I’m still very early into Borderlands. It’s a fun game so far. Four player co-op is fun. Lot’s of fun combat. Lot’s of different and fun-to-use weapons. Heck, even the RPG elements to this shooter have entertained so far. The only bad part?
The sharing. Sharing sucks. Read on.
Playing this game co-op IS fun. Teaming up to tackle some of the bigger baddies can be very fun. When it comes time to divvy up the loot, however, things ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. Take my play through last night, going from level 13 to 17. I partied up with two guys that were level 20 an another that was level 12. With a disparity that significant, I was fairly free to take my pick of weapons, as the level 20 guys had much better stuff than I. Sure, when guns came along, I shared with my level 12 friend, we were all buddy buddy…
Then we hit the quest boss… You see, he drops a sweet ass shotgun that you won’t find anywhere else. Naturally, as the only soldier of the group and the party leader, they were all playing my quest. I should have received the shotgun. But no. I had so far had my pick of the litter with weapons. I simply felt bad in taking such a prime piece of loot, after taking a lot of the good weapons we had run across thus far. So I let my slightly lower level Berserker buddy take it…
That was a mistake.
First off, giving up an epic purpley shotgun that good just hurts. Second, I’m pretty sure that he can go back into the single player and re-do that boss fight and pick that bad boy up again. Even if he can’t, I still don’t have the gun, a weapon that my class was designed to use…
Yah see, Borderlands just doesn’t promote cooperative play. It’s really all just every man for himself. If it wasn’t for the increase in epic loot drops that you get by partying up, I don’t really see why anyone would want to play this game cooperatively at all. There’s nothing worse than seeing a sweet gun get swiped up by your teammate who is already rocking some good loot. Sure you can bitch and moan, but that doesn’t really make the game play BETTER. You’re just stuck. And that sucks.
Luckily, I’ve been able to play with some pretty cool people, but if you’re going to party up, lay some ground rules.
1. Don’t play with others that are the same class as you. You’ll be competing for weapon drops and that isn’t fun.
2. Establish a “dibs” rule. For instance, if someone calls dibs on the next shotty, you generally have to honor that.
3. Be egalitarian. If you’re a hunter class that excels with sniper rifles, don’t take the kick ass rocket launcher from the Berzerker guy.
4. Don’t be that guy. You know who you are. Don’t be THAT guy. If you’re saying to yourself right now, “I’m not that guy…” You ARE that guy. Just stop.
Is there a better solution? I dunno, as it’s a problem that MMO’s have been dealing with for quite a while. In console games like Too Human for instance, if you picked up a weapon or armor that wasn’t part of your class, you couldn’t use it, which lead to much trading and fairness. I would definitely appreciate something like that, perhaps an alternate mode in the game that locked certain weapon classes off from others? It’s a start, because the method in place now detracts from the game in a significant way.
I dunno, maybe I’m just pissed that I have to share my stuff… Nah, that can’t be it.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I’m not super crazy far (~5 hours of split screen yesterday), but if it is a boss, you should be able to go back yourself- we wandered back to Nine-Toes lair looking for the data recorders in Skag Gulley, and he was back, and so was the clipper (his fire/melee pistol). We were high enough level at that point it only took half a clip from my smg to kill him, but he still dropped it again, maybe that will help.
As Draxxlith said, you can just reload you game and get it again, or just wait long enough and he’ll “respawn”. Besides, I am pretty sure I know the gun you’re talking about, and since it has only 2 rounds per clip, it’s not as good as you think.
How about the online standby system of need versus greed and if that doesn’t settle it then the computer can roll for it (all handled in game).
This is DEFINITELY a game that should only be played with trustworthy friends who care more about have a balanced team than just trying to better themselves.
My group of friends and I are currently at level 20 and having a blast with this game.
I agree, play with people you know is your best option in this game. I have several friends I’m currently playing with and we’re all around level 25, we’ve basically settled on what type of weapons each person prefers and try to give first dips to those folks.
I am curious about one thing though, Lono points out that the shotgun is a ‘class weapon’ for the Soldier. What’s the ‘class weapon’ for the Siren’s out there?
Most of the classes get weapon-specific perks, but the Siren class gets increases to elemental damage and firing speed, without the gun-type limitation.
I imagine that with a Siren around you always have a chance for overlap, and the ‘class-specific’ argument won’t always fly.
The upshot to the game is that there’s always another pile of weapons around the corner and that shotty will soon be another piece of vendor trash, no matter who looted it
The Siren is the shotgun class not the Soldier, I’m pretty sure he’s Assault. I don’t know, I like playing with people rather than by myself. It’s a fun experience just have an understanding and talk about new weapons before just picking them up.
If you’re talking about Sledge’s shotty, you’re not missing much. It has an accuracy of zero, so it’s not going to do much damage unless you’re close enough to shove it down the enemy’s throat.
If you want to go back, he will most likely respawn. I’ve killed that Bonehead dude at least three times, and each time he dropped his unique weapon for me.