I finished the NVHM run. Level 38, but very nearly 39 which tripped soon after. From around Jacobs Estate to the end I didn't do much in the way of side quests. I could see the levels creeping up and didn't want to go too high so there would be some room to go up in TVHM and so I stuck to the story missions near the end. Level cap is 50 currently.

The game really picked up near the end. The last third of the game was great, the environments at that stage were very cool and looked fantastic. The story isn't going to win awards I don't think, but it's not so bad, and it was good to defeat the twins. I found each of those boss battles difficult. My build is better for mobbing, and not so strong against bosses. Only three bosses did I think were fairly easy (Warden, Katagawa Jr and Pain and Terror). But again I think it's down to my build and gear just matching up well with those. For the rest, maybe not so much haha. Still, I was able to get by most in one go, a few took some retries.

I think only three bosses dropped a legendary, but near the end I got quite a few from a variety of sources. Those guns are fun, but the catch in this game is it won't be long before they're outlevelled. I guess that's why many players go to level 50 as quick as they can then just play the same things over and over. They've grinded out all of this awesome gear, and at level 50 it's forever useful (until a DLC that raises the level cap). I'm not in to the grinding and just use what I've found. Some weapons are so amazing that they are still useful long after you'd think, according to level.

Finishing the story unlocks the mayhem modes. These modes make enemies tougher and increase the good loot drops. I've messed around a bit in M1 and the loot is noticeably better already. I can play again in the new game plus, TVHM, or there are a number of gaunlet and arena type challenges too. These tend to be where the grinders grind. I'll check them out at least.

One disappointment is when the story is finished, the Guardian levels unlock. I expected that over the course of the first run, all of those challenge notifications were indicating that I was piling up the tokens. And when it was unlocked I'd have a lot to redeem. But I had just one. I guess you need to begin earning them only when after completing the game, not just spending them at that point. Aside from the stats boosts like in BL2 badass ranks, there are a number of perks that can be bought, and some are pretty OP. One that I definitely want gives you full health and shields when gaining a second wind. That's strong. And there are quite a few more, but they cost a lot of tokens so won't come easily.

As for my main, Amara the Siren, I think it's a good character with diverse and powerful skills. But as I said, the way I built her was good against mobs, but not so much against strong, single enemies. For the first run through NVHM, if you want to hit the capstone on any one tree, you're going to be investing in that almost exclusively. I was over level 30 before I capped the Fist of Elemental tree. So to branch out in to another you'll either have to compromise with uncapped trees, or wait until near the end of the first run. My build was focused on elemental damage, DoTs and spreading those status effects through ricochets and explosions. That's what makes it so good against mobs. If they are fairly close to each other, attacks daisy chain through the lot. Not sure honestly which tree to branch in to, but respecs are unlimited so some experimentation might be in order.

A few thoughts about some of the notable weapons I used...

Abundant Stark Krakatoa -- this is a legendary Maliwan sniper rifle. It looks unremarkable perhaps at first glance, and my roll had just a 2.7X scope. It also has incendiary effect, but curiously at 0% chance. That was odd, so I tried it. Killing an enemy causes that enemy to become am erupting volcano, spewing lava all over the area. Like a manifestation of the build itself. Cool gun

Firesale Long Musket -- A legendary Maliwan SMG that is a parody of Elon Musk's claim that his flamethrowers weren't actually flamethrowers. Absolutely melts anything nearby. The ideal gun for ratch mobs and the like. Combined with the skill Personal Space it means anything near will die quickly.

Backfire Red Suit -- A Pangolin legendary shield that gives constant radiation damage to nearby enemies. The backfire roll makes it also a spike shield. For a melee character this would be unbelievable, but even for mine it was still awesome. You'll never be surrounded for long with this thing on.

Razrez the Dictator -- a legendary Vladof assault rifle that fires three bullets at the cost of one, in a tight group that doesn't diverge. Aiming down the sights increases it to 7 rounds. Graveward was a boss I found hard with my build, but this weapon, and what it can do to critical spots, should make him a much more manageable proposition indeed. It's not elemental, which is the only drawback for my main. I'll keep it for a different character. It would be an awesome gun for Axton.

Expert Hellshock -- legendary Maliwan pistol with a very high elemental chance, fire rate and damage. It carried me though the teen levels.

Mostly though I used Maliwan SMGs, whatever was the best I could find. Kept a few on hand to swap around to whichever element the enemy was weak to. Radiation damage felt the strongest, but maybe that's because few enemies resist it? I also sniped a lot, but that's a given for me in Borderlands. I always use homing grenades too, although I guess they cannot be rolled with elemental effect. Never found one with it. I got a couple of very cool legendary rocket launchers, including one called Nuclear Jericho, which was much more like artillery than a rocket launcher. But I didn't use them much at all, and rocket launchers can be sold for good money so that's where they went most of the time.

Having played through it my take is that Borderlands 3 is a better game mechanically than Borderlands 2, but not better artistically. And by that I don't mean the literal artwork (BL3 looks much nicer), but how the story is written, the dialog, the gags, the weird, wild and whacky. Not poor by any means, but for me it had a lot to live up to.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!