Battleborn Open Beta Announced

Published: March 23, 2016 2:31 PM /

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BattlebornOpenBeta

Gearbox has announced an open beta for it's upcoming MOBA-shooter Battleborn. Check out the post on the Battleborn blog.

Starting April 8, PlayStation 4 players will be able to download and play the generous sized beta. The beta will also come to PC and Xbox One the week after on April 13. All platforms will be able to begin preloading the beta on April 6. 

The beta will allow players to challenge other players in two of the three multiplayer modes. The Incursion mode has players "destroy the enemy’s two Spider Sentry Drones before they get to yours," while the Meltdown mode has you "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."

The beta will also give players their first taste of the story mode content in the game. The game plans on using an episode style structure for its story content and will launch with 8 episodes that encompass season 1. The first year's DLC will feature different side stories. Players of the beta will get access to two story mode episodes: The Algorithm and Void’s Edge. The Algorithm will have players attempt to stop a rogue Magnus AI, ISIC, while the Void's Edge will have plays journey to the ice planet Bliss to stop a Varelsi portal that has opened on the planet. Check out the story trailer below!

All 25 heroes available at launch will be available to play during the beta, however some heroes will require you to unlock them as you progress. Additionally, the game's entire progression system, including all loot and gear, will be available during the beta. During either a campaign mission or a multiplayer match players will earn XP towards temporary Helix augmentations and persistent Command Rank and Character Rank levels. Each Helix level gained during a session unlocks two abilities the player can pick between, allowing the hero to be tailored to fit the situation at hand. Command Rank and Character Rank are both permanent across the player's account. Character Rank will unlock more Helix augmentations, taunts, titles and skins for the individual character, while Command Rank will unlock options such as more characters, new gear as well as titles. Don't get too excited to dive into this progression system however, as any progress you make during the beta period won't carry over to the full game unfortunately. 

PlayStation 4 players will also be getting a bit more out of the beta in the form of access to the first DLC pack and instant access to the hero Alani should they decide to pick up the game at launch. During the beta they will also get exclusive access to the hero Toby who will be available to all on launch.

It was also announced today that Battleborn will be an online only game. In a statement to Videogamer 2K confirmed that Battleborn will require a constant internet connection, even for the story mode content. 

Battleborn requires an internet connection to play, whether you're playing singleplayer, co-operatively with friends, or competitively against others. One of the reasons for this is that experience points earned in Battleborn's Story Mode carry over to Multiplayer and vice-versa.

All XP earned through the game's persistent progression system contributes to leveling up individual Character Rank, as well as player profile Command Rank. In addition, maintaining data integrity is a major priority for the team, and online gameplay permits player's data to be accessible, even after experiencing a hardware malfunction or purchasing a new console.

Battleborn is set to launch on May 3 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. 


Quick Take

I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed that Battleborn will require a constant internet connection. It's always nice to have something to play when your internet goes down or there are server problems on the developer's end, however that seems to be becoming more and more rare these days. As for the beta itself, I'm not convinced that Battleborn is a game I'll spend a lot of time with, so this open beta is perfect in that it gives me about two weeks to make that decision for free rather than having to purchase the game at full price to make that call. 

Are you excited about Battleborn? Will you be playing the open beta? Let us know in the comments below. 

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