November 14, 2012

Randy Pitchford & Gearbox EPIC FAIL

Gearbox screwing over their customers
I've been enjoying Borderlands 2 lately, but I am expecting all of that fun to end soon because of the total dickheads at Gearbox.

Dickheads......yes, I went there.  Chief dickhead being the President of Gearbox one Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic).


Borderlands 2 was going to do well.....the first game is good and there is a HUGE fanbase.  I thought they did pretty well with the follow-up to the game.  There are some huge bugs, however, that have really messed up the
game for some folks.  Things like the bad-ass points simply disappearing with the challenged resetting.  At least one boss seems to lock up most people's games when you manage to defeat him.

The Bee, just the tip of the iceberg
Does Gearbox work on fixing these bugs?  No....that would mean devoting time to fixing problem parts with your game.  Instead they decide to nerf parts of the game they simply weren't happy with, namely the Bee shield.  Some fans have been whining about the Bee, which makes no sense...because:

  • To get the Bee you have to farm for it.  You have to go out of your way or be extremely lucky.
  • You have to choose to use the Bee.
  • Borderlands 2 is not a competitive game.
Randy....is it ok to call him by his first name?  I say it is because if he's trying to screw me we should be on a first-name basis.  Anyway, Randy has been vocal about wanting to nerf the Bee.
So you admit to releasing a "broken" game?

Broken?  How is Borderlands 2 broken?  I play with by myself and with my friends in a cooperative setting?  Aside from duels, which are pretty lame, there is no PvP.  Putting in an item I have to go out of my way to get and then choose to use.....how is that broken?  It isn't like the Bee is a common item.  I had to go through a lot of effort to get it.
Obvious you don't know what "responsible design" means.
The crime isn't you deciding you don't like a particular weapon & shield combo.  The "crime" is designing a game, releasing it, and then deciding to change fundamental aspects of the game.  When you made Borderlands 2 it was your game......was.  When you sold me the game it became my game.*

Gee, Chris....you seem to be getting awfully upset about a stupid shield.  Yep, you are right, but it isn't as much about the Bee shield as you think.  The real problem that cheeses me off is that this is about the designers of a game putting out a product, letting consumers grow to enjoy the product, changing the product, and then saying "boo hoo...it is our game.....fuck you."

The Bee shield is the tip of the iceberg.

Not only is that getting nerfed, but there is talk of making the bosses harder, reducing the item drop rate (though I don't believe that), and raising the level cap.  Basically saying, "screw you" to folks that have been hard-core players of the game since it came out.

Please...please read the second tweet I put up from Randy.  He mentions "responsible about design" when they have major bugs that haven't been addressed.  People are having results from hours....days of gameplay being wiped out accidentally and he has his team working on ways to remove other results of hours and days of game play intentionally?!!

In the latest DLC there are two nearly impossible bosses.  My friends and I took a while to figure out how to take down Hyperion, and that took a combination of the Bee shield and the Baby-Maker.  Even then it takes at least two people to do it and you really have to have one of them be a Siren.  The other boss, Master Gee......is effectively impossible to beat.  You have a chance with the right number of players and classes, but you cannot do it alone or with a full group.  None of your weapons can hurt this boss and even if you manage to luck out and get him beat....which generally requires not superior game play, but an ass-load of luck and a lot of "sneaky" effort....odds are your game will simply lock up.

So instead of working on known bugs and issues in a game that your customers have already paid for, you would rather have your developers work on "design" issues that you couldn't be bothered with before the game launch? Issues that apparently matter only to you and some other people who demand that Borderlands 2 be played the way they want it to be played.

At least I can still get online and play with my friends still and we can share in our efforts to find all the cool gear and hard-to-find heads and skins....
Wow, you don't get your players do you?
.....but for how long.

Is this how you should treat your fan base.....you customers who support your business by buying and using your products?

I only have one question: Do you ever plan on putting out another game?  Borderlands 3 maybe?  Good luck getting people to purchase your products if they already know you are going to spend more time fucking them over instead of fixing known bugs. 

I wonder how much I can get for this game at Gamestop?



*I understand that from an IP perspective the game belongs to Gearbox and all I bought is a license.  My game is the sum of the experiences I've had and plan on having within that license.  Artistic freedom should have ended when the game went to press.  Fixing real bugs is a different issue entirely. 






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are obviously not well acquainted with what it takes to develop and maintain a game of BL2's size and scale. Also, I would definitely consider a bug that allows players to defeat the strongest bosses in under 10 seconds game breaking...
Anyway! Enjoy being angry, I'm sure if you sell back your game gearbox employees every where will mourn.

Christopher Stogdill said...

So this "bug", which is really just a design flaw if anything, that realistically must be pursued to be realized by players, is more important that actual game or enjoyment crippling bugs.

This isn't a competitive game. If defeating a boss with this is too easy the only one who "suffers" is the player....and they have to be "suffering" by choice.

Why the hell should Gearbox give a damn....they already got my money.