Battleborn open beta is up.

[Wavergray]

I didn't see a post about this so just to let everybody know, the PS4 open beta for Battleborn has been up since Friday.

 

If you been on the fence about the game or have never heard of it. This is your chance to try it out for free. Here's some info about the open beta.

 

The Content:

During the Open Beta, you’ll be able to experience the natural progression of Battleborn; including two Story Mode episodes, two Competitive Multiplayer Modes, 25 heroes (some instantly available, some will unlock as you progress), and as you play, you’ll rank up on three different progression systems.

 

STORY MODE: Go in solo or co-op with up to 5 players in two full Story Mode episodes: The Algorithm and Void’s Edge.

• The Algorithm: Take on The Algorithm mission to debug and unlock the rogue Magnus AI, ISIC. If you played in the Closed Technical Test last year, you’ll notice Geoff, the Spider King, has made a few changes to his lair. 
• Void’s Edge: Bring a jacket, ‘cause the ice-planet, Bliss, is mighty cold. A Varelsi portal has opened and it’s up to you to fight your way through the invasion and deliver the payload.

COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER MODES: Challenge other players to duke it out in two Competitive Multiplayer modes: Incursion and Meltdown.

• Incursion: (Overgrowth map) Destroy the enemy’s two Spider Sentry Drones before they get to yours.
• Meltdown: (Paradise map) Send waves of minions to their death and score points for every minion who throws themselves into the incinerator. The team with the most scrap metal wins!

PARTY UP WITH FELLOW BADASSES: Conscript your friends for a truly badass Open Beta experience!

• Party up with friends or search for random players to join them in Co-Op Story Mode episodes.
• Play Split-Screen on PS4 and Xbox One in either Story Mode or Competitive Multiplayer Modes.
• Communicate with your teammates through in-game Voice Chat.
• Practice makes badass – create private custom matches with friends to get a handle on controls and practice with new characters as you unlock them.

BATTLEBORN HEROES: Battleborn has a large starting roster of 25 playable heroes, which will continue growing with five additional, free heroes after launch. In the Open Beta, you’ll start with 7 unlocked heroes and the rest will be unlocked as you rank up and complete objectives. In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of the main character types: Attackers, Defenders, and Support.

Attackers: Charge into the fight with a variety of offensive Battleborn heroes. Throw punches, slice ‘em up, blast ‘em down, or break out the big guns with Rath, Deande, Phoebe, Whiskey Foxtrot, Mellka, Thorn, Marquis, Oscar Mike, Benedict, Caldarius, El Dragón, Orendi, Shayne & Aurox, and Ghalt.

Defenders: Take a hit for the team (or two, or three) with the likes of Attikus, Galilea, Kelvin, Boldur, ISIC, Toby, and Montana.

Support: Shields, heals, and still more firepower – Miko, Reyna, Kleese, and Ambra can help the team in the fight.

PS4 players, remember: you’ll have Open Beta access to the adorable penguin in a mechsuit, Toby! Toby will not be unlockable on PC or Xbox One during the Open Beta but he will be unlockable on all platforms in the retail version.

PROGRESSION SYSTEMS: Experience Battleborn’s multiple progression systems during the Open Beta. Playing either Story Mode or Competitive Multiplayer Modes will earn you XP towards temporary Helix augmentations as well as persistent Command Rank and Character Rank levels.

Helix: During a single Competitive match or Story episode, each level you gain activates a new Helix augmentation opportunity - all the way to level 10. Each level has two augmentation choices and a character’s Helix resets at the beginning of a new match or episode, meaning you can tailor your character’s abilities to the situation at hand.

Character Rank: Each character ranks up the more you play them, up to rank 15. The Character Rank levels persist across all Modes, and unlike Helix augmentations, this experience does not reset at the end of a match or mission. Increasing Character Rank unlocks Mutations, which are extra Augments that become available on the Helix Menu. The higher the Character’s Rank, the more Helix augmentations, taunts, titles, and skins you can unlock for that character.

Command Rank: Command Rank persists across all Modes and all characters played. Every Competitive match (excluding bots) and Story episode grants XP towards your player Command Rank. Rising through the ranks in Open Beta will unlock characters, new Gear options, titles, and more up to Command Rank 100.

WHAT TO BUILD: On every map and in every Mode, you’ll find strategically located, buildable tactical structures. These buildables can purchased – and upgraded – using Shards found throughout each level. Here are a couple samples of what you can build over the course of any given match.

Automatic Turrets: Turrets have different types of offensive armaments and will attack any foe in sight, enemy minions and Battleborn alike.

Healing Station: The Healing station will regenerate health over time in an area around the station for the team who purchases it.

Accelerators: Accelerators give a speed boost to friendly Battleborn and minions when passing next to them.

Super Minions: Super Minions can be purchased in the team’s base and are well worth the Shards. Their ability to sustain and deal more damage than other minions adds additional firepower to your team.

Other Information:

Is there an NDA? Nope – it’s an Open Beta which means you can stream, record video, and play Battleborn to your badass heart’s content!

Can I stream or record video of Battleborn? Hell yes! Tweet at @Battleborn and let us know you’re streaming Battleborn live!

Do I need a SHiFT account for the Open Beta? Nope!

Will there be any kind of maintenance scheduled during the Beta? No, there is no planned downtime or maintenance during the Open Beta. If something comes up and maintenance is necessary, we will let you know on the Battleborn Twitter channel or in the Gearbox Open Beta Forums.

Will my progress carry over to the retail game? No, Open Beta progress will not carry over to the retail game.

[FlareXV]

Nice, I saw the Open Beta thread on GAF. I just hope the open beta gets the game noticed. 

[StrickenBiged]

I played over the weekend. Did both story episodes and a few rounds of MP. 

 

I felt the MP was too busy. Having AI controlled bots and a range of different character abilities in the arena made it a total clusterfuck. Didn't enjoy that so much. Maybe my squad just sucked at the game, but it was just too busy, I couldn't tell who was on my team and who wasn't, abilities were flying off all over the place, etc. If I were to play it again, I'd definitely pick a character who can do more AOE and melee attacks. Trying to stand back from the melee and snipe with the robot character was just impossible with so much happening on screen.

 

The campaign was fun though - I could see myself playing that on all difficulties and with a range of characters to try them all out. All the characters I tried were varied and each brought something new to the team and to the squads strategic options. 

 

It didn't quite sell me on the game overall. I think I'm going to play Overwatch's beta before I make up my mind on either of the games, but I think I've only got the space for one or the other (or neither) of them in my gaming schedule.

[IronMask75]

It still has that horrible input delay from the Closed Alpha. It's like what I remember Dota 2 being like before they introduced Australian servers. It's like your controller inputs must be registered first and then reported back to you from an overseas server, which causes a horrible input lag.

 

They also chose a horrible preset for linearity on the analogue sticks and I really hate it when developers do this. The Analogue sticks are fucking analogue for a reason: to let our thumbs control the rate of turn by how far we push the stick. In Battleborn however, if you push full left or right stick, the character starts turning slowly, then speeds up the longer you hold the stick that way and they don't give you the option to turn it off or change it. Coupled with the input lag this makes the game almost unplayable.

 

It also inherited the horrible FoV from Borderlands 2 (pre-patch) which makes you feel like you're playing from inside Ned Kelly's helmet.

Edited April 11, 2016 by IronMask75

[RavenclawHobbit]

I for one enjoyed myself, the story missions ran smooth. The competitive is great especially with a group of friendship. I will be buying battleborn as well as overwatch for that matter. With these and uncharted 4 May is looking like an incredible month to be a gamer.

[MagicSandwych]

I've been loving it. I will probably be taking periodic Dark Souls breaks to get more matches in during the beta. The two story missions are great, with frequent and interesting boss fights. The UI, loot, art style and humor are very remeniscent of Borderlands. I've played enough to make it to command rank 21, all but 7 characters are unlocked, and I usually don't care for competitive multiplayer at all. I think I may have to pick this up after the beta, and it wasn't really on my radar previously. The Battleborn have a lot of variety and character, the melee characters can be really fun, but I do much better with them in story than pvp. I suggest trying a wide variety of characters to find what playstyle suits ya.

[darkknightdevil2]

I've enjoyed the beta from what I've played. The MP, as some have pointed out, is a clusterfuck of abilities, minions and enemies that make it more difficult to see where attacks are coming from and the lack of tutorials can be annoying for first timers. The SP is an enjoyable experience and definitely had Borderlands-esque charm and humor I love.

[Mog]

I've been loving the Beta! Playing with friends is super fun (and funny), i think i might actually end up buying this game. 

[cybershark91]

I'm also playing the beta right now. It's a really fun game so far. I heavily enjoyed the story missions. Great humor and I like the art style and chars.

The Multiplayer part is also not to bad. The characters really do play quite differently wich i really like. most of them have really interesting skillstes. I noticed, most of the players don't like to play support chars SO I mainly play as a healer and keep my team alive, while the others always die.

 

I'm really thinking about getting this game when it releases.