My trip to Gearbox to play Borderlands.

I would of wrote this a month ago but I had to sign some papers saying I wouldn't talk till today. So ya, Im writing this at midnight so I could write this asap. Also im putting this in General discussion because it covers more than just the game. 

Last month I was one of the lucky two to win the contest held here on the big Bomb. It was really the first only contest I had won. Good thing I live 30 minutes away from Gearbox's studio.  

I arrived about 25 minutes early at the studio located at the Bank of America building in Plano, Texas. Walking in I noticed another man standing with a cameria and was messing with his phone. I asked him if he was there for the play session and he was. We started talking about the game and what other games we had been playing recently. Turns out he was from Shacknews.con and was one of 8 people, including myself, that had one contests from different sites. One being Giantbomb, Destructiod, Shacknews, and the Gearbox forums.

 
At around 4 Steve from Gearbox came down and showed us to the room were we would be playing. It full of three things I love most: Pizza, Soda, and video games. So just walking in I was happy. The other

 contest winners had already arrived and were getting ready to play. All of them seemed really excited about the game and were asking

 questions even before we started playing. The guy next to me though, a contest winner from Destructiod, was sooo annoying. He kept saying stupid commentative things about the game every 5 sec. Man that guy was annoying.

Anyways, on to the game. To start out bluntly, Borderlands is an AWESOME game. From the graphics to the gameplay it feels solid. The way the combat works is engaging and fun, and the quest system, while not anything new, moved quickly and at a fun pace. 
 
You start out with a standard machine gun and handgun. Im not sure if your able to pick from the beginning but we all started out as the character Roland. The soldier of the game with talent tree branching from Medic, Support, and a DPS spec. He has the ability to send out a turret that do many things from heal to supply ammo.  
 
Other playable classes/characters include.

•    Mordecai- The hunter of the group. He's better off with a Sniper rifle. He is, from what I saw, primarily a DPS class.
  
• Lilith- The mage of the group. She has a "Phase Walk" that lets her become invisible to enemy and can attack them while in this phase.
  
• Brick- The tank of the group. His main role is the take the damage for the group. His ability is to take a TON of damage and deal massive amounts of damage also.
  

One thing you can do at the beginning is to change the color of your class. While not the biggest feature it was nice to see some customization to a named character.  A little Robot teaches you the basics but Ill let you guys figure out the rest. I dont want to completely ruin it. 

Playing alone I got up to level 6 in about 30 minutes. Not bad for leveling compared to other rpgs. The quest system will net you the most xp but killing things will also get you a fair amount of xp. While Im on the topic of killing things. This game is a strong M rating. The first time I did a melee attack the guy's head EXPLODED! It was awesome and this also happens when you get headshot and what not. Now back to the quest system. As I said before it has a nice flow to it. Now there is some running between wave points but thats expected. It has a very WoW feeling to it, but that makes it a good thing cause WoW's quest system is very strong and fun. The loot also is very Diablo-E. It can drop off anyone and anything and I is all seperated by color. How the loot works in multiplayer is Snake loot which means first come first serve. So be quick on getting loot! They did say they would change it if too many people said something about it. 
 

At about the hour mark of playing we were asked if we would like a tour from Randy Pitchford himself and other members of the staff. The offices themselves were very casual. Full of action figures and video game merch. Randy's office was the best by far. With old video games everywhere it seemed more like a museum. The other offices were full of people ether working on Borderland or other projects that we were not allowed to see. They were constantly erasing things off of dry boards that they said we were not allowed to

 see. As we walked to the front desk they had a big stack of posters that they had just got in that day. We all got one and they were signed by Randy and other members of the staff. Along with a t-shirt and sticker. (Ill post a large picture of the poster at the end of this blog.) I could of done without the sticker but what-evs it was free. As we were getting our poster signed I noticed that Pitchford had a cloths pin on his back. Like someone was playing a joke on him. I didn't say anything to him because I thought it was funny but someone else said something to him and the cloths pin said Shacknew.com on it. Damn why didnt I thing of that...Anyways we saw their central server and that was only inte    resting because of the gnome that lives in there. Over all it was a nice office.
 
When we returned we went on to 4 player co-op. I kept on playing Roland because in past games like this one I usually pick the medic. Gameplay moves fast and furious. People are shooting left and right while ammo and loot is falling all over from dudes you kill. The key to the gamplay was to stay together because later in the game the bad guys get really hard to take down. It also doesn't help that there is a bunch of them on screen at a time most of the time. Playing the medic was fun but there was one flaw: the other people wouldn't stay still. How the medic heals is ether A) Throws out his turret and the turret heals people B) When the medic kills someone the gets a ring around him that heals party members C) You shoot your teammates with your gun. That last option is really the only big one because the turret is on a cooldown and you don't kill that many people because of your low damage output. There is a problem with shooting your teammates to heal them is that they dont stay still for very long. That makes shotguns and rocket launchers the better tools for healing. You also cant heal yourself which is a bummer. I told them that though so they might change it. 
 
I could go on forever talking about what I saw and played but ill leave that to questions if anyone has any. So please ask a-way. 
 
Another note: If I have said too much please tell me and Ill delete this. If that doesnt happen then good. This took forever to type. 
 

Here is the poster I got.

I would of wrote this a month ago but I had to sign some papers saying I wouldn't talk till today. So ya, Im writing this at midnight so I could write this asap. Also im putting this in General discussion because it covers more than just the game. 

Last month I was one of the lucky two to win the contest held here on the big Bomb. It was really the first only contest I had won. Good thing I live 30 minutes away from Gearbox's studio.  

I arrived about 25 minutes early at the studio located at the Bank of America building in Plano, Texas. Walking in I noticed another man standing with a cameria and was messing with his phone. I asked him if he was there for the play session and he was. We started talking about the game and what other games we had been playing recently. Turns out he was from Shacknews.con and was one of 8 people, including myself, that had one contests from different sites. One being Giantbomb, Destructiod, Shacknews, and the Gearbox forums.

 
At around 4 Steve from Gearbox came down and showed us to the room were we would be playing. It full of three things I love most: Pizza, Soda, and video games. So just walking in I was happy. The other

 contest winners had already arrived and were getting ready to play. All of them seemed really excited about the game and were asking

 questions even before we started playing. The guy next to me though, a contest winner from Destructiod, was sooo annoying. He kept saying stupid commentative things about the game every 5 sec. Man that guy was annoying.

Anyways, on to the game. To start out bluntly, Borderlands is an AWESOME game. From the graphics to the gameplay it feels solid. The way the combat works is engaging and fun, and the quest system, while not anything new, moved quickly and at a fun pace. 
 
You start out with a standard machine gun and handgun. Im not sure if your able to pick from the beginning but we all started out as the character Roland. The soldier of the game with talent tree branching from Medic, Support, and a DPS spec. He has the ability to send out a turret that do many things from heal to supply ammo.  
 
Other playable classes/characters include.

•    Mordecai- The hunter of the group. He's better off with a Sniper rifle. He is, from what I saw, primarily a DPS class.
  
• Lilith- The mage of the group. She has a "Phase Walk" that lets her become invisible to enemy and can attack them while in this phase.
  
• Brick- The tank of the group. His main role is the take the damage for the group. His ability is to take a TON of damage and deal massive amounts of damage also.
  

One thing you can do at the beginning is to change the color of your class. While not the biggest feature it was nice to see some customization to a named character.  A little Robot teaches you the basics but Ill let you guys figure out the rest. I dont want to completely ruin it. 

Playing alone I got up to level 6 in about 30 minutes. Not bad for leveling compared to other rpgs. The quest system will net you the most xp but killing things will also get you a fair amount of xp. While Im on the topic of killing things. This game is a strong M rating. The first time I did a melee attack the guy's head EXPLODED! It was awesome and this also happens when you get headshot and what not. Now back to the quest system. As I said before it has a nice flow to it. Now there is some running between wave points but thats expected. It has a very WoW feeling to it, but that makes it a good thing cause WoW's quest system is very strong and fun. The loot also is very Diablo-E. It can drop off anyone and anything and I is all seperated by color. How the loot works in multiplayer is Snake loot which means first come first serve. So be quick on getting loot! They did say they would change it if too many people said something about it. 
 

At about the hour mark of playing we were asked if we would like a tour from Randy Pitchford himself and other members of the staff. The offices themselves were very casual. Full of action figures and video game merch. Randy's office was the best by far. With old video games everywhere it seemed more like a museum. The other offices were full of people ether working on Borderland or other projects that we were not allowed to see. They were constantly erasing things off of dry boards that they said we were not allowed to

 see. As we walked to the front desk they had a big stack of posters that they had just got in that day. We all got one and they were signed by Randy and other members of the staff. Along with a t-shirt and sticker. (Ill post a large picture of the poster at the end of this blog.) I could of done without the sticker but what-evs it was free. As we were getting our poster signed I noticed that Pitchford had a cloths pin on his back. Like someone was playing a joke on him. I didn't say anything to him because I thought it was funny but someone else said something to him and the cloths pin said Shacknew.com on it. Damn why didnt I thing of that...Anyways we saw their central server and that was only inte    resting because of the gnome that lives in there. Over all it was a nice office.
 
When we returned we went on to 4 player co-op. I kept on playing Roland because in past games like this one I usually pick the medic. Gameplay moves fast and furious. People are shooting left and right while ammo and loot is falling all over from dudes you kill. The key to the gamplay was to stay together because later in the game the bad guys get really hard to take down. It also doesn't help that there is a bunch of them on screen at a time most of the time. Playing the medic was fun but there was one flaw: the other people wouldn't stay still. How the medic heals is ether A) Throws out his turret and the turret heals people B) When the medic kills someone the gets a ring around him that heals party members C) You shoot your teammates with your gun. That last option is really the only big one because the turret is on a cooldown and you don't kill that many people because of your low damage output. There is a problem with shooting your teammates to heal them is that they dont stay still for very long. That makes shotguns and rocket launchers the better tools for healing. You also cant heal yourself which is a bummer. I told them that though so they might change it. 
 
I could go on forever talking about what I saw and played but ill leave that to questions if anyone has any. So please ask a-way. 
 
Another note: If I have said too much please tell me and Ill delete this. If that doesnt happen then good. This took forever to type. 
 

Here is the poster I got.

Awesome.  Can't wait till the game comes out.

It has a very WoW feeling to it, but that makes it a good thing cause WoW's quest system is very strong and fun.

Randy pichford, seems like a cool guy 
Seems like you had alot of fun.

" @Absurd: Well im talking post lich king. Before that is a little grindy. "

What about the quality of the quests themselves? Were they interesting? Well-written?

Thanks for the write up dude, sounds like you had fun. The game sounds great, looking forward to it a great deal.

Cool write up, the more I hear of this game I feel compelled to buy it.  
 
Did you get any idea of how jumping into the multiplayer works? Is it just an option from the main menu, or what?

 Sounds pretty good. Did the quests seem at all grindy to you? My only concern is that they might be too much like an MMO.

The game looks like it will get old fast to me. And with the complete lack of character customization I'm feeling less and less interested in this game. Plus the animations look a little meh to me in most of the videos i have seen. And you saying the missions are like wow might have just put the nail in this games coffin for me. I hate wow because of their crappy quest system, and how the whole thing is designed around time sinks. Maybe there will be a demo i can play on my PC before this game comes out, because sadly it looks like i have lost all interest in this game from what i have seen of it so far. It's alot like Brutal Legend in that sense for me. I WAS uber excited for that game, but with each new video or screen shot i seen i lost more and more interest in it, to the point of now i could care less about it. Time will tell. Glade you had fun at the event, i wish i could have gone.

Ugh, I don't like the sound of the co-op loot system. There is always someone missing out, and someone getting angry when I play loot based co-op games with my mates. Someone needs to find a solution to that.

Thanks for the insight. Good to see you had fun during the trip.
 
P.S I'd love to play your Gen someday.

Word. I'll be sending that FR asap.

Awesome write-up, sounds like you enjoyed yourself.
Game sounds promising , pre-ordered it today :)

Seems super cool! I'm totally interested in seeing how Borderlands turns out.
At the very least, it seems like a super cool time at Gearbox!

Very interesting.  Gearbox better change that loot system because 1st come/1st serve is only a recipe for loot whoring and arguments.  I like how you told them to change it so the healer could heal themselves.  That would make no sense otherwise.  Also, are the quests assignments the same for every class?  Are they voiced, texted or both?  Is there a recall quest button in case you forget?  How many quests can you have running?  What does the map look like?  Does it give you hints to where to accomplish your quests?  What are the rewards like?  In other words, can you give me more details on the quest structure without telling me what the quests are?  Oh, and how much loot can you carry?  Is it all bagged like in WoW and are small items stackable?

If your playing with mates the money shouldent really matter as you change just trade it right? Was never a problem on pso and what not for me...

The game looks really fun. Did you get to use any vehicles?

I can't wait to get my paws on that game... you luck bastard......

Congrats, man!  I am really jealous you got to play this game so early.  
 
Since it's an RPG, what perks are there for the different classes?

heres a question, how many guns did you find in your time there.  ALso about the loot system, can someone take loot that they already have?
 
By the way whose the other guy

" Ugh, I don't like the sound of the co-op loot system. There is always someone missing out, and someone getting angry when I play loot based co-op games with my mates. Someone needs to find a solution to that. "

You're so lucky you got to go.

Congratulations on the trip, dude.
Did you play it on an X360 or PC?

Did you get to use any vehicles?

Nice work, man. But that poster? I hope that isn't the box art. Looks a little unrefined.

Did they give you an option to play with the mouse or was it just sort of, you had to use the Gamepad?

Thanks for getting this out ASAP. A lot of us would have colluded to smother you in your sleep if you hadn't. 
 
Nice preview. Doesn't seem like much was revealed there. But what you write is in-line with my high expectations of this game. If I get a split-screen preview that has the same effect, it's 110% mine. 
 
The only question I can think to ask (sorry if it's been answered) is a little more detail about weapon drops. Do the enemies only drop what they were shooting you with? Or can they drop any random gun?

Lucky.

Man thats so awsome WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME YOU DID THIS :'(

" Ugh, I don't like the sound of the co-op loot system. There is always someone missing out, and someone getting angry when I play loot based co-op games with my mates. Someone needs to find a solution to that. "

Thanks for the write-up, although I didn't want to read it all since I want to have some surprises when I play it. I can feel myself picking this game up on Release Day!

Awesome, sounds like you had a great time, I'm really looking forward to this game.

Glad you enjoyed yourself. Also thanks for the write up, nice that you shared your experience with us. Please don't delete this, a very interesting read. Cheers.

" @Khann said:

" Ugh, I don't like the sound of the co-op loot system. There is always someone missing out, and someone getting angry when I play loot based co-op games with my mates. Someone needs to find a solution to that. "

Blizzard did with Diablo III. Everyone gets their own loot that drops that no one else sees. "

healing bullets, what a great idea, seems like why did it take until twenty oh nine, brilliant, this game has been on my must-get list for a while now, i can't wait

" i envy you "

*is jealous*