With a lot of gameplay, interviews, and other info out there about Borderlands 2 a lot is already known of the game.

So I'm curious as to is, with the info that has been put out there, your short list of concerns about the first game being addressed in the sequel? With a game like Borderlands 2 I think a lot of the concern is with the gameplay and core systems of the game and not the narrative (other than the setting).

My two main concerns are the lack of a mini-map in the first game and the way missions were handled.

The mini-map has been added, although from video it looks kind of tiny. So that I love.

But I'm not sure on the second as I haven't seen any gameplay of them going through the story, picking up missions, selecting missions and such. I hate how its handled in the first game. You take a mission and it sits there in your mission log. You can only sort by area and accepted/completed. My main issue is that its hard to tell what missions you actually want to go for in an area because those missions are usually in another area.

I hope there is a way to sort by distance, since there are mission markers for each mission I'm sure that can be calculated easily. Or at least sort by the order taken. I dont want to go back to the lvl 1-5 content once I'm in the 30s, let me get rid of that or let me sort by order accepted.

What issues with the first game bothered you the most and are they addressing it? If not, or if you dont know if its been addressed, what do you want to see done about it in the sequel?

Yes, pretty much every little problem I had with the first game has been addressed. Really shows how much Gearbox listens to their fans. 
 
As for the mission thing, they have retooled it a bit. When you enter an area, the game will tell you if you have any active quests there. You can also deactivate quests you don't feel like doing so they don't clutter up your quest log.

I suppose the most glaring issue in Borderlands to me was the extremely simplistic story and its disappointing resolution. I enjoyed the game's characters and humorous dialog enough that those things didn't really affect my overall opinion of the game, but they can definitely be improved upon. I guess we'll see if this issue has been addressed after the game is released.

Aside from that, neither the grenades nor the melee attacks "felt" good to me. It would be nice to see them touched up but not essential.

@OneKillWonder_: I guess that would solve most of my issue with the mission select. Although I would really love if you could sort by how far an objective is from you. I dont want to do a mission for 5000 xp if its halfway across the planet.

Well, the menus seem much better; that was my main gripe with the first game.

Other than that, I hope the game will be more balanced for single-player; mainly, in terms-of the new secret boss (ok, they haven't confirmed it, but, let's face it, there will be something similar to Crawmerax...). I tried going back to kill Crawmerax recently, but I just gave up; waiting for the lift is just too frustrating, especially since I usually die in less than a minute.

Also, not so much an issue, but I think it's great that there's even more diversity in terms of loot :o

For me honestly yes. There seems to be a lot more unique gun effects and parts which should help reduce that issue where you knew you were getting new guns, but they didn't all look really unique as they were aiming with a procedural gun system (likely because it's their first proper go at a game mechanic like this). The fact that they are going out of their way to make as many crazy looking parts as possible to make guns fun to look at and fire makes it a more appealing looting system mechanic than any other game that involves loot to me. Environments are more varied which already covers my other issue with Borderlands. I just hope that there are a lot more missions with actual story components and acting from various characters than in the first, which it sounds like they have also been hard at work to hopefully address. The only thing left is that the PC version isn't as half-assed as Borderlands 1 though seems like they have it covered.

Just pre-ordered this game today and can't wait to give it a go.

@cmblasko: Yes, the melee was useless. At least make it a noticeable stun or something useful.

I should have added to mine, BETTER BOSS FIGHTS. I forgot how lame they were.

Will pistols/repeaters/auto pistols still be useless and crappy?

@Napalm: Weren't they useful for other classes though? Did you play soldier?

@MrOldboy: Pistols and repeaters were absolutely useless. Horrible rate of fire, horrible damage, horrible reload times. Awful, awful.

@MrOldboy: Melee wasn't useless. You could melee in the middle of a lot of reload animations (especially for guns with long-ass animations) and the melee attack would finish sooner than the reload animation, but the gun would have full ammo.

@Napalm said:

@MrOldboy: Pistols and repeaters were absolutely useless. Horrible rate of fire, horrible damage, horrible reload times. Awful, awful.

The revolvers on the Hunter class were pretty damn powerful.

I haven't watched anything on the game yet but was curious if there was some sort of trading system implemented? Does there seemed to be more enemy variety than in the last one from what has been shown? Thanks can't wait.

does anyone know if the terrain/world will be the same as the first one?

the main thing i didn't like about the first was that the open world element was flimsy, everything was too close together and, not only did it not feel epic, it didn't feel at all real.

No issues with the first one, so as long as they're moving forward I'm happy

@Napalm: Uhm. Pistols were awesome as Mordecai. More of an accuracy weapon though. Didn't find a lot of great Repeaters though.

@laserbolts: Yep, apparently they finally got around to adding trading! (source: http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1235965/borderlands_2_trading_duelling_for_loot_to_stop_online_thievery.html among others.)

@Oldirtybearon said:

@Napalm said:

@MrOldboy: Pistols and repeaters were absolutely useless. Horrible rate of fire, horrible damage, horrible reload times. Awful, awful.

The revolvers on the Hunter class were pretty damn powerful.

Well, revolvers aren't pistols or repeaters... so there's that.

@Napalm: FWIW: in Borderlands, Pistols are the collection name for Revolvers and Repeaters.

http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Pistol

I played it, and my main issues with the first involved quests not being engaging. Having handsome jack and claptrap talking to me all through the mission I played addressed that.

Pretty much all i can think of the top of my head has been addressed in the preview coverage, it still however remains to be seen if everything is hunky dory in the game itself when it comes out.

• gun visual variety - check
• character visual customization - check
• more variety to shields and grenades - check
• make rocket launchers viable - check
• PC interface and other customization options - check
• more class skill utility and customization - check
• an actual proper hub town with shit to do in it - check
• more types of chests and gambling - check
• better vehicle handling - check
• claptrap still in - check :)

@HH: There is way more variety to the environments, but that is about as much as we know, but Borderlands never really strived for any realism feeling in the first place imo, so probably not.

@laserbolts: Yes they have implemented a new trading system, way more enemy variety.

@Oldirtybearon: @Napalm: Repeaters were indeed shit overall, but revolvers were actually very powerful (esp with Mordecai), with some work and skills reload time became a non issue. Mmmm i still got fond memories of all my caustic revolvers.

@Mnemoidian said:

@Napalm: FWIW: in Borderlands, Pistols are the collection name for Revolvers and Repeaters.

http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Pistol

Hopefully that's changed for Borderlands 2, because that doesn't make any goddamn sense. Pistols always sucked. Repeaters were always weak as shit, and I never found much of a use for revolvers, but they were frequently super powerful.

To be honest, even if the few minor issues I had with the original were still present, Borderlands 2 would still be one of my most hotly anticipated games.

@Napalm said:

Will pistols/repeaters/auto pistols still be useless and crappy?

I have to respectfully disagree with you; this was one of my best weapons:

Well it looks like the story is more interesting now and there are more varieties of enemies, so my only two complaints are fixed. I'll be a happy gamer come the 18th.

@Napalm said:

Will pistols/repeaters/auto pistols still be useless and crappy?

Get a high rate of fire pistol that has an elemental power to it and have high skill in pistols and they get pretty powerful.

That first pistol you get for killing 9-toes was really great. It was essentially an SMG with a flame mod on it, except it counted as a pistol. The only problem it had was that the first time you get it your a low level player and you don't have a high ammo count, so it chewed through your ammo. Later on though when 9-toes is a level 69...

I can't tell, but as long as the menus are easier to handle and nothing's broken in the PC version I'm happy... of course I hope that the bosses aren't a total joke again, but even if that was the case I'd probably still enjoy the hell out of it.

We'll just have to find out when we play it. I wasn't a big fan of Borderlands so hopefully they fixed my issues with the first game.

Borderlands was a really boring game for me. Even playing with friends it did not grab me. It was "ok". Nothing I have seen of the second one (tbh I have not watched much footage) makes me want to go out and buy it.

• More diversity in landscapes
• More diversity in weapons & layouts
• Less clutter quests
• More than just one main skill each class

This for me. It seems to improve on most of my issues with the first game, but I wish they could bring more skills into the table though.

@FritzDude: Hm, I thought each class had three skill trees?

@BeachThunder: I mean that main skill you use. You know, turret et cetera. Are there more that I didn't know about?

@FritzDude said:

@BeachThunder: I mean that main skill you use. You know, turret et cetera. Are there more that I didn't know about?

Oh, right, I see what you're saying. No, I don't believe there are. Not sure that it's a huge issue though; the turret last time was able to gain a lot of abilities making it pretty versatile.

My main gripes were lack of mini map and having to press a button to pick up money & ammo. Both have been fixed, life is good.

My issue with the first game was the story telling but honestly I don't really care if they have fixed it or not I just want to shoot guys. I'm glad they are making the gun manufacturers more unique though - pretty sure I heard that somewhere.

Different environments are cool too, I'm sure they are making improvements.

I was pretty happy with the original, i'd like to see better boss fights

Mission briefings are fully voiced now, right? I got tired of having text boxes shoved in my face all the time.

@Napalm said:

Will pistols/repeaters/auto pistols still be useless and crappy?

I disagree as well, one of my strongest weapons was my level 69 Pestilent Defiler, along with my Double Anarchy.

Most of the issues appear to have been resolved. More diverse guns, crazy shields and grenades, different environments, longer. And one I'm really happy about, all the classes look fun to play! In the first Borderlands only Lillith looked fun, everyone else was just blurrghh.

I think the biggest concern to me is quest variety. Don't get me wrong: I love the first game,but I think the quests in the second should be alot more than "Get to Point B from point A", "Kill # of said enemy", and "Find item"

@FritzDude said:

@BeachThunder: I mean that main skill you use. You know, turret et cetera. Are there more that I didn't know about?

Kind of. Gamechangers might fill that role for you, but they're still attached to the main skill. For example, Zer0 can get a skill at the end of one of his trees which lets him throw a handful of kunai that deal random elemental damage. Something that he wouldn't be able to do otherwise and its completely unique to him, but the catch is you have to be in deception mode to activate it.

My problem with the first one was that the environment felt too static and lifeless, and the story didn't provide enough motivation to keep me playing all the way through. It seems both of these things have been improved so yes, my 'issues' have been addressed, and then some.

I still hate the visual style, but that's partially because I played SO MUCH Borderlands. Everything else seems great.

My only real complaint about Borderlands 1 (and I hate myself for saying this) was the lack of cutscenes. That's not to say I want a massive flood of them, but the artstyle and characters are so great that it would be awesome to see some more costum made interactions instead of just reading text or hearing radio voices. The character splash screens in the first one just teased me a tad too much. Don't really think they're gonna change it up though, but I guess we'll see.

I would say every issue i can think of has been fixed, assuming the story is actually good i think this has a real shot at being a goty candidate.

The big issue I had with the last game was the lack of variety in the locations and the visuals. It looks to me as if they have improved this area.

@FritzDude said:

• More diversity in landscapes
• More diversity in weapons & layouts
• Less clutter quests
• More than just one main skill each class

This for me. It seems to improve on most of my issues with the first game, but I wish they could bring more skills into the table though.

I am usually on the fence about adding more Active skills to a game like this. First and foremost, it's an FPS, so the focus should be on shooting guns most of the time anyway. In theory it could be fun, but without over complicating mechanics and giving you extra buttons to push, most of the abilities would come down to being things that are Passives right now anyway.

Sure, you could add the ability to throw fireballs or lock down enemies, but I see 2 problems with that 1) Active damage abilities are redundant; why not just shoot em in the head? 2) Things like Crowd Control would just homogenize the classes if they all got it, or make the classes who do have it imbalanced over the others.

I realize a game like Mass Effect does this, but it really almost is a case of the first I stated; you're either shooting OR throwing out powers, not both.

@FritzDude: While each class only has one class special ability, they are now much more customizable, to the point where their usage starts to completely differentiate depending on how you spec. For example sirens phaselock can become a massive AoE that spreads slag vulnerability to large groups of enemies, or a healing crowd control, or you can try to make it into a constantly chaining effect from one enemy to another on stop if you kill fast enough.

@BeachThunder: While that gun may be quite good, i find it best to measure weapons worth relative to other weapons, as such the equivalent type/quality Helfire SMG would leave an auto pistol in the dust with over 13 fire rate and 40+ clips

My only issue with Borderlands 2 remains this: The one wholly new class is post-release DLC.

Overall, Borderlands 2 looks like it will be SSX Tricky to Borderlands' SSX. It's not a bad thing, but it's also not a good thing.

I have a single character (Mordecai, of course) with 16 days playtime on it in Borderlands. My only issue with Blands is that 2's not out yet.

@Keavy_Rain: Except that they are very different classes that only have a few things in common with previous ones (most of that is thematic nothing more), all classes have completely different skill trees for one. The only 1 class that even has a main similar action skill is the Soldier with his turret. And Gunzerker has almost nothing in common with Brick at all.

@Hitchenson: Dude ... what, the, fuck. Sixteen days?!?! And i though i played that game a lot lol. What do you even do for 16 days on one char 2.5 playthoughs with all the expansions take like an eight of that max.

My issue was that it wasn't all that fun solo. And it got kind of repetitive after a while, so I never finished it.

Also the interface on the PC wasn't great.