So I pre ordered Borderlands 2 on Steam and got the pre order pack with the Mechromancer and all the other add on stuff that came with it (didn't really pay much attention to the other stuff just wanted the Mechromancer class).

I just hit level 10 and rode up to Sanctuary and saw a weapon chest, 'cool, a weapon chest in the city' *open* awh sweet, awesome purple guns. Then I did a mission, came back and went back to the chest to see what had spawned and it said something like 'you don't have any gold keys' and I was like huh? Then I looked more closely and saw the chest had gold skulls on it, then I realised 'Oh, those gold keys I've heard about' Luckily I got a pretty good purple Sniper and Shotgun for my first drop which was useful because that's what I've been maining (btw are there gun progresions in this game ala Boderlands 1 or no?) but I thought the whole introduction of a 'gold key' system a bit weird.

It didn't really make me aware 'this is a gold key chest' until I used it. Is this supposed to be a free to play type incentive? Buy more gold keys to open more gold chests or what? Seems weird. I'm not complaining if so (well yeah...maybe I am, seems kind of out of place for a full retail product) but is it just me or do they not give you much heads up on the whole 'gold key' system?

They really ought to fix this in the next patch by adding some prompt or whatever. Granted, it's a very unique looking chest that has special open icon but there's a tonne of people that keep accidentally opening the damn thing and wasting their key and it's real bummer. Hell, I haven't even played the game and it's bumming me out.

I dunno, I figured my golden key was for the golden chest personally. That and the fact a picture of the key pops up telling you how many you have when you look at the chest. If you sign up to Shift (Gearbox's community thing) you'll get yourself another key though, so all is not lost.

And no, they're not sold. Probably be given out for comps and such.

@eroticfishcake: Yeah, the UK version was only released on Fri so I'm kind of new to the whole thing, although I think I saw people talking about it and thought 'nah, that won't happen to me, can't be that obscure' and yeah..it happened to me :D

@Hitchenson: Yeah I saw there was a 'redeem code' thing and then it kicked me to the Gearbox site or some other thing (Shift?) which I thought was pretty shady, I don't really want to give away my details for marketing purposes just for another key. We'll see how they handle it, seems super free to play incentive, almost like 'you can wait 12 hours to grow your crops, or you pay some money and your crops can be ready now'.

I heard they hotfixed that .ini file exploit to give yourself unlimited keys and unlock the pre-order stuff. Can anyone confirm?

So, I just got this today. Anyone care to explain this to me so I don't fall down the same rabbit hole? I've paid zero attention to anythings borderlands 2.

@familyphotoshoot: Yeah there was a thread on here about that which got locked to not condone cheats. Most of the thread was contained with people saying 'the game is a loot game, if you're just going to gimp the loot system what's the point in playing the game?' and I think I have to agree. 'Yeah, I got the Epic Sword of Epicness!', well done, you just ruined the game for yourself.

Is there anyway to get more gold keys in the game?

@Hunkulese said:

Is there anyway to get more gold keys in the game?

Not at the moment. You get one if you're in the premiere club and one for signing up for their silly Shift rewards program. Gearbox is fronting like they may distribute more in the future.

I wasted a key on that chest too before I knew it was that chest, then as soon as I realized what I'd opened, I alt-F4'd out of the game to hopefully avoid it saving. But it already had, so not only did I lose a key, I didn't get the loot either. Terrible design on their part, I've seen tons of people saying they did the same thing.

@eroticfishcake: Yeah, totally just did this last night.

Yeah, the chest looks different but I was playing late at night, tired, and I didn't even remember I had a gold key. Only realise when I got back to town and the chest couldn't be opened again. I thought it was some sort of special post-mission reward at first. Kinda bummed out.

Really weird that they didn't force a confirmation prompt for that.