Borderlands difficulty--anyone care to comment?

[frozentundra123456]

Just started playing the game co-op with one friend. The game is a lot of fun, but seems punishingly difficult in the middle levels. We are about half way through the game and keep getting killed constantly. Worse, we lose money each time we get killed.

My friend is a better player than I, but neither of us is hardcore. I would say my friend is average and I am mediocre. I mean, we can both finish most FPS on easy to medium without much problem, so we are not that bad.

The AI in borderlands just seems to absorb all the damage we can give without even losing their shields, while one or two hits kills either of us, and I have over 500 health.

I guess this is not really a question, just wondering if anyone who has finished the game would care to comment and/or give hints. Also, since there is only 2 of us playing, does this make co-op more difficult, or does it scale to the number of players??

 

[Qbah]

1. Get better loot
2. Use weapons best for your class (Siren - SMG, Soldier - Combat Rifles or Shotguns, Hunter - Snipers or Revolvers/Repeaters, etc).
3. Don't be afraid to die - and if you do, make sure there are plenty of enemies around so you can get a second wind, a few times if necessary
4. Get a HP regen shield
5. Grab a COM that has ammo regen if possible. Nothing like running out of bullets in the middle of a fight.
6. Use a proper build.
7. If the game's too hard for you, try to go back to previous areas and do some quests there. The game level progression is not tied to your level, so you can be 2-3 levels above your enemies if you do all the quests in an area and only then proceed to the next. It's very easy to accomplish. Beware though, the game becomes very easy then.

 

[Sacraster]

check the enemies' lvl, if they are 8 lvl or more above you, then they take reduced damage (so your gun really doesn't damage much at all). You should try to do some side quests to lvl your char up and it becomes pretty easy

 

[kehlsi]

this sounds like you need to upgrade your guns. also, what level are you in relation to the enemy npcs? one thing you need to realize in borderlands; once you begin grouping with friends, the npcs become much more difficult depending on how many players you are grouped with. the game is extremely easy if you solo everything. this game is basically diablo with a billion guns and an fps. the game is pretty awesome imo and i've completed it while sometimes playing with friends and other times playing solo. i finished the first run-through by myself and the end boss was a little disappointing but i think that's due to me finishing solo. i haven't actually played the dlc, but i hear that most of them are pretty great as well.

basically, make sure you upgrade your weapons as often as you can. there are definitely stagnant periods where items that drop are not really considered upgrades to what you have, but there are so many guns that drop that you should be able to find something!

This is making me want to reinstall and play, lol.

Edit: it appears someone has already mentioned what i was going to. sorry for the redundant post,

 

[oddyager]

I'm playing co-op with a friend right now (I'm Brick and he's Roland) and the best tactic I've found is he who dishes out the most wins. I do every quest available to us in the game and due to the many many crashes I keep having to redo levels from the start (though the progress of my quest is saved) so I re-loot those red chests over and over, heh. Have accumulated many good weapons that way.

 

[Firsttime]

The game is easiest solo, the more people the harder it gets. If you rush through the story you will end up being severely underleveled. Do side quests. Upgrade your guns. Find yourself some nice dual anarchys. The game is easiest with Roland and Lilith also.

 

[dpodblood]

Personally I found this game more difficult on a solo. I know the enemy difficulty ramps up with more players, but... when you get knocked down there are other players to distract the enemies, and you have a good chance of getting a second wind.

Make sure to pick up new weapons. If you are a decent player you will spend a lot of time looking at stats, and picking weapons that are effective for your specific play style.

 

[Saga]

Just do what I did, hex edit yourself to max skills and join online games. Nothing like running around level 5 with every skill in the game. Borderlands is an amazingly fun game, but it has some pretty cheap AI mechanics at times, so even the playing field.

For the record, you can also hex edit a 9million hp shield. Makes it hilarious when PvPing.

 

[Udgnim]

game is easy if you fight mobs at or below your level

 

[dpodblood]

Just do what I did, hex edit yourself to max skills and join online games. Nothing like running around level 5 with every skill in the game. Borderlands is an amazingly fun game, but it has some pretty cheap AI mechanics at times, so even the playing field.

I think that would make the game really boring, really fast.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Here's what I've learned from playing mostly single player:

1. Enemies even just a couple levels above you will own you. Works both ways - once you're more than a couple levels above an enemy, they'll drop very quickly and do almost no damage.
2. Doing all the side quests tends to over-level you. I'd guess that skipping too many side quests will make things a lot more difficult. If you are having trouble, do all the bounty board missions you can, starting with the easiest ones.
3. Despite the open world nature of the game, there's sort of an order you must follow. I'm not sure how far into the game you are but early on, you pretty much have to do things in a particular order or you'll get killed a lot. I remember doing the Bone Head mission too early and it took all of my ammo, getting headshots every time, to kill him.

Maybe things are different in MP but my suggestion would be to just do as many low-level quests as possible. Go back if you have to and do bounty board missions from a previous area. If you do all of them, you're sure to be at the right level for where you are.

 

[dpodblood]

I remember doing the Bone Head mission too early and it took all of my ammo, getting headshots every time, to kill him.

I remember being frustrated by this mission specifically when trying to play solo. With a combination of leveling, finding better guns, and adding a second player it was made much easier.

 

[Saga]

I think that would make the game really boring, really fast.

It's really not that interesting of a game to begin with. I only did this once I'd completed all difficulties with one character, after that playing the others would be boring as hell from scratch. You may enjoy stupid grinds, I don't. I'll beat something legit once, then for re-plays with different characters I've already seen the story and just want to dick around with the abilities.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I remember being frustrated by this mission specifically when trying to play solo. With a combination of leveling, finding better guns, and adding a second player it was made much easier.

Yeah, I first attempted it at level 6, when Bone Head himself is something like level 10 and all his henchmen are at least 8. What I learned was you are much better off first taking out Nine Toes, getting the reward for that, then going back to the area near Nine Toes and doing a couple other side quests that show up. There's one where you can get TK's leg back from and another where you pick up a couple of data recorders. Those two combined will get you from level 6 up to about 9, and then there's also the one where you gather seeds for TK ("By the Seeds of your Pants") that'll probably give you another level.

Once you've done all those, Bone Head is easy.

 

[n7]

As has been mentioned, side missions!

There are more than enough side missions in the game.

I don't recommend doing every single side mission + bounty board missions as this will presently result in you being way overleveled.

At the same time, you'll need to do some to keep from being too underleveled, as you really need to be the same level as your enemies to not get destroyed.

In short, note what level you are, & select additional side missions that have good rewards, etc. to gain additional XP when needed.

I'd focus on doing every side mission involving elemental artifacts, & claptrap SDU upgrades, as well as whatever else if of interest.

 

[zerocool84]

I've been playing it, just got to level 11. Doesn't seem to hard at all to me.

 

[Aikouka]

As everyone said, it's harder if you're not over or at the level of the quests you're doing. The problem is that the game sometimes gives you quests that are too hard and there isn't anything else to do. Like the Bone Head mission or when you have to kill that Fire Rakk... and the Rakk is like 4 levels higher than the quest lists.

EDIT:

Assuming you are on the PC, I have quite a lot of items available that I don't use anymore. Ammo regen mods for Sirens... got a few of those. I have a lot of good guns as well. I haven't leveled Brick or Mordecai yet, so I can't give away my low level snipers or pistols, but I can give away some good low level SMGs, Assault Rifles and Shotguns.

 

[zerocool84]

As everyone said, it's harder if you're not over or at the level of the quests you're doing. The problem is that the game sometimes gives you quests that are too hard and there isn't anything else to do. Like the Bone Head mission or when you have to kill that Fire Rakk... and the Rakk is like 4 levels higher than the quest lists.

EDIT:

Assuming you are on the PC, I have quite a lot of items available that I don't use anymore. Ammo regen mods for Sirens... got a few of those. I have a lot of good guns as well. I haven't leveled Brick or Mordecai yet, so I can't give away my low level snipers or pistols, but I can give away some good low level SMGs, Assault Rifles and Shotguns.

I actually just completed that Bone Head mission. Wasn't hard at all. Maybe it's cus I explore a lot and kill a lot of enemies so I was only 2 levels lower than it when I fought it.

 

[Dumac]

Just started playing the game co-op with one friend. The game is a lot of fun, but seems punishingly difficult in the middle levels. We are about half way through the game and keep getting killed constantly. Worse, we lose money each time we get killed.

My friend is a better player than I, but neither of us is hardcore. I would say my friend is average and I am mediocre. I mean, we can both finish most FPS on easy to medium without much problem, so we are not that bad.

The AI in borderlands just seems to absorb all the damage we can give without even losing their shields, while one or two hits kills either of us, and I have over 500 health.

I guess this is not really a question, just wondering if anyone who has finished the game would care to comment and/or give hints. Also, since there is only 2 of us playing, does this make co-op more difficult, or does it scale to the number of players??

Huh?

Anyway, check the recommend level of the missions you are doing. Perhaps you are underleveled.

Also, do lots of sidequests for experience and to level up.

Finally, try to get headshots.

I found Borderlands pretty easy. I played it on solo until the very end.

 

[rangda]

I find this interesting as I found the game absurdly easy after bonehead, even soloing multi-player games. As others have stated, the damage you (and the NPC's do) is modified by the delta between your levels, and it's modified too harshly IMO. All it takes is 3 or so levels of difference to make it pretty much impossible to hurt or be hurt. Pre-bonehead most of the NPC are your level or higher which makes the game hard, post-bonehead you catch up and surpass them very quickly if you do all the content and the challenge evaporates. (Sadly even if you skip most of the content you still catch up and the challenge disappears.)

Assuming your difficulty is in the lower levels, you won't have enough class skills to really crank up class weapons (you do get a slight bonus to using class weapons regardless of level supposedly). So I don't think switching to class weapons will help much. Make sure your level isn't out stripping your weapons/shields; it's hard to provide blanket numbers as due to the item lottery a low level item that's rare can be way better than a common item of a higher level. But if you have played for a bit you'll get a feel for what weapons are too weak. And don't waste your time trying to kill anything 3+ levels over you; yes it's a ton of XP but you use so much time/ammo it's not worth it.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Yeah, the game really needs difficulty settings or a /players command like Diablo 2 so you don't have to go to all sorts of trouble just to increase the difficulty. Some people actually connect to a separate box with three instances of the game running with their characters sitting in town. Extra XP for the one you're playing, free level ups for the ones you're not playing, and a little extra difficulty.

 

[Kyle]

I didn't have any issues w/ the difficulty but only played single player....what a terrible ending- the worst I can remember

 

[frozentundra123456]

I didn't have any issues w/ the difficulty but only played single player....what a terrible ending- the worst I can remember

HUH??? You mean after all the getting killed and then doing mission after mission to level up, the ending sucks??? It cant be worse than the ending to KOTOR2 can it!!!

Actually I was the original poster about the difficulty. I had more trouble with the mid-game missions than the early levels. The early levels were not that bad except for killing Bonehead, which was fairly easy once I levelled a bit.
I guess I would revise my post to say that the game is too dependent on levelling up. I didnt realize that doing a quest rated a few levels above yours would be so difficult or that one a few levels below you would be so easy. I know that there is skill involved in picking weapons, powers, etc and in actually using the weapons, but this just seems to make the game hard or easy depending on how much grinding you are willing/able to do. I hated the way enemies level with you in oblivion, but this seems too far going the other way.
Anyway thanks to all the posters for the advice and tips. They were very helpful, especially the advice on levelling up to match or exceed your enemies. I didnt know this was so important, since you dont really have that many skill points to expend, but there must be some behind the scenes mechanic going on.

 

[AstroManLuca]

HUH??? You mean after all the getting killed and then doing mission after mission to level up, the ending sucks??? It cant be worse than the ending to KOTOR2 can it!!!

Spoilers:

Spoiler

The vault opens, revealing a gigantic vagina monster that has a lot of HP but can't hurt you very much. You kill it and the game ends. You never get all the awesome new technology that they had been saying would be in the vault the whole game. Then you can start over from the beginning with harder enemies.

 

[Sacraster]

Spoilers:

Spoiler

The vault opens, revealing a gigantic vagina monster that has a lot of HP but can't hurt you very much. You kill it and the game ends. You never get all the awesome new technology that they had been saying would be in the vault the whole game. Then you can start over from the beginning with harder enemies.

ya the ending of the regular game kind of sux. but the ending in the secret armory rocks