For those who emotion the grind, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is Borderlands heaven. For those who don’t, it’s a coagulated shooter that lacks the crisp hooks of a true-to-form live-service game. I ideate this dynamic volition stay overmuch the aforesaid successful the aftermath of the game’s latest expansion, which adds the game’s archetypal caller people since launch: the Blightcaller.

Released successful March for consoles and PC, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is simply a phantasy spin-off of Gearbox’s Borderlands bid of loot-shooters. Historically, Borderlands entries person enactment an accent connected meaty, story-driven post-release expansions. (Wonderlands itself is technically a follow-up to 1 of those: Borderlands 2’s terrific Assault connected Dragon Keep.) But for Wonderlands, Gearbox alternatively opted to merchandise 4 smaller packs called “Mirrors of Mystery,” each 1 a benignant of bid of combat chambers—light connected story, dense connected looting and shooting.

The terms tag, however, remained much oregon little the same.

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The 4th specified expansion, “Shattered Spectreglass,” came retired yesterday, and is disposable piecemeal oregon arsenic portion of the game’s play pass. The astir absorbing facet is the rollout of the Blightcaller class, which brings the full fig of disposable classes successful Wonderlands up to 7 (and the full fig of dual classes up to a fig I’ll, uh, request 1 of you who knows mathematics to fig out).

Blightcaller is an unusual class. Whereas the standard-issue Wonderlands classes—Stabbomancer is your assassin-type, Brr-Serker is for melee-focused builds, and truthful on—map neatly to classes from erstwhile Borderlands games, the Blightcaller has nary casual corollary. Generally, it traffics successful dishing retired elemental damage. But it besides has a companion. And a absorption connected defense, alternatively than offense.

For instance, determination are a mates of skills that summation your harm proportional to however overmuch ward (Wonderlands parlance for “shield”) you have. Wraithmail volition reconstruct portion of your ward for each force you kill. That dovetails with Flawless Edge; each constituent you put successful the accomplishment increases your harm output by 6 percent if you person a afloat ward.

Its enactment skill, Bog Totem, summons a tiny histrion companion who fires a barrage of tiny evil skulls that location successful connected and onslaught enemies. But here’s the existent draw: Those skulls volition lucifer the elemental benignant of the limb you person equipped. Combine that with the Geist successful the Shell skill—which summons a akin barrage, 1 that deals poison damage, each clip you onshore a captious hit—and you’re much oregon little a changeless watercourse of elemental projectiles, dealing harm of up to 3 antithetic elemental types astatine once.

Last night, I roped successful Kotaku’s Zack Zwiezen for a caller Wonderlands playthrough. I messed astir with a caller Blightcaller character, and we played up done the extremity of “Thy Bard, With A Vengeance” communicative mission, which allows you to take a subclass. (Since Zack didn’t person entree to the expansion, helium wasn’t capable to prime Blightcaller arsenic either a superior oregon secondary class.)

There’s nary evident match—like, say, the Clawbringer and Spore Warden, resulting successful the uber-powerful Wildfire dual class—but I yet settled connected the Spore Warden for my Blightcaller, too, since it comes with a small mushroom monster arsenic a companion. Now, I’m a chill AF-sounding Shroomwraith. The Blightcaller’s Active Decay accomplishment increases poison damage, making the small mushroom monster much powerful. I’m excited to spot however other the 2 germinate implicit the people of this playthrough.

That is, if I proceed playing.

The Blightcaller is simply a blast, sure. But it doesn’t radically alteration the game. Look, this is my 4th Wonderlands character. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I’ve present sat done the intro 5 times (I mislaid 1 quality for reasons of I Have No Clue What Happened), but re-rolling truly clarified for maine the gulf betwixt caller Borderlands games and the archetypal ones: Wonderlands, and benignant of Borderlands 3 earlier it, beryllium successful the murky purgatory betwixt a emblematic campaign-focused crippled and a live-service game.

For a while, I perfectly loved the endgame “Chaos Chamber” mode, what with its roguelike elements and seemingly limitless legendary loot drops. But it started to consciousness similar a grind for a grind’s sake, each successful the endless work of making bigger numbers truthful you tin marque adjacent bigger numbers. Maybe, if you’re really, really lucky—like win-the-lottery-multiple-times-lucky—you’ll extremity up finding a 1 successful 85 cardinal portion of gear. Wonderlands has the compulsive repetition of a live-service without the impetus spurred by the dependable contented watercourse you’d get with a true-to-form unrecorded work game: a rotation of cosmetics, time-limited seasonal events (even Borderlands 3 had some of those), caller areas that don’t outgo $10 a pop, a societal abstraction successful which to congregate with different players. The summation of the Blightcaller people doesn’t alteration this dynamic.

So the grind, astatine slightest for me, has grown stale. This is fine! Games are allowed to conscionable end. You are wholly wrong your rights to bask a game, to person a truly damn bully time, and then…move onto the adjacent one. If you’re starting Wonderlands for the archetypal time, sure, yeah, I’d accidental opting for a Blightcaller physique would beryllium a bully call. But if you’ve been waiting with bated enactment for this caller people to revitalize the game, you’re amended disconnected waiting for Borderlands 4.