Borderlands 2: How they fixed "The Bee"

[gigastar]

i am confused. what is 'the bee' shield? as far as i know, thr biggest issue w/ borderlands 2 isbadass rank reseting

The Bee is an amp shield that gives a damage bonus when fully charged, has a much bigger boost than other shields of the same type, and unlike other shields of the same type will not sacrifice some shield points to make the amp.

So its ability is a damage boost so long as youre not hit. And reportedly at lvl 50 the damage boost can exceed 500k for each bullet.

Combined with a huge ammount of dakka, such as a pair of Vladof Infinity pistols on Salvador, its a game breaker.

 

[Atmos Duality]

i am confused. what is 'the bee' shield? as far as i know, thr biggest issue w/ borderlands 2 isbadass rank reseting

The Bee is an amp shield that gives a damage bonus when fully charged, has a much bigger boost than other shields of the same type, and unlike other shields of the same type will not sacrifice some shield points to make the amp.

So its ability is a damage boost so long as youre not hit. And reportedly at lvl 50 the damage boost can exceed 500k for each bullet.

Combined with a huge ammount of dakka, such as a pair of Vladof Infinity pistols on Salvador, its a game breaker.

It's gamebreaking with storebought weapons, let alone legendaries.

 

[Ice Car]

That sound was always there when shots connected with the amp damage bonus.

I know the sound you are referring to and I can say with certainty that there is an additional buzzing noise, which I'm not even sure was anywhere in the game prior to this. It also spams the amp shield sound in addition to the buzzing. The hit connecting sound is still present (the one you are referring to), but I never found it that distracting.

I'm just now realizing how difficult it is to discuss sounds in text without devolving to strings of capitalized consonants.

I was using it just yesterday in the DLC and noticed nothing different...

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Y'know, I would have used The Bane if it didn't slow you down...

And The Bee confuses me. Bees die when they sting people. The Bee defies the standard of the amp shield in that it doesn't hurt you when you fire. If anything, it should take more shields away...

Actually, I've always considered that the Bee Shield should take small amount of your life away, instead of shields. Constant stinging can kill, you know...

 

[WanderingFool]

"The Bee" is a legendary Hyperion Amplify Shield that has very high amp damage for the cost of zero shield (normal amp damage sacrifices shields for extra damage). Because it costs no shields, it can be fired continuously until the player is hit and the damage bonus applies to each bullet fired (even pellets). Combined with a shotgun which fires 5-30 pellets per trigger pull, The Bee easily takes down the final boss and the bonus boss in seconds. This has been largely attacked as the most overpowered strategy in Borderlands 2, polarizing much of the community into those that use The Bee and think it works as intended and those who think it should be removed from the game cause it breaks difficulty.

So goes the story and now The Bee still has all its amazing powers, but makes an extremely irritating noise when used. While other bugs are in the game, the various Badass Rank resets being among the most detrimental, the use of The Bee has been a point contention since the game was released. Many ideas have been thrown at Gearbox as to how The Bee could be balanced or "fixed", but this is the solution currently enacted.

I think its personally the best fix ever. Cant wait to get my own...

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

Was the fix included in the DLC? I just fired up the game expecting to hear an awesome vuvuzela concert [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E6ljLSOkbY], but I get nothing but the old noise when I hit something... :-(

 

[Garland]

Was the fix included in the DLC? I just fired up the game expecting to hear an awesome vuvuzela concert [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E6ljLSOkbY], but I get nothing but the old noise when I hit something... :-(

As far as I know, the feature is independent of the Pirate Booty DLC. The hit connecting sound has always been there but now there should be a buzzing accompanied by spamming the amp shield sound.

I'm starting to think that maybe not all players on all platforms are experiencing this as there has been little talk and anything concerning The Bee should be a major conversation piece.

Otherwise, I would not mind something akin to the video you linked accompanying The Bee, as it reminds me of Bioshock. Good times...

 

[Garland]

Y'know, I would have used The Bane if it didn't slow you down...

And The Bee confuses me. Bees die when they sting people. The Bee defies the standard of the amp shield in that it doesn't hurt you when you fire. If anything, it should take more shields away...

Actually, I've always considered that the Bee Shield should take small amount of your life away, instead of shields. Constant stinging can kill, you know...

This idea among many others have been thrown about. Other solutions include the creative emphasis on mob farming rather than boss farming, the classic -1 shield amp drain, the slightly more demanding internal cooldown on the amp damage effect, the masochistic really low shield recharge rate, and the absolute removal of the item from the game.

There are a great many ideas and they are seldom talked about as one side feels like they're being attacked while the other feels the shield breaks the game. A great many ideas go past both sides.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

A cute way to address it, I guess, but I'd like them to start fixing how fucking broken the game itself is now, thanks. The bugs, hiccups, snags, and other such irritations have long since overstayed their welcome, even moreso now that they've released paid DLC less than a month after the damn game came out.

 

[Garland]

A cute way to address it, I guess, but I'd like them to start fixing how fucking broken the game itself is now, thanks. The bugs, hiccups, snags, and other such irritations have long since overstayed their welcome, even moreso now that they've released paid DLC less than a month after the damn game came out.

I appreciate punctual DLC, especially if it is a sizable departure from the original story (meaning that the inclusion of the DLC in the initial release would seem radically out of place). As for how well the game is constructed, I have found little to no errors outside of the massive difficulty spike in Playthrough 2. In four playthroughs I have only had a quest glitch once, which required a restart and have found that all five classes are fun to play and diverse enough to warrant additional playthroughs. The combination of The Bee and Conference Call has also been addressed in the two raid bosses added in the Pirate Booty DLC as even with that combo they are still a challenge to fight (new strategies and exploits have been developed however).

Overall, I fail to see your criticisms of Borderlands 2 holding water, especially when you compare the fluidity of play alongside games that really do have a breadth of issue (The Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim, which I absolutely love comes to mind). I do however sympathize with you, or anyone for that matter who has their Badass Rank reset, that's been by far the largest issue within the game.

 

[tkioz]

Oh no.
I must now turn my sound off to use my ridiculously over powered buff.
Horrors.


Should have made it like the Bane and made you move slow or something.

Maybe combine the Bane effect with the crazy PC ***** rifle effect... god I love that gun...

 

[gigastar]

A cute way to address it, I guess, but I'd like them to start fixing how fucking broken the game itself is now, thanks. The bugs, hiccups, snags, and other such irritations have long since overstayed their welcome, even moreso now that they've released paid DLC less than a month after the damn game came out.

What bugs, hiccups, snags and other such irritations are theese?

So far ive logged 103 hours in the game, and for me the game has run without fault.

Also the DLC was not developed at Gearbox, which goes some way to explaining why... several things with it.

 

[RedDeadFred]

They did actually nerf it for the Mechromancer. The amp damage gets added after calculating the anarchy stacks damage. Before this, with full anarchy stacks, you could do almost a million damage per bullet. Still the same for everyone else though!

 

[Gurgleflob]

That sounds almost as annoying as the Hyperion quest-related snipe rifle that nags you as you fire or reload. Not even selling the gun made it stop nagging me. It actually caused the nagging to happen every single time I changed weapons. Axton had to be put down. The horror.

Which quest? just so i can avoid this, as i really like my mechromancer.

 

[Swyftstar]

That sounds almost as annoying as the Hyperion quest-related snipe rifle that nags you as you fire or reload. Not even selling the gun made it stop nagging me. It actually caused the nagging to happen every single time I changed weapons. Axton had to be put down. The horror.

Are you sure you sold the right gun? You should not be hearing it if it's gone. I've had it on five different characters and it was gone when I sold it.
Off-topic: New patch notes for the 360 are up at Gearbox.

 

[Samantha Burt]

I just love how Gear box included all of these unique weapons. Considering how half of the game's selling point is it's comedy, it seems to work well. And so what if one gun is overpowered? Its a singleplayer game. Yes I realize you can co-op, but its not as game breaking as it would be in an MMO.

This is what I was thinking. I mean, you're playing by yourself and cooperatively with others. Either way it's only a benefit to have an over-powered weapon. If you don't like it, don't use it. People really will complain about anything. xD

 

[4RM3D]

That sounds almost as annoying as the Hyperion quest-related snipe rifle that nags you as you fire or reload. Not even selling the gun made it stop nagging me. It actually caused the nagging to happen every single time I changed weapons. Axton had to be put down. The horror.

I didn't chose the weapon. I turned it into a shield and yes it was hilariously annoying. XD

 

[Mikeyfell]

I don't mind how they "fixed" The Bee, but what I do mind is the patch broke Phaselock.
Every time I try to activate it I have to wait the full cool down even if I miss my target. Really annoying considering that's the only way I know how to kill Stalkers...

 

[Atmos Duality]

That sounds almost as annoying as the Hyperion quest-related snipe rifle that nags you as you fire or reload. Not even selling the gun made it stop nagging me. It actually caused the nagging to happen every single time I changed weapons. Axton had to be put down. The horror.

I didn't chose the weapon. I turned it into a shield and yes it was hilariously annoying. XD

Those are two different items, actually.

One is the robot core you can make into a weapon or a shield, and the other is a sniper rifle you get from doing a certain quest from Hyperion (to kill 100 bandits in colorful ways).

Two different quests.

I don't mind how they "fixed" The Bee, but what I do mind is the patch broke Phaselock.
Every time I try to activate it I have to wait the full cool down even if I miss my target. Really annoying considering that's the only way I know how to kill Stalkers...

EDIT:
Oh they had better not have...
*boots Borderlands 2*
*blows Phaselock on nothing...resets 1 second later*

Huh. Are you playing the PC or Console version?
It could be a bug on your end, because my Phaselock is working just as it always has.

 

[snekadid]

That sounds almost as annoying as the Hyperion quest-related snipe rifle that nags you as you fire or reload. Not even selling the gun made it stop nagging me. It actually caused the nagging to happen every single time I changed weapons. Axton had to be put down. The horror.

I love that sniper rifle and was truly sad when I had to put it in my bank so that I didn't accidentally sell it when I replaced it. Hell like people said, if it didn't slow me down I would of used the bane because the voices were hilarious.

OT: screw the bee, no interest in it if it makes playing the game pointless, if they really wanted to punish people that used it though they should of just made it the dial-up modem sound on a loop.