fancy
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Borderlands 2 Community Playthrough
Heyoooooooooooooooooooooo
Welcome to…!
:HOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY SHIT. I’M SEEING A BUNCH OF RANDOS AND THEY’RE ALL CARRYING BIG*** GUNS. WHAT IS THIS GAME ALL ABOUT???
:Borderlands 2 is an open world, first-person shooter with role-playing elements. Folks can either play single-player or in groups of up to 4 people (local and online co-op)
:COLOUR ME INTRIGUED. NOW, DO I HAVE TO HAVE PREVIOUSLY PLAYED BORDERLANDS, NO NUMBERS, IN ORDER TO ENJOY THIS GAME???
:You don’t. Indeed,
:HOW THE **** DO I GET A COPY OF THIS GAME AND WHAT PLATFORM CAN I PLAY IT ON????
: Here’s a complete list of the platforms BL2 is available on. Clicking on each platform will provide a list of ways to buy the game as well as links. Please note that you can only obtain the PS4 version by buying Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which gives you the Pre-sequel as well as the vanilla Borderlands 2.
:HOW MANY HOURS OF MY LIFE WOULD I BE GIVING TO THIS GAME IF I SO CHOOSE TO DO SO?!?
:Strictly playing the main story, it takes about 31 hours. Playing the main story plus sidequests takes 52 hours.
We’re going to be playing just the main quest (plus a mini playthrough of ‘Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep’ for all who are interested), and I encourage everyone to prioritise the required missions first and then squeeze any extra stuff that you can in the allotted time to enhance your Borderlands 2 experience!
That being said, I’m going to post questions for the all sidequest for those who cannot resist.
Answer them at your own pace and always use spoiler tags!
In general, the goal is to complete ~3 hours a week for an 11-12 week playthrough.
:CAN I PLAY WITH OTHER PEOPLE????
:You absolutely can and I absolutely encourage this! You’ll be wishing they were around when it comes to the boss fights and, all in all, I find the game loads more fun with more people—even if it’s just one extra person around.
Those who want more of a challenge, however (or who really just can’t be bothered with the social aspect), I’d encourage you to play the game solo.
:CAN I PLAY IN ANY OTHER MODE BESIDES NORMAL????
:This question is only really relevant to veterans who have already completed the game once and have unlocked True Vault Hunter Mode and Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, which offers players the option to replay the game in its entirety but with new enemies, scaled fights, more badass spawns, tougher enemies, and (in turn) better loot and XP!
The answer is: you’re absolutely free to play in whatever mode you choose to play in, but keep in mind that if you so choose to play in TVHM or UVHM, you’ll have to be even more selective in choosing teammates (assuming you want teammates).
:WILL FFXII AND/OR DIRGE OF CERBERUS EVER SEE JUSTICE?????
: ………………
:WILL. THERE. BE. EXXXXXXPLOSIONS?!?!?!
:FUCK. YES!!!
Heyoooooooooooooooooooooo
Welcome to…!
Obsidian Fire said:
We’re going to be playing just the main quest (plus a mini playthrough of ‘Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep’ for all who are interested), and I encourage everyone to prioritise the required missions first and then squeeze any extra stuff that you can in the allotted time to enhance your Borderlands 2 experience!
That being said, I’m going to post questions for the all sidequest for those who cannot resist.
Answer them at your own pace and always use spoiler tags! In general, the goal is to complete ~3 hours a week for an 11-12 week playthrough.
Those who want more of a challenge, however (or who really just can’t be bothered with the social aspect), I’d encourage you to play the game solo.
The answer is: you’re absolutely free to play in whatever mode you choose to play in, but keep in mind that if you so choose to play in TVHM or UVHM, you’ll have to be even more selective in choosing teammates (assuming you want teammates
).
The vanilla copy of BL2 comes with 4 characters. Each one of these characters has an action skill they can use for a short time to assist in battle. After each use of an action skill, there is a Cooldown period in which players have to wait before they can use it again, so be smart and strategic when deciding when and when not to use it!
The effects of this action skill, as well as the permanent perks that your character gains (such as a boost in their health or accuracy), can be customised through three skill trees. As you move further along in the game, you gain more and more skill points, unlocking more and more tiers of the trees.
Here’s a brief overlook (given that you can mix and match skills from each skill tree, half the fun comes from gawking and debating on which skills you want anyway).
Axton (as the Commando)
Action skill is the use of a turret, which will not only act as a support, but as a distraction for enemies if you’re in a tight spot and need to get away.
Maya (as the Siren)
Action skill is phaselock, which will suspend enemies in midair for a few seconds whilst doing damage. Great for crowd control.
Salvador (as the Gunzerker)
Action skill is gunzerking, or the ability to wield any two weapons you have in your inventory for a little time.
Zer0 (as the Assassin)
Has the ability to go into ‘decepti0n’ mode whichs deploys a holographic decoy of himself whilst he turns invisible.
Extra Characters from DLCs
Gaige (as the Mechromancer)
Action skill is summoning a robot companion to help you kicks copious amounts of ass.
Krieg (as the Psycho)
Action skill is going into berserk mode with a buzz axe and doing extra melee damage.
Feel free to take a gander at this skill tree simulator to get a feel for the skill tree mechanics. Every time you want to move around your points, you're charged for refreshing them, so it's wise to get a good idea of what you want to do ahead of time!
Guns, and Class Mods, and Shields. Oh, my!
Loot, as you will come to know (if you don’t already) plays a huge part in the Borderlands experience. Each bit of loot gets assigned a colour which signifies it’s rarity and thus it’s rank. The general rule is: the rarer the loot, the more powerful it is.
Loot Ranking (from most common to most rare)
As, again, our very own Obsidian Fire puts it…
Therefore, I’ll be making special note of all the sidequests that award you with these special weapons (even if I don’t neccesarily recommend it for the playthrough).
The effects of this action skill, as well as the permanent perks that your character gains (such as a boost in their health or accuracy), can be customised through three skill trees. As you move further along in the game, you gain more and more skill points, unlocking more and more tiers of the trees.
Here’s a brief overlook (given that you can mix and match skills from each skill tree, half the fun comes from gawking and debating on which skills you want anyway).
Axton (as the Commando)
Action skill is the use of a turret, which will not only act as a support, but as a distraction for enemies if you’re in a tight spot and need to get away.
- Guerilla - Helps you to sustain continuous high damage attacks.
- Gunpowder - All about offence. Boosts combat stats and utilises explosives. Great for distracting enemies.
- Survival - All about defence. Boosts your health, shield, and the last tier allows you to deploy two turrets.
Maya (as the Siren)
Action skill is phaselock, which will suspend enemies in midair for a few seconds whilst doing damage. Great for crowd control.
- Motion - Good for crowd control and boosting defence.
- Harmony - Focus is on healing and supporting your teammates.
- Cataclysm - Focus is on elemental effects, damage, and causing all hell.
Salvador (as the Gunzerker)
Action skill is gunzerking, or the ability to wield any two weapons you have in your inventory for a little time.
- Gun Lust - Gets you to swap around and reload your guns in rapid succession.
- Rampage - Focus is on maintaining a continuous flow of firing. Will reward you with extra ammunition and time spent gunzerking.
- Brawn - Tank tree. Increases your max health, rate of regeneration, and has the potential to turn damage into health regeneration. You can even taunt your enemies with the final tier.
Zer0 (as the Assassin)
Has the ability to go into ‘decepti0n’ mode whichs deploys a holographic decoy of himself whilst he turns invisible.
- Sniping - Grants bonuses on crit hit with guns, particularly sniper rifles.
- Cunning - Improves melee and ranged combat.
- Bloodshed - Increases decepti0n time and improves melee damage. Makes you feel badass as hell.
Extra Characters from DLCs
Gaige (as the Mechromancer)
Action skill is summoning a robot companion to help you kicks copious amounts of ass.
- Best Friends Forever - Focus is on boosting health and shield.
- Little Big Trouble - Focus is on elemental damage.
- Ordered Chaos - Grants you big bonuses in damage but at the cost of accuracy.
Krieg (as the Psycho)
Action skill is going into berserk mode with a buzz axe and doing extra melee damage.
- Bloodlust - Focus is on ranged combat and getting stacks to improve your skills.
- Mania - High risk/high reward tree that rewards you for taking damage by increasing the amount of damage you deal out.
- Hellborn - Focus is on elemental damage.
Feel free to take a gander at this skill tree simulator to get a feel for the skill tree mechanics. Every time you want to move around your points, you're charged for refreshing them, so it's wise to get a good idea of what you want to do ahead of time!
Guns, and Class Mods, and Shields. Oh, my!
Loot, as you will come to know (if you don’t already) plays a huge part in the Borderlands experience. Each bit of loot gets assigned a colour which signifies it’s rarity and thus it’s rank. The general rule is: the rarer the loot, the more powerful it is.
Loot Ranking (from most common to most rare)
- White = Common
- Green = Uncommon
- Blue = Rare
- Purple = Epic
- Orange = Legendary
- Magenta = E-tech
- Pink = Seraph (Only found in DLCs)
- Cyan = Pearlescent (Only found in UVHM)
As, again, our very own Obsidian Fire puts it…
Obsidian Fire said:
Therefore, I’ll be making special note of all the sidequests that award you with these special weapons (even if I don’t neccesarily recommend it for the playthrough).
If you’re buying BL2 for the first time, you’ll have the choice of either getting the vanilla game or the Game of the Year Edition. I strongly urge you to buy the latter if you can afford it/access it. Whilst I’m structuring the main playthrough in such a way that vanilla players won’t be missing out, I’ll also be hosting a mini-playthrough of Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep—a bonus campaign that parodies DnD—at the end of the main campaign
For a side-by-side comparison...
Borderlands 2 Includes
Borderlands 2 (GOTYE) Includes
Other DLCs
For a side-by-side comparison...
Borderlands 2 Includes
- The four base characters (Axton, Maya, Zer0, and Salvador)
- A level cap of 50.
- Main story campaign and all side quests.
Borderlands 2 (GOTYE) Includes
- The four base characters (Axton, Maya, Zer0, and Salvador) + Gaige and Krieg
- Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack (pushes level cap to 61)
- Main story campaign and all side quests.
- Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty (Bonus Campaign)
- Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage (Bonus Campaign)
- Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt (Bonus Campaign)
- Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep (SUPER AWESOME Bonus Campaign)
- Creature Slaughter Dome (Battle Area)
- Collector’s Edition Pack (which includes heads and skins for Axton, Maya, Zer0, and Salvador as well as an extra weapon)
Other DLCs
- Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2 (pushes level cap to 72)
- T.K. Baha’s Bloody Harvest
- The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler
- How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day
- Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre
- Sir Hammerlock vs. the Son of Crawmerax
From experience, I can say that Borderlands 2 is a game best played with friends. Ideally, we’d be pairing up veterans of the game with newbies, but folks are naturally free to team up with whomever they choose. I, myself, will go ahead and state that I am a vet who’d prefer to play with newbies. Mostly cuz I play like a newbie myself and I’m shy lmfao. (｡･ω･｡
If anyone would like to provide me with their timezone as well as the medium they're playing on, I’ll list’em here and you can reach out to a member based on that.
Whilst I strongly encourage everyone to team up with somebody, there are potential drawbacks to working in teams.
Skipping Ahead - When you’re joining someone’s game, you’ll load in whatever point they’re currently in, thus you risk skipping some story. For example, say you were in Chapter 5 the last time you saved, but your host is in Chapter 7 when you join their game. You’ve just skipped Chapter 6 in terms of story.
Not only this, but the next time you load your own game, you’ll end up back in the last point that you saved in (in the case of this example, Chapter 5), and you’ll be forced to progress through Chapter 6 anyway (though you will get the option of skipping Chapter 7….
So be mindful that whoever you end up teaming up with throughout the playthrough event (I, myself, don’t plan on strictly playing with one party/set of people) are more or less on the same page as you. On a related note...
Get. On. My. Level. - As I’ve mentioned earlier, those who have completed the game once will have unlocked True Vault Hunter Mode for that character and those who’ve completed TVHM unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. If a newbie ends up joining a host playing in either of these modes, the host will be carrying them as they will literally be too weak to contribute in a significant way. If a veteran joins a newbie game (with their levelled up character), the game will become too easy, as the veteran will be mowing down every enemy they encounter because they’re too overpowered for the playthrough.
Again, you’re free to join whomever and play on whatever mode with whichever teammates, but I’m just pointing this out as something you may want to keep in mind.
”T-THAT’S MY LOOT!!!” - When it comes to the loot you and your teammates find, it’s every wo(man) for her/himself. If a rare weapon drops and four players are present, only one of them is walking away with that booty (assuming no one is cheating of course lmao
). Get accustomed to negotiating, playing dirty, or using the in-game solution (literally fighting for it).
Make Your Choice - Sometimes the missions you go on give you a choice between giving an item to one character or another, which will award you a different gun. Once one of your teammates makes this decision, it’s absolute for everyone else playing.
If anyone would like to provide me with their timezone as well as the medium they're playing on, I’ll list’em here and you can reach out to a member based on that.
- BforB (Newborn on Mac). Might be playing! AEST (+10 GMT).
- Cthulhu (Magical Space Inbetween on PC). Will play with anyone (ping him).
- Darth n Airling (Vets on PC). Will play with newbies or anyone on TVHM. - (+2 GMT)
- Fancy (Vet on PC). Will play with anyone but prefers newbies- EST (-4 GMT)
- ForceStealer (Vet on PS4 but will play PS3 if necessary). Will play with anyone.
- Joe (Vet on PC and PS4). Will play with anyone - BST (+1 GMT)
- Mao Shizhong (Newbie on PC). Will play with anyone - BST (+1 GMT)
- Minato (Newbie on PC). Will play with anyone.
- Obsidian Fire (Vet on PC). Will play with anyone (although likely playing TVHM) - PDT (-7 GMT)
Whilst I strongly encourage everyone to team up with somebody, there are potential drawbacks to working in teams.
Skipping Ahead - When you’re joining someone’s game, you’ll load in whatever point they’re currently in, thus you risk skipping some story. For example, say you were in Chapter 5 the last time you saved, but your host is in Chapter 7 when you join their game. You’ve just skipped Chapter 6 in terms of story.
Not only this, but the next time you load your own game, you’ll end up back in the last point that you saved in (in the case of this example, Chapter 5), and you’ll be forced to progress through Chapter 6 anyway (though you will get the option of skipping Chapter 7…
. So be mindful that whoever you end up teaming up with throughout the playthrough event (I, myself, don’t plan on strictly playing with one party/set of people) are more or less on the same page as you. On a related note...
Get. On. My. Level. - As I’ve mentioned earlier, those who have completed the game once will have unlocked True Vault Hunter Mode for that character and those who’ve completed TVHM unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. If a newbie ends up joining a host playing in either of these modes, the host will be carrying them as they will literally be too weak to contribute in a significant way. If a veteran joins a newbie game (with their levelled up character), the game will become too easy, as the veteran will be mowing down every enemy they encounter because they’re too overpowered for the playthrough.
Again, you’re free to join whomever and play on whatever mode with whichever teammates, but I’m just pointing this out as something you may want to keep in mind.
”T-THAT’S MY LOOT!!!” - When it comes to the loot you and your teammates find, it’s every wo(man) for her/himself. If a rare weapon drops and four players are present, only one of them is walking away with that booty (assuming no one is cheating of course lmao
). Get accustomed to negotiating, playing dirty, or using the in-game solution (literally fighting for it). Make Your Choice - Sometimes the missions you go on give you a choice between giving an item to one character or another, which will award you a different gun. Once one of your teammates makes this decision, it’s absolute for everyone else playing.
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
Part Four:
Part Five:
Part Six:
Part Seven:
Part Eight:
Part Nine:
Part Ten:
- Prelude: My First Gun
- Chapter 1: Blindsided
Part Two:
- Chapter 2: Cleaning Up the Berg
- Chapter 3: Best Minion Ever
Part Three:
- Chapter 4: The Road to Sanctuary
- Chapter 5: Plan B
Part Four:
- Chapter 6: Hunting the Firehawk
- Chapter 7: A Dam Fine Rescue
Part Five:
- Chapter 8: A Train to Catch
- Chapter 9: Rising Action
Part Six:
- Chapter 10: Bright Lights, Flying City
- Chapter 11: Wildlife Preservation
Part Seven:
- Chapter 12: The Once and Future Slab
- Chapter 13: The Man Who Would Be Jack
Part Eight:
- Chapter 14: Where Angels Fear to Tread
- Chapter 15: Where Angels Fear to Tread Part 2
Part Nine:
- Chapter 16: Toil and Trouble
- Chapter 17: Data Mining
Part Ten:
- Chapter 18: The Talon of God
- Big shout out to Obsidian Fire for being the help I needed (but didn’t deserve T_T) and BforB for proofreading the first draft (never gave her the new one tho oops..).
- Borderlands 2 Wikia
- How Long is Borderlands 2?
- Borderlands 2 Wiki Guide
- Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition - What's Included
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It's likely I'll be playing on PC but I may play on PS4 too.
I've been stressing about this fooking post for weeks. Probably still needs some tweaks but I'm happy for now! 
I'm a completely newbie to the BL series (boy love?????) but not shooters in general.
