All Things Borderlands

[J.T.]

Okay, so either I am destined to play as Axton, I learned the hard lessons from my Zer0 playthrough, I fell on the right gear at the right time, my Badass Rank skill boosts are finally paying off, or all of the above..

I made it through all five rounds of Bandit Slaughter AND made all of the headshot / crit additional requirements for all five rounds..  I credit my trusty kick ass Blue Dahl Shock Damage sniper rifle, a Blue Jakobs revolver, and my Blue Ammo Absorber shield.  This time around I made it a point to focus on getting headshots whenever Bandits, Psychos, Midgets, or Rats were my enemies. 

The three shot burst from the Dahl sniper rifle was an insta-kill so long as I aimed dead center of an enemy's head.  There was a little recoil, but not so much that it carried my third bullet above my target's head.  When I started to run low on sniper ammo, I went cowboy and got in close for fan fire headshots with the revolver.

I could get crits with my shotty but for some reason they didn't register, so I stuck to the sniper rifle and the revolver to score crits via precision shooting.. 

If the map was filled with Nomad Taskmasters, I'd shoot the midget strapped to his shield in the head and then either use grenades, my turret, or my Blue Vladof Fire Damage rocket assault rifle to burn the Nomad to death.

Badass Marauders were easy enough to snipe, but Lab Rats and Badass Psychos had wayyy too much head movement going on and I had to conserve sniper ammo, so those guys got grenaded, turreted, or rocket rifled / burned to death..

The headshot additional mission requirements for Rounds 3. 4, and 5 seemed like a lot, but not when you take into consideration that there are Buzzards in those rounds.  Just hide and let the Buzzards drop off the Marauders riding on their landing rails as they fly off and you have extra headshot opportunities.

There were a couple of scary moments when I had to FIGHT FOR MY LIFE but I was smart enough to switch to shotgun and a sniper rifle (for No Scope, No Problem and Leaf On The Second Wind credit) when I was about to go down and got my second winds.

I sold the Hot Hail I got as a reward.  

I had to kill Smash Head twice while working that Goliath quest in the Fridge and blowing it trying to get the Stiff Competition Badass Challenge on the first try. No Sledge's Shotgun for me.

On Attempt #1, I had Smash Head whittled down to a sliver of health and then aimed a smidge too high with my rocket rifle and hit one of the Boner Midgets riding on his shoulder.  I was quite angry with myself.

To make matters worse, neither Laney White nor Rakkman dropped Orange weapons for me.  Grrr.

Axton is moving on to side missions in The Dust before heading to the Caustic Caverns and then the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.  I am going to test this theory that Jimmy JENKINS spawns more frequently if you wait to complete that Doctor's Orders side mission for Tannis. 

If Jimmy spawns fairly regularly I am going to farm him for a few kills.

As much as I love my Absorb shield, I am going to have to game the vending machines at Fink's and get my hands on a good Adaptive shield for the side missions in the Caustic Caverns.

[J.T.]

Finished up The Good, The Bad, and the Mordecai as well as the CLAN WARS~! side mission tree with Axton.

Fucking Hodunks still refuse to drop a Slagga for me.

My console must've heard my angry words yesterday because I got two Orange drops while working on the Treasure Hunt.

I ran into a named Level 21 Spiderant (The Black Queen) while on the trail from Bug Gulch to Boot Hill and she dropped the Nukem launcher. 

The arcing projectile path takes some getting used to, but I killed Old Slappy while doing another side mission with one shot (technically two since it uses double the ammo per single shot) so it has earned its temporary spot in my standing load out, but it will be fucking out the minute I think I've killed myself with it while shooting at someone else.

Mobley, the Hyperion soldier you fight in the Truxican stand-off with Carson at the end of the Treasure Hunt side mission, dropped the Veruc assault rifle for me for me. I'm keeping it since it is a Dahl weapon and I have the Dahl Elite skin, but it is a pretty meh weapon. 

The wide bullet spread makes it excellent for close engagements, but I have always counted on my assault rifles to be good at medium or long range.  The Veruc is pretty much a shotgun masquerading as an assault rifle.

Despite the drawbacks, both weapons synergize well with my Singularity grenade mod as well as my turret, so I will use both weapons fairly extensively until their damage peters out.

I'm off to do this damned Caustic Caverns stuff again.

[J.T.]

Axton's adventures in the Caustic Caverns have concluded for the time being and I beat all of the Badass Challenges for that map.

Blue dropped the Fabled Tortoise shield for me on the first try.  I didn't particularly care for the effect on my movement speed, but using the shield for a bit did allow me to complete the Didn't Feel A Thing and I Bet I Can Make It Badass Challenges with health to spare. 

It felt good to survive the run to the island and actually get a good look at the the Dark Souls Easter Egg rather going into Fight For Your Life Mode seconds after reaching shore. 

I ended up selling the shield when I got back to Sanctuary.  I probably won't start keeping stuff in my vault until I attempt TVHM after I beat Gears of War 3.

I don't like Turtle Shields in general, but I can see why the Fabled Tortoise gets so much love online (mostly from Gunzerker players).  As far as Legendary shields go, I think my best bet is to try to farm a Bee from Hunter Helquist when I finally get to that stage of the story mission.

After getting the racy pics back to Moxxi, I went back to The Dust and finally got the Hodunks to drop a Slagga for my arsenal. Then, I moved on to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. 

Pimon and Tumbaa didn't spawn during the story mission run (RIP Bloodwing... again.. ), but they showed up after I got the Doctor's Orders side mission from Tannis and I beat the Ride Together, Die Together Badass Challenge on one of my attempts to get Jimmy JENKINS to spawn.

So far, no dice but one of the Loot Midgets DROPPED A SHOCK DAMAGE INFINITY PISTOL FOR ME~!!!!

So I'm rolling with three Legendaries now (The Veruc, The Infinity, and The Slagga) as I finally sold off the Nukem after nearly killing myself with it during one of my Slagga farming runs.  One more Legendary drop and I will beat the Rank 5 Nothing Rhymes With Orange Badass Challenge.

I was starting to sour on the Veruc, but it proved its worth when I started to get attacked by groups of Skags at the preserve.  When they ran at me in a pack, all I had to do was crouch and the wide spread pattern allowed me to crit all of the Skags as they attacked.

I'm going to try to get Jimmy to spawn at least once before doing Mordecai's revenge mission, find those Teddy Bears again for the last Badass Challenge I have to do in the Preserve, and head off to see Brick... er.... The Slab King.  I am not looking forward to trying to beat the Slab UHF Badass Challenge again with another character..

[J.T.]

 

Out of seven trips to the Preserve with the Doctor's Orders side mission active, Jimmy JENK1N5 showed up twice.  I only needed to kill him once to get Rank 2 Badass Challenge credit.  I knocked out Mordecai's booze run side mission and his Pandora version of When Animals Attack, and moved on to Thousand Cuts.  All Badass Challenges for the map are complete for Axton.

Axton is Level 25, but I noticed that nearly all of my weapons are around 20th, so I went to Fink's to swap out for gear closer to my level.  It was sad to sell the Infinity pistol and my other Legendaries, but it was taking forever to kill Level 21 stuff with Level 18 Orange weapons. 

I gamed the vending machines and now have mostly Level 24 weapons.  A couple of the weapons are Purple and for the first time since I started playing this game, The Ammo vending machine had an Orange grenade mod for sale! 

After getting my gear upgrades.  I managed to slug my way through The Once & Future Slab story mission as well as the side missions for Scooter and Brick in Thousand Cuts. 

I only had 30 minutes until I had to go to work, so I decided to quit while I was ahead and do the Slab UHF Badass Challenge after the weekend or when I get the first good opportunity to game a bit.  I am horrible at platform jumping in this game, so there is no way I'd have made it to the top of the antenna before time for me to jet.

This Saturday is my kinda sorta grandkid's 1st birthday, so it's all about her and Sunday is Football (Steelers / Ravens... ugh..) so there is a joy and pain thing going on this weekend.  If I am too depressed on Sunday, I will go and see Doctor Strange.

I will head back to Finks to try to game at least one Corrosion damage weapon because I'm headed to Opportunity next and I'll need Acid weapons for the oodles of armored enemies.  I may also try to farm Goliaths in Thousand Cuts for high level gear.

A few points of recent interest.:

1. I have no idea why some shotguns come with weapon scopes.  I hate scopes on shotguns. 

2. Conversely, EVERY SHOTGUN SHOULD COME WITH A FUCKING KNIFE OR CLEAVER ON THE END~!  Melee attachments on shottys fucking rule.

3. Now I see why some people chose the Hodunks over the Zafords. When my homegirl Karla played this game, she rolled as a Level 50 Siren and she favored The Maggie over most weapons..  In order to get it, you have to side with the Hodunks and farm it from Mick Zaford.

4. As someone else mentioned before, in normal game mode, Karla did indeed roll with the Bane for a while and used it to easily kill Phaselocked enemies.  The movement penalty isn't an issue to someone who can hold enemies in place for a few seconds and the "curse" is easily lifted by swapping to another weapon.  She didn't really start using the Maggie as her favored weapon until TVHM and UVHM.

5.  I've noticed that most of the odd trajectory / bouncey bullet weapons like the Madhaus! and the Hail that most players hate are actually favored by Anarchy Mechromancers.  The majority of players quick to demonize certain weapons are either Gunzerkers or Commandos.

 

 

[J.T.]

I have Axton rolling with the Dahl Elite skin and I have been slacking on my Crouching Tiger, Hidden Assault rifle progress. I need to step it up so I can get my Dahl Predator skin before endgame.

I was bummed by my research that showed that the Dahl Efficiency skin isn't unlocked in the game.

[J.T.]

Didn't have long to game today since the carpet cleaners came this morning and then I had to drive three hours to get to work and pull the 1600-Midnight.

It took nearly an hour to get to the top of the antenna to complete the Slab UHF Badass Challenge for Thousand Cuts.  I am a horrible platform jumper in this game.

After that ordeal, I only had time enough to do the Kill Jack's Body Double story mission in Opportunity before bailing for the 804.  I still have to complete the Badass Challenges there and knock out the new side missions for Lilith, Moxie, and Claptrap.  There's also another Golden ! on the map, but I forgot what that mission is.

I'm not looking forward to doing all of that while wearing Jack's voice synthesizer.

I did the crazy Kill The Bandits With Elemental Weapons side mission for Hyperion from the Overlook bounty board..   I only used the nagging sniper rifle a couple of times, but I could've sworn the AI for this version of the reward rifle had Axton's ex-wife's voice. I didn't keep the weapon long enough to confirm it.

[Death From Above]

I only recently got all the DLC for Pre Sequel. I must say, the Claptrap Voyage DLC is really fantastic. As good as any DLC for any Borderlands game. Interesting and different story, good level design, lots of good items. Not much to complain about aside from the endboss being a bit too Destroyer-ish to me (big immobile thing, kill it before it kills you). But really a top DLC. I'd put it next to anything from BL 2.

[J.T.]

I finished up all of the side missions for Opportunity including the pain in the ass Keep The Rogue Constructor Alive bullshit.  It took me two tries, but I completed the side mission AND kept the Constructor above 50% Health for the additional mission criteria.  

I still have to go back and destroy the security cameras for the Down With Big Handsome Brother Badass Challenge.

Since I wanted to get rid of Jack's voice modulator as quickly as possible, I decided to complete the BNK-3R raid mission.   Died twice getting to The Bunker due to Constructor nukes and my turret being dumb and killing an enemy before I could reload and denying me a Second Wind.

BNK-3R is knocked out of the box one mo' 'gain (BNK-3R BUSTER Badass Challenge beaten on the first try~!  My arm hurt from trying to keep my aim steady.).  No rare head for Axton from BNK-3R, but I am not really fond of that item so no loss...  

I will try again later because I plan to currency farm the shit out of BNK-3R to get my Benjamin Pile of over a mil and keep ahead of the For The Hoard! Badass Challenge and I also want to get my hands on a Sham shield

or a Bitch SMG.

Preferably both.

RIP Angel.. again...

RIP Roland.. again...

I did the side mission where you break the news of Roland's death to everyone so that I could get my hands on the reward Level 46 Blue Dahl assault rifle and ditch the Level 23 Blue Dahl Fire Damage assault rifle I have been lugging around forever. I needed something that caused old fashioned harm rather than elemental injury.

I'm going to take a break from missions for a bit and pad my Crouching Tiger Hidden Machine Gun kills because I am way behind in the murder count to get my Dahl Predator skin.   I'll do that in conjunction with murdering Bullymongs and getting a few kills with my Lobbed Tesla grenade so I can finish off the Chemical Sprayer Badass Challenge and begin to work on the Health Vampire Badass Challenge with the Level 26 Longbow Singularity Transfusion grenade mod I got from my first kill on BNK-3R..

[J.T.]

I took five shots at BNK-3R farming and no Rare head or Orange gear, so fuck it.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Machine Gun is testing my completionism.  You will never appreciate how long it takes to get 3200 crouched assault rifle kills until you try to do it.  I'm at 1536 right now and am hating life.  However I am old and stupid and I will get to 3200 before I kill Jack with Axton.

In order to break up the monotony of farming crouched assault rifle kills, I decided to work on The Bane side mission which would segue into the side missions in Lynchwood.  I did all of the Dukino missions except for Demon Hunter and I also knocked out the train robbery, the bank robbery, and the showdown with The Sheriff. 

I finally met all of the additional criteria and killed her with a pistol (a Purple Jakobs revolver I got while trying to farm BNK-3R) without shooting the deputy.  Winger actually put me down right before I got a kill shot on Nisha, but I managed to get a lucky headshot in for a Second Wind.  Getting Law as my reward was a bit bittersweet as I sold it and the Order shield I had in my vault shortly after gunning down The Sheriff

Obviously using Law & Order as synergized items is meant for TVHM when they are more or less comparable in level.  I got Order as a reward for a Level 26 side mission and now I have Law @ Level 29th and there is no way I am slapping a Level 26 shield on to a Level 30 Commando.

I completed all of the Badass Challenges for Opportunity except for Top O' The World (co-op challenge. ) and I've gotten all of the Badass Challenges done in Lynchwood except for Duel of Death (another stupid co-op challenge) and Last Train To Nowhere (I need a better Launcher to kill the fucking Bruiser riding on the end of the 5:00 train).

I'm now moderately overpowered for the story missions leading up to the raid on Hero's Pass and the side missions in the Eridium Blight, but that's okay because I like being overleveled and selling trade fodder will help me push towards Rank 4 of the For The Hoard Badass Challenge.

[J.T.]

And the beat goes on.

I knocked out all of the side missions and Badass Challenges for the Eridium Blight and am now wrecking shop in the Sawtooth Cauldron.

I have around 1500 crouched assault rifle kills for the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Machine Gun Badass Challenge..  100 more to go for Rank 4 and 1600 after that for Rank 5 Ugh.  This Dahl Predator skin had better be awesome..

I only had time to get the Sawtooth Cauldron part of Toil & Trouble done before having to bounce for work.  I remembered NOT to listen to Brick and jumped to Evie's Campsite instead (Happy Camper Badass Challenge complete) before slugging my way through the Grotto and exiting via the Fast Travel to Sanctuary.

I was smart this time and picked up the Lost Treasure side mission while I was heading towards Mortar's tower.  All of the map pieces dropped for me so now I have to find a proper segue to bounce to the Caustic Caverns and collect my loot.

I've killed all of the skags, rakk, and spiderants for Zed's Monster Mash side mission, so all that remains is to deal with the skrakks in the Arid Badlands and then kill his abomination in Frosbite Canyon.

I have Marcus's side mission in the Cauldron queued up and I'll get that done in conjunction with knocking out a couple of Badass Challenges (Cult of the Vault & Race To The Top) and there is also that Great Escape side mission for Ulysses the Goliath to get done.  I also need to do Brick's dumb capture the flag side mission in the Cauldron.

[J.T.]

I am up to 1639 crouched assault rifle kills.  I need to get to 3200.  I hate my life.

All of the Sawtooth Cauldron side missions and Badass Challenges are complete and Axton is in the Arid Badlands - Boneyard now.. 

I remembered where the Cult sigils were and I also remembered to turn off Hunter Heliquist's transmitter backpack before destroying him with my new ORANGE HYPERION LONGBOW QUASAR GRENADE MOD and my Blue Tediore Fire Damage SMG.

Hunter was good enough to drop THE BEE for me so now I'm knocking out progress in the Amp It Up Badass Challenge.  Now I see why players like this shield so much.  Unlike other Amp shields, the Bee does not drain off when you fire your first shot so you will always do bonus damage without your shield draining. 

The recharge delay is really long compared to other shields, but the recharge rate refreshes you shield almost instantly after the delay time is done.

All I have to left to do in the Boneyard is survive the zerg rush of Hyperion bots for the Under Pressure Badass Challenge.

Story wise, Axton has infiltrated all of the Eridium Pumping Stations and ruptured the pipleline so that he can move into the Arid Badlands - Nexus.

Oh, and I did all of the Minecraft Easter Egg stuff when I went back to the Caustic Caverns to finish The Lost Treasure side mission.

[J.T.]

Everything in the Arid Nexus (both sides) is complete including Badass Challenges. 

I ran into a bit of bullshit while storming the Information Stockade.  I was a million miles away taking sniper rifle shots at the Badass Constructor guarding the facility and it still managed to reflect my bullets back at me for direct hits when it had its shield up.

Now it is time once again to end Jack, but not without trying to engineer it so that I complete the Save the Turrets Badass Challenge in Eridium Blight before moving on.

[J.T.]

I finally got to 3200 crouched assault rifle kills.  I totally hate the Dahl Predator skin.

I'm a bit burned out on Borderlands 2 right now, so I am probably going to play a bit of Gears of War 3 and return later to finish off THE CHRONICLES OF AXTON~!

[J.T.]

13 hours ago, L_W_P said:

I don't mind the Dahl Predator skin (I think it looks pretty bad ass on Kreig especially) but I have seen plenty of people let down after all the effort it takes to get it. 3200 Assualt Rifle kills while crouched is no small task and I think a lot of people have some strong backlash to the small reward.

It's a bit too loud for my tastes and yeah, it's a bit of a letdown for the effort you put into getting it.. 

The Dahl Elite skin looks proper and military and fits in with Axton since he is a former Dahl Corp merc.

I'm bummed that the Dahl Efficiency skin isn't in the game.

[RIPPA]

MY BODY IS READY!!!!

[RIPPA]

For the record - when that turns out to be an online MMORPG I am going to be so fucking pissed

[Craig H]

27 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

MY BODY IS READY!!!!

I'm shocked there was no Claptrap.

[RIPPA]

6 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I'm shocked there was no Claptrap.

He's there - he is on the shoulders of one of the statues as it spins around (about 20 seconds in)

[Craig H]

Oh wow. That's a blink and you'll miss it moment since it's so small.

[Tromatagon]

I think my podcast needs lawyers.

People are going to think Masks, Mats, and Mayhem is a Borderlands podcast now.

Well, LU is dead as fuck so what else are we going to talk about?

Edited March 27, 2019 by Tromatagon

[Craig H]

55 minutes ago, Tromatagon said:

I think my podcast needs lawyers.

People are going to think Masks, Mats, and Mayhem is a Borderlands podcast now.

Well, LU is dead as fuck so what else are we going to talk about?

You could talk about M.A.S.K. the cartoon?

[Tromatagon]

Yeah but I can only get one podcast out of what a piece of shit T-Bob was, but then realizing that Scott Trakker was the real piece of shit, being spoiled with a robot AND a motor scooter despite it being a really annoying robot.  I mean if we had Teddy Ruxpin as a kid we had a pretty annoying robot, but he didn't turn into a motor scooter we could ride around.   But then would Matt Trakker be the real piece of shit for raising such a horrible son and giving him that stupid hippie lady shirt to wear every day?  But then he gave him a robot and a motor scooter.  Like goddamn.

But he also never gave the kid a helmet so maybe he was trying to do the world a favor.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Tromatagon

[Death From Above]

I am pretty blah on the Borderlands trailer but it's obvious they are saving everything for PAX and want to give away as little as possible in advance. The fact we're finally out of Half-Life 3 meme territory is fine by me.

[Craig H]

2 hours ago, Death From Above said:

I am pretty blah on the Borderlands trailer but it's obvious they are saving everything for PAX and want to give away as little as possible in advance. The fact we're finally out of Half-Life 3 meme territory is fine by me.

Part of me wonders if Half-Life 3 is like an Outkast thing where Andre 3000 said something like they got tired of everyone mooching off of them so they just stopped making music until all of that trash finally left their orbit. So maybe when everyone finally stops caring about Half-Life is when Valve will actually come out with Half-Life 3...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA who am I kidding. Valve is a fucking shit show. They've come out with one new product in forever, Artifact, and that shit was dead in about 2 months. At the moment, I'm sure Valve is just trying to figure out how to make money off of Dota 2 Auto Chess.

[Death From Above]

I actually have zero interest in Half-Life 3. Now, Portal 3 on the other hand...