Battleborn's First Free DLC Character Arrives This Month

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Battleborn's First Free DLC Character Arrives This Month

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Battleborn players will be getting five new, free playable characters - with the first coming later this month.

In a press release today, Gearbox and 2K announced that Alani, the first of five new, free playable characters for Battleborn, will release on May 31st on all platforms. If you happen to be a Season Pass holder, or participated in the PlayStation 4 Open Beta, then you'll be getting your hands on Alani on May 24.

"Alani is a member of the Eldrid faction who was raised as a healer but forced to be a warrior, and is all that remains of her order after Rendain's Jennerit Imperium stole the oceans from her world," the description in the press release reads. "As a warrior from a planet with vast seas, Alani's attacks and abilities revolve around her power to control water to dish out pain, or heal her fellow Battleborn."

While Alani is technically free, you'll still have to work for her. Alani can be unlocked upon release for 47,500 credits, earned in-game, or Digital Deluxe and Season Pass holders can use a Hero Key. When each new character is released, DD and Season Pass players will get a key that unlocks any character in the game. You can use this key on an existing character or the new one. If you use it on an existing one, you will earn the key back when you meet the requirements for unlocking that character had you not used the key.

The release also states that information on the next free DLC hero will be coming "soon."


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[bliebblob]

Right on overwatch's release date of course. Eye for an eye.

 

[Zaydin]

May 24th? Sorry, I'll be too busy with Overwatch.

 

[RJ 17]

I'd insert an "I'd hit that like..." joke here, but I'd imagine it would probably ruffle some feathers. :3

So I'll just chime in with the whole "Yeah, too bad no one will care since that's when Overwatch comes out" train.

 

[Burnouts3s3]

I honestly don't know what it is about Battleborn, but I could just not get into it. For example, when I'm playing the Witcher or Fallout, I'm entering a world. I see characters and conflicts and I want to look up fan art or fanfiction of that world. I rented Battleborn on Redbox last weekend, and I cannot remember a single detail about it. Other than maybe Mellka or Kleese, none of the characters or gameplay or maps or story sticks with me. It makes Borderlands feel memorable and I'm not the biggest fan of Borderlands at all (unless you count the spin-off by Telltale Games Tales from the Borderlands which was good).

And it's that same "too smart for the room" humor again when 1 character says something dumb and the other character points out how dumb it is by SHOUTING VERY LOUDLY!

I don't want to say Battleborn is bad, there's clearly way too much effort to be called bad, but it's like drinking water or eating lettuce; very forgettable.

 

[jayzz911]

Right on overwatch's release date of course. Eye for an eye.

More like something belongs on the petty revenge reddit. This won't actually harm overwatch in the slightest.

 

[bliebblob]

Right on overwatch's release date of course. Eye for an eye.

More like something belongs on the petty revenge reddit. This won't actually harm overwatch in the slightest.

Probably not no, but petty? Activision Blizzard did shoot to kill by plonking overwatch's open beta all but right on top of battleborn's release. So it really depends on what one would consider to make petty vengeance petty. Ineffectiveness? Then probably petty yes. Undeservedness? Then hardly. In so much as there even is such a thing as fair play in an open market to begin with of course.

 

[jayzz911]

Right on overwatch's release date of course. Eye for an eye.

More like something belongs on the petty revenge reddit. This won't actually harm overwatch in the slightest.

Probably not no, but petty? Activision Blizzard did shoot to kill by plonking overwatch's open beta all but right on top of battleborn's release. So it really depends on what one would consider to make petty vengeance petty. Ineffectiveness? Then probably petty yes. Undeservedness? Then hardly. In so much as there even is such a thing as fair play in an open market to begin with of course.

Yeah i definitely meant it in the sense of nearly pointless. That's what the reddit is about. Like leaving a tupperware container without a lid so the other person will waste time looking for the lid. Also they are in direct competition so yeah blizzard using a pretty hard hitting tactic on a direct competitor isn't too weird/unethical.

 

[RJ 17]

Also they are in direct competition so yeah blizzard using a pretty hard hitting tactic on a direct competitor isn't too weird/unethical.

They really shouldn't be in direct competition, though, considering they have very little in common.

They both have classes Heroes.
They're both FPS's.

That's where the similarities end. If anything, Battleborn's direct competitors would be the likes of Smite, DotA, and LoL while Overwatch's direct competition would be the likes of DOOM, TF2, and CS:GO. One is a MOBA that just happens to be an FPS, the other is just a classic arena shooter.

....and yes, I'm fully aware that the A in MOBA stands for "arena", however "arena shooters" were around long before MOBAs hit the scene.

 

[jayzz911]

Also they are in direct competition so yeah blizzard using a pretty hard hitting tactic on a direct competitor isn't too weird/unethical.

They really shouldn't be in direct competition, though, considering they have very little in common.

They both have classes Heroes.
They're both FPS's.

That's where the similarities end. If anything, Battleborn's direct competitors would be the likes of Smite, DotA, and LoL while Overwatch's direct competition would be the likes of DOOM, TF2, and CS:GO. One is a MOBA that just happens to be an FPS, the other is just a classic arena shooter.

....and yes, I'm fully aware that the A in MOBA stands for "arena", however "arena shooters" were around long before MOBAs hit the scene.

They are definitely directly competing over the same audience though. People that want shooters with a twist on the standard formula. Also those seeking more cartooney colourfull shooters. Battleborn was never going to be a hit with the MOBA crowd, it is far too different. Also it is a fully priced game which is not something the moba crowd is into. It is a class based shooter and will be expected to compete with other games in that genre. Which right now is overwatch. It has a single player mode which is the main difference but they are both heavily multiplayer focused games. So yeah they are definitely in direct competition.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Well, I hope she's good enough to be worth playing, but not so good that she'll be nerfed until she isn't. I look forward to seeing her in action, and see what role she does, and how she performs.

 

[RJ 17]

It has a single player mode which is the main difference but they are both heavily multiplayer focused games. So yeah they are definitely in direct competition.

I'd say the main difference between them is the fact that Battleborn has lanes, minions, and neutral objectives necessary to win the match while Overwatch is strictly a PvP arena shooter.

As I said: the only things they have in common are that they're class/Hero based and they're both shooters. Is there some cross-over in audience due to them both being shooters? Certainly. However they're still two completely different styles of competition, and therefor cater to two different kinds of players. Want a shooter that plays like a MOBA? Get Battleborn. Want Blizzard's take on TF2? Get Overwatch.

 

[jayzz911]

It has a single player mode which is the main difference but they are both heavily multiplayer focused games. So yeah they are definitely in direct competition.

I'd say the main difference between them is the fact that Battleborn has lanes, minions, and neutral objectives necessary to win the match while Overwatch is strictly a PvP arena shooter.

As I said: the only things they have in common are that they're class/Hero based and they're both shooters. Is there some cross-over in audience due to them both being shooters? Certainly. However they're still two completely different styles of competition, and therefor cater to two different kinds of players. Want a shooter that plays like a MOBA? Get Battleborn. Want Blizzard's take on TF2? Get Overwatch.

If the audience does not care about the differences and decides it's one or the other they are in competition over that audience. That is clearly what's happening, that or the premise of battleborn only holds up on console? Blizzard saw them as competition and used a business tactic that some people don't like. If they don't share the same audience and are not in competition then that wouldn't have mattered.

 

[Remus]

He look it's Delphi.

Is this Battleborn's first hybrid character? Sorry, been busy playing Uncharted.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

Seeing all the comparisons to Overwatch, to which I laugh and mutter to myself "20 fps servers" that's what will kill Overwatch more than anything else. Also seriously Totalbiscut already made a video explaining the difference between the two, or to be more specific the tiny minority of similarities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMGrDUSGJU

 

[otakon17]

Come on, giant flamethrower robot that worships fire for the next one come ON!

 

[Jburton9]

Seeing all the comparisons to Overwatch, to which I laugh and mutter to myself "20 fps servers" that's what will kill Overwatch more than anything else. Also seriously Totalbiscut already made a video explaining the difference between the two, or to be more specific the tiny minority of similarities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMGrDUSGJU

Good points, it appears that the cult of the bandwagon is so bad that he had to do a video for how apart the two games differences are.