Battleborn players can goose their XP earnings this weekend, as part of the hero shooter's first double XP event. A new hero is also joining the fight, too, courtesy of the game's inaugural free DLC.[Excerpt]
The XP event starts this morning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific, and it runs through Wednesday, May 25 at 8:00 a.m. You'll earn double command and character rank XP in any story mode missions or multiplayer battles in Battleborn during that period.
Some players will be able to take advantage of that bonus while playing as the game's upcoming DLC character, too. If you have the season pass or participated in the PS4 open beta, you'll be able to unlock Alani on May 24 at 9 a.m. She can be obtained in one of two ways. If you've squirreled away 47,500 in-game credits, you can spend them to add her to your roster. Otherwise, you can use a new Hero Key, which will be given to players who bought the digital deluxe version or who own the season pass. Players can use the key to instantly unlock any hero they want, and it will be returned to their inventory if they complete the required challenge objective or hit the designated command rank.
Alani will be available to all other platforms a week later, on May 31 at 9:00 a.m. Here's what Gearbox has to say about this new fighter:
A member of the Eldrid faction who was raised as a healer, but forced to be a warrior, Alani is all that remains of her order after Rendain’s Jennerit Imperium stole the oceans from her world. As a warrior from a planet with vast seas, Alani’s attacks and abilities revolve around her power to control water to dish out pain, or heal her fellow Battleborn.
[Source: Battleborn Blog]
Our Take
I've spent several hours with the game, and it hasn't quite clicked with me. I don't know if another character will change the fundamental issues I have with the game, but it's great that 2K is continuing to give players additional content after Battleborn's release, like the publisher did with Evolve. I'll have to give it some more time this weekend – maybe I just needed to see my XP bars fill up more quickly.