The Loot n' Car FAQ

[ennui]

Here are some of the most common questions that have been given a definitive answer regarding vehicles and loot:

This is not the place to ask questions that you want an answer to. This is for collecting questions that we already know the answers to.

How many guns?!
Borderlands has more guns than any other game. We stopped counting a while ago. The number is in the millions, but the point is that there's always a better gun for you, one that fits your playstyle.

What are guns like?
There are many classes of weapons (such as shotguns, sniper rifles, etc). There are also many manufacturers that all impart different bonuses and features to the weapon. Some of these features include elemental damage. The weapons are generated procedurally, and are assigned rarity values and level restrictions.

What about alien weapons?
Yep, they're in the game, and they're crazy.

Do guns break?
Nope, we're not going to break your favorite gun.

Do I Build Guns?
Guns are not created by players - you will find guns all over the planet and will constantly be searching for that perfect weapon.

Rarity?
Rarity is represented by a color-coded system that many gamers are familiar with. You'll be able to tell how rare the item you got was from this system. From least to most rare, the colors are white, green, blue, purple, orange.

Is there armor?
There are tons of items that change your character. Those are detailed in the next question. You can change the color of your character, but most items do not change the physical appearance of your character.

What else is there?
In addition to 87 bazillion guns, you'll find:
grenade mods: Change the behavior of your grenades
class mods: class-specific items that will modify your skills, stats, and more
artifacts: mysterious rare drops that modify your abilities further
shields: protect you, and also might have special effects upon depletion, etc
ammo/inventory upgrades

Shields and Health
When your shield is depleted entirely, you will begin taking damage to your health. Your shield will regenerate after you have not taken any hits for an amount of time (determined by the shield). Health does not regenereate.

Healing items?
Enemies will drop "health vials," which can be used to immediately restore a portion of health. You will also find/purchase healing kits that can be carried in your inventory and used to restore some health over time.

Loot System?
Loot in Borderlands in currently free-for-all.

What Are Elemental Effects?
Guns can come with a chance to deal elemental damage to enemies - shock, corrosive, incendiary, and explosive are types that are known. Different types are advantageous in different situations - for instance, shock weapons deplete shields effectively.

Vehicles?
Borderlands has vehicles that you can use in combat and to get around from place to place. The standard runner has been shown, but few details have been discussed regarding customization as of now.

What about currency? What can I do with it?
You'll find lots of currency, in dollars, lying around Pandora and dropping off of enemies. It can be used to purchase items, weapons, and healing from vending machines scattered throughout the world.



For more Borderlands FAQs, see:
The General Borderlands FAQ
Online and Co-op FAQ
Other Gameplay and Features FAQ

[SpookyMulder]

About the loot distribution systems, was that information in the web article saying you could switch from first-come-first-serve to a random roll distribution not accurate, then? Or didja forget...

[ennui]

There was a little talk at E3 that there would probably be some options for that kind of thing, but I don't have 100% confirmation about what those options are

[brutemusmaximus]

Any chance of "offline" gun trading?

Or do i have to be in a co-op game with someone to trade guns with them?

[ennui]

This isn't really a place to ask me questions, it's to gather frequently asked ones that we have an answer one way or another about already (even if it's "I don't know"). I just want to have a general FAQ stickied at the top of each forum to give new posters information so we don't see the same question a billion times.

I will probably just close these and ask that people who have seen a particular question that has been answered a lot to PM it to me.

[ennui]

This is not the place to ask questions that you want an answer to. This is for collecting questions that we already know the answers to.

If you have noticed a question that has been definitively answered (that means by a dev) that gets asked frequently, you can post it and its response in an FAQ and the OP will be updated. This isn't for discussion, questions, or requests.

[L3VIATH4N]

An update to "How Many Guns Are There?":

The last official figure places the figure at around 17,750,000.

[Edited in correspondence with recent in formation]

[Khid]

I was twittering this, but I'll just go ahead and post here to avoid further confusion.

"Armor" in Borderlands can be broken down into one of two schools of thought.

Statistics and Visuals. It's all represented, just probably not in the traditional sense you're thinking of.

We have a very robust system for upgrading your character in ways that are not weapons. You can upgrade:

-Shields
-Class Mod
-Artifacts

All of these added together provide the same ability to customize your character as a traditional RPG, albeit in a slightly simplified matter. A shield is basically what keeps you alive, but with thousands upon thousands of them around, you're sure to find some that do really interesting things (faster recharge, higher capacity, do damage to enemies, light **** on fire, make you breakfast, etc.)

In addition there are class mods which do all matter of crazy things. Class mods are specific to Hunter, Siren, Besersker, Soldier, and can affect any number of things. Some buff your existing skill tree stats, some increase individual skills as well as well as Co-Op skills (i.e. stand next to Mordecai and your accuracy goes way up!) Some do crazy stuff like multiply the number of bullets you fire each time you fire your gun... the list goes on. I'm just listing off the crap I've seen-- and there's no way I've seen all of it.

Artifacts are another type of collectible gear. These are rare, and they can have really insane effects. The one I have on my Bloodwing right now actually blows people up on contact... it's crazy. And hilarious. And everyone loves a bird that can blow people up. That's the only one I'll spoil... Artifacts are the super happiest drop you'll find in Borderlands.

And as for visuals. We separated the visual customizations of the characters from the gear upgrades to allow people to look how they want without affecting their gear. Like in some games... you end up looking like a total dork just to get the stats you need. Not so in Borderlands. The characters can be customized and re-customized at any New-U station around Pandora.

I think I answered that to the best of my ability. Please refrain from eating the chairs.

Peace.
courtesy of MikeZ

[Mayonaka]

Just got this preview: from here

the quote from the preview: "It was confirmed that there are 10-12 vehicles that you can pilot, although I didn’t come across any during my time with the game."

And all of this has been brought you by: jameson

[Raines]

Originally Posted by ennui

Loot System?
We haven't currently announced details regarding party loot distribution options.

Mikey's Twitter on Aug. 24th confirmed that looting is free for all:

Originally Posted by mikeyface

Looting in Borderlands is competitive coop. Half the fun is watching the fight. (PS. There's more than enough to go around.)

Originally Posted by ennui

Do guns break?
Nope, we're not going to break your favorite gun.

Guns also do not degrade in any way; this was also confirmed by Mikey's Twitter on Aug. 30th:

Originally Posted by mikeyface

Guns don't degrade, though.

Thought I'd stick this here for easy reference.