NEW GIANT BOMB COMMUNITY

For anyone who would care to try playing this game the way it's meant to be played, in a team who is properly using communication and working together, I have setup a community.

Search for the community "Giant Bomb Battleborn Beta" if you'd like to join.

...

Original post as follows:

You might think that the first game Gearbox developed for the next era of gaming consoles would be a sequel to their biggest hit, but you'd be wrong. They decided to go with a first-person MOBA-style character action game, using a completely new IP. It looked pretty unique when they first announced it, but that space is looking a bit more crowded these days, with Paragon and Overwatch now also close to release.

Thankfully, Gearbox seems to believe in their game enough to allow people to play quite a bit of it before release. It's a good thing, too, because playing this for myself is the only thing that would get me to consider a game like this. I'm not much for the tower defense genre, and MOBA's have always looked a little too close to that genre for my personal taste.

But who knows? Maybe it'll be great. I guess now we can all find out together.

The details:

https://battleborn.com/en/news/view/en-battleborn-open-beta-everything-you-need-to-know/

WHEN IS IT? April 8 to April 18!

• April 8th at 10am PST (5pm UTC) – PS4
• April 13th at 10am PST (5pm UTC) – PS4, PC, and Xbox One
• Open Beta ends April 18th at 7am PST (2pm UTC)
• PLATFORMS: PS4, PC, and Xbox One

PS4 BETA PLAYERS: As a thank you to PS4 players who participate in the Open Beta, they will receive the first Battleborn DLC Pack 1 and instant access to Alani upon release. In addition, PS4 players will have access to the Battleborn hero, Toby, during the Open Beta.

PRE-LOAD DATE: Rev up those consoles and computers: pre-load begins for all platforms on April 6th.

• PS4 – 5pm PST (12am UTC)
• PC – 10 am PST (5pm UTC)
• Xbox One – 5pm PST (12am UTC)

APPROXIMATE DOWNLOAD SIZE:

• PS4: 8.5GB
• PC: 12GB
• Xbox One: 11GB

WHERE TO DOWNLOAD: The Battleborn Open beta will be available through PlayStation Network, Steam, and the Microsoft Store. The Open Beta will be available to download straight from the store, no sign-up or code required.

AVAILABLE REGIONS: The Battleborn Open Beta will be available worldwide!

PS PLUS / XBOX LIVE: PS Plus is not required to participate in Open Beta. Xbox Live Gold members will have access to all Story and Competitive Modes in the Open Beta. Xbox Live Silver members will be able to play private Story Mode episodes and private Competitive Modes, but will not have access to public matchmaking features.

FEEDBACK AND BUG REPORTS: Feedback and bug reports are an essential part of the Battleborn Open Beta. Log into the Gearbox Open Beta Forums and send us your feedback!

Other Information:

• Is there an NDA? Nope – it’s an Open Beta which means you can stream, record video, and play Battleborn to your badass heart’s content!
• Can I stream or record video of Battleborn? Hell yes! Tweet at @Battleborn and let us know you’re streaming Battleborn live!
• Do I need a SHiFT account for the Open Beta? Nope!
• Will there be any kind of maintenance scheduled during the Beta? No, there is no planned downtime or maintenance during the Open Beta. If something comes up and maintenance is necessary, we will let you know on the Battleborn Twitter channel or in the Gearbox Open Beta Forums.
• Will my progress carry over to the retail game? No, Open Beta progress will not carry over to the retail game.

The Content:

During the Open Beta, you’ll be able to experience the natural progression of Battleborn; including two Story Mode episodes, two Competitive Multiplayer Modes, 25 heroes (some instantly available, some will unlock as you progress), and as you play, you’ll rank up on three different progression systems.

STORY MODE: Go in solo or co-op with up to 5 players in two full Story Mode episodes: The Algorithm and Void’s Edge.

• The Algorithm: Take on The Algorithm mission to debug and unlock the rogue Magnus AI, ISIC. If you played in the Closed Technical Test last year, you’ll notice Geoff, the Spider King, has made a few changes to his lair.
• Void’s Edge: Bring a jacket, ‘cause the ice-planet, Bliss, is mighty cold. A Varelsi portal has opened and it’s up to you to fight your way through the invasion and deliver the payload.

COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER MODES: Challenge other players to duke it out in two Competitive Multiplayer modes: Incursion and Meltdown.

• Incursion: (Overgrowth map) Destroy the enemy’s two Spider Sentry Drones before they get to yours.
• Meltdown: (Paradise map) Send waves of minions to their death and score points for every minion who throws themselves into the incinerator. The team with the most scrap metal wins!

PARTY UP WITH FELLOW BADASSES: Conscript your friends for a truly badass Open Beta experience!

• Party up with friends or search for random players to join them in Co-Op Story Mode episodes.
• Play Split-Screen on PS4 and Xbox One in either Story Mode or Competitive Multiplayer Modes.
• Communicate with your teammates through in-game Voice Chat.
• Practice makes badass – create private custom matches with friends to get a handle on controls and practice with new characters as you unlock them.

BATTLEBORN HEROES: Battleborn has a large starting roster of 25 playable heroes, which will continue growing with five additional, free heroes after launch. In the Open Beta, you’ll start with 7 unlocked heroes and the rest will be unlocked as you rank up and complete objectives. In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of the main character types: Attackers, Defenders, and Support.

• Attackers: Charge into the fight with a variety of offensive Battleborn heroes. Throw punches, slice ‘em up, blast ‘em down, or break out the big guns with Rath, Deande, Phoebe, Whiskey Foxtrot, Mellka, Thorn, Marquis, Oscar Mike, Benedict, Caldarius, El Dragón, Orendi, Shayne & Aurox, and Ghalt.
• Defenders: Take a hit for the team (or two, or three) with the likes of Attikus, Galilea, Kelvin, Boldur, ISIC, Toby, and Montana.
• Support: Shields, heals, and still more firepower – Miko, Reyna, Kleese, and Ambra can help the team in the fight.

PS4 players, remember: you’ll have Open Beta access to the adorable penguin in a mechsuit, Toby! Toby will not be unlockable on PC or Xbox One during the Open Beta but he will be unlockable on all platforms in the retail version.

PROGRESSION SYSTEMS: Experience Battleborn’s multiple progression systems during the Open Beta. Playing either Story Mode or Competitive Multiplayer Modes will earn you XP towards temporary Helix augmentations as well as persistent Command Rank and Character Rank levels.

• Helix: During a single Competitive match or Story episode, each level you gain activates a new Helix augmentation opportunity - all the way to level 10. Each level has two augmentation choices and a character’s Helix resets at the beginning of a new match or episode, meaning you can tailor your character’s abilities to the situation at hand.
• Character Rank: Each character ranks up the more you play them, up to rank 15. The Character Rank levels persist across all Modes, and unlike Helix augmentations, this experience does not reset at the end of a match or mission. Increasing Character Rank unlocks Mutations, which are extra Augments that become available on the Helix Menu. The higher the Character’s Rank, the more Helix augmentations, taunts, titles, and skins you can unlock for that character.
• Command Rank: Command Rank persists across all Modes and all characters played. Every Competitive match (excluding bots) and Story episode grants XP towards your player Command Rank. Rising through the ranks in Open Beta will unlock characters, new Gear options, titles, and more up to Command Rank 100.

WHAT TO BUILD: On every map and in every Mode, you’ll find strategically located, buildable tactical structures. These buildables can purchased – and upgraded – using Shards found throughout each level. Here are a couple samples of what you can build over the course of any given match.

• Automatic Turrets: Turrets have different types of offensive armaments and will attack any foe in sight, enemy minions and Battleborn alike.
• Healing Station: The Healing station will regenerate health over time in an area around the station for the team who purchases it.
• Accelerators: Accelerators give a speed boost to friendly Battleborn and minions when passing next to them.
• Super Minions: Super Minions can be purchased in the team’s base and are well worth the Shards. Their ability to sustain and deal more damage than other minions adds additional firepower to your team.

I'm more curious to see how people we'll receive this with it coming out extremely close to Overwatch. I think the ideas of this game look interesting but I just don't know how many more or how much time I want to put into these kind of games?

I'll definitely be checking it out for sure though.

I hope it's more than "DOTA only the camera is closer this time" like paragon is... then maybe there'll be a slight chance I'll like it.

Wow PS4 gets a lengthy beta!

Yeah, for what is essentially free advertising, I'm consistently amazed at the amount of stupid bullshit some developers want you to go through in order to try their game.

Free with your pre-order, just go to our website, sign up for the beta, create an account, give us your e-mail address, make a new password, confirm your beta invitation through your email, go back to our website, enter your beta token, and then use the code given to you to download the game. It's just that simple!

How about you just let me download the stupid thing so I can try a game that I otherwise currently have no intention of buying?

Never played a Trackmania game before, but I thought I'd give the open beta a shot, despite not really having much interest in the game. Then Ubisoft wanted me to signup for an account, so I said "fuck that" and just deleted it. I know I can just use a junk e-mail account, or set up some spam filters, but I don't want to, and I shouldn't have to.

I'm a potential customer in this situation. I shouldn't have to do ANYTHING that I don't want to, to essentially allow you to advertise your game to me. Instead, Ubisoft lost a potential sale, and Gearbox is gaining a potential sale.

I'm looking forward to the beta a bit more, now that I've looked into the game a bit more. Early impressions seem to be pretty positive from the people who have played it. The beta still doesn't start until April 8th, but you can download it right now. Here's one of the better preview videos I've found, from someone primarily known for his extensive Destiny coverage.

Is anybody playing the beta on PS4?

The closed beta (alpha? I don't remember) COMPLETELY turned me off from Battleborn. The story/writing/voice acting fell entirely flat, and I had absolutely no fun playing it, despite trying for a few hours past my original point of distaste.

I'll be really interested to see what the general consensus of this game is after both this and the actual release.

Spent 30 minutes waiting in a queue and then had my 3 attempts to play end in server issues during matchmaking. Combine that with a distaste in Gearbox's sense of humor and I think I'm done.

Was able to get in one match on PS4 before I was promptly kicked out and put back into the queue. Really enjoyed the gameplay. Like...really really enjoyed it. Much more than I thought I would....but goddammit I wish I had read up on this game more (or at all...) because unlocking heroes is such a dealbreaker for me. All the dudes I wanna play are pretty far down the line too which just makes matter worse. If I'm gonna pay $60, just give me all the goddamn heroes. That's literally like the entire draw of the game. The sooner I find a character or group of characters I like, the more likely I am to stick with the game. If I have to play a bunch of mofos I don't like to unlock the ones that I do like, I feel like I'm just gonna get burned out much more quickly.

And, yeah, just like I expected, 99.9% of the writing just fell flat. I think I chuckled maybe once.

So yeah, again, I genuinely enjoyed the actual gameplay. Visuals are pretty neat too. Unlocks and the writing, however, are reeeeeeally bumming me out.

Haven't tried it yet but the segment on UPF made it look awful.

Like others here it took no joke about 30 min to get in. The crazy thing is they don't even let you look at the character roster while you're in the queue and there is zero indication of what place you're in or that anything is happening at all.

Did one story mission with random people and chose the sword guy. I didn't have all that much time to look through the roster so I instantly forgot what either of his skills actually did. Spent the entire game holding down the trigger and half clipping through enemies in close quarters combat.

It wasn't downright awful but it was just boring. Maybe it's just that melee classes suck but you don't even feel like you're hitting anything - attacking felt like I was swinging at air. I wanted to read up on what my skills actually did after the match but I was put back in queue and couldn't access the roster at which point quite frankly I've had enough of Battleborne for a good long while.

I get that it's a beta but man it did not really make a great first impression. That's a shame too because I like some of the character designs a lot more than Overwatch.

So I just played a story mode mission and one match, both as Oscar Mike, the assault rifle hero. The story mission was boring and the voice acting was for the main leader dude was horrendous. It was basically the same character as that Chaos guy in Skylanders... the sentry voice and writing was okay. As for the multiplayer match, I had a ton of fun, actually. For you DOTA2 guys, he's basically like Clinkz but with the ulti of Gyrocopter. A bit too chaotic, but fun. I didn't like the structure of the map I was playing on because it was basically just one lane. That was the worst part. There's not too much tactics going on. If there were at least one more lane there could actually be some more strategy, but the map just funnels everyone into one lane for constant fighting. It has potential.

Yeah, I have no desire to play this ever again.

I think Borderlands 2 is really funny... but the writing in this game is just atrocious. Gameplay seems fun at least (played as Nova cuz bow), though I've only played a story mission as of now.

I'm definitely going to try this but hearing the response is kind of shocking. How hard is it to make a functional MOBA?

My partner and I split-screened a story mission and we got into a match in about a minute.

Both of us had fun; I played Orendi and my partner played Thorn. We got some loot (sweet purps) and I unlocked a skin for Orendi.

That said, we both really just want Borderlands 3 instead of this. Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel are our go-to co-op games and we've played through both more times than I can count.

Man, that really does not work as a MOBA. Maybe somebody that's just looking for an action game will enjoy this, but the aiming and movement really doesn't feel very good either. I don't remember Borderlands feeling that awkward to play.

They ended the last Brothers in Arms game on a cliffhanger.

It's alright. Played two co-op missions, one as the archer elf and the other as the sword guy. Had a surprising amount of fun with the archer and had no fun as the sword guy, so I guess it's that kinda game. There are a ton of heroes overall, but you've got to unlock the majority of them by playing.

The movement and aiming doesn't feel great, but it's not bad. Something about the style of everything isn't particularly easy to look at though. It kinda just looks like a mess. Part of that is probably that it's also graphically (PS4) not that spectacular. Part of that might also just be FoV, which doesn't usually bother me, but here feels a bit too close. Didn't see an option to change it.

But it's more fun than I expected. It does the Heroes of the Storm thing where as you level up within a match you choose between a modifiers for your skills. Do you want a skill to have a bigger AoE or lower cooldown, that sort of thing. So that's cool.

Also, it's got a real saturday morning cartoon vibe to it. The humour's just kinda goofy. Reminds me of WildStar, for better or for worse.

The PvE is totally fine (Algalon anyone?), archer lady seemed like she kind of sucks and fire pillar dude/dudette seemed crazy good. PvP is trash compared to Overwatch and I'm playing Dead Star and Smite right now which are much better in that regard so no interest on that front. I'll link a video of fire pillar dude later.

The PvP sucked in Borderlands too and the PvE was alright, I'd say this game's shooting feels a bit better than Borderlands though similar.

Yeah. I don't know that I am feeling it. I have only played a couple of rounds of the MOBA-like mode. I have never played a MOBA before so I can't really comment on how it compares to others, and I really don't know what I am doing. I am going to continue to check it out for the duration of the beta. If anyone is on PS4 and feels like partying up feel free to add me.

PSN: S7AY3R-of-n00bz

@n00bs7ay3r: Your post is so reasonable sounding and then your name and PSN clash so beautifully with it, I love it. If someone wants to get a GB group going to do PvE runs with all the heroes I'm down as well; say what you will about the game there seems to be a lot of content for a beta.

Played a match of PVP and it's really bloody chaotic, to the point where it can be difficult to parse what's even happening. I was once again playing as bow elf lady, though it wasn't as difficult as I thought getting shots with the bow - I'm sure a lot of that is down to the aim-assist. It seems fun enough for now, but that's likely because of how nobody really knows what they're doing. It's very user-friendly at least, which is never the case with a MOBA.

I also really like the art style, but at the end of the day I'd just much rather have a Borderlands 3.

Yo, that mushroom person looks dope. That is all.

@n00bs7ay3r: @fredchuckdave: @yummylee:

DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST, THE COMMUNITY EVENT BELOW HAS BEEN CANCELED. YOU MAY STILL JOIN THE COMMUNITY ITSELF.

For anyone who would care to try playing this game the way it's meant to be played, in a team who is properly using communication and working together, I just setup a community and event for tomorrow evening.

"Giant Bomb Battleborn Beta" is the name of the community, and the event is set for tomorrow, April 10th, at:

6 PM Pacific / 7 Mountain / 8 Central / 9 Eastern

If you would like to try playing the game as it was intended, feel free to join the community and the event. I'd definitely like to try multiplayer this way, but I wouldn't mind playing the single player game as well. I already know I like the single player, but enjoying multiplayer is what would turn this game from a "maybe" into a "definitely."

Even if you can't make the event, feel free to join the community if you'd like to team up with other GB community members.

I got my fill with these types of games with tf2. I know this has moba shit or whatever, but they occupy the same space in my brain.

@spaceinsomniac: @fredchuckdave: @n00bs7ay3r: I'll probably be hopping on tonight. Fred, we're already friends on PSN but Noobslayer, I'll add you as well. I'll hop onto that community page to be available to party up with people who's PSN tag I don't have. Mine is ChakaRage

Just like borderlands this game can never be as fun as it should unless you are playing with buddies.

I played the game for an hour and i think it is a good game so far.

I understand that the story part of the game doesn't look promising but who cares about the story if the game plays fine.

Having that art style resemble Borderlands pretty much doomed this game from the beginning for anyone looking for more Borderlands. They've spent the entire PR campaign of this game both trying to compare it to Borderlands and at the same time convince people it shouldn't be lumped into the same gameplay category and they've managed to fail spectacularly. Plus it really doesn't help matters much that the non PVP elements are boring and poorly written.

After spending half of my life in the queue, I played a match as the Mushroom Samurai Healer Guy and I didn't really have any clear understanding of what I was doing. I felt like as the match went on I was learning, but then 2 of my team rage quit and we were promptly steamrolled. I don't think this is my game. I've seen a lot of Overwatch and it seems more my speed. I felt like I wasn't doing anything right here. I was killing guys and doing damage and I think I was healing people, but it felt kind of hard to tell when I was being damaged by enemies.

I had that one giant demon looking enemy wrecking my shit from behind without me even being aware of it. I might play some more, it seemed like it could be neat, but I'm not feeling it so far.

Oh hey, this game has persistent character leveling outside of the matches.. well that does it for me. I'm out. Also, I'm really not sure why a lot of people are getting long queues. In all of the matches I've played, my queue has been less than 30 seconds. I've played west coast both in late afternoon and around 2am.

EDIT: Just discovered there are also items you equip outside of matches to increase your stats. What's the point of having heroes if players can adjust their stats outside of the match. The point of hero based games is to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the heroes to outsmart the enemy.

@sparky_buzzsaw: I hadn't noticed it immediately, but flicking around some streams I eventually copped it that the game is so much like borderlands right down to the health/shield bars over everyone's heads.

I give it a few months until they announce they're putting one or more of the Borderlands cast into the game.

So this thread just made me realize this isn't that third person game Battlecry that Bethesda was publishing. I've never actually seen Battleborn before, what the fuck? At least it looks better than Battlecry.

It's the way this game handles loot. You can equip three pieces of that gear, but they doesn't actually do anything until you activate them with the same shards that you can also use to activate things like turrets and health restore stations. But activating things like that actually help you level up faster, while activating gear does not, so you have to choose which would be more helpful.

Gear also allows you to make a character strength even stronger, or makeup for a weakness. You can give a sniper a bit more critical hit damage, or add a shield to a character that typically doesn't have one. You can make a slow character a bit faster, or you can make an already fast character even faster. The rarer your gear is, the more shards it takes to activate.

From what little I've played of the multiplayer, I really like it so far. Unlike something like Call of Duty or Destiny, there are a lot of different rolls you can take on, and a lot of different ways to play. You can spend time collecting shards, building, and upgrading. You can concentrate on hiring mercenaries when they're available. You can ignore other players and just kill the minions. You can ignore minions and just go after other players. You can spend your time going after enemy defenses. You can push hard with one or two other players and spend all your efforts attacking the bases. You can hang back and defend your own base. You can play a healing or support character, and spend your time directly assisting another player.

There's quite a variety of ways to play, and all of it is helpful to your team.

Here's that Orendi video as promised, every other character I've played has felt somewhat generic and dull but this one was actually fun:

I do appreciate how comically enormous Montana is, actually kind of amusing as a gag though annoying that you have to look down to shoot the enemies meleeing you.

I'm enjoying the Meltdown mode. I've never been a huge fan of MOBAs, so the outside-the-match leveling mechanic doesn't bother me so much. It does feel like some major balancing is needed, though, as I was in multiple matches today where Shayne & Aurox players racked up double digit kills with zero deaths.

@yesiamaduck: Thanks for letting us know

I've been playing quite a bit over the last few days and found myself enjoying it more than I expected. It's by no means some amazing top tier game (and it has a fair amount of rough edges), but it's the kinda shooter I enjoy. Saying it's close to a MOBA feels odd to me though. I've played my fair share of MOBAs and "MOBA-like"s and this is by far the lightest in "MOBAness" I've seen in a game. The things I enjoy about the game is the things that I enjoy about TF2 (line of scrimmage gameplay and varied playstyles), and those things just happen to also be present in MOBAs. The only thing that really makes it different from just being TF2 with alternate objectives is the mercenary mobs you can hire to help you.

It's probably gonna have a hard time competing with Overwatch though. And while I know a lot of people think they are two separate things, to me they scratch the same itch.

I played the story mode once and a couple of multiplayer maps. It just didn't click with me. I don't think it is a bad game just not for me. It didn't help that my team got trounced in both multiplayer matches in large part to my cluelessness.

This game sure does have a funny way of dealing with mid-game quitters. I joined a game yesterday and was matched with three brand new rank one players, and two of them were the only people playing in a party on my entire team. We were matched against several rank 15 or higher players, all five of which were playing in the same party. I promptly said, fuck that, and went to leave the group before the match started. Here's where things get interesting.

There wasn't a way to leave the game once matchmaking was complete, even before the game actually started. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't qualify as "rage quitting" if you leave before the game has even started. Not being able to leave through the game itself, I exited out to the PlayStation menu and closed the application. Then, I started the game up again, and received a message that said something like "you were already playing a game that it seems you were disconnected from. If you would like to rejoin the game, hit the X button. Otherwise, you will be unable to play until that game has finished."

Has anyone ever seen a gameplay system like that before? I get that it's designed to discourage people leaving a game the moment things aren't going their way, but I shouldn't have to be punished just because I don't want to lead a random disorganized team of mostly first time players against a full party of veteran players.

@spaceinsomniac: Almost every, if not all, major MOBA type game does this on PC.

Even before the game starts, though?

@spaceinsomniac: Depends on the timing and the game. League of Legends makes it so that once you're past champion selection, that's it, you have to finish the game. If you leave during champion selection, then the game gets cancelled, but the leaver receives a penalty for before they can re-enter queue (starts at 5 minutes, I think) that increases with each consecutive leave during champion selection.

Similar. In DOTA if you match make, but then don't his "accept" you recieve a cooldown until you can match make again. It doesn't matter that the game didn't start yet, it still fucks over the other players because they are down another guy.

Thank you both for explaining, but that's just a stupid way to do things. The game shouldn't start until all players agree on the match. My team shouldn't be screwed over just because I don't want to play that game. The matchmaking should just put a different player in the game. And ideally, it should just match full parties against other full parties, or at least other experienced players.

Between not having a join in progress feature--which, I can see why they don't--and doing things this way, I think more than ever this game is being sent to die. That's a shame, but going up against Uncharted 4, Overwatch, and Doom was a bad idea.

I can't speak for Battleborn, but DOTA 2 does it because matchmaking, even when you have a full party, can take anywhere between a minute to five minutes. If you decide you don't want to play, you can cancel the search anytime during that. Once it matches you with other players, and if you decline, then everyone has to rematch again. I like it because it gives the message of "Dont start matchmaking unless you are ready to play". It shows respect for everyone's time involved.

I played a story match with some randoms and picked the archer lady because...I dunno. I had little idea what the hell I was doing and we got to a spider robot boss and he kept making the same '8 eyes' joke over and over again and that pretty much killed the curiosity I had for this game.

Played a match, didnt seem great but it played ok. The jokes were terrible though. Overwatch looks great but i want to play on pc but im a gamepad guy. If the ps4 battleborn is any indication the ps4 hardware has hit its limit, man that game was low res and jaggy.

I enjoy parts of this game and hate the rest. The Gearbox humor I can't stand. The Story missions feel very scatterbrain and the versus matches can get very chaotic that you lose all sense of what is going on the screen. But certain character design look great (El Dragon is awesome) and once you get the handle of the gameplay it can be quite fun. This game is way more similar to Monday Night Combat than it is to Overwatch, but no one remembers MNC and the internet loves to pit things against one another. Also shame that on console this game is running at 30fps considering the fidelity of the graphics and with little to no buzz this game seems like it will be DOA more so than Evolve ever was.

I'm pretty sure I've read that Overwatch will be 60fps on PS4. If you want to play with a controller, that might be the way to go.