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Your new BFF, the first skill tree for Borderlands 2's Mechromancer
The Mechromancer's first fully formed skill tree is called Best Friends Forever, and while it won't hand out charm bracelets or stay up all night gossiping, it will hold your hand. Best Friends Forever offers a series of handicaps for the friends of players who might say, "I love Borderlands and I want to share it with someone, but they suck at first-person shooters," lead designer John Hemingway tells Eurogamer.One skill in the Best Friends Forever tree is "Close Enough;" it makes bullets that miss their targets ricochet off surrounding objects toward the intended enemy. "Can't aim? That's not a problem," Hemingway says.Another skill tree may end up as the counterpoint to Best Friends Forever, offering a hardcore mode, and the third might be a "shock gameplay tree." Gearbox is still playing with the Mechromancer's tree, but "you'll definitely see a few things with the robot hand in her skill trees," Hemingway says.The Mechromancer's main skill is to summon Deathtrap, a giant robot, and her tree will include skills that teach him new abilities. One new ability is called Explosive Clap, which has Deathtrap rush enemies and clap his hands together to knock them down.Hemingway wouldn't give away the Mechromancer's name, and Gearbox is still working on her final build. The Mechromancer is planned to launch 60 days following Borderlands 2's launch on September 18, as paid DLC or free for those who pre-order the game.
EVE devblog tackles CCP's committment to fixing small issues
Several months ago, EVE Online forumite Akita T began the "thousand papercut project." The aim of the project is to collect a list of all those tiny issues that irritate players about EVE. Putting aside any large balance or mechanic problems, Akita T suggested that all the little issues developers have put off dealing with are now all adding up to have a huge negative impact on players. Supporters of the project will be pleased to know that CCP has taken notice. In a new devblog, game designer CCP Soundwave has explained plans to work on a long list of small issues during the current development cycle. Having previously worked mainly on large projects like the Sansha incursions, CCP Soundwave's development team "Best Friends Forever" has already been hard at work on a variety of small issues, bugs and improvements that will be deployed soon. Among the many changes are improvements to the recently deployed incursion mechanic, including a much-needed change to deny the use of remote armour repairers and shield transporters on criminals. This closes a loophole griefers were using to trick incursion fleet logistics ships into being destroyed by CONCORD. Incursions should also last longer in highsec, and Sansha's forces shouldn't recapture lowsec or nullsec systems as quickly when encounters aren't being run. Head over to the devblog for a list of the first round of small issues tackled so far by CCP Soundwave and friends.
