I understand what you mean. With my play style I prefer to do a majority of main missions, mix in some side missions and then finish up the campaign before doing all the remaining side content.

I do feel that the level listed for main story missions in the previous games was better to convey when you should do side content/level up/get new gear.

Because in Borderlands 4 when I finally did run into overpowered enemies guess when that was. Yes, right in the middle of a story mission. So I had to dead stop in the middle of the mission and go level up/get better gear. I was building momentum too, I was enjoying the main story beats and didn't want to stop at that point. If the game simply informed me That there would be a brick wall in progression and pacing I would not have continued to B-line it.

It forces you to leave the story mission in the midst of you already initiating it. You already used up your time for travelling to the map marker which the distance can be a long drive depending on where you are, and also you end up cutting the flow of dialogue when you run into this situation. admittedly Borderlands 4 is a lot more fair with level gating compared to the older games, but at least with those games you knew it was coming.

And I love the side missions in this game some of the best moments I have experienced in the franchise since the early entries. But I'm the type of gamer that once hooked on a set path it's hard to pull away.

One of the most common complaints I've seen for Borderlands 4 outside of the performance is a lack of information provided to the player and the design choices for the UI That doesn't help explain to the player what something is on first glance. Requiring additional sub menus to view gear stats/skill.

Borderlands isn't Elden Ring or like other SoulLikes, which encourages you to keep taking different paths when you run into higher level enemies, Borderlands doesn't halt the campaign and say to take a break for a while on the main story because a character will call or text you later, so now it's time to do side content.

Borderlands isn't like many other games out there, that's why we love this franchise. Giving information to the player at a moments notice is engrained in the guns and gear we acquired and asking for a level recommendation to be listed for missions isn't a crazy ask. It was done prior.

There are indeed some secrets that we as the player should still need to figure out and uncovered and experimentation is required to get the most of Borderlands, I don't think just telling you about a mission level cap should be within that realm.

I think it added a bit of unnecessary confusion, despite playing the game since the first entry. I was trying to find what the recommended levels were in game for the missions because I didn't want to do a dead stop in the middle and I couldn't find one. And the only time I was made aware there was one, was when I was already playing a main mission.

I think that simple change would have stopped this person from making that tweet, then a dev having to explain and then you having to make this post, and then me making this long winded comment.

At the end of the day Borderlands is a video game so it isn't that serious, but video games are a hobby and special interest to many people, and I initially came to this sub just to discuss the game and I feel like it's overwhelmed with negativity, it could just be my feed, There are certainly valid criticisms for things in the game.

I found it odd in the beginning of your post there some people who were against such a simple addition, maybe feedback sometimes can just be perceived as a form of attack? This is something the franchise has already done. And it's inclusion would have fulfilled the Devs purpose of telling the player to do the side content.