The Borderlands series represents a high watermark for many FPS gamers, seamlessly weaving together intense, high-speed action with a unique blend of comedy, emotionally impactful dialogue, and jaw-dropping artwork. In an industry saturated with uninspired shooters that tend to rehash the highlights of previous games in their series, Borderlands vaults ahead by implementing new elements in each subsequent release.
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These aren’t always initially popular, but they are fresh and add to the game’s overall quality of life. However, not every interesting aspect made the leap from one game to another. Here are a few things that deserved reviving but have unfortunately been left behind.
10 Pestilent Defiler
Borderlands 3 is in no way lacking in weapons — the current estimate from Gearbox is over a billion guns — but one sadly left by the wayside after Borderlands was the fan-favorite Maliwan pistol, the Pestilent Defiler. A legendary revolver-type pistol, the Defiler was comparable to a Jakobs gun in terms of emphasis on damage over ammo count or fire rate, but with a twist.
It featured the “Give Sick” ability. Essentially a Corrosive ability that melts one’s opponent and spreads to any nearby enemies, the strength of the ability far surpassed any current iteration of Corrosive or Radiation damage, even melting bosses with relative ease.
9 Dual-Wielding
Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel both featured characters with the ability to dual-wield guns, Salvador and Nisha, respectively, which added a whole new degree of intensity to the gameplay by mapping the left trigger button to a second gun.
For Salvador, this was an Action Skill that could even be activated during FFYL mode with the right skill purchase. It came in extremely handy in tough situations. While Borderlands 3 does have Zane’s digiclone firing another gun, for players who want to bring the pain themselves, it’s not quite the same.
8 Crawmerax
Borderlands set a precedent by introducing the first in a series of raid bosses that marked a new challenge for Vault Hunters: Crawmerax the Invincible. A “crabworm” (giant crawdad-like behemoth), Crawmerax provided a fun and lucrative way for players to farm loot and legendaries in the post-story of DLC The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.
While Crawmerax didn’t reappear in BL2, his legacy was referred to in the Headhunter DLC pack Sir Hammerlock vs. The Son of Crawmerax, where players could take on the titular son, with a similar moveset and powers. Crawmerax and son haven’t reappeared since canonically being defeated, but with so few raid bosses and so much fan love for the crabworm, a return could bring a sense of continuity. Grandkids of Crawmerax, maybe?
7 Claptrap Rescue
The first Borderlands featured an overwhelming number of fetch quests. At times this was obnoxious, but there’s definitely a satisfaction that comes with rounding everything up, especially if the rewards are good. Enter the Claptrap Rescue challenges, where players located Claptrap units in need of repair, found nearby repair kits, and restored the bots in exchange for Backpack SDUs that increased storage space.
While the function of increasing storage has been addressed in Borderlands 3 by way of Marcus’ SDU vendor aboard Sanctuary III, it’s simply a shop where anyone with enough cash can purchase the upgrades. This removes any challenge or skill required in acquiring them. Arguably, the plotline where nearly all Claptraps in existence have been destroyed could throw a wrench into bringing this back, but it’s not like Gearbox hasn’t skirted that fact before.
6 Playing As The Villains
One thing that defines Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is its stark difference from BL2. The change in location from Pandora to its moon, Elpis, the introduction of an oxygen-depletion mechanic, cryo as a new elemental damage type, all shaped the experience. However, possibly the most unique touch was the decision to have players take on the role of minor villains from previous games, giving a first-hand behind-the-scenes look at how Handsome Jack transitioned from hapless Hyperion employee to sinister antagonist.
Players were given fresh perspectives and understandings of the motivations behind some of the series’ most dastardly rogues and were allowed to revel in the fun of being a little bad for a change. Gearbox could always bring the baddies back for a standalone DLC, or even new ones for future titles.
5 Bunkers & Bad***es
Fans were nearly unanimous in their positive response to the massively popular fourth campaign DLC of BL2, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep. This was owing in large part to the fun fantasy setting of a Dungeons & Dragons pastiche, the many homages to nerd culture, and the heartfelt exploration of the characters’ feelings after the events of the main game.
Considering its popularity and the amount of creative freedom a B&B campaign would bring to the story, Gearbox would be remiss in not bringing it back. Perhaps as an anniversary DLC commemorating the original, with the new Vault Hunters being Bunker Master’d by an older, crazier Tina.
4 Seraph Rating
Borderlands 3 boasts the largest number of guns in the series’ history, and this similarly extends to legendaries. With over 160 legendary weapons, some gamers would argue there are simply too many, leading to fatigue. This is where an intermediate rarity rating between “epic” and “legendary” could be of use. Introduced in Borderlands 2‘s first campaign DLC pack, Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty, the Seraph rating was given to gear either dropped by the raid bosses known as Seraph Guardians or sold by Seraph vendors. Aside from drops, the Seraph-rated gear could only be purchased using Seraph crystals, also exclusively dropped by Seraph Guardians. This created a secondary motivation for players to tackle raid bosses and challenge themselves for hard-to-find loot.
The rewards for the current lineup of raid bosses in Borderlands 3 are, by comparison, mostly legendary drops drawn from large pools at high drop rates, somewhat cheapening the satisfaction of finding one of the coveted weapons.
3 More Playable Characters
With Borderlands 3 out for over a year, most diehard fans have had the chance to experiment with all four playable characters. However, it never hurts to have more options. Borderlands 2 unveiled two characters beyond the starting four Vault Hunters: Krieg the Psycho and Gaige the Mechromancer.
Borderlands: TPS gave players access to Lady Aurelia Hammerlock and Timothy Lawrence, a Handsome Jack Doppelganger. These new characters gave players interesting ways to strategize and approach their respective games months after the initial releases, something that Borderlands 3 could benefit from now, post DLCs.
2 Return Of Older Characters
Many of the supporting cast of previous games made reappearances in Borderlands 3, some in larger roles, but others haven’t been so lucky. Janey Springs, the cheery junk dealer from Elpis in Borderlands: TPS hasn’t returned, despite the moon being involved in a late-game plot twist.
Mr. Torgue, head of the Torgue Corporation, has been relegated to the position of Circle of Slaughter commentator when in BL2 he was a key figure throughout three separate DLCs. Even former Vault Hunters such as Athena (BL:TPS) and Salvador (BL2) have been snubbed, despite others making at least cameo appearances. It’s surprising when so much fan love for the series is vested in its appeal to nostalgia.
1 The Watcher
The end of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel saw Athena’s execution interrupted by the arrival of a strangely intelligent Guardian, referred to by fans as “The Watcher,” who warned the Vault Hunters about an oncoming war. This is noteworthy not simply because Guardians are described as being thoughtless automatons, but because the war itself is never addressed or mentioned again.
Some fans have suggested that the advent of Troy and Tyreen Calypso and the COV is the war in question. But with little evidence supporting the theory and Gearbox neither confirming nor denying, the implication is that the war has yet to arrive and there’s still more to be discovered about the coming danger. A return of the Watcher could shed new light on a potentially huge plot point for future titles.
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