The fan response to Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has been interesting to see evolve over the last few months. In the lead-up to launch, fans were cautiously optimistic, as though Borderlands 3’s story had disappointed many, the combination of Tiny Tina and fantasy was already a proven success. Upon release, the game was a massive hit with fans, with many able to look beyond the early server issues to praise the game for all it did right.
Unfortunately, while many loved Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands upon release, the DLC has soured the mood and negatively impacted the feelings fans had about the spin-off. As a result, many have called for a second Season Pass that delivers the content gamers were hoping to see from the original batch of DLC. In particular, this hypothetical second helping of DLC needs to provide Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands with some proper expansions.
Avoiding The Controversial More Mirrors of Mystery
Obviously, the first thing that a second Season Pass should do is drop the concept of the Mirrors of Mystery. These DLCs were designed to be replayable missions that double as extra content for the Chaos Chamber, but the brevity of the levels has proven to be a major negative. While the Mirrors try a few interesting things, they feel more like seasonal events or Headhunter Packs than proper DLC content, so abandoning this format in favor of something more traditional would be ideal.
On top of this, Gearbox needs to make sure another Season Pass and the content within is more fairly priced. At $30, players are only getting a few hours of original content and a new class called the Blightcaller, which many feel is not worth the price of admission. Each Mirror can be purchased individually, but considering the fact that they only provide an hour of unique content at best, it is hard to justify the $10 price tag. Even if Gearbox went small with another Season Pass, pricing it more fairly is key. However, it should go bigger, bringing back the classic expansion style.
Bringing Back Borderlands’ Expansions
Each mainline Borderlands game has received four major expansions, all of which add several hours of content to the game. This is exactly what Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands needs, as the lack of a True Vault Hunter mode means that players have no way to replay quests. As such, the only place they can really use their maxed out characters is the Chaos Chamber, and while it is a fun endgame mode, like anything else it gets old after a while.
Expansions like Bounty of Blood, Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty, and Secret Armory of General Knoxx gave players new enemies to fight, additional locations to explore, and most importantly, fresh quests to complete. With each Mirror of Mystery only providing a single quest, it is no wonder that the DLCs released thus far feel like a significant step-down from what came before. A second Season Pass comprised fully of major expansions that add everything fans have come to expect would be ideal, and if each one included a traditional raid boss fight, a lot of the community’s issues would be resolved.
Considering how well Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands sold, there would surely be an audience for a second Season Pass if Gearbox wants to provide one. While the community is disappointed in the original collection of DLC and is moving back to the older Borderlands releases, it would surely return if great expansions like Assault on Dragon Keep were released. The core gameplay of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is strong, but there is simply not enough of the content that players love. A second Season Pass with fair-priced expansions instead of the deeply flawed Mirrors of Mystery would provide exactly what gamers are looking for.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.