Borderlands 2 - The Mechromancer

[Dat Matt]

So Shauna, Myself and and a friend were plaything though a game over Borderlands 2 with a friend this weekend. He did not already have a profile so we started with new characters. I, having an affinity for playing female characters in video games (perhaps because my favourite part of a woman is the boobies), opted to play as the Mechromancer.

From a design point of view, the class is designed to be for players that are fairly new to FPS games. Some of her earlier abilities include:

* 0.4%/0.8%/1.2%/1.6%/2.0% HP regeneration when your characters has a full clip of ammo
* +20%/40%/60%/80%/100% shield restoration upon killing an enemy, but losing 1%/2%/3%/4%/5% HP after a kill.
* An automated AI controlled robot that automatically targets nearby enemies. A later ability also has this robot restoring 100% of an allies shield.
* A stackable skill called anarchy. Stacks are gained when you empty a clip during combat, or when you kill an enemy. Each stack increases gun damage by 1.75%, but decreases gun accuracy by 1.75%.

The main aim of the Mechromancer is to gain stacks in anarchy. The stack cap reaches up to 400, so 700% increase in damage, but 700% decrease in accuracy at max stats. This is very noticeable when you reach that cap. There are several drawbacks to this. Any death or reload resets your stacks, if you enter second wind, you lose stacks rapidly, about 5 per second.

What I want to discuss is the difficulty of the Mechromancer and why it's actually brilliant in her design. The easiest way to describe her is "Easy to play, hard to master". As a veteran of video games in general I have a few quite a few FPS games under my belt. I tend to aim for a sniper role in cooperative games. Staying out of battle and healing when necessary is my style of play for most games. This style is not allowed with the Mechromancer.

First main issue is gaining Anarchy. Each stack increase damage, but reduces accuracy. What it means to reduce accuracy in borderlands is that when you enter ironsights, the gun wobbles from side to side if you have low accuracy the closer to 100%, the steadier the shot. Every stack you gain drops this by 1.75%, so at maximum you have -700% accuracy from this ability. This rules out long range playstyles, and generally rules out aiming. It caters to a player that doesn't aim very often.

This playstyle of building stacks also leads to some interesting gameplay. When you enter a battle with high stacks, in order to hit your shots you need to be at close range. Shotguns, pistols and SMGs are all good candidates but it also puts you directly in the fray. Building the stacks, and keeping them high results in having to get closer and closer to the enemy. This in turn creates the situation where you are more likely to be the target and be killed, this losing you stacks.

Reloading your gun at any time besides when the clip is emptied also reduces your stacks to 0. This caught me off guard a couple of times. For less experience players, ammo management is not something that they tend to keep an eye on. However the more advanced a player you are the more cautious you are of entering combat without a full loaded gun, even if a single bullet is missing. I call it "Compulsive reloading". For inexperienced players, they are less likely to reload manually. I like to reload all the time, so forcing myself not not do so was very difficult. The worst part is the reload button is also the "Pick up items" button, so if you have a half clip and you want to pick up a new gun, you risk losing all your stacks. This added a whole new level of ammo management where I had to ensure that my ammo was at full the entire time, but I was not allowed to reload. Instead I would have to empty my clip to ensure I did not accidentally reload my lose all my stacks. Wasting my entire clip after fire fights is not something I would ever think to do.

All in all, the design of the Mechromancer and Anarchy is brilliant. It caters towards inexperienced players, providing benefits to them while they learn the game. It also creates a challenge for experienced players as they have to adopt a play style that is vastly different from a traditionally experienced player would used. It is very, very challenging to reach full stacks and ignore your best judgements about combat. It also makes it very fun, but at the same time frustrating when you destroy an enemy camp with full stacks and a pocket full of dreams.

Sorry for a mega post, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the game following what was probably a 12 hour run in the last 18 hours.

[krissy]

as i played as a siren through the entire game i went with the health/regen tree
and i kept forgetting to use my incapacitate bubble
oh well
good game

[Dat Matt]

When I played the game the first time I was the siren. This was during the time that the Mechromancer wasn't out yet. It was really good having the long range heal, suited my sniper mentality very well.

[Aulayna]

I've never played anything other than Siren in BL or BL2 :o Wanted to try Necromancer but didn't have the willpower to play on my own.

[Dat Matt]

If I recall, I used Siren in both games, and Shauna used Solider in both. Mechromancer is very fun, but super difficult to get right. I am not used to running into battle at such a close range. It feels weird.

[Tasura]

In BL1 I was Brick. My first run of BL2 was as Zer0 and when I restarted on 360 I went with Krieg. I absolutely love Krieg he is a wrecking ball of hate and MEAT.