In my previous Battleborn blog I wrote about how the player classes could be fixed during a multiplayer match. Before that, I even wrote a blog where I speculated about a possible loot system, how you needed to collect resources, and what you potentially could use this for. But that’s all speculation because not a lot of details are revealed about Battleborn. Although one thing on that subject is absolute. There is one confirmed resource at this point and that is the shards. This is your main currency which you can buy stuff with, how this all ties in is also a big secret. However, there is one example of the shards being used and this can be seen in the first gameplay footage.
First Impression
During this gameplay demonstration, you could see notifications that the players collected these shards. Around three-quarters of the gameplay footage, you could see Oscar Mike building a turret to assist the team in battle against the minions. This was set on a predetermined point in the map as you could see a construction pad on the floor.
At first, I thought that this would be completely useless during a Borderlands-like co-op campaign. You would build a turret and 30 seconds later you would move on to the next location. Just like in Borderlands 2 as you played with Axton, most of the time the fight ended before my Turrets duration expired.
After thinking about this gameplay mechanic it might come in handy. I realized that some people had some trouble during Borderlands 2’s campaign. Because there were missions that were more co-op focused and therefore were tougher to complete if you tried them solo. If you aren’t an experienced player you could get stuck and start to dislike the game. During large fights or even a boss, it would be handy to have a turret that supports you. See it as a feature for the player to have an option to adjust the difficulty setting of a certain challenge by placing a useful turret.
Skilled Tower Placement
Besides a co-op campaign, Battleborn also features a unique 5 VS 5 multiplayer mode. Within this mode, I think there is a potential where these turrets can really shine.
The multiplayer mode that was shown off to Game Informer showed some similarities to a MOBA. As you need to destroy the enemy’s spiderbot you need to travel over the battlefield with your minions, entering enemy territory. Controlling the map will give you an advantage over the opposing force.
If the map has smaller checkpoints that can be captured, claiming these control points by building turrets you and your team can take control over the battlefield. If these points are centered around a few choke points in the map you will be able to create interesting conflict zones. This will let you create areas to make a push for it but also will help you slow down the attacking forces.
Within the gameplay demonstration, we could only see a basic turret that fires bullets. But recently I found out that some other turrets are already confirmed and there is a promise for a wide variety of buildable turrets with each having their own ability.
Confirmed Turrets
- There is a Standard Turret that will fire on nearby enemies.
- There is a Healing Station that will heal nearby Battleborn.
- There is a Portal that spawns the little minion robots that will help you in your quest.
These three turrets I know for sure, but thinking about a wide range of other possibilities I start wondering. So here comes a bit of speculation, my thoughts on possible turrets to aid you in your objective are:
Different types of Turrets
- A turret that will boost your stats, let’s say an increase in base damage and a reduction of taken damage.
- A turret that will increase your special ability cooldown.
- A turret that shoots fire and deals damage over time instead of raw damage.
- A turret that shoots ice and will slow down enemies.
- A turret that will spawn elite troops. Minions are common droids, some more advanced troops are shown in-game.
For now, I would like to keep it to these suggestions because I don’t see the game giving a pop-up that lets you select 20 different turrets. Battleborn is still a shooter and needs to keep the tempo running. I do see two possible scenarios for the game to increase the amount of turrets without overflowing the screen.
The first one is that each playable class will feature its own unique turrets. The other scenario is that it may be possible to upgrade those turrets. If you look at the description of the first turret it states to be a standard turret, does this mean there are more grades of this turret?
The current price for the standard turret is 800 shards as we can see in the gameplay demonstration. Will the price increase the more badass your turret becomes? Going along with this theory that could mean that the minion spawn could upgrade to an elite spawn. Thinking about these possibilities Battleborn could become a badass game!
What are your thoughts, let me know in the comments, and what kind of turret would you like to see?
Battleborn’s Creative Director Randy Varnell reacts to my blog on the GBX Forums.
@mentalmars Really great recap, my friend! Not too far off here, either! We’ve re-balanced and re-tuned these suckers several times, and right now, they’re pretty important to all of our multiplayer modes.
Recently, we also implemented XXXXXXX for you to spend shards on, making that decision of how to work your econ more interesting. Can’t wait to talk about XXXXXXX. And CSSSSSST. I haven’t forgotten.
Randy Varnell – Creative Director on Battleborn
