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[deoee]

Not surprised. Kind of neutral coming out of it. Went in really wanting to like it since it presses so many of my buttons. Have a lot of mixed feelings coming out of it, yet I still feel like I wanted to spend more time with it. Not $60 worth of time with it however.

I feel like I barely scratched the surface in the OB with most of the characters locked + not really having impactful items...

Oh and I'm certain there are certain places where you can get the game cheaper (for PC).

 

[Rokal]

I enjoyed it quite a bit, which surprised me, but the performance on PS4 isn't great and I don't like the Gear(rune) grind so I'll still be passing.

 

[HarryKS]

This game won't do well in terms of viewership on streaming sites. It's too dense. Can't read the action.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Sooo...

Who else was surprised (pos / neg) by the beta?

I was not. I went in expecting little, and after about 20 levels worth of unlocks and whatnot, I was left roundly unsatisfied.

+ This genre (FPS MOBA) has real potential and BB shows that
+ Some great ideas for certain character classes
+ Chat fully integrated is great (compare with recent releases like Battlefront) allowing for proper team organization
+ Item/cosmetic unlocks are pretty good. Good enough to get you to stick to characters.
+ Controls feel right on a controller
+ Fast matchmaking for a MOBA with only a Beta-sized community

-------------------

- PC performance left me uninspired. My 980Ti was dropping significant frames @ max settings. I wouldn't be concerned ordinarily but game launch is imminent.

- I didn't like skill unlocks being attached to character levels. Let me have access to all the skills, please. I don't need your hand-holding. It would be like a regular MOBA with half the purchasable items greyed out because...reasons. Fuck outta my face with that.

- The visual clarity never reached a point of satisfaction. Too many effects are either overdone or underdone. The result is a constant clouding and fogging vision when needed, failure to see and confirm target positions or scored hits, or to know from where and whom you are taking damage. Aiming down sights or zooming is often an impossibility if standing on ground-level as explosions, minions and taller friends/foes combine to constantly block FoV.

- Gunplay felt suprisingly uninspired. Coming from Gearbox who has made great gameplay in their Borderlands franchise, I'm surprised to see how genuinely weak weapons feel. Affects some weapons/characters more than others in my experience.

- The skill mod unlocks in the chests (like the +9% crit chance and whatnot) feel strangely implemented. Very strange. It's a MOBA; let me get the perks I need situationally.

- The audio queues are extremely weak to me. When visual clarity is lacking, audio clarity needs to be what clears any and all confusion. Yet most of the audio seemed to me to do a poor job of clarifying what was being done and by whom.

- Almost everyone having some sort of AoE field casing ability felt lazy. Why does the archer have an aoe cast ability? Why aren't all of her abilities focused around her agility, ability to reposition and arrows? One of just many examples, as just about everyone has one in their kit. zzzzzz.

- Character designs feel truly all over the place. There doesn't seem to be a consistent design thread that runs through any of them and ties them to the game world. Not a big deal, just...few of the characters felt like they meshed visually with the game or other characters.

- Game doesn't feel as good on a KB&M to me as it did on the controller. Unfortunately the speed of the game makes controller play largely untenable. Especially if focusing on characters like Phoebe who need to turn fast to keep enemies in front of her. It didn't feel bad; it just doesn't feel as natural. Game was clearly designed for a controller. I suspect the game is a bit more enjoyable on consoles.


Game feels alright to me I guess. Nothing special and nothing I'd spend $60 on. I hope it's a success but this game launches into a crowded FPS field with heavy new competition inbound. People making a choice might not end up buying this game due to some if the perceived weaknesses and high asking price compared to its competitors (every major MOBA is Free2Pplay, CSGo and similar games are free and Overwatch is $20 less). I get the feeling its initial success will ride heavily on extremely favorable reviews. If it doesn't deliver, it will have a decent lifespan on consoles and a short lifespan on PC.

I wish them good luck and look forward to Borderlands 3. I think I'll be passing on Battleborn until it's like $20 and if there's still a meaningful community left. Maybe not at all if the visual clarity and audio clarity aren't drastically improved. This is the only game in the FPS genre that I've had this kind of clarity issue with. Not TF2, not CSGo, not Overwatch, not Planetside 2, not UT, not Quake, not Doom. Only with this game.

 

[Menome]

Follow-up surveys are coming around by email for those who took part in the Open Beta.

Annoyingly, it doesn't give a chance to write down your own thoughts anywhere, just multiple-choice questions. It would have been helpful to explain why Toby was my least favourite character, as I think he could be good if they just buckled down on his defensive capabilities, rather than just pick his name from a list with no context.

 

[Boss Doggie]

I enjoyed my time, but I feel like I'll be only getting this through a sale.

 

[daedalius]

Follow-up surveys are coming around by email for those who took part in the Open Beta.

Annoyingly, it doesn't give a chance to write down your own thoughts anywhere, just multiple-choice questions. It would have been helpful to explain why Toby was my least favourite character, as I think he could be good if they just buckled down on his defensive capabilities, rather than just pick his name from a list with no context.

How do they have your email to send you the survey? Just whatever account you logged in with on platform?

 

[J Range]

Ive never played any sort of moba before but i really liked this. Each character felt unique in playstyle, i loved the art style, and it just had that fun factor.

How does this game compare to competitors like paragon and overwatch for those who have played its beta?

 

[Memory]

Ive never played any sort of moba before but i really liked this. Each character felt unique in playstyle, i loved the art style, and it just had that fun factor.

How does this game compare to competitors like paragon and overwatch for those who have played its beta?

Totally different so hard to compare.

Paragon= Moba in 3rd person, no shooter elements.
Overwatch= Objective based team shooter, no Moba elements. (Some argue heroes are moba elements).

Battle born= Hybrid Moba x borderlands shooter.

 

[MrJohnSherry]

How do they have your email to send you the survey? Just whatever account you logged in with on platform?

It is linked to you gearbox account, not your PSN email.

 

[Keasar]

One area some friends and I talked about they probably need to improve is the audio.

Effects from guns, explosions, fire whatever felt very subdued and low impact. If you were going by audio cues it was very hard to get a read on what was going on around you. Like Orendi's huge pillar of fire felt very muted, it should make some noise and audibly warn people that one is going off. Same goes for gun noises like from Oskar Mike.

Heck, even some musical tune or at least ambient sounds in the background during gameplay would be nice.

 

[CommandThrower]

How does this game compare to competitors like paragon and overwatch for those who have played its beta?

I can't speak for Paragon, but here are some comparisons between Overwatch and Battleborn in terms of mechanics:


Overwatch:
TTK(time to kill) is much much shorter in Overwatch. A fair amount of characters can one shot other characters.

Modes in Overwatch are very much like Team Fortress 2 modes. There's payload, point capture/defense and king of the hill. I think that's it.

There's no level up mechanic in Overwatch. Every character gets their ultimate by dealing enough damage/waiting a set amount of time.

Respawn timers in Overwatch are generally small. Average FPS respawn timers.


Battleborn:
TTK is much longer in Battleborn. Enemy minions die quickly, but the heroes generally
don't die very quickly. There's virtually no one shot kills in Battleborn.

Modes in Battleborn are very MOBA like. "Incursion" is a standard "destroy the enemy base" MOBA mode complete with minions. "Meltdown" is a defend and escort the minions to a certain point mode, and there's a point capture mode that seems to have no minions.

There's a level up mechanic in Battleborn, complete with a Heroes of the Storm style talent system. Ultimate skill unlocks at level 5. Maximum level is 10, during battle.

Respawn timers can be long in Battleborn. They're short at first, but at later levels, you stay dead for 60 seconds or more.


There's a lot more difference than this, but that's a basic gist of things.

 

[J Range]

.

 

[J Range]

I can't speak for Paragon, but here are some comparisons between Overwatch and Battleborn in terms of mechanics:


Overwatch:
TTK(time to kill) is much much shorter in Overwatch. A fair amount of characters can one shot other characters.

Modes in Overwatch are very much like Team Fortress 2 modes. There's payload, point capture/defense and king of the hill. I think that's it.

There's no level up mechanic in Overwatch. Every character gets their ultimate by dealing enough damage/waiting a set amount of time.

Respawn timers in Overwatch are generally small. Average FPS respawn timers.


Battleborn:
TTK is much longer in Battleborn. Enemy minions die quickly, but the heroes generally
don't die very quickly. There's virtually no one shot kills in Battleborn.

Modes in Battleborn are very MOBA like. "Incursion" is a standard "destroy the enemy base" MOBA mode complete with minions. "Meltdown" is a defend and escort the minions to a certain point mode, and there's a point capture mode that seems to have no minions.

There's a level up mechanic in Battleborn, complete with a Heroes of the Storm style talent system. Ultimate skill unlocks at level 5. Maximum level is 10, during battle.

Respawn timers can be long in Battleborn. They're short at first, but at later levels, you stay dead for 60 seconds or more.


There's a lot more difference than this, but that's a basic gist of things.

This is very helpful, thank you!

 

[RedSparrows]

I enjoyed Battleborn much more than I thought I would. Not sure, however, I need another MP title alongside Halo, Smite, Gigantic, Forza... But still, is good fun!

Also glad to see the differences between games being pointed out. The current 'oh Paragon-Paladins-Gigantic-Overwatch-Battleborn-all-the-same-game' nonsense is, for some reason, very annoying.

 

[Turin Turambar]

One area some friends and I talked about they probably need to improve is the audio.

Effects from guns, explosions, fire whatever felt very subdued and low impact. If you were going by audio cues it was very hard to get a read on what was going on around you. Like Orendi's huge pillar of fire felt very muted, it should make some noise and audibly warn people that one is going off. Same goes for gun noises like from Oskar Mike.

Heck, even some musical tune or at least ambient sounds in the background during gameplay would be nice.

I totally agree, I almost thought the sound was bugged! It has an insane fallof, that's it, sounds from sources further than 15 mts were almost silent, even if was a big ultimate or a huge ship crashing.

 

[deoee]

I did not notice the sound thing at all.

For me nothing sounded "odd" but maybe because I was playing with a friend and talking to him?

 

[daedalius]

It is linked to you gearbox account, not your PSN email.

Geez, no idea what that email would be then... hopefully it hits one of the ones I use regularly!

One area some friends and I talked about they probably need to improve is the audio.

Effects from guns, explosions, fire whatever felt very subdued and low impact. If you were going by audio cues it was very hard to get a read on what was going on around you. Like Orendi's huge pillar of fire felt very muted, it should make some noise and audibly warn people that one is going off. Same goes for gun noises like from Oskar Mike.

Heck, even some musical tune or at least ambient sounds in the background during gameplay would be nice.

I didn't necessarily feel this way about most of the sounds, like I thought Rath's sword clang when you were attacking most things sounded great to me... but Oscar Mike's grenade and airstrike could definitely use some more Ooomph. Admittedly when I had it turned up, it was coming through a giant 5.1 surround system.

 

[deoee]

Geez, no idea what that email would be then... hopefully it hits one of the ones I use regularly!



I didn't necessarily feel this way about most of the sounds, like I thought Rath's sword clang when you were attacking most things sounded great to me... but Oscar Mike's grenade and airstrike could definitely use some more Ooomph. Admittedly when I had it turned up, it was coming through a giant 5.1 surround system.

And I was playing with a decent headset.

Maybe there was something wrong on your guys end?

 

[ashecitism]

DF console perf analysis: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...leborn-beta-ps4-xbox-one-performance-analysis

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

All the challenges have been met. We're getting the skins through SHiFT codes.

 

[deoee]

All the challenges have been met. We're getting the skins through SHiFT codes.

What are SHIFT codes?

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

What are SHIFT codes?

SHiFT is a service Gearbox uses where you redeem codes given by them and get rewards. It was how you golden keys and special skins in Borderlands.

 

[Chronospherics]

SHiFT is a service Gearbox uses where you redeem codes given by them and get rewards. It was how you golden keys and special skins in Borderlands.

and they use shift so that they don't have to authenticate codes through another service. PSN.

I thought I'd add that since in the past I've seen people say that they thought shift codes were stupid or didn't seem to know why they needed to use a different code distribution system.

 

[LiQuid!]

You can't really deny it's yet another tool to get you into their system. Publishers love these. If they can get an email address off you in exchange for some in-game frivolity they've won.

 

[Chronospherics]

You can't really deny it's yet another tool to get you into their system. Publishers love these. If they can get an email address off you in exchange for some in-game frivolity they've won.

Yeah it's a means of forcing engagement with social media and whatnot, and getting you to engage with their product directly, as you have to load the game to enter codes.

It was detrimental to Borderlands 2, as I suspect it may have been a factor in them deciding to tone down the loot distribution system, so that they could distribute better weapons via codes. Sure, at end game you can get better gear that that in the shift-chest, but mid-game sub max level, shift codes always gave the best gear for me. That in turn, made lootng redundant because it was more time-effective to browse twitter than it was to play the game, when searching fo better gear.

Let's hope Battleborn learns from that.I don't think encouraging people to engage with your social media distributions via a reward system is inherently a problem, but I feel that it was pretty crudely applied to Borderlands 2.

 

[Menome]

I imagine this time around that the SHIFT codes are going to be character-skins and equipment-packs.

One thing I was disappointed with was that the character-skins were just different colour palettes. Having played a little bit of League of Legends, where characters get full costume changes whilst still being recognisable in gameplay, it feels rather lacklustre.

 

[deoee]

I imagine this time around that the SHIFT codes are going to be character-skins and equipment-packs.

One thing I was disappointed with was that the character-skins were just different colour palettes. Having played a little bit of League of Legends, where characters get full costume changes whilst still being recognisable in gameplay, it feels rather lacklustre.

Apparently the skins weren't the only ones we get but just the ones available during beta. There is a reddit thread with some more complex skins but I can't find it on mobile.

Also people got an email from gearbox stating that there were about 2 million beta players and that we reached the goal for golden skins!

2 million does not sound bad.

 

[Menome]

Apparently the skins weren't the only ones we get but just the ones available during beta. There is a reddit thread with some more complex skins but I can't find it on mobile.

Fair enough then. I won't go searching those out, I'll just leave it as a pleasant surprise for when I'm playing and unlock them.

EDIT: I've also reached out to the Battleborn Community Team to try and get some official set-dressing for the OT. They're looking into it, so fingers crossed we'll have a nice-looking one.

 

[deoee]

Fair enough then. I won't go searching those out, I'll just leave it as a pleasant surprise for when I'm playing and unlock them.

EDIT: I've also reached out to the Battleborn Community Team to try and get some official set-dressing for the OT. They're looking into it, so fingers crossed we'll have a nice-looking one.

As long as there are enough waifu gifs in the first post I'm fine

 

[Xevren]

link to some skins for you guys

 

[daedalius]

There are way too many people in line at pax! How am I supposed to play

 

[deoee]

One more week...

There are rumors about an announcement tomorrow. I guess for the first update / dlc?

 

[deoee]

I guess there is no love for this game here on Neogaf ;_;

Any suggestions what to play until next week?

I don't like Smite's setting so that can be crossed out.

 

[JStein0222]

One more week...

There are rumors about an announcement tomorrow. I guess for the first update / dlc?

I didn't see any rumors, that's cool. Hopefully something does happen!

I've got the game preordered, ready to roll next week!

 

[deoee]

I didn't see any rumors, that's cool. Hopefully something does happen!

I've got the game preordered, ready to roll next week!

Talking about this here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Battleborn/comments/4gbnn3/announcement_tomorrow/

I dunno, I guess it won't be anything exciting as always (T-Shirts maybe? ;-) )

 

[Justice_Bolt]

Man i don't know what game to play because all i think about is Battleborn! Soon.

 

[CommandThrower]

One more week...

There are rumors about an announcement tomorrow. I guess for the first update / dlc?

An announcement is today? Hmmm. I'll have to see what it is.


It could be related the five DLC characters that will eventually come. Which, Gearbox recently posted a picture of all five(only one is clearly visible, and that is Alani, the 6th Eldrid Battleborn):

Each character will belong to one of the five factions. Alani is confirmed to be a support, which is great. This game needs more supports, four isn't enough. Hopefully that fat Peacekeeper will be a support.

 

[deoee]

An announcement is today? Hmmm. I'll have to see what it is.


It could be related the five DLC characters that will eventually come. Which, Gearbox recently posted a picture of all five(only one is clearly visible, and that is Alani, the 6th Eldrid Battleborn):

Each character will belong to one of the five factions. Alani is confirmed to be a support, which is great. This game needs more supports, four isn't enough. Hopefully that fat Peacekeeper will be a support.

Interesting picture.

The right side reminds me of Miko and Ambra , the left Toby and Isac

 

[Xevren]

I guess there is no love for this game here on Neogaf ;_;

Any suggestions what to play until next week?

I don't like Smite's setting so that can be crossed out.

I'm thinking of picking up Alienation to last till release, looks really good! Pre-ordered digitally for battleborn, so now to wait.

 

[JStein0222]

I'm thinking of picking up Alienation to last till release, looks really good! Pre-ordered digitally for battleborn, so now to wait.

I've got too much to play! Been playing Ratchet, picking up Alienation and Severed tomorrow. But I've been waiting for this since it was announced

I also plan on getting Overwatch too. My wallet

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

An announcement is today? Hmmm. I'll have to see what it is.


It could be related the five DLC characters that will eventually come. Which, Gearbox recently posted a picture of all five(only one is clearly visible, and that is Alani, the 6th Eldrid Battleborn):

Each character will belong to one of the five factions. Alani is confirmed to be a support, which is great. This game needs more supports, four isn't enough. Hopefully that fat Peacekeeper will be a support.

Is that a fat chicken next to her?

 

[Chronospherics]

I've got too much to play! Been playing Ratchet, picking up Alienation and Severed tomorrow. But I've been waiting for this since it was announced

I also plan on getting Overwatch too. My wallet

Same for all these.

Though I've also been playing Dirt 3, Trackania Turbo and Dark Souls 3.

Picking up Overwatch, Battleborn, Uncharted 4.

Having a blast with a lot of gaming offerings right now.

 

[Special C]

This is going to be my smite substitute. I absolutely love SMITE but A. I can't get my friends to play it and B. I don't have the time to dedicate to stay good at a true MOBA.

 

[deoee]

This is going to be my smite substitute. I absolutely love SMITE but A. I can't get my friends to play it and B. I don't have the time to dedicate to stay good at a true MOBA.

There is something about SMITE I absolutely do not like.
I can't pinpoint it

 

[CommandThrower]

Is that a fat chicken next to her?

Hehe, I don't know. It looks like some kind of fat bird-man, or a fat pig-man. I hope it's a fat chicken man, since I like chickens; they're cute.

What we know for certain is that going from left to right, the respective factions for each character will be: LLC, Peackeepers, Eldrid, Rogues, Jennerit. The Jennerit character is rumored to be the queen of the empire, the Rogue character looks like some kind of snake man, and the LLC character just looks like a robot.

Until the game comes out, I'll just be playing Sunset Overdrive, since I recently got it via GWG.

 

[daedalius]

An announcement is today? Hmmm. I'll have to see what it is.


It could be related the five DLC characters that will eventually come. Which, Gearbox recently posted a picture of all five(only one is clearly visible, and that is Alani, the 6th Eldrid Battleborn):

Each character will belong to one of the five factions. Alani is confirmed to be a support, which is great. This game needs more supports, four isn't enough. Hopefully that fat Peacekeeper will be a support.

Needs more giant swords!

But hey looks cool. Never got a chance to play at pax, but I imagine it was just the beta version anyway.

 

[Menome]

Just a reminder that I'm doing the prize-draw for the Battleborn OT title this weekend, with the winner receiving a free code for the game on Steam.

So if you've got any last minute suggestions, get them in now!

 

[deoee]

Just a reminder that I'm doing the prize-draw for the Battleborn OT title this weekend, with the winner receiving a free code for the game on Steam.

So if you've got any last minute suggestions, get them in now!

Got a list of already submitted ones?

Also that is very generous of you

Battleborn OT | Haul ass and roast some noobs in 3...2...1

Battleborn OT | chikka chikka chikka-chik
(https://youtu.be/uSGV5U1FYC0?list=PLfCVmjOyKUS04b5hS78N4hp715khto6Lk&t=208)
Battleborn OT | Duty called. I answered. We hung out. Duty's awesome!


Those are all quotes from characters in the game

 

[Chronospherics]

Pre-ordered the digital deluxe edition last night, so down to play with anyone that's up for some games once it releases.

PSN: Chronospherics