Borderlands 2

I can only see this benefiting the community at large.

The reason for this is there are a few games, such as Dragon's Dogma, in which there is a "limited time" boss which the community fights, but only those who kill it (and those who log in within twenty minutes of it dying to kill it in a weakened state) get it's loot. Loot which is unique to killing it online.

What this has done is create a very altruistic community, with those who have been more fortunate than others sharing their wealth. Also for contrast, Dragon's Dogma has no level cap on their weapons. You're free to use it when you get it- the only requirements being if you're the correct class for usage or not. Borderlands 2 has level requirements, meaning a new person can not be using game-breaking equipment within seconds of getting it.

It's entirely possible to dupe items, and being as this is a non-competitive game and also given how hard it's now going to be to drop good items, I fail to understand how this is going to be a bad thing.

One of the issues that gets raised is that it will affect players of lower level and/ or with lesser equipment, impacting the enjoyment of the game for the host and/ or other players of similarly lower comparative strength playing the host's game too. If someone is joining your game and it is evident that they aren't going to play in a way the host likes, then the host can kick them. This goes to more than the use of good equipment- this applies to sticking with the group, going at the pace the host is playing, ninja looting, revivals, the list really goes on. There is so much terms of playstyle and gaming etiquette that players need to abide by and the rules vary from host to host. Ultimately, it's dealer's choice; the host decides who stays and goes.

Now what we see from this is anti-duping mentalities saying that now the dupers have free reign of the trading market. Clearly these groups can consolidate far more items of greater rarity and flood the community with them, sinking it's value. Yes that is true. However it is quite folly to believe that non-dupers are in direct competition with dupers. This is because there is no effectual market in the game and you never really know who you're dealing with on the other end of the bargaining table. The results are that a trade is made- an exchange of items. What happens to the items after that is of no concern nor business of the original owner after the trade is made. And since the use of the equipment comes back to being on the whims of the host, then it's easy to see how this all becomes full circle and really a non-issue.

The limited time bosses improve the game somewhat because of this. Freedom of loot has never harmed other games (it has, in fact, improved games with active competitive communities, such as Dark Souls, as it evens the playing field). I think what is being aimed for here by Rockstar is a way to force the player(s) to enjoy the boss fights, rather than view them as a more grandiose road-bump albeit minor annoyance to be dealt with before the invariable explosion of loot fountains.

Of course, I understand that. It did used to be loot fountains- that is what I was going for. It's not like that now, and that's the rebalancing I think Rockstar is going for. It's now about the fight rather than the loot. It's a refocusing I think was necessary- Rockstar has always been about "equal opportunity for shooting bandits in the face with rockets"; they must have felt players had forgotten this is what Borderlands was about and sought to redirect the player's attention to that.

Of course it's speculation on my part, but I think they're trying to hold onto the base values of what Borderlands is and make it more community-friendly. The monsters still bleed items, but it's about how outlandishly they die rather than what colour they bleed.