...has your play style changed much from that game to this game?

I'm finding that I'm playing the exact same way I played in Borderlands 1. I've been playing the commando (I played soldier before) and, like before, I use weapons that have high damage and specialize in shotguns so that I can get one or two hit kills. I still throw the turret out in the middle of a crowd of guys and then focus on the stragglers. When I don't have the turret I still throw grenades all around me and only use grenades that throw out smaller grenades as they explode. I still charge at people with my shotgun and have several 'second chance' chances with every gun battle. I think it's effecting my enjoyment of the game. It almost feels like I'm going through the motions because, since I'm playing exactly the same way I played before, it's as if I'm in our 80-something in the game because it almost feels like an expansion of the first game.

What about the rest of you? Are you playing the game differently or the same way you played the first game? If you are playing it the same way, has it effected your enjoyment of the game?

No pretty much the same, still playing Siren and using alot of elemental weapons

I find myself hitting cover more playing as the Commando (Played Solider in 1). Other than that not really. I guess I aim for legs and stuff when fighting robots. When I played through Borderlands 1 the first time I spent much of the game exploring. In 2 I just tried to speed through the story. I'm doing more exploring like I did in 1 and that's making me enjoy this game more.

My playstyle has changed dramatically. I already made a thread about this, but I played the first game mostly without ever aiming down the sights as I hate the mechanic. I thought it didn't give any advantage (I was doing quite well without it), but after going back and testing it out it became apparent I was wrong. BL2 does seem to make the difference even bigger though, although after having played way more BL2 I think maybe the difference is actually that guns are less presice in general. I also never ever really touched shotguns in BL, as the classes were more weapon specific and my commando and berserker went the other way, yet I love them in the second. I had a ton of fun headshotting with revolvers in the first one, but find them way too inaccurate in the second. I also loved the burst rifles in the first and I've just started experimenting with them in the second one and they feel lackluster.

So ye, it's been a night and day experience. The first game I was doing crit-shots "from the hip" and the second one has been all about pumping bullets while aiming down the sights. Quite puzzling really.

For me the most obvious difference in my play style is that I use more pistols in BL2 as opposed to SMGs which I used extensively in BL1.

For the play style thing. With Zero I find myself way closer to the fight, and with Maya I find myself about the same distance as in BL1.

I played as a siren and a soldier in BL1.

I'm having a more difficult time as the Commando than I did with the soldier. Some of that is my fault, laziness in wanting my weapons to do the work for me, as they did towards the end of the origonal Borderlands. I feel I have missed some of the game, having found it by exploring instead of a main mission there. The Fridge comes to mind, had a side mission and discovered sooooo much more..never got a mission why. If I wanted to farm thats where I went, though some things I hate killing, knowing why now the reason they are so hostile.

I have decent elemental weapons now, but I have to still work hard and use cover...actually that's fair, isn't it.

It's changed very little. The only major difference for me between playing the Berserker and the Gunzerker are that I have to be slightly more careful when Gunzerking. I still charge in and start blasting away, though.

I'm a little different to all those who have replied so far. I HATED the first game and I really wasn't going to buy this one. I'm glad I did as it is now definitely one of my favourite games.

I, too, play Commando but don't like shotguns. Assault rifles and Sniper rifles with elemental damage. Damage rate has to be high along with mag size.

Yeah, I mean you kind of have to. in the first game I was a Siren who created would destroy everything with elemental damage, so I would just rush in. In this game, I'm relying on hit and run with Zero's melee. It's still fun though.

My style has pretty much stayed the same. Played the Hunter in BL1 and the Assassin in BL2. Still go for the highest damaging sniper rifle I can find and keep my distance from enemies.

Surprisingly, yes. I was a Sniper/Ranger mordecai in the first game and tried playing a sniper Zer0 in this one. Something about Zer0 just doesn't click with me so I switched to the gunzerker. Now I'm playing more of a Brick playstyle in terms of the first games classes. I'm really just waiting for the Mechromancer to hit though. Going to try to use Death-Trap in conjunction with sniping. Hopefully that'll give me that Mordecai feeling.

@BearSpark said:

I'm a little different to all those who have replied so far. I HATED the first game and I really wasn't going to buy this one. I'm glad I did as it is now definitely one of my favourite games.

I, too, play Commando but don't like shotguns. Assault rifles and Sniper rifles with elemental damage. Damage rate has to be high along with mag size.

I'm in the same boat. Really didn't enjoy the first game at all despite all the praise. Got the second hoping a lot of things would be changed and while ironically not THAT much has changed about the core mechanics, they did something that has made playing the game a ton of fun for me. I play as Zer0 and although I don't find his special ability as useful as the remaining classes I still kinda like all his stat boosts to critical damage and whatnot.

Nope, I kinda went the complete opposite. In BL 1 I specced the Soldier to full self-sufficiency as a healer and such and focused on assault rifles and shotguns.

I also played a Siren that focused on elemental SMG attacks.

In BL 2 I use the Gunzerker, I'm basically a supporting class since my barbaric suicide raids tend to leave me needing a lot of revives, but shit gets killed. And since they ditched proficiencies I kinda use everything I can. Mostly pistols, assault rifles and snipers though.

I'm playing 2 classes instead of one, so I'm playing it half differently anyway. I used assault rifles all through BL1 because Roland had skills for it (I think) and then it leveled up so I stuck with it. In this one I don't touch those pieces of shit haha

The lack of near infinite ammo from ammo regen skills is making me run out of ammo all the time. I don't think I ever ran out of ammo once in Borderlands 1.

I know they probably changed this for balance reasons (and I guess the Gunzerker has a class mod or skill that has team ammo regen or something), but I enjoyed being extremely overpowered in the first game and the second game is forcing me to be way more cautious.

i find my play style with the commando the same, but I have yet to play has the other classes which I did with the first.

I'm playing as the gunzerker, which has no real equivalent in the first game. I never really got up close and personal in the first, but that's how I'm playing it this time.

I play completely different. Probably because of the class differences though. In 1 I played a Berserker and Hunter to 69, usgin their skills most of the time. Hunter was a lot of revolver and Bloodwing (my cooldown was maybe 3 seconds) and the berserker was a lot of rockets and shotguns. Now I'm playing a Commando and Siren. Commando put his turret up high on walls and slags enemies for maximum damage while using snipers and SMGs, Siren focuses on keeping enemies held in phaselock so team mates can pound on them. Every single characer I've created in this franchise plays completely different and that's part of why I love these games.

Considering all the weird limitations on weaponry this time around, like the complete lack of explosive element sniper rifles, I've had to settle for straight up damage and putting badass ranks into increasing critical hit damage.

Pretty much the same, did a siren in the first and loaded up on fire rate with SMGs and just run around as a walking bullet hose. Now I do the same thing but with the gunzerker, it's still pretty fun, even more so with dual wielding...

Mostly the same.

I played every character in BL1. A soldier the most, followed closely by the siren. I played them both pretty similarly, focusing on sniper rifles and shotguns with more class specific secondary/tertiary weapons - assault rifles for the soldier, SMGs for the siren.

I always go into fights the same way: picking people off from afar if possible, otherwise running and gunning up close and personal.

Now I play a siren and assassin. I don't look at it like I'm just going through the motions. I look at it like I'm playing as a seasoned veteran. Some of the guns and abilities obviously aren't the same, and often don't feel quite as powerful (thought hat might just be the fact that I'm used to playing at a higher level than my characters in BL2) but I absolutely wreck shit and still have a blast doing it.

feels quite a bit more dynamic for me w/ the improved enemy AI/tactics. lot more darting between cover and careful aiming.

I feel like I use Pistols and ARs way less than I did in BL1. I actually found that I had to change my playstyle after level 24 or 25. I couldn't use shotguns anymore as enemies start exploding when you kill them. Being a Sniper is a whole lot more viable now then it was in BL1. And I find that all the abilities are kind of useless with the exception of the turret(like the first game). I have a lvl 20 siren and a lvl 30 zero. I never use my ability for zero unless I'm really low on health and I only use my siren ability when facing a boss. The game is really starting to feel cheap at level 30 as if Gearbox couldn't think of another way to make the game more difficult.

I've actually switched completely. I was pure run and gun soldier in 1, and now I'm pure sniper--enjoying it a lot too.

Still sniping pretty much all the time. I miss bloodwing though.

I played the first game as a soldier on Xbox, and currently have been playing as the hunter on PS3 with my cousin(thanks to PS+). I have Borderlands 2 from Gamefly, but haven't really played much yet. I'm waiting for my cousin to get it so we can play co-op. I don't want to play to similarly to how I did in part one, so I'm planning on going with the Gunzerker.

About the same. Played Siren in BL1 and have been doing Zer0 in BL2. Not having as much fun, truth be told. Decoy is mostly just an inferior version of phasewalk. The way I play it is, anyway. I may check out a different class later on but now that XCOM is out I think I'll just set BL2 aside for the time being.

edit---- I think part of this is the new AI behaviour on particular enemies. The flying and warping variety in particular. Killing Rakks/flying bots et al. in this game is a fucking chore. Tedious and boring. I am very upset with whoever decided programming their path finding to include areas outside the map was a good idea. Flying thing potshots me, zips outside of the play area, flys out there for 30 seconds or a minute+ comes out and hits me in the back just as I've aggro'd a new set of ground units. Great. Thanks. Awesome.

The new slow moving projectiles also feel weird. Shotguns especially weird to have this delay before they hit, even at close range.

I am playing completely different to how I played the first game I was Mordecai and would throw out Bloodwing and then pick of the leftovers. This game I am a Salvador and I am having to change the way that i play for example instead of sitting back I am having to get in the thick of it and that is so unfamiliar, this is why I believe that I am going to be better with Mechromancer because it is the same principle, send him out to fight for you and pick off the others. Have not played it yet so do not know for sure.

Mine is considerably different. I played Roland in 1 and focussed on AR's with three round bursts, normally stayed away from elemental weapons due to lower damage, used grenades at times but not often, and rarely used the turret. I focussed on self buffs, kill skills, and just doing a crap ton of damage per shot.

In BL 2 I played Axton and went heavy on the turret. My turret is a freaking killing machine, it is to the point where unless there is a bad ass out I just drop the turret in a area where it can hit everyone then I literally walk away to loot because I know the turret don't need my help. I use grenades and launchers more often and find the grenades are a lot more fun and effective in this game, especially mirv and singularity nades. Gun wise I actually use many elemental weapons now and find myself using a wider variety of weapons instead of just the AR. Heck I barely touched the AR in the final fight, I mostly stuck to my pistol and a sniper. I also find melee more viable this time around and it is actually my preferred method of killing some enemies.