Early on in the game, you’ll find yourself in the Three Horns-Valley area. Now, if you enjoy completing challenges and earning Badass Points, you’ll be disappointed to learn that Krieg cannot complete the “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” challenge. Why is this? Well, after attempting it countless times, I joked that it must be a weight issue. Little did I know how right I was. Paul Hellquist, Creative Director and Lead Designer for Krieg, had the following to say when the issue began to appear in the community forums:
This is because we made Krieg’s mass heavier than the other characters. The change was so that many of the enemies (notably the loaders) could not create situations where you could not be effective with Krieg’s action skill because they would knock you back so far that you could not get a hit in on them when you closed to melee range.
The unfortunate side effect is that the impulse on the geyser is not enough to get you up as far when you are playing Krieg. It was a trade well worth making since the entire character was frustrating and unfun before this change.
As you can imagine, many readers were not satisfied with this answer, mainly because the mass increase doesn’t only impact this single challenge. There have been reports that given Krieg’s heavier nature, the “Ever Blow Bubbles…?” challenge tucked within Caustic Caverns is impossible. Furthermore, Krieg’s weight has voided the effect of grenade jumping, a trick usable by the rest of the Vault Hunters. While the latter isn’t all that troublesome, the prevention of certain challenges has irked completionists. Do the character design issues stop there? I wish.
It would seem that Krieg’s size is almost as much an issue as his weight. There have been claims that the psyho’s proportions prevent players from finishing the “Slab UHF” challenge as well. More importantly, Krieg’s hit box is, naturally, assumed to be larger which makes him an easier target for enemies. In addition, one could theorize that this could cause issues when trying to dig out the items that fall underneath The Warrior after the battle, as well as dealing with an increased chance in having flying loot deflect off of Krieg and into areas beyond the player’s reach (ex: lava).
Diving further into the new Vault Hunter we find that his skill tree is also suffering some major inconsistencies. His Action Skill, Buzz Axe Rampage, is supposed to apply 500% bonus melee damage. However, recent videos that have surfaced show that the numbers are way off. Tests have been done with the Rapier, which has a melee bonus of 200%, and somehow that boost manages to deal more damage than the claimed 500% Buzz Axe Rampage skill. In addition, roid shields aren’t stacking as expected when active, or so it has been stated. The result is better melee damage when not using Buzz Axe Rampage. So, what gives? Well, it would seem that the real issue lies within the Action Skill’s description itself. One determined forum poster by the name of Tluav Boy revealed this tidbit about the ongoing debate:
BUZZ AXE RAMPAGE doesn’t add +500% to your Base Melee damage as a bonus.
It simply makes your Base Melee Damage 500% whatever it normally is.
You can see how he came to this conclusion by checking his formulas here. I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that Gearbox actually has messed up one of their formulas though. All of the info flowing out of early Krieg adopters seem to be pointing to one important observation: Zer0 is still the better/stronger melee character. Needless to say, Krieg seems to have angered a lot of fans out there for reasons ranging from his Season Pass exclusion to his substantial mass gain. He’s been such a disappointment to some that it has even been said that Krieg is a bigger letdown than Aliens: Colonial Marines, a true video game tragedy. Ouch!
If you’ve spent some time with the psychotic Vault Hunter, let us know what your current stance on the character is in the comment section below!
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