MMORPG: When  we heard about Battleborn initially, we wondered if it would really  interest our readers... then you announced a full-on PVE campaign. Can  you give us an overview of the story of Battleborn?
Randy: Sure!   In the distant future, the stars are dying. Many of them through the  natural course of heat death, but also now due to the invasion of a dark  and mysterious foe, the Varelsi who are accelerating the darkening of  the stars. Civilizations rose up to fight against them, but unwilling to  abanding their previous struggles and wars, they could not unify to  slow the unyielding tide of the Varlesi.
	[YT]h0KMARbTWps[/YT]Now,  there is only one star left in the entire universe--Solus, the Last  Star. One of our universe's own, Lord Commander Lothar Rendain of the  Jennerit Imperium, has turned against us, sided with the Varlesi and how  leads an unholy alliance to end the last star.
With the end  seemingly inevitable, a band of heroes rise from among the factional  squabbling and resource struggles to stand up against these foes. They  are called Battleborn--heroes from many different places and  civilizations, but joined together for one purpose: to save Solus, the  last star.
MMORPG: And you can play through this campaign, sort of like a more linear Borderlands, with any of the game's heroes?
Randy:  Yes! The story missions let you play through the narrative of saving  the last star, through a series of critical missions and battles in the  fight for Solus. In each of the missions, you select from any of the 25  Battleborn, and experience some of the personal story of that character  during the mission. While there is certainly a full story arc for  Battleborn, most of the missions are presented more like TV show  episodes with a beginning, middle and end, focusing on a part of the  broader story.
MMORPG: Why  did you decide to add a PVE campaign to the game, when all the rage  right now is PVP battle games? (I ask, snidely as a PVE fan...)
Randy: Non-competitive  co-op play has always been a goal for Battleborn. Our desire with the  game was to create a base of exceptional and varied characters, and give  players lots of ways to explore their combat styles and customizations,  both through competitive play and through story missions. We know from  making Borderlands that a lot of folks really enjoy digging in to solid,  challenging cooperative play, and wanted to bring this experience into a  hero-focused game.
MMORPG: Are there weapons and items to collect, akin to Borderlands?
Randy:  Yes! While we are putting more emphasis on the number and variety of  characters, Battleborn does feature an extensive gear system, with  thousands of procedurally-generated items or various abilities, rarities  and strengths. Our gear system has been designed to help scratch that  loot itch, and to provide interesting options for the collector, the  achiever, and the focused min/maxers who want to compete for victories  in competitive matches or for high scores in particular story missions.
  
MMORPG: Can you tell us about character progression, how it works? Do you start at level 1 each mission or...?
Randy: I like to think of Battleborn as having layers of interesting progression.
In  matches and missions, yes - you start at level 1 and earn character  levels during the course of the match as you play to level 10. Each  level, you get to choose between two binary upgrades, customizing your  character's abilities for that match. Next match, you start over at  level 1 and get to make those choices again. Its sort of like re-spec  the game, blending build tweaking from Borderlands and MMOs with some of  the rapid growth in match in the battle arena style games.
As you  learn more about the character and the challenges you face, you will  make different choices, tuning that character to your preferences in  playstyle, but also adapting the character to your other teammates and  to the enemies you face, whether those enemies are other players or  hordes of NPCs and bosses youll face off against during the story  missions. Experiment with character tactics and builds as you compete  with other players directly in Versus, but indirectly (through score!)  in the story missions.
Outside of match, characters grow  persistently through character ranks. Each of the 25 Battleborn has 15  Character ranks for you to achieve, by earning rank experience from  playing matches as that character. Each character rank will unlock new  rewards for that character, including new gameplay skills for your Helix  (these are called mutations) as well as aesthetic customizations  (skins and taunts) and more loot (rare gear packs!).
MMORPG: Can you take a leveled hero from PVE to the MOBA-like PVP mode?
Randy: Yes,  of course. Because growth is a key part of gameplay (leveling from 1 to  10 each match), characters are absolutely playable in Versus and Story  at any time. The persistent unlocks for the characters (mutations) are  designed to offer you more choices, but not necessarily be inherently  stronger. Some power growth progression is gained from gear, but  Battleborn offers skill-based matchmaking that helps keep the  competitive playing fields as fair as possible.
MMORPG: Are all 25 heroes unlocked from the word go, or is unlocking them part of the point of progressing the campaign?
Randy: We  love to unlock stuff and we think you do too!  A bunch of characters  are available at the start of the game, and the others are rapidly  unlocked as you play through aspects of the game and complete some early  challenges.
MMORPG: Are there plans to add to the campaign as the game ages?
Randy:  We certainly hope so! Battleborn has a deep and rich fiction (with over  20,000 years of lore in the timeline!) and I have a lot more story Id  like to tell about the darkening universe and the amazing heroes  fighting to save it. We hope you guys like the game enough for us to  have the opportunity to expand the story in the future.
  
MMORPG: So the end of the story here is not the end of the overall world of Bliss?
Randy: Not even close. 

  Unless you fail, of course, and let the star die. But youre not going to fail, are you, Battleborn?
As  a bit of lore housekeeping  Bliss is one of three planets you visit as  you play through the missions and matches of Battleborn. Bliss is an  icy, barely habitable moon of a gas giant where the faction  the United  Peacekeeping Republics (U.P.R. or Peacekeepers for short) have  bunkered in with their mobile bases to try and fight to save the star.  Ekkunar is a lush, green planet shattered in recent years by strange  anomalies caused by the Varelsi incursion into our universe. Tempest is  the homeworld of the vast and militaristic Jennerit Imperium. Orbited by  the massive constructed moon-ship Exodus, Tempest is the current base  of operations of Rendain and his final military push to darken the last  star.
MMORPG: Thanks for your time! Anything you want to tell our readers? MMORPG.com gamers tend to be picky, but when we love something we CRUSH IT WITH THAT LOVE.
Randy:  Battleborn is a broad game with a deep story, great characters, and  lots of ways to play, grow and progress. Part shooter, part RPG, part  action game, part fighter and part battle arena, Battleborn lets you  choose from a wide cast of awesome and colorful characters and test  yourself against other players or the foes of a dying universe. I really  hope youll give it a shot by either helping us test it in the upcoming  closed technical test starting October 29, or in the open beta that  well eventually share more info about as we get closer to launch! If  you want to register to participate in the closed technical test, you  can do that at 
http://rsvp.battleborn.com.  Youll be able to experience a mission from the co-op story mode, as  well as play competitive multiplayer for the first time, and were  really excited to hear players feedback.
  					 					 				 	 				 							 								
William Murphy / Bill is the Managing Editor of MMORPG.com, RTSGuru.com,  and lover of all things gaming. He's been playing and writing about  MMOs and geekery since 2002. Be sure to follow him on Twitter for all of  his pointless rambling.     							
 						 	 				 					 						 							
Article By: William Murphy
							Created On: October 19, 2015