Self-imposed challenges to spice it up a bit?

Borderlands 2 BL2 General Discussion
#1

Since most of you here seem to be like me and still play the hell out of BL2 and cannot get enough I was curious if anyone creates self-imposed challenges to keep things interesting?

Recently, on XBOX One, I finished these three challenges (and the bottom of the post one I abandoned/failed). I find out a lot about how effective some gear is that I wouldn’t usually use. I recently fell in love with Jakob’s assault rifles and Torgue pistols.

WGB gear only challenge

  • The player can ONLY use white, green and blue rarity gear from any drop or vending/slot machines.
  • There are no other limitations.

White gear only challenge

  • The player can ONLY use white rarity gear from any drop or vending/slot machines.
  • There are no other limitations.

Assault rifle only challenge

  • The player can ONLY use assault rifles once the first one shows up.
  • All weapon rarity colors are permissible.
  • All non-weapons rarity colors are permissible.
  • There are no other limitations.
    Note: If you did not get the Gearbox assault rifle in the beginning you’ll need to use that first pistol in the Cabinet in Claptrap’s Place until the VERY first assault rifle shows up and then you’ll be required to swap it out.

Now I’m tossing the idea around of doing one of these three next on PC and making an episodic chapter by chapter recording of each chapter for my (small) youtube channel. I’m leaning towards The Farmer Challenge. :cowboy_hat_face:

The “Poor Man” Challenge: (or woman if using a female character)

  • Only use gear you loot or get with turning in missions. Side mission farming encouraged!
  • Farming for better gear is encouraged!
  • No Vending machines allowed (this includes no refilling health and ammo from them).
  • No Slot machines allowed.
  • Getting gear in co-op from another player not allowed.
  • No DLC gear, main game only.
  • Spending earned Eridium is allowed.
  • Previous playthrough gear is not allowed.
  • No Gibbed save editor use allowed.
  • Badass tokens and bonuses allowed.

The “I Like Pain” challenge:

  • You can only use white and green rarity gear for all gear slots except class mod.
  • No class mods allowed.
  • Action skill tree use is completely prohibited. Cannot level up your action skill at all. Not even 1 point.
  • Farming gear from vending machines and slot machines is allowed.
  • Getting gear in co-op from another player not allowed.
  • DLC gear is allowed.
  • Spending earned Eridium is allowed.
  • Previous playthrough gear is allowed.
  • No Gibbed save editor use allowed.
  • Badass tokens and bonuses allowed.

The “Farmer” Challenge:

  • Only Jakob’s wheelguns, Jakob’s shotguns and Jakob’s rifles (assault and sniper!) are allowed. (get off my lawn!)
  • No class mods allowed.
  • No grenade mods allowed.
  • No relics allowed.
  • No Vending machines allowed (this includes no refilling health and ammo from them).
  • No Slot machines allowed.
  • Getting gear in co-op from another player not allowed.
  • DLC gear is allowed if they fall in to the aforementioned requirements.
  • Spending earned Eridium is allowed.
  • Previous playthrough gear is allowed.
  • No Gibbed save editor use allowed.
  • Badass tokens and bonuses allowed.
    _Note: Player will not get a Jakob’s weapon from Claptrap’s cabinet in the beginning so you’ll need to use that first pistol until the VERY first qualifying Jakob’s branded weapon shows up and then you’ll be required to swap it out. _

How about you all? Any self-imposed challenges to share? I think it would be fun to see what others have come up with.

Oh, and I attempted this challenge below but abandoned it shortly after getting to The Fridge right at level 14. God I do not like using Krieg but that pales in comparison to only using Bandit gear. Using only Bandit gear is probably about the hardest thing I could imagine other than a no-shield white rarity gear only challenge.

Bandit branded weapon only challenge - aka The Bandit challenge

  • The player can ONLY use Bandit branded weapons once the first one shows up.
  • The player can ONLY use Bandit branded grenade mods, class mods and shields.
  • All weapon rarity colors are permissible.
  • All non-weapons rarity colors are permissible.
  • Player must choose Psycho as their character class.
    _Note: Player will not get a Bandit weapon from Claptrap’s cabinet in the beginning so you’ll need to use that first pistol until the VERY first Bandit branded weapon shows up and then you’ll be required to swap it out. _
    Note 2: You won’t see a Bandit branded shield until a bit in to the game so you’re going without a shield until that time.
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#2

I have literally just started a Bandit Zer0. Should be horrifying.

@Psymonkee is the resident King of Pain.

He took my Dahlvador (Dahl allegiance Gunzerker obviously) challenge, and took it to Twitch. It was rough (and delightful) to watch.

This was probably the most interesting community event since the Loot Hunt :

Basically the person who finishes Normal with the least XP. Truly remarkable what came of that.

@Kuolemanlaakso is another chump…erm…I mean…champ of pain runs.

Lots of folks do “ultimate challenges” : OP8 with 72 gear - or even 61 gear. No other restrictions.

@Sun_Tsunami and @StrikerZidane did the latter recently :

That was pretty mind blowing.

Another recommendation I made to the Time Trials lot was a no-action-skill / no-skillpoint run. It did not receive a warm reception :smile:

5 Likes
#3

Awesome! I love it. Great to hear others do this stuff. I try not to do too many frustrating challenges because I still wanna have fun. It’s why I stopped the Bandit only challenge. Got tired of dying. Haha. Especially with no Bandit shields for a while (means no shields at all) and mostly white/green Bandit gear. Ugh, it was rough.

Keep it coming!

2 Likes
#4

I Still need to finish this! Stuck in Sawtooth Cauldron though. Maybe a late night stream when I get back from work Xmas do? :smiley:

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#5

Oh crap, I totally forgot that low level NVHM challenge and left it hanging. That was an interesting one.

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#6

I could be enticed into something, possibly. The girlfriend actually encouraged me to bring my PS4 over for Christmas… Foolish woman :smiley: so I will potentially have more time to partake.

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#7

Here are mine for gear/builds. These are more ways to force as much variety into the combat than challenges for the sake of a little more difficulty.

  • Allegiance to guns, grenades, and shields
    • Exception: Pangolin and Anshin shields are available to anyone
  • Every piece of red-texted gear by any manufacturer must be given some combat role.
  • Only one instance of any red-texted weapon may be used
    • Exception: Fibbers with different barrels are considered different weapons, so I get three of these.
  • These 8 manufacturers are spread across two each of Mechromancers, Assassins, Commandos, and Sirens. Only one capstone may be shared across any two characters’ builds.
  • Before starting a run, I pick a loadout that I think will work, and I have to use it through the run. Sometimes they’re strong, but sometimes they’re… less so.

For combat challenges:

  • King of the Hill (find some point on a map full of enemies, get there without killing any of them, and hold your ground until all enemies are dead. Pretty much every map will have something like this, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be a high point.
    • The platform beneath the bridge over Lake Shining Horizons (UBA Pyre and Rift Threshers can turn this from a walk in the park to raid mode).
    • On top of the Cara Van from one end of The Dust to the other (AKA: Teen Wolf)
    • On top of the dump truck on the Varkid Ramparts (for bonus points, go stir up extra critters around the red chest in the next area)
    • The bridge over the tracks in Lynchwood (not easy to get there without killing anything and not dying yourself… I usually make an exception for anything actually standing on the bridge)
  • Assassination (sneak into a map undetected, kill a specific target without alerting him or her as well, and get out undetected). This is largely the domain of Zer0, but I still do this with random enemies… Prospector Zeke and Mad Mike have proven to be most difficult.

I played a Bandit Zer0… I thought it was pretty epic. Watching him reload a Bandit assault rifle like a record-breaking Rubik’s Cube solution was worth it if nothing else. :laughing: Rising Sh0t and Tw0 Fang do let you rock those deep magazine sizes though.

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#8

The Blindfold Challenge.
Play the entire game blindfolded. I haven’t made it past the launch screen yet. This is really hard.

4 Likes
#9

I don’t usually do self-imposed challenges but I also remembered this one from a while back that I participated in called the ultimate badass vaulthunter or something like that which was basically playing on OP8 without using skillpoints past 50 (so 22 left hanging). There were additional rules about not using TTAODK items and second gen legendary classmods but I don’t think those rules are that necessary. Taking on OP8 with the skillbuild you’d have at 50 was pretty fun though, surprising myself.

And I know this might sound pretty obvious but turning your BAR off and enjoying your character at the basic given power level does make the game feel better. You’ve likely already done this considering you’re looking into additional challenges but there are a lot of people running with BAR on while doing extra challenges. Getting 20 % bonus to gun damage, crit damage, reload speed and shield recharge rate among other bonuses is kind of a big deal in bumping your powerlevel.

2 Likes
#10

Yo, I’m doing this challenge right now and I’d say the challenge is pretty tough. Though I’m horrendously under leveled so far and not really doing any side missions so that’s adding to it. Not being able to use ammo or health vending machines is proving quite challenging. Plus, I’m not getting any Jakob’s drops for ■■■■ so I’m also using seriously under leveled gear too. My sniper rifle is level 8 but I’m level 15 and so far NO blue or higher drops for Jakob’s gear just to give you an idea what a pain this is so far. Right now I just finished chapter ten and about to go to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.

The biggest pain is that Constructors are so far the most difficult to deal with. I’m guesstimating so far if this pace continues it’ll take me about 11~12 hours to beat if I don’t grind. But I’m willing to bet I’m gonna need to grind–which I’ll cut out of the video capture.

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#11

This sounds interesting. Knuckledragger always drops a white Jakobs pistol and of course you always get a Jakobs shotgun from the chest before heading the Southern Shelf. I’m thinking Zer0 could be good for this due to his skills allowing you to make Jakobs even better.

3 Likes
#12

I am currently running a no back pack game with Zero. I am in TVHM about to turn in the power core. If I find a weapon/nade/ etc one level higher than me that I want to keep, then I have to give up that slot until I am able to equip it.

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#13

I killed Knuckledragger in a spot where his loot was unobtainable so I got no weapon drops. :frowning: And I rocked that first shotgun for a while. It was pretty powerful. So far the rest of the game has proven very sparse with Jakob’s drops. It’s funny because a usual game I’ll get plenty but no not now. lol

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#14

No vendors for buying/getting health but I assume we can sell stuff there?

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#15

So i’m here until Saturday and i’m considering a new run, not sure if i’ll do a challenge or not yet. Might do my Bane-only-Krieg :smiley:

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#16

Yup. Good with selling what ever. :+1:

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#17

I’ve never done a Bandit allegiance before, perhaps I should do that :thinking:

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#18

Dude a Bandit only challenge is BRUTAL. LOL

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#19

I concur. I’m doing it with Zer0 no less. Doing it purist is no fun so for now (level 33) I’m allowing him a bladed Rubi from time to time. That’s a pretty big cheat but that’s what it takes.

His one Bandit COM however is the Survivor which gives him a teeny tiny bit of healing.

2 Likes
#20

Wow a Zer0 Bandit only challenge. You got brass balls son. :sunglasses:

I may give it another try. This time I’ll pick Axton or Maya instead of Krieg. I chose Maya for the Farmer Challenge. Working out so far. Axton is almost cheating. As is Gaige. LOL

edit
Ok so level 15/16 is VERY under leveled for the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. Especially with no elemental weapons and under leveled gear. Geez, I spent so much time hit and running that the previous enemies had already respawned thus compounding the problem. So … I had to actually grind out some side quests–which I’m not done with just to get to at least 18. I’m at 17½ right now but it’s late and I’m tired.

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