Is it a deal breaker?

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel BL:TPS Discussion
#1

As we get close to the release of claptastic voyage… Would the exclusion of raid bosses OR if there’s ONLY one raid boss added would that essentially make you consider the DLC a fail?

I personally think it NEEDS at least one, but it SHOULD have two minimum(one hidden one main quest ending) but it won’t compel me to say it’s a failure.

#2

Nope. I’d rather have a well developed DLC with no Raid than an average DLC with two or three frustrating Raids.

7 Likes
#3

One persons idea of fail may not be the measure of anothers. In reality so few people care about raid bosses that either way this single feature would not determine if the DLC was a “success” or “fail”. Also if it sells well then it is a success for Gearbox even though it may be seen as a “fail” by you. The DLC would probably not be favourably received if it was too short or too dull but other than those two single attributes it generally takes multiple attributes to determine the overall reception of the DLC by the fanbase.

1 Like
#4

Raid bosses have been discussed ad nauseum. More is better. Only one raid boss would be a huge let down. If it isn’t clear by now, people like raid bosses.

#5

According to the IGN review, there is no raidboss and the DLC is still the best part of the pre sequel if that helps quell your fears.

#6

I personally don’t care for raid bosses (I don’t need normal bosses I can farm either). That said I heard none of those people I play with ever say ‘I need a raid boss’ or ‘Lets fight a raid boss’ or in TPS ‘I wish I could farm this boss’

So no, not a deal breaker for me. I won’t loose any sleep over this either way.

#7

The whole farmable/raid boss thing has been quietly aggravating me for a good while. I could have posted this in any number of threads, so apologies to the OP that I chose this one. A little rant.

So, the lack of a variety of raid bosses is a nail in the coffin of the game?

BL1 had one raid boss and Craw didn’t appear until DLC3. I seem to remember BL1 selling quite well.

I had a quick look at Steam achievement stats for BL2. I know they are not directly representative of console gamers but I suspect they are still indicative of how the game is played. These are percentages of those who own the game.

8.8% got Thresher Thrashed by beating Terra (the only raid boss in the original game)

1.5% got Completionist in DLC1, therefore beating the raid bosses

1.1% got Motorhead in DLC2, therefore beating the raid bosses

1.0% got Done That in DLC3, therefore beating the raid bosses

3.3% got Make It Raaaid in DLC4 by beating the Dragons

In TPS, only 19.2% have got The Bigger They Are and beaten The Invincible Sentinel.

Bear in mind, some people who have the achievements, like me, only played the raid boss/es once as part of a playthrough, not farming them at all.

The vast majority of paying customers don’t give a darn about raid bosses. Gearbox made the effort to make bosses farmable for less than 20% of their paying customers and that’s a generous estimate. And still people moaned that Zarpedon wasn’t available. Do they not think that GBX would have done it if they could have done so without breaking the game!

The Borderlands franchise is an FPSRPG. BL1 was far more of a shooter than an RPG. BL2 brought in many new players. It also included more RPG elements. A lot of players expected TPS to be a RPG and were very vocal when it returned to its BL1-style shooter roots. The FPS contingent don’t give a flying fig for collecting weapons & gear and the tedious farming that has to be done to get them. And it’s clear from the stats that the dedicated RPGers are a minority. GBX have put themselves out to meet their needs but, quite frankly, GBX could lose their custom tomorrow and BL3 would still be a successful moneymaker for them.

The lack of a raid boss in the DLC is not even close to a “deal breaker”.

4 Likes
#8

If you dont get the DLC, witch adds so much because no Raid-boss, then i dont know what to say

#9

I disagree on the FPS thing. BL2 was really an innovation in blending FPS and rpg gameplay and one of the things TPS did well was not mess that up. Really the blending of the two had killed traditional tradional rail FPS forever. I was playing metro the other day and having story and atmosphere is just not enough to make the point and click plus strafe gameplay interesting. however, mobbing is a pretty underwhelming way to tweak builds and gear and skill. Raid bosses are valued because they are a test of skill plus creativity and knowledge etc. what is the point of aoverpowered gear and carefully synergies skill trees if all you can do is slaughter torks?

This is also why I hate puzzle raids like master gee. So I would in fact be quietly disappointed if no raid.

#10

Casuals don’t care for raid bosses, I’d have liked a raid boss simply because have 1 raid boss in the entire game is boring, especially when it was just the final boss with more HP.

#11

Nope. I’d rather have a well developed DLC with no Raid than an average DLC with two or three frustrating Raids.

Looking at YOU sir hammerlock’s big game hunt

1 Like
#12

Nah i don’t care would rather have a fun normal boss than a giant boring bullet sponge

#13

That’s not true at all. Take it from me, someone who spent five+ hours a day for years practicing for scrims and ladder matches that true FPS players, ultra competitive fps players, love collecting and finding rare loot just as much as any RPG player does. I wouldn’t have 2000+ hours in BL2 if I didn’t.

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#14

Disappointing? Sure. A deal breaker? Not even close.

3 Likes
#15

Same for me.

#17

I am not a fan of raid bosses, never have been but it is a key feature that identifies Borderlands since Craw and its a shame to be lacking on at least one good in this DLC. It’s understandable if they don’t put it in because people are simply not playing it but it’s kinda of the feature that even players like me would every once and a while have a go at for something different to do. If budget was limiting and we got a bigger campaign but no raid boss well that’s good for me but I think tampering with a formula too much makes fans a bit gun-shy next time around. Less expansion DLC’s fewer raid bosses is a bit of a downer.

#18

I’m not a huge raid boss guy but I’m a little surprised that we basically still don’t have any in TPS.

Hopefully there are a few hidden ones to beat me down and empty my bankroll.

#19

If you’re basing this off of the Steam achievements then… I don’t even…
You do know they literally mean nothing at all right?

When 28% of people haven’t even gone past Claptrap losing his eye in BL2. May as well not make the rest of the game based off of that.

#20

Well, if there really is no raid boss, the rest of the DLC would have to be fantastic. Or have some other form of replay value. Otherwise, I’ve probably got 2 more weeks left in me before I switch back to BL2 or TF2.

#21

I happily admit they are only indicative. I noticed that a large number of Steam registered games were not registering achievements. Since we know achievements work, and aggregating them is not rocket science, I can only imagine that these game owners play offline. Perhaps some people were gifted the game but never played it.

But let’s say that 72% (those who got the first achievement) is the player base. Then, doing the arithmetic, 8.8% of all game owners turns into about 12.3% of “active players”. That’s why I was careful to give a very generous figure (20%) as the number of players who are going to take advantage of GBX’s changes to TPS to make NPCs farmable.

@Less_than0
I completely agree that BL2 was a fantastic blend of FPS and RPG. Personally I found it a little too dependent on top class gear to do all the game offered, which undermined the skills of the characters (except Krieg :smile: ) . To tackle The Peak, farming was compulsory for someone of my middling abilities. In a straight FPS, you can do all the game offers with “what you find”. That’s why I prefer the less RPG-like approach of BL1 and TPS.

I have no problem with the challenge of a raid boss. I’ve beaten all of them once or twice. But once I’ve got the gear and learned how to beat them, that’s when I stop. After that, constantly doing the same fight, to get the “perfect” gun or whatever, is no more interesting than slaughtering torks :smile: I argue that “weapon collectors” are not close to a majority of BL players to make the lack of raid bosses a “deal breaker”

And as for pure FPS’s being dead … that’s a discussion for another day :smile:

@jd641
I also have over 2000 hours in BL2 and I have no interest in collecting rare loot whatsoever. You’re clearly someone who enjoys FPS’s (like me :smile:) . Has the lack of a raid boss in a FPS ever been a “deal breaker” for you? I argue that the FPS part of FPSRPG is just as important as the RPG bit. So the lack of multiple raid bosses is not a “deal breaker”.

@Tokesy97
BL1 also set a benchmark or expectation of the quality of loot you could find as you played through the campaign but that didn’t quite get carried through to BL2 :smile: Seriously, I think we broadly agree. I am not against raid bosses at all. But, for me, they are only challenging bits of gameplay to overcome and move on. I still hold that it’s a minority of BL players who enjoy full-on farming and, hence, the lack of raid bosses is not (and it’s that phrase again) a “deal breaker”.