Playing Borderlands 2 as an FPS game

Borderlands 2 BL2 General Discussion
#1

Although I have enjoyed the game’s sense of humor, world structure and RPG systems, I am now only interested in video games because action video games benefit perception, attention, and cognition. 1 2

So my question is which characters, skills, weapons, gear, locations will make me play the action-RPG game, Borderlands 2, as an FPS game. I want it to be as close to other classic FPS games like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, BioShock Infinite and Half-Life 2 as possible.

I already have 3 lvl 50 characters: a Gunzerker, a Psycho and an Assassin. I enjoy Zer0 the most and Krieg the least. Zer0 is the only one of the three that comes close to FPS since Sal dual wields and Krieg is a different story. I prefer Vladof weapons and Hyperion shotguns and SMGs.

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#2

If you want to make Borderlands like all those other boring FPS games, you’re playing Borderlands wrong, my friend.

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#3

This.
Borderlands is not your typical fps,(in a good way).

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#4

Axton or maybe Zer0, I guess. I’d stay away from red text weapons (uniques, legendaries, seraphs, pearls…) because most of them introduce some gimmicks to the guns.

Since you already know what kind of experience you are looking for just avoid skills that add something you don’t want there and I’d guess whichever locations are your favorite.

You can’t really turn it into something it is not, however.

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#5

You can play any of the characters that way, but the most obvious would be Axton, then Maya (spec down the left tree) and Gaige (left + centre trees). There are areas which are particularly intense for mobbing: Lynchwood, Sawtooth, Opportunity, all the arenas (especially the repeatable ones in Torgue and Tiny Tina DLC), etc.

Unless you only have the base game on older generation hardware though, you’ll probably want to push through to level 72 in UVHM. If you have the UVHM expansions installed (which you will by default if you have the XB1/PS4 version) then you’ll keep levelling up slowly past 50 while all your enemies stay stuck at 50, and you’ll lose any challenge. In UVHM, everything always scales with you (and then if you’re really insane you can do Digistruct Peak and unlock OP levels so you can tune the mayhem to your liking).

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#6

This, mostly. I think he was designed to be most accessible and familiar to FPS players.

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#7

Axton, and if I had to give a second option, Zer0.

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#8

[quote=“hrational, post:1, topic:1559637”]which characters, skills, weapons, gear, locations will make me play the action-RPG game, Borderlands 2, as an FPS game. I want it to be as close to other classic FPS games like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, BioShock Infinite and Half-Life 2 as possible.[/quote]All of them - I play this game specifically for the FPS action, and it’s by far the best one I’ve found. You don’t have to fart around with all the nutty Unique gear, and you can go for a very basic build and have a great time. This is an FPS on steroids though… I’ve found it very hard to go back to anything else, if for no other reason that besides all the available game mechanics, you get so much variety of environments and enemy types/counts to actually sink your teeth into.

Bioshock, Half Life, Doom… all those classics are fun, but a) their end game is non-existent or it sucks, and b) once you’re armed to the teeth, you’re fairly limited in how/where you can use all that fun stuff. On Pandora, once you’re armed to the teeth, you can fight everything over and over again (and there are really more game mechanics than a game has any business offering). Some maps/enemy types/counts lend themselves to long-distance sniping, some to in-your-face melee/shotgun combat, some mixtures of both, and some… other things.

As was mentioned, Axton’s and/or Zer0’s skill trees probably lend themselves more towards “traditional” FPS game mechanics, but if you’re an FPS aficionado, I think you’d be remiss if you didn’t at least take the others out for a spin. Gaige and Krieg are, I think, far enough removed from traditional FPS combat mechanics that starting with them might be weird.

Then there’s Maya.

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#9

Axton’s & Zero for characters.

For maps that emulate that playstyle:

Lynchwood - Base Game
Sawtooth Cauldron - Base Game
Hero’s Pass - Base Game
The Beatdown - Torgue DLC
Hater’s Folly - Scarlet DLC
Hatred’s Shadow - Tiny Tina DLC

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#10

Thank you all for your input.

So you all mentioned Axton and most of you Zero too. Since I already have a lvl 50 Zero, Axton was an easy decision. Maybe I will also play Maya in the future.

Any skill builds for lvl 30 and lvl 50 Axton and lvl 50 Zero? Also should I only use the Sabre Turret vs. bosses and raid bosses or Badasses too?

Which weapons and weapon manufacturers should I focus on? Which shields, grenades, COMs and relics too?

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#11

Lots, but experiment as you go rather than trying to reproduce someone else’s build while levelling. That way, you’ll have a better idea of how the skills work. I usually put one point into each of the basic skills in each tree, then work up from there. You can skip Laser Sight as it isn’t needed and doesn’t work as described. You’ll find full descriptions of all the skills linked from the Community Axton Guide in the Axton section of the forums (it’s the pinned thread close to the top of the list).

Use your turret as much or as little as you want. Early on it’s great for crowd control and drawing aggro - it’s like having another man on the field (as Roland would say). Tactical positioning of yourself and the turret in your immediate surroundings is part of the fun of Axton.

Also, don’t worry too much about gear early on. Stuff will drop, you can try it, and discard or sell what you don’t like. You won’t get COMs and relics until you’ve progressed a few ranks (same with SMGs, snipers, and launchers - there’s a minimum level requirement on each type that affects when they drop in your first play-through.)

Lot’s more useful info here:

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#12

[quote=“hrational, post:10, topic:1559637”]Any skill builds[/quote]If you already know what you want out of the game, the build will present itself as you pick the associated game mechanics you like or don’t like (it’s easy and cheap to re-spec, so don’t hesitate to try something you’re not familiar with). If a skill seems weird (it seems weak, doesn’t work the way you expect, whatever), just ask.

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#13

man I lose my golden keys , what can I do? I’m sad for that 7_7

#14

https://gearboxsoftware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

  • click on the relevant version for you game, and use the link near the top of that page to submit a support ticket.
#15

One thing about Maya , if your doing certain missions or badass rank challenges that require killing with a specific elemnt/weapon , cloud kill interferes with them alot.
I cant remember who else has similar skills though.

#16

I find that playing Zero I have the pay the most attention to the timing of my action skill usage. So, there’s one of your keywords. Attention. Probably all of them. Zero’s action skill and skill tree is mostly Science Fiction instead of “magic”.

Axton is definitely a soldier/familiar character type to expect in most FPS games. The turret being the most likely thing to expect in an FPS.

Maya is more of a magician. Certainly takes thought to play though. Krieg is kind of fantasy rather than Science Fiction as well.

Sal is kind of like playing as Rambo.
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I play all Borderlands like an FPS. I don’t exactly RPG them anymore. FIrst playthroughs I was playing it as the RPG as well. At this point I rush through any of the dialog and mission check-in stuff so I can get back out there. I look for new gear as I go. But that’s standard FPS.
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I’m going to suggest that you try Battleborn. Less story stuff in the campaign. It’s far more like 30 to 60 minute missions. Choose one of the characters. Try Marquis or some of the soldier looking guys and you’ll be FPSing in no time. Toy around with different options in the helix each mission until you find options you like and default to. The benefit of this over Borderlands is not having to check in on Sanctuary to unlock the town and such. In Battleborn you just play missions. The “story” of each mission is rather more like typical FPS stuff. Defend something. Go somewhere. Kill something. No open world. Just maps or levels. Whereas Borderlands is an open world with all kinds of backtracking and trekking around.

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#17

I literally could not get into any other FPS for quite a while. With each borderlands release it happens too (I sink hundreds of hours into each Borderlands, barely play anything else, especially FPS). Only in recent years have we had anything to compare with the options/magic of Borderlands. Some more successful than others. Destiny got loot right and some stuff better than Borderlands. And with all the content now, Destiny is something most Borderlands fans should try or check out the 2016/2017 reviews for.

Mass Effect Andromeda has been quite appealing too. Lots of ways to make progress your own way. Buy, loot , research and develop weapons/gear, all kinds of action skills to mix and match. But it’s a LOT of RPG as well. More than Borderlands or Destiny for sure. More like Fallout 4, but probably even more RPG than that. That said, I play Mass Effect Andomeda like Zero.

Battleborn, I have to squeeze into a different category of game. FPS. Gear (but not weapon looting). I enjoy it, but it’s a different feel than Borderlands.

I went back and played Bioshock Infinite as it came with xbox gold or something. I ended up playing it like a melee rush Zero.

Fallout 4. I ended up enjoying that a lot. It’s got a good loot system. I kind of played it like a cloaking zero or like the autotarget action skill from prequel. Because I used the VATS system a lot to pause time and oneshot guys a lot with my legendary Deliverer pistol.

Running theme. You can see how I now judge and play every FPS according to Borderlands.

Playing Halo series since Borderlands 1 has been odd. Halo always messed up the playlists, in my opinion. I like vehicle ctf, especially on blood gulch. Or I like playing coop (and they didn’t matchmake coop). But, the way the game handles weapons and enemies bothers me when coming from Borderlands. I like seeing shields/health bars so I know if the gun I’m using is making a dent and how much. I like being able to keep a gun from one scene or map to the next, especially really good ones. I like random guns with random stats to experiment with. But Halo makes you have to detach from your guns. It’s got good action. Great story. Terrible gun/loot system IMO. If I could play it in a Destiny or Borderlands style way it’d be amazing. I know the irony is that the Destiny guys made the original Halos. But original Destiny didn’t have the same greatest story feel to it. It tended to be kinda dry and unexciting. But the Taken King really helped Destiny along.

Last major FPS I’ve played as of recently is Doom 2016. That was an amazing title. At some times it felt like Metroid. Most times it felt like classic Doom. But it also had was to improve all your weapons and gear. And choices/toggles on your gear. Fantastic title. And it had lore if you wanted to learn more about all the things. Doom kinda forces you to get in for gory melee kils in order to recover health. So I probably played it like a melee Zero too. haha. But I’ll go with super soldier.

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#18

Ok. Here’s an option for you as well. Don’t apply any skill points. I don’t suggest that this is a good idea, but only that it’s an option. It means you can play as any character I suppose. Class mods mostly won’t be relevant except for their regular non-skill based buffs.

But basically, all you’d have at this point is weapons/gear to focus on. It would be much harder. But you can compensate for this in various ways. Such as staying in TVHM instead of going into UVHM.

Or even going back to normal mode. If you use only items you find there, you won’t be TOO overpowered, except for your health bar will be way outside norms.

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#19

I did this with Krieg, and it worked in NVHM to a point. When you find yourself needing a Turtle shield just to walk down the street in Sanctuary however… :stuck_out_tongue: I think I made it to level 23 or so with only the basic action skill, which I barely ever used.

I have a Gaige that is now level 48 in TVHM who has skill points but BAR turned off, and she’s still viable. Really makes you pay attention to your loadout though!

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#20

A stronger than average breeze slams a leaf into your head which knocks you into FFYL…

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