History YMMV / Battleborn

** Later, the chief example became The Experiment. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that it's a point defense mission where you have to defend the same points around 3-4 times against massive swarms of enemies, and the damage to the points remains the same across all defenses. It's not uncommon for a group to get all the way to the end and then lose during the final defense due the accumulated damage to the points taken throughout the entire mission.
* TierInducedScrappy:
** Ambra got a lot of hate in the Open Beta due to her ability to mess up an uncoordinated enemy team on her own. Ambra-made pentakills were not a rarity. This died down in the full release once people figured out how to counter her and she received balance changes.
** Shayne and Aurox are seen either as the worst or best characters to play, depending on whether the poster understands how their stealth attack works. Fetch is also an efficient foil to many campers.
** Nobody seems to play El Dragon in competitive matches despite him being easy to unlock and being devastating at CC.
** During the beta, ISIC and Miko were heavily criticized for being hard to kill. After open beta, both received {{Nerf}}s with ISIC becoming more of a GlassCannon.
** Alani became hated by most [=PVPers=] shortly after release. The main issues players had with her were her rather high HP for her role as a supporter and her hitbox being too thin (which, combined with her HP and healing, made a good Alani fairly tough to kill). She could also double as a decent damage-dealer on her own, resulting in Alani becoming a common occurrence on any PVP team. She later had her HP cut by around 30%, among other nerfs, which mitigated most of the annoyance factor people had with her.
** Galilea has been one of the top-tier characters for the game's entire existence. One of her helix options effectively doubles her DPS as long as she's at full health (and the player knows what they're doing) and she has access to pretty much every single Crowd Control option in the game, including a pull ''at Level 1''. This wasn't helped by the devs seemingly mocking the people annoyed at her strength, with her getting a taunt voiceline ("Who seeks to nerf the Wraith?") and a title ("Girl With It All") referencing the backlash against her without... you know, actually fixing the issue.
** Boldur is a tank, and a very good one. Played right, he can be almost impossible to kill without burning a team's worth of CC. The problem is, he also can be faster than ''any'' other character in the game once he's thrown his axe, and his skills can be comboed to destroy pretty much any vaguely squishy opponent.
** Beatrix since her introduction had been pretty much automatically banned in Draft mode. Her helix can alter her Fulminate ability (which is homing and on an insanely low cooldown) to silence enemy Battleborn for three seconds. ''At Level 1''. It's so bad many considered it a ''good'' thing when a bug caused her to be disabled in character select for a few days.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Several quality of life changes were added to ''Battleborn'' in Winter 2016, most of them coinciding with complaints and criticisms it had received from players. They included the following:
** A tutorial mode designed to give newbies a better idea as to how the PVP functions. Additionally, a training mode was added to allow you to test out your Battleborn's skills and gear on minion waves, so players no longer had to play through PVE missions or PVP modes to get a feel for their characters.
** A properly balanced solo mode for the Story Missions. Originally, playing solo would result in the game warning you about it, and while still doable, the missions were designed for two or more players to get through, so the missions were more difficult than usual.
** The character interface was overhauled to include many Quality of Life features, such as being able to see who your team is picking, as well as the ability to back out of a pick after finalizing your choices.
** All of the original Battleborn became available for use, no longer being gated behind challenges and command ranks. The challenges that were used to unlock the characters now give a different reward instead, and veteran players who had already unlocked the roster the old way were given the rewards automatically with the update.

* CrazyAwesome: Pretty Much all of the Characters have spades of this. But the ones who represent this trope the best would include Orendi, ISIC, Toby, Oscar Mike, Pendles, and Whiskey Foxtrot.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies compared to a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, shooter fans were turned off by the [=MOBA=] mechanics, which they felt added unnecessary complexity and made the game less accessible to them due to the commonly held perception of the [=MOBA=] genre's high skill ceilings. Both sides subsequently criticized the game's balance and elements of its design with many feeling that it fails as either/both a [=MOBA=] or shooter. In addition, many casual gamers dismissed the game at face value of being a knockoff of the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' just because it too has heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its initial $60 retail price that acted as a paywall that barred more skeptical gamers from trying out the game; in contrast, many other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and present themselves as more affordable alternatives to ''Overwatch'', which launched as a $60 game.

** After release, it is in full swing with people outright abandoning [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] games where non-Beta maps are voted in (though on PC, the common complaint tends to be more that they run very poorly for a bunch of players' rigs).
** For story mode, Saboteur and Renegade seem to be preferred to the exclusion of others. Want a party for Advanced play of some other map? You better bring your own!
* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies compared to a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, shooter fans were turned off by the [=MOBA=] mechanics, which they felt added unnecessary complexity and made the game less accessible. Both sides subsequently criticized the game's balance and elements of its design with many feeling that it fails as either a [=MOBA=] or shooter. In addition, many casual gamers dismissed the game at face value of being a knockoff of the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' just because it too has heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its initial $60 retail price that acted as a paywall that barred more skeptical gamers from trying out the game; in contrast, many other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and present themselves as more affordable alternatives to ''Overwatch'', which launched as a $60 game.

** [[FandomRivalry Shared with]] ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', saying that ''Battleborn'' and ''Overwatch'' are similar can set some people off (and in some places, even ''mentioning'' the rival game will cause someone to lash out). Ultimately, the only real similarities between the games are the FPS-gameplay focus and the cast of characters with varied and colorful personalities and gameplay styles. Everything else about them, from how each handles PVP to character progression, makes them about as different as apples and oranges. Claiming any similarities will have people correcting you, agreeing with you, and/or starting an argument about which game is "better".

** In the same vein, PVP players felt the lore challenges that require killing a certain number of other characters causes its own problems. Not only do some feel that the numbers required are a little ''too'' high for some characters, but it also means that some people have "tunnel vision" during matches when they see a character they're supposed to kill for an objective, which can ruin the teamwork needed to win a match. Some players have also admitted to avoiding playing certain characters because of this, with Ambra players in particular griping about it because she happens to be a kill target for a few characters' lore challenges, meaning she ends up being focused on more often than not in any given match. Oscar Mike players are in a similar boat, because Whisky Foxtrot players tend to focus entirely on killing him to get their lore challenge.

** After release, the playerbase fractured even further due to a multitude of problems that led players to lament that the game was "dying" in some form or another.
*** Because of this, people started suggesting that the game go free-to-play in order to salvage its dwindling playerbase, saying that the game is ''already'' using {{freemium}} style tactics anyway (grinding to unlock heroes[[note]]Since removed as of Winter 2016[[/note]], having a cash shop that actually has unique skins that aren't simple recolors ''and'' using it as another way to get loot, making it difficult for players who don't have a Season Pass/Digital Deluxe version to get the DLC characters, thanks to said characters needing a large amount of Credits to unlock without spending real money for them). The base became split on how much of a good idea this suggestion is, or if it's just more embittered griping.

* FandomRivalry: With a couple of games, but mostly with ''Overwatch''. However it should be noted that thanks to the rather shaky post-release cycle this game has endured, every rivalry it's ever had has pretty much faded away (or was virtually nonexistent to begin with). Aside from a few players still griping over the more popular games' success and ''Battleborn''[='s=] lamentable fall into niche gaming, there's plenty of overlap between ''Battleborn'' players and its rivals' players,[[note]]Thanks to ''Battleborn''[='s=] constant price drops, plenty of people who had played ''Overwatch'' or any other game first managed to try and get into ''Battleborn'' and have tended to enjoyed it (with most of the complaints being similar to what longtime players were already complaining about).[[/note]] to the point where there isn't as much bad blood between the games anymore. But to get into specifics:

*** The two games actually have very different gameplay experiences (both have {{MOBA}}-like characters, but ''Overwatch'' is a more traditional FPS with a focus on team-play à la ''Team Fortress'' and switching characters to respond to tactics, while ''Battleborn'' blends the {{MOBA}} genre with many {{FPS}} elements). But even with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMGrDUSGJU various videos aimed at pointing out the differences,]] ''Battleborn'' continually receives hate from the ''Overwatch'' fandom on social media, usually in the form of complaints that ''Battleborn'' copied ''Overwatch'' or the game is too complicated. This coincides with another reason the rivalry exists: that ''Overwatch'' happens to be much more prominent in marketing compared to ''Battleborn'' makes the former overshadow the latter by a wide margin. This has led to fans of either game accusing the other of "stealing its spotlight" and/or "stealing its ideas/premise".

** "Hi, Randy!" and variants in response to anyone speaking positively of ''Battleborn'', as well as jokes about ''Battleborn'' being the ButtMonkey in the overall FandomRivalry of ''Overwatch'', ''Battleborn'', and ''Paladins''.[[note]]Randy Pitchford is one of Gearbox's founders and is known for tongue-in-cheek ShamelessSelfPromotion (as well as for a sizeable number of critics who blame him for ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines''' downgrades and shady practices), and who tried his damndest to promote ''Battleborn'' long after it fell off the radar.[[/note]]

* PortingDisaster: The PC version released with such poor optimization that a fair number of PC players couldn't run the game at all, even though more graphically intensive games (and even its rival, ''Overwatch'') ran fine on the affected [=PCs=]. This has since been worked on, but for some people, it took too long to fix (over a month after release), resulting in a dwindling PC playerbase who became embittered by the handling of the situation. Some criticism remained in regards to the menu and UI choices, which were apparently built for consoles.

** All progress needing to be done while online in order to be saved is this as the servers were not well-maintained. Even doing a single session of Story Mode in a Private server can fail when you exit the level, causing the entire level's worth of work to be gone.

** Ambra got a lot of hate in the Open Beta due to her ability to mess up an uncoordinated enemy team on her own. Ambra-made pentakills were not a rarity. This has died down in the full release once people figured out how to counter her and she received balance changes.

** Beatrix since her introduction has been pretty much automatically banned in Draft mode. Her helix can alter her Fulminate ability (which is homing and on an insanely low cooldown) to silence enemy Battleborn for three seconds. ''At Level 1''. It's so bad many considered it a ''good'' thing when a bug caused her to be disabled in character select for a few days.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Several quality of life changes were added to ''Battleborn'' in Winter 2016, most of them coinciding with complaints and criticisms it's received from players. They included the following:
** A tutorial mode designed to give newbies a better idea as to how the PVP functions. Additionally, a training mode exists to allow you to test out your Battleborn's skills and gear on minion waves, so players no longer have to play through PVE missions or PVP modes to get a feel for their characters.
** A solo mode for the Story Missions (originally playing solo would result in the game warning you about it, and while still doable, the missions were designed for two or more players to get through, so the missions were more difficult than usual).
** The character interface was overhauled to include many QOL features, such as being able to see who your team is picking, as well as the ability to back out of a pick after finalizing your choices.
** All of the original Battleborn are available for use, no longer being gated behind challenges and command ranks. The challenges that were used to unlock the characters now give a different reward instead, and veteran players who had already unlocked the roster the old way were given the rewards automatically with the update.

** [[FandomRivalry Shared with]] ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', saying that ''Battleborn'' and ''Overwatch'' are similar can set some people off (and in some places, even ''mentioning'' the rival game will cause someone to lash out). Ultimately, the only real similarities between the games are the FPS-gameplay focus and the cast of characters with varied and colorful personalities and gameplay styles, but everything else about them, from how they handle PVP to character progression, makes them about as different as apples and oranges. Claiming any similarities will have people correcting you, agreeing with you, and/or starting an argument about which game is "better".
** Some players who prefer a particular game mode (between PVE and PVP) don't like how Gearbox has split progression rewards between the modes (loot, especially boss-related loot, is generally earned through PVE, while the majority of lore challenges can only be completed through PVP).
** In the same vein, PVP players feel the lore challenges that require killing a certain number of other characters causes its own problems. Not only do some feel that the numbers required are a little ''too'' high for some characters, but it also means that some people "tunnel vision" during matches when they see a character they're supposed to kill, which can ruin the teamwork needed to win a match. Some players have also admitted to avoiding playing certain characters because of this, with Ambra players in particular griping about it because she happens to be a kill target for a few characters' lore challenges, meaning she ends up being focused on more often than not in any given match. Oscar Mike players are in a similar boat, because Whisky Foxtrot players tend to focus entirely on killing him to get their lore challenge.

** On June 16th, 2016, a cash shop was added, so that people could trade real money for an exclusive currency, then trade the aforementioned currency for taunts and skins. To say that the community was angry is an understatement.
** Since release, the playerbase fractured even further due to a multitude of problems that have led players to lament that the game is "dying" in some form or another.
*** Because of this, there are people suggesting that the game go free-to-play in order to salvage its dwindling playerbase, saying that the game is ''already'' using {{freemium}} style tactics anyway (grinding to unlock heroes[[note]]Since removed as of Winter 2016[[/note]], having a cash shop that actually has unique skins that aren't simple recolors ''and'' using it as another way to get loot, making it difficult for players who don't have a Season Pass/Digital Deluxe version to get the DLC characters thanks to said characters needing a large amount of Credits to unlock without spending real money for them). The base is split on how much of a good idea this suggestion is, or if it's just more embittered griping.

* CultClassic: Despite it being overlooked over other games (Most obviously VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}) and being something of a ButtMonkey when compared to said games, The game has managed to earn itself a decent number of fans.

** Orendi, is quite popular as well if the number of fanart she recives is anything to go by, this could be because she's basically a Crazier [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} Tiny Tina]] which is quite a feat in of itself.
** The Wolf Sentry you have to Escort in the mission "Void's Edge" is liked for avoiding the usual problems with [[EscortMission Escort Missions]]. For One unlike most Escortees, He actually has a decent enough firepower to not only defend himself, but even help out the Players. Plus He is a [[CuteMachines pretty likable]] character with some funny lines. Many were saddened [[spoiler:that the Mission required him to die.]]
* FandomRivalry: With a couple of games, but mostly with ''Overwatch''. However it should be noted that thanks to the rather shaky post-release cycle this game has endured, every rivaly it's had has pretty much faded away (or was virtually nonexistent to begin with). Aside from a few players still griping over the more popular games' success and ''Battleborn''[='s=] lamentable fall into niche gaming, there's plenty of overlap between ''Battleborn'' players and its rivals' players,[[note]]Thanks to ''Battleborn''[='s=] constant price drops, plenty of people who had played ''Overwatch'' or any other game first managed to try and get into ''Battleborn'' and have tended to enjoyed it (with most of the complaints being similar to what longtime players were already complaining about).[[/note]] to the point where there isn't as much bad blood between the games' anymore. But to get into specifics:

** "Hi, Randy!" and variants in response to anyone speaking positively of ''Battleborn'', as well as jokes about ''Battleborn'' being the ButtMonkey in the overall FandomRivalry of ''Overwatch'', ''Battleborn'', and ''Paladins''.[[note]]Randy Pitchford is one of Gearbox's founders and is known for tongue-in-cheek ShamelessSelfPromotion (as well as for a sizeable number of critics who blame him for ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines''' downgrades and shady practices), and still tries his damndest to promote ''Battleborn'' long after it fell off the radar.[[/note]]
** The Battleborn Porn Subreddit. [[note]]Randy Pitchford once tweeted a link to a ''Battleborn'' RuleThirtyFour subreddit. Not only was it seen as {{AstroTurf}}ing, as the subreddit was recently created before said tweet (and ''completely empty'' when he did tweet it), but it was also widely seen as trying to bring back the dead ''Battleborn'' horse. It was near immediately spammed by ''Overwatch'' fans and critics of Pitchford, many using mocking links to "better" Overwatch porn and call-out posts.[[/note]]

** Not helping the game's case was the fact that many players were still bitter over ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'', Gearbox's last major game. Whether you feel this game deserved to do poorly because of it or not, it's not hard to see why that did ''Battleborn'' no favors, especially with ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' coming out later and basically demolishing it. The game is seen as a cautionary tale on how the negative reception of one game can end up hurting another, and how a game's developer (Randy Pitchford) can sour the quality of a game's release.
* PortingDisaster: The PC version released with such poor optimization that a fair number of PC players couldn't run the game at all, even though more graphically intensive games (and even its rival, ''Overwatch'') ran fine on the affected [=PCs=]. This has since been worked on, but for some people, it took too long to fix (over a month since release), resulting in a dwindling PC playerbase who embittered by the handling of the situation. Some criticism remains in regards to the menu and UI choices, which were apparently built for console.

** The fact that you had to unlock the heroes to use was seen as a love-or-hate kind of thing, especially because for most players, the process didn't feel particularly fast even with two ways to unlock each character (one being to complete a challenge, the other simply requiring you raise your Command Rank to a certain level). The feeling that it was a scrappy mechanic was also worsened by the fact that the tutorial starts you off with a particular hero only to immediately lock her away once you finish the tutorial. This was eventually averted with the 2016 Winter update, which removed the need to complete challenges to unlock anyone by making all of the original Battleborn (as in, non-DLC/Season Pass characters like Alani) available for free to all players.
** The game's patching schedule is the same for both PC and console (a hotfix every week, with a full patch once a month). Given the aforementioned problems with the PC version (PC players mentioned having to wait for the full patch for their optimization issues to be fixed, which meant over a month of wait time), this is seen as a bad plan, especially since the PC population and the console population would be playing almost entirely different metagames thanks to the skill difference between using traditional PC controls (keyboard and mouse) and console controllers.
** All progress needing to be online is this as the servers are not well-maintained. Even doing a single session of Story Mode in a Private server can fail when you exit the level, causing the entire level's worth of work to be gone.

** Currently, the chief example is The Experiment. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that it's a point defense mission where you have to defend the same points around 3-4 times against massive swarms of enemies, and the damage to the points remains the same across all defenses. It's not uncommon for a group to get all the way to the end and then lose during the final defense due to massive damage to the points taken throughout the entire mission.

** Galilea has been one of the top-tier characters for the game's entire existence. One of her helix options effectively doubles her DPS as long as she's at full health (and the player knows what they're doing) and she has access to pretty much every single CC option in the game, including a pull ''at Level 1''. This isn't helped by the devs seemingly mocking the people annoyed at her strength, with her getting a taunt voiceline ("Who seeks to nerf the Wraith?") and a title ("Girl With It All") referencing the backlash against her without... you know, actually fixing the issue.

** "Hi, Randy!" and variants in response to anyone speaking positively of Battleborn, as well as jokes about Battleborn being the ButtMonkey in the overall FandomRivalry of Overwatch, Battleborn, and Paladins.[[note]]Randy Pitchford is one of Gearbox's founders and is known for tongue-in-cheek ShamelessSelfPromotion (as well as for a sizeable number of critics who blame him for VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines' downgrades and shady practices), and still tries his damndest to market Battleborn long after it fell off the radar.[[/note]]
** The Battleborn Porn Subreddit. [[note]]Randy Pitchford once tweeted a link to a Battleborn RuleThirtyFour subreddit. Not only was it seen as {{AstroTurf}}ing, as the subreddit was recently created before said tweet (and ''completely empty'' when he did tweet it), but it was also widely seen as trying to bring back the dead ''Battleborn'' horse. It was near immediately spammed by Overwatch fans and critics of Pitchford, many using mocking links to "better" Overwatch porn and call-out posts.[[/note]]

** "Hi, Randy!" and variants in response to anyone speaking positively of Battleborn, as well as jokes about Battleborn being the ButtMonkey in the overall FandomRivalry of Overwatch, Battleborn, and Paladins.[[note]]Randy Pitchford is one of Gearbox's founders and is known for tongue-in-cheek ShamelessSelfPromotion (as well as a sizeable number of critics who blame him for VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines' downgrades and shady practices), and still tries his damndest to market Battleborn after it fell off the radar.[[/note]]
** The Battleborn Porn Subreddit. [[note]]Randy Pitchford tweeted a link to a Battleborn Rule 34 subreddit. Not only was it seen as {{AstroTurf}}ing, as the subreddit was recently created before said tweet (and ''completely empty'' when he did tweet it), but it was also widely seen as trying to bring back the dead horse. Immediately, it was spammed by Overwatch fans and critics of Pitchford, with mocking links to Overwatch porn and call-out posts.[[/note]]

* NeverLiveItDown: The game will be remembered by many as having a release date that so happens to be around the same time as ''Overwatch''[='=]s open beta test, resulting in a heated FandomRivalry between players of both games.

** Not helping the game's case was the fact that many players were still bitter over ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'', Gearbox's last major game. Whether you feel this game deserved to do poorly because of it or not, it's not hard to see why that did ''Battleborn'' no favors, especially with ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' coming out later and basically demolishing it. The game is seen as a cautionary tale on how the negative reception of one game can end up hurting another, and how a games developer (Randy Pitchford) can sour the quality of a games release.

** After release, it is in full swing with people outright abandoning PvP games where non-Beta maps are voted in (though on PC, the common complaint tends to be more that they run very poorly for a bunch of players' rigs).

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies compared to a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, shooter fans were turned off by the [=MOBA=] mechanics, which they felt added unnecessary complexity and made the game less accessible. Both sides subsequently criticized the game's balance and elements of its design with many feeling that it fails as either a [=MOBA=] or shooter. In addition, many casual gamers dismissed the game at face value of being a knockoff of the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' just because it too has heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its initial $60 retail price that acted as a paywall that barred more skeptical gamers from trying out the game; in contrast, many other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and present themselves as a more affordable alternative to ''Overwatch'', which launched as a $60 game.

* OvershadowedByControversy: To say it didn't recover from it's more controversial aspects is an understatement. It got to the point where it became part of a ''Humble Bundle'' (typically for games old enough to be bought for less than $10 during a Steam sale) a ''couple of months'' after it released, not to mention the constant unsubstantiated rumors that the game was going free-to-play just to gain back its playerbase.

* ThatOneBoss: ''The Demon Bear''. Specifically on higher Ops Point runs. Alone it wouldn't be so bad, being a massive tank of a bear that becomes a BullfightBoss in it's second phase, but on higher runs it gets more and more [[EliteMook Alpha Bears]] which summon smaller Bear Cubs that have a chance to become [[ActionBomb explosive Ghost Bears on death.]] On top of that after a while Voidsap will start falling from the roof slowing anyone it hits, which isn't good when you've got a [[WolfpackBoss horde of bears charging your way.]] It's no small wonder a popular tactic for All Ops Point runs is to do them [[spoiler: when Alani tells the story so that you don't have to fight the bear at all.]]

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies compared to a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, shooter fans were turned off by the [=MOBA=] mechanics, which they felt added unnecessary complexity and made the game less accessible. Both sides subsequently criticized the game's balance and elements of its design with many feeling that it fails as either a [=MOBA=] or shooter. In addition, many casual gamers who aren't as familiar with different game genres dismissed the game at face value of being an ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' knockoff just because it too has heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its initial $60 retail price that acted as a paywall that barred more skeptical gamers from trying out the game; in contrast, many other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and present themselves as a more affordable alternative to ''Overwatch'', which launched as a $60 game.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its cartoony HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies of a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, FPS fans were turned off by the [=MOBA=] mechanics, which they felt added unnecessary complexity and made the game less accessible. In addition, many casual gamers who aren't as informed or familiar with different game genres dismissed the game at face value of being an ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' clone just because it too has heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Both sides criticized the game's balance and elements of its design. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its initial $60 retail price that acted as a paywall that barred more skeptical gamers from trying out the game; in contrast, many other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and present themselves as a more affordable alternative to ''Overwatch'', which launched as a $60 game.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its cartoony HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies of a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, FPS fans were turned off by the [=MOBA=] mechanics, which they felt added unnecessary complexity and made the game less accessible. In addition, many casual gamers who aren't as informed or familiar with different game genres dismissed the game at face value of being an ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' clone just because it too has heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Both sides criticized the game's balance and elements of its design. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its $60 dollar retail price as other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and present themselves as a more affordable alternative to ''Overwatch'', which launched as a $60 game.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: ''Battleborn'' failed largely because its inability to sell its cartoony HeroShooter[=/=]{{MOBA}} premise to the mainstream masses. [=MOBA=] fans were turned off by the game's first person shooter elements, which made it difficult for executing the complex strategies of a traditional [=MOBA=] like ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. On the flip side, hero shooter fans dismissed the game at face value of being an ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' clone just because it too is a shooter with heroes, a cartoony art style, and a first person shooter perspective. Both sides criticized the game's balance and elements of its design. Yet the ultimate killing blow to the game's potential was its $60 dollar retail price as other hero shooters, most notably ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', were able to thrive by launching as free-to-play games that could reach out to a larger audience and justify the inclusion of microtransactions.