy but at one point he was being chased by like 4 alpha skags, a corrosion skag and a fire skag. They were respawning like crazy...and he ran out of ammo. Sledge was a bit of a pushover. And killing the mercs in cars was a pain, my aim was awful.

Good fun, although honestly the more I play the less I think I'll buy it. It's alot of fun and I'd rate the overall game as Good+ but in a world of Stellar+ titles like Batman: AA and Excellent+ games like Assassin's Creed 2 (both which I just finished) my money goes where the awesomeness is. Fun co-op, infinite weapons, good gameplay, but (to me) not worth my $40-50. Still, I'll enjoy it while I've got it and my mind may very well be changed as I play more.

Oh yeah, the quests were falling quick, but I was not ready for the alarm clock to go off so soon this morning. Need to back track to knock out that arena near Fyrestone then back to Dahl as there are some side missions there. One gives an artifact & another I'll just say that you end up fighting a skag the size of a T-Rex .

A heads up there are 2 red chests & 3 white chests in New Haven. I farmed them a bit with my soldier & sometimes they pop out some real good guns. And while farming them you can sell the crap for a bit of $. That is where I got that lvl 25 sniper that I want to get in the hands of my hunter.

That last part of the crystal cave was insane. I was beginning to think there was a bug and those alpha skags were never going to quite spawning. Out of all the missions the car to car combat is my least favorite.

I rented AC1 & it would seem that I'm in the minorty but I really did like it. The few games I do buy I look at how much replay I'll get out of it. AC1 had 0 replay unless you missed some achievements & wanted to go back for them. I haven't heard much about AC2 or Batman for replay, but I've already sunk countless hours just in my soldier and now I'm working on the hunter. Sure it's the same "story" but the classes are different enough that you have to do things a bit different for each.

 

[JoPh]

i think there my be some slight class specific missions but i cant confirm that.
nothing major though.

 

[Kabob]

Yeah, the AC games don't have much replay value, Batman isn't much better which is why I almost never buy SP only games. Batman was fantastic though and there's a good amount of extra stuff to do.

I actually farmed the red chest on top of the roof a time or two and got a few good bits, I don't know where the other one is. And the white chests had mostly crap, the two I know of anyways.

 

[Hopeless]

Yeah, the AC games don't have much replay value, Batman isn't much better which is why I almost never buy SP only games. Batman was fantastic though and there's a good amount of extra stuff to do.

I actually farmed the red chest on top of the roof a time or two and got a few good bits, I don't know where the other one is. And the white chests had mostly crap, the two I know of anyways.

The best stuff normally comes from the red ones, the best I've seen in a white box was blues & maybe a very seldom purple. Helps for the $ and there are those challenges that give xp rewards.

I ran them enough with my soldier that I've worked out a route to run and grab them.

It's easier to show but I'll toss this out:

White box - Facing the new-u pole looking into town. Turn left and go up the stairs, keep going and you'll come to a sheet of plywood over a gap that butts up to a wall. Jump at an angle to the left to get over the railing. Keep going straight while looking to your right.

Red box - From the previous turn around until you see the metal wall that has a little platform on it. There is a red tarp coming off of it. Jump on the wall and get on the tarp. Face towards the bounty board and look a little more to the right. You'll see the red box on a low roof.

White box - Fall down & it's in the room the clap trap opened.

At this point I normally hit the health vender than swing around to the gun vendor.

White box - Start by facing the gun vendor. Turn right and go a little ways then go up the stairs. At the top of the stairs is a washing machine. Jump on it and work your way to the roof. Go around the sat. dish.

Red box - From previous white box drop back down to where the washing machine is. With the wasing machine behind you jump at a little of an angle to the left landing on the roof type area. Go to the end and jump at an angle to the right landing on a metal roof. Jump over to the building roof next to it, than jump onto the taller building.


Also there are challenges that give xp rewards. Hit the back button & go to the list of missions. Hit Y and it will bring up the list & the ones that you have completed will have a check mark next to it.

 

[Kabob]

I may run it a few times, honestly my goal is to get through as much of the main story as I can before I have to give the game back on Sunday (plus my in-laws are coming to stay with us this weekend which means minimal game time).

 

[trmiv]

Now that I'm done with Dragon Age I need to pick this up. Sounds fun.

 

[Hopeless]

I may run it a few times, honestly my goal is to get through as much of the main story as I can before I have to give the game back on Sunday (plus my in-laws are coming to stay with us this weekend which means minimal game time).

Gotcha. Didn't know you weren't going to have if very much longer. Depending on how fast you really want to go, I can always bring in my soldier to increase the speed or even to raid the machines if you see something you like.

Although if we have the chance I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to help me move a few guns from my soldier to my hunter.