Where is the Borderlands patch you promised?

Borderlands General Discussion
#1

It was years ago, a big thread full of promises and list of fixes from fov to bugs and other stuff…
It’s been Bl2, the Pre-Sequel, both disappointing games for me with no immersion or role-playing and now you announce you’re working on Borderlands 3. Why don’t you keep your promises? This is still the best game of the series and it breaks my heart to see it abandoned and having to be reminded of its flaws every time i start it up

#2

I don’t remember anyone from GBX promising fixes. I do remember a huge list of fixes people would like to see included in a possible remaster. That was also never exactly promised, either. With the game still running on PC, and playable on XB1 via backwards compatibility, there seems to be little financial incentive to invest in a remaster.

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#3

The only patch we were promised was one to swap Gamespy out for Steam and we got that. Where do you get the idea we were promised anything else? I’d like to see this “proof” of yours because GBX has kept its promises in the past.

#4

Yeah, I don’t recall anything like that being promised, either. Got a link or anything like that?

Even if they did (which I find unlikely) or even intended further support for BL, I really can’t see it happening now.

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#5

Happy Forum Anniversary!

But you would not find ANYONE here objecting if GBX released a remastered anniversary edition as part of the promotion for BL3. (Just putting that there in case any GBX marketing types are lurking.)

#6

I did wonder about the cake. Huh.

And yes, I think it would be rather popular.

#7

Heres the thread you were talking about

Also made an abridged/consolidated version to get through quicker

So im in the synical camp that gearbox has no intentions to re-release, or otherwise improve borderlands 1. Despite housing a forum for the most devout fans, I dont think anyone who actually has any say in gearbox even sees these posts, let alone sees us forum posters as anything other than 1 unit sold, or would take anything we have to say into consideration. I personally have more faith in fan-made stuff like the community patches people did for both 2 and the pre sequel. Though there are lots of things people made for the 1st game that are basically lost to history now, like the dlc fast travels.

#8

If we just get something like the BL2 communtiy patch where things don’t have to be force-picked-up that would be awesome.

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#9

Ah yes, lots of good ideas in there. I have no idea whether any of the developers etc. ever read that - they’ve become even more close-lipped than ever in the last 6 months or so. At the end of the day, though, someone (presumably the owner/CEO plus folks from 2K if they have a say in it as the publisher) has to make a financial decision about where to put paid person-hours. They might agree with all your suggestions but, if they don’t believe there’s a financial case…

That said, I still want a BL1 remaster! I also want cake. I think I’m more likely to get cake…

Oh look! :cake:

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#10

That makes sense, i agree they dont really have any sort of obligation to put improvements into the game. The vast majority of people who will buy the game already have.

However,
One thing i dont think they have an excuse to leave is how buggy the game still is. There is a difference between a fix, and an improvement. Bugs are things that were never intended, and should not have been in the end result. The fact that its 8 years later and some class mods still dont work right, echo logs still cut out, and your equipped guns still display a wrong level really just shows how little the guys who made this game actually care about it, or you. Yes, i get they have no financial reason to fix the broken game they released, but just because the broken product sold, doesnt mean the people who paid for it dont deserve to play a non-broken game.

#11

Or it’s that this is the nature of AAA releases, and that a developer will work up until they turn in the game for console certification, at which point the product turned in will be what’s released(assuming all things go well with cert). I don’t think any dev team that’s worked on any project will say that everybody working on the project was fully happy with what they created. These are the people that built the system, it’d make sense they’re the ones who know their games the most and their flaws.

Deadlines exist for a reason. I’m no developer and I don’t intend to ever be one, but I’ve watched a fair amount of advice tailored for aspiring game developers(Extra Credits, etc.). A regular bit of advice for making a game is to at one point STOP MAKING YOUR GAME. That model could be touched up, the skill trees could be altered, that minor bug could be squashed, and while you’re doing that your company will be bleeding money. People gotta eat, and in order to do that they gotta be paid. Making and selling a game is a business. If the money you’re spending isn’t going to make back more than what you spent, you are burning resources and wasting time. Somebody’s got to step back at one point and stop the project. It’s better to stop just short of perfection instead of forever being sucked into a vortex of increasing debt.

While it’s nice to see a game’s deadline pushed back in the understanding that the game needs more polish to work as a success, if you keep doing that you’ll end up nitpicking on things that ultimately won’t increase sales.

And here we are now. Borderlands became a surprise hit, started a series that produced 2K’s best selling game yet, and is a fan-favorite of many. Yeah it sucks that the Reaper can’t reap, and it’s confusing that the Invader is actually the Exectuioner that isn’t the other Invader. But those flaws don’t kill the game for me. They didn’t piss me off enough to not play 750+ hours. If they had been fixed back then would it have convinced me to buy it more? No. The group of people that would buy BL1 only if the bugs were fixed are a very small group of folks, not enough to make fixing the game financially worth it.

This doesn’t really answer or properly respond to

but I do believe that there is a valid

I’m happy that Borderlands got to exist at all.

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#12

Try telling that to Bethesda; they haven’t released a game yet since Morrowind that the community hasn’t released an unofficial patch for if they could. Even FO 4 has an unofficial patch. We’re not getting an official patch because it’s not financially viable. Next time you should read the fine print: When you buy the game, you buy it as-is with no guarantee of future support. Every gaming company does this, not just GBX. Bill pointed it out like it is: Eventually limited resources have to be assigned elsewhere. It sucks but life isn’t fair and people don’t always get what they deserve.

#13

Ok, i see your point. Of course i enjoyed borderlands plenty. Hell, i put 731 hours into it, but that much time kinda makes you hyper sensitive to its little problems. Like, say, mortecai is probably my favorite character to play. So the fact that he holds the majority of broken class mods just sucks, and i just cant give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. When you give my bloodwing centric mortecai a class mod that sais it will give him cooldown reduction, its a promise. Someone totally coded in that property, and description telling you thats what is supposed to happen. To me, that class mod STILL not working is just the epitome of apathy. Class mods being one of the most important elements of the game, there is no way making sure all the class mods they released actually work would push the game into an unhealthy developement cylce. I admit, the majority of the changes ive proposed in my borderlying autistic list are not things id really care if went unchanged, but this is one of the things I just cant become complacent on. It should just work, but it doesnt, and most likely never will.

Although if im being honest, relatively recent events kinda just put me off borderlands 1. When the daylight savings glitch (the glitch that resets all of your setting to default) happens to someone who mods their .ini file, its like 3 times worse, especially if you didnt back up the changes you made to it. Last time daylight savings happened, i just decided to give up, and go back to BL2, which got the community patch around this point. Every time i got the itch to play BL1, i just thought of all the work id have to do to change the game back to the state i enjoy it in most. It was easy for me to more or less stop craving any BL1 because with BL2 getting better every month, it almost seems like its on course to become just as good, if not a better game. The constant little changes and improvements happening to borderlands 2 (and to a lesser extent the pre sequel) Usually keep me pretty entertained nowadays.

The point is that for me, the new mods borderlands 2 has going for it are a source of excitement in the game, creating the sort of dynamic self-improvement i really craved for BL1. But looking back at the current state of my BL1 itself, it seems to literally resist any improvement.

#14

Yeah, but see the difference is that bethesda LETS their fans patch the game immidiately, and otherwise mod it as soon as their hearts content. Gearbox is a developer that hasnt really taken a definite stance on modding. There is more responsibility to keep up with their own games because they gave themselves that responsibility. I think we can agree borderlands games have some of the most replayability out of any games, so i think they should have the devs involved in the games as long as they have a substancial audience who currently enjoys them. Just look at how much attention diablo 3 got from blizzard, would there be nearly as many people still playing that game if they hadnt put so much time and care into it after release? Now imagine if borderlands, or borderlands 2 had that much post-release attention, and how much bigger the active communities couldve been.

I think this argument is backwards. I think there should be changes and fixes to the game, and you guys also most likely want the game to be better/less broken, atleast in an ideal world. But instead, you guys try to convince me as to why any sort of improvements arnt viable because of intangible financial hurtles? This is just backwards to me, you guys shouldnt be the ones trying to explain to me why the devs cant improve or fix their own game, the devs should. Ideally, it should be the responsibility of everyone who enjoys the game, and might want the game improved to try to make a case that the game should be fixed or improved in certain ways on the official forum, and let the devs themselves answer as to why or why not fix/improve the game.

If im right, and they wouldnt respond to a giant thread with everyone agreeing that something should be changed (which weve already seen), that speaks for itself. If im wrong, and that same thread gets a response from anyone at all who might be in a position to change something, that would be great. Who wouldnt want their feedback recognised from the devs of their favorite game? Presuming justifications for them gives them no reason to join the dialouge, they dont have to think of excuses if you already have for them. Basically, as long as there is one post saying “it sucks, but thats how it is” the devs have no reason to respond. Just because this is how it is, doesnt mean its how it should be.

#15

What about the PC-only expansions to BL1 (and now BL2 and TPS)? And didn’t folks add custom stuff to BiA, or am I misreading that?

The Bethesda comparison is interesting though: lots of mods and patches for PC, but nada for console until very recently, and only then stuff that uses in-game/in-engine assets as a basis. So only some fraction of the Skyrim and Fallout mods are available on PS4/XB1. This goes back to the console manufacturers and the issue of modded consoles, which I’m sure you’re aware of. The approach Bethesda has adopted for their games does not require third party software that effectively breaks the sand-boxing of the console OS, so can’t be used to add cheat engines (of the map hacking aim botting variety) to infest competitive multi-player games.

I obviously have no idea how GBX as a company views user mods (other than their continuing to allow both the existence and discussion of the PC BL1 and UCP content for their games), but they have been very clear all along that anything violating console terms of use/service is strictly verbotten. I don’t think any publisher would get much cooperation from Sony or MS if they took the attitude of “go ahead and mod/hack your consoles”.

Theoretically, GBX could go back and patch in limited mod support for the Handsome Collection games at least, much like Bethesda has done. Whether that’s technically and financially feasible, who knows? It’s something that could usefully be put into the “Things we want in BL3” monster thread though!

#16

Oh, i was just saying gearbox has never really had a definite stance on modding. Allowing the discussion of the community patch on here to me felt more like “ok guys, the higher ups arnt looking. You can talk about it now, but be careful!” Im honestly not even sure if bethesda has ever even taken an official stance on their games being modded, i just assume they have. If not, there are a ton of people wasting their time supporting the fallout and elder scroll games when th company could just take it all out from under them for whatever reason. I do think PC modding will always be the best kind though, because you really just need to have bought the game, and thats enough to decide you can change the game in whatever way makes it most fun to you. Going though consoles will always be worse because you have to go through 2 companies instead of 1. Ive already seen this being a problem because of how crappy playstation has treated mods for bethesda games.

I have no doubt it would be possible and relatively easy. The only hard thing about it would actually be regulating the mods. Well, that and convincing the guys who would make that desision that it would make their paying customers happy, and more loyal.

Seriously though. Id really be interested if anyone knows of any sort of archive for borderlands 1 mods. I know there are different gear and areas, but i find it hard to believe there were never any quality of life improvements other than fast travels in the DLCs, which is gone too.

#17

The game’s 8 years old. I can’t see what financial incentive there would be to invest time and money updating it. Which is a shame from a fan perspective, as I love it more than words can say, but completely understandable.

That said, if they did just one thing and installed a “Repeat All Quests” option, I’d write a letter to the pope asking for their canonisation :grin:

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#18

Dude, you can use WillowTree for that

#19

Not on Xbox you can’t!

#20

And you mean you can’t even start a new character? It’s the same thing isn’t it?