The last few months I’ve been going back and forth between Borderlands Classic, Borderlands 2, Borderlands The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3 in preparation for Borderlands 4’s release and noticed something about the Vault Hunters that I thought was VERY INTERESTING!!!
Borderlands 2 is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. Taking place five years following the events of Borderlands (2009), the game is again set on the planet of Pandora. The story follows a new group of Vault Hunters who must ally with the Crimson Raiders, a resistance group made up of civilian survivors and guerrilla fighters, to defeat the tyrannical Handsome Jack before he can unlock the power of a new Vault. The game features the ability to explore the in-game world and complete main missions and optional side quests, either in offline splitscreen, single-player or online cooperative gameplay. Like its predecessor, the game features a procedurally generated loot system which is capable of generating numerous combinations of weapons and other gear.
With the unexpected success of the first game, Gearbox was able to secure a budget of $30–35 million to develop the sequel. Like its predecessor, the game adopted the “concept art style”, which features graphics inspired by both photorealistic imagery and comic-book-inspired visuals. The team attempted to address players’ feedback from the first game, and recruited Anthony Burch who wrote the game’s script which is seven times longer than that of the original game. Among the game’s diverse cast of characters, Handsome Jack, the central antagonist, was created to be a charismatic “douche” that mirrors Burch’s own personality. Borderlands 2 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2012, and it was ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of The Handsome Collection in March 2015.
The game received universal acclaim upon release. Critics generally praised the game’s visuals, writing, gameplay, and online multiplayer, as well as its variety of guns, while criticising its mission design and content fillers. The handheld and the virtual reality versions of the game were regarded to be inferior to the console and PC versions. More than 20 million units were shipped upon release and the game became 2K’s most successful release. It was nominated for multiple year-end accolades by several gaming publications. Gearbox supported the game with four add-on campaigns, new characters and five content packs. The game was followed by Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in October 2014, and Borderlands 3 in September 2019. According to leaks in August 2023 Gearbox Software has officially begun development of Borderlands 4 on the Unreal Engine 4.
ADDITIONAL TAGS IGNORE THESE
Borderlands Gameplay, Walkthrough, Tips and Tricks, Weapons, Character Builds, Co-op, Boss Fights, Quests, Story, DLC, Multiplayer, Easter Eggs, Secrets, Review, Let’s Play, Funny Moments, Mods, Customization, Leveling Guide, Loot, Skill Trees, Vault Hunters, Pandora, Claptrap, Handsome Jack, Sirens, Psychos, Bandits, Vault Hunting, Shooter, RPG, Action, Open World, Loot-Shooter, Sci-Fi, First-Person, Multiplayer Shooter, Cooperative Play, Character Progression, Game Mechanics, Skill Development, Game Lore, Sanctuary, Badassery, Wildlife, Universe, RPG Elements, Co-op Strategies, Side Quests, Rare Loot, Legendary Weapons, Borderlands Series, Pandora’s Vault, Pandora’s Secrets, Pandora’s Wildlife, Borderlands Lore, Borderlands Universe, Pandora Exploration, Pandora’s Wasteland, Pandora’s Challenges, Borderlands Fun, Borderlands Adventure, Borderlands Community, Pandora’s Borderlands, Vault Hunting Strategies, Borderlands Mayhem, Borderlands Tips, Pandora’s Bosses, Borderlands Storyline, Borderlands Achievements, Borderlands Skills, Pandora’s Dangers, Pandora’s Treasures, Borderlands Enemies, Borderlands Challenges, Pandora’s Landscapes, Borderlands Boss Strategies, Borderlands Co-op Fun, Pandora’s Quests, Borderlands Class Builds, Borderlands Multiplayer Mayhem, Pandora’s Hidden Secrets, Borderlands Weaponry, Borderlands Community Creations, Pandora’s Legendary Loot, Borderlands Skill Trees, Pandora Exploration Guide, Borderlands Customization Options, Pandora’s Rare Items, Borderlands Funny Gameplay, Pandora’s Eridium, Borderlands Easter Egg Hunt, Pandora’s Bandit Gangs, Borderlands Side Quest Guide, Pandora’s Unique Characters, Borderlands Legendary Gear, Pandora’s Alien Artifacts, Borderlands DLC Adventures, Pandora’s Mysterious Vault, Borderlands Story Analysis, Pandora’s Character Backstories, Borderlands Cooperative Strategies, Pandora’s Dangerous Wildlife, Borderlands Lore Secrets, Pandora’s Epic Battles, Borderlands Mod Showcase, Pandora’s Character Progression, Borderlands Co-op Challenges.
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It was touched on briefly, but annointments or whatever term you want to use for them are just straight garbage. Not only do they drastically ruin RNG and loot drops/loot drop excitement, but they also ruin gameplay.
Instead of using your unique action skill to actually do something, you're instead just triggering the same button press combo so under the hood your numbers get boosted without really caring what those button presses do.
Like with Zane, I remember just blindly firing off his cannon to get to the Action skill started/ended sequence, or calling Iron Bear just to hop out immediately.
Don’t worry soon epic k6 and joltz will talk about this
Now that you mention it …. This makes so much sense.
😮oh no… A POWER SCALING VIDEO FROM MAK HIMSELF, about the difference in power from the OGs to the "originals"
first thought "pre vidja watchin"
TBF, canonically, the BL2 heroes still seemed a helluvalot more dependable then the BL3 heroes. For cripes sake, I hate to say it, but even troy said that Maya, "she didn't know what power she had!"
Could be a bullshit "next story new writers" asspull thing, but I hate that being the absolute nowadays.
Obviously though, I've been putting up with this for quite a few years, so HONESTLY, whatever they put out nowadays, I don't think I'll even talk about.
"Gold-Hardcased pre-orderer" here, just take some time to wait and see how the game is received.
I always thought that the Borderlands 2 Vault Hunters just felt like blatant upgraded versions of the Borderlands 1 Vault Hunters, but as time went on I was able to recognize the importance of all the Vault Hunters between Borderlands 1, 2, and Pre-Sequel. However, Borderlands 3 has the most apparent case of, "just copy my homework but change it up a little." Amara just gets 3 Siren Powers because why not. She gets Maya's ability, a phase blast, and a phase punch because why not. Fl4k just seems to be another version of Zer0. Instead of Kuni and Deception, Fl4k gets Rakk Attack and Fade Away. Moze not only gets a mech with 2 guns, but she can put Iron Bear into auto-turret. Moze also can do grenade builds far better than Axton. Zane seemed unique to me because he was an assassin with many skills, but the more I thought about it, he seemed like a hybrid of the previous characters. He's zesty like Salvador, he gets a decoy, he gets a turret/drone, and then gets a shield. I like Zane the most, and really did have fun with Borderlands 3 characters, but man something about them just felt missing. To me their abilities never really felt tailored to them like the way Borderlands 1, 2, and the Pre-Sequel's Vault Hunters abilities did.
Either that or they just didn't feel inventive. Like Krieg is such a standout characters with some abilities that just scream playable Psycho. But for some reason the Beast Masters best build was a Fade Away/Gorillas in the mist? I thought Fl4k would have this ultimate combo string of every beast in combat, basically playing pokemon in the game, but no, you get one pet in combat with you.
Seeing the class mod names is also a small detail that adds much more than you'd initially think
Something else BL1 & 3 share unique to them is somewhere just after level 20 a switch flips & legendries start spawning in vendors , chests etc .
I kinda don't understand BL3's legendary class mods
it's feeling too weak for legendary cms?
Hey MAK. I commented in k6 bl4 video "this might be the death of this franchise" he replied "I like to think of it as a glorious rebirth"
Moze is the only vault hunter I like in Bl3, her action skills stays the same but weapons are interchangeable so when shes an npc it shouldnt matter too much also her pov changes when you enter into the mech. But yeah those action skill icons are uninspired and need to be changed.
Me: Why is there a few minutes of random gameplay after he ends the video?
(Sees the video isn’t 10 minutes yet)
Me: Ah… Money.
BL3 Vault Hunters are action skill fluid Pog
I feel like they will do a combination throughout your time with those characters. For flakk, I feel like they'd prioritize one animal and maybe have the others in a safe space or something. Like them staying at sanctuary or something idk. Hopefully, this next game turns out to be good, and they can figure out some way to make it all work.
Mak always be saying facts. 💯
The only thing i use Brick's skill for is to speed boost. It gets used at the start of the session and then any time i respawn. Gotta love that glitch
I think they really screwed up with not making new dlc VHs for 3. In 2 it added so much replayability and brought people back. I remember the hype around Krieg coming out vividly and is still my favorite VH. Look how many people were invested into SSBU everytime a new character was released, and the hype and videos of who's it going to be before hand etc. I just think new VHs are much more appealing than most of the story dlc. Why they quit doing this I don't know, but I do know it hurt the game by losing that method of bringing players back and keeping BL on peoples radar waiting for a new VH announcement.
Create your own vaulthunter sounds great and I think it worked well in wonderlands. However the characters made for the main series do tend to carry lore bits and story along from game to game. They also make for some of the best NPCs in future games. It allows you to have a deeper connection with a character you once controlled. That being said, I still like the idea of creating your own vault hunter
Being honest, it's more about gameplay than connecting to NPCs for me, so I don't care whether NPC Fl4k is running Fade Away or Gamma Burst. I really appreciate the opportunities for greater build diversity. A me thing, I know 😊
I have never actually thought about it but yeah it does help the vibe a lot
I love that 3’s trees have so much customization, but I do hope they keep the idea of FL4K’s swappable pets and shticks going as far as your choice and the flavor tied into them.
The pre sequel had the best vault hunters. I still wish they would just merge bl2 and the pre sequel into one game. I want to take Athena through the op levels and run Salvador with Oz kits killing kraggons
No mak, this is just ridiculous to be honest. The big problem is the zero charisma they gave to the vhs with the lore, the "play once the shut the fuck up" problem. The trees doesn't steal any bit of identity from them.
better writing definitely helps set these vault hunters apart from bl3 😂😂
2:55 never seen this chest before.
Nah. i give the visual on 1 vs 2 to you. but imho in BL1 the skills were actually valuable and had more impact than in BL2.
…everything is still better than 3, but thats a different topic. 😀
i think another one would be the menus and quest menus
bl1-tps actually did show you what you would get
you had a rough idea
you could take multiple quests from 1 npc
using fast travel n shit all so much better
and then they changed it to this soulless shit
1 tree per action skill < 3 trees per action skill
Don't limit us with augments. If we have enough skill points, let us get as many as we want
I 100% completely agree that borderlands 2 got the action skills spot on. I mite even replay 2 again this year!! The game just got so much right. On screen was clear you knew what was going on. 3 is over complicated in every way
I'd say zane using multiple sub classes is pretty unique, considering he's a hitman who needs multiple tools to get the job done
Maya had thought lock, which is effectively a different action skill.
Borderlands 2 had the most overall polish with a great variation of enemy types, solid playable character design and a brilliant campaign. Seems to be going the same way as most franchises with developers struggling to match the quality and content, possibly because games are getting too intensive to make. Graphics need to take a back seat as the length of games and quality of mechanics are being slowly cut down across the board.
i like borderlands 3 vault hunters better
FKN BETA?? EXCUSE ME??????
speaking of boring and lack of identity, have you ever noticed how each BL2's character and boss intros have their unique flair and style and BL3 just uses the same ugly font.
Imagine Moze iron bear having a more Vladof style hud, or a Cyberpunk style Zane for his drone and decoy cooldowns! A man can dream 😞
If we think of which action skills we see the most such as in the trailer amara will probs use phasecast and slam, Fl4k will use skagg, jabber and maybe spider ant, more will use Iron bear not cub and Zane will use decoy and barrier I don’t remember if he used his turret in the trailer
Will say tho Zane had more character than the other 3 combined
My guess is that as NPCs, we will see them use any number of their action skills at different times.
I wished bl3 showed the name of the class mod you were using like the bl2 hud
The bandit : JUST LLEEAAVVEE , I GOT NO TIME FOTHISSSE😂😂
Sound design plays a huge role in this too. In general, sound design goes really far in making Borderlands 2 feel unique, but especially when it comes to activating an action skill.
Great video
I liked how the action skill augments are on the side of skill trees instead of being a skill you have to spec into (like Thoughtlock). But i do agree that 3 different action skills for a character are too much. I enjoyed it for a while but became annoying after a while; especially if you're using an AC just to proc the annoint on your gun
TPS has the best vault hunters imo and it’s not even really close
I just saw you on the lolcow podcast. Can’t believe you touched the poop. I respect a man who laughs and studies the poop from a far. But, You just went in there and smashed the poop between your toes. Geeze man that was aggro as fuck
Honestly as much as i normally agree with the content you put out. Gonna have to disagree MAK I weirdly feel more attached to the characters in 3 than all the other ones. Their personalities are so enjoyable and to go off what you said with “uniqueness” as in ex: will flak show up in 4 as gamma burst or fade away even though you may have been a gamma burst flak? Gets negated for me if they just stick to what they did in the intro scenes showing off the characters. Idk. I see where you’re coming from and understand your points, but for me anyways the 3 vault hunters were each just sooo damn enjoyable and well written to play as. Even though they all had identical huds and what not you could definitely tell you was playing a different vault hunter and i hope they keep this style of sorta “build your own”. Anyways much love MAK and always good content to look forward to on my weekends!
If they were gonna change the main action skill they could have just made them the capstone of each tree
It'll have 0 effect to any borderlands game moving forward