So, Borderlands 4 just dropped a new DLC called Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, and players on Steam are not happy. The buzz? The DLC is too short and way too expensive for what it offers. At $30, people expected a bigger bang for their buck, but what they got feels more like a quick side story than a full expansion.
Why Are Players So Upset About the Price and Length?
The DLC adds a few cool things: a new vault hunter, a new map, two big boss fights, 16 smaller ones, new gear, and some cosmetics. Sounds decent, right? The catch is you can blaze through all of this in just a couple of hours. That’s not exactly the kind of content you’d want to pay $30 for, especially when you compare it to other big-name expansions.
One Steam user put it bluntly: “Three-hour-long DLC for $30? You can buy Silksong for that money, [and] even less.” Another called the story “trash” and complained the ending was “so boring and abrupt.” The overall feeling is that this pack is more of a small story add-on and should be priced accordingly.
Let’s Put This Into Perspective
Just to highlight how off the price feels, look at The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. It came out as an expansion, cost $20 at launch, and gave players around 40 hours of gameplay with a full, separate experience. Borderlands 4’s new DLC is nowhere near that scale but somehow costs more.
With only 32 percent of players recommending Mad Ellie on Steam, the DLC earned a “mostly negative” tag. This isn’t the first time Borderlands 4 has faced backlash either, especially after performance issues at launch. Now, this pricing and content size controversy is adding fuel to the fire.
Is the DLC Actually Good?
Interestingly, some players admit the DLC is good quality overall. The problem isn’t the effort or the gameplay itself but the value proposition. Paying $30 for a few hours of content doesn’t sit right. It’s like paying full price for a meal that feels more like a snack.
Given how companies have been charging big bucks for smaller content lately, it’s not shocking to see Gearbox doing the same. But the community’s reaction shows gamers aren’t ready to just accept this quietly. Whether this will change future DLC pricing for Borderlands 4 remains to be seen.
For now, if you were thinking about diving into this DLC, keep the length and price in mind. It might be fun, but it won’t last long.
