For those on the fence about buying the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned... here's some info [or opinion rather].
Played with a level 50 Soldier. 5 hours into DLC.
What I Liked:
-The Quirkiness and humor of this DLC really stands out. From the intro straight through there are quite a few hilarious moments.
-As others have said, the atmosphere is absolutely amazing.
-Level design is interesting, although there is no fast travel inside the whole of the island, so there will be some trudging back and forth [so remember to gather all the quests as they are available]
-I hate to say it, but the story is better than the entire story of the original borderlands, and is actually cohesive.
-bosses are pretty spectacular so far [if a little bugged].
-some very suspenseful and exciting fights, after one fight, it took me about 10 minutes to "clean up" the ground, with two trips to the vending machines.
Undecided:
-Respawn rate seems uncharacteristically high.
-I feel like this is a month late. Very heavy on the halloween vibe... not to say it isn't well done... just would have been fantastic released in late October.
Disappointed:
-If you're careful the enemies are super easy to pick apart [even some bosses]... if you're not you can get swarmed easily... but then it becomes super easy again cause its so easy to take out an enemy to get a second wind... there really doesn't appear to be much middle ground...
-also, I haven't had an issue with frame rate through the entire original borderlands, but on the island, with spitter's and grenades and turrets, the slow down can be downright terrible...
-Some enemies are simply skinned, behavior is predictable with few exceptions [midgets].
-had a few buggy AI moments... I was on top of a building [unreachable by stair] surrounded by zombies that couldn't get to me picking them off, and a barrel bomber literally flew about 50 feet in the air [running] and landed on me... happened twice...
-boss AI also buggy, tried to "kite" a boss towards some buildings for cover, at one point he stopped everything, standing there taking crits to the face, less than 20 yards from me... I stopped shooting and we stood there staring at each other... making an otherwise difficult and suspenseful fight kind of meh...
-there are a couple places that look like you should be able to traverse [both in-game and on the map] where you actually die as soon as you step foot into... no real indication of this either... just an immediate tunnel of light and a hefty price tag...
My biggest complaint:
-As far as loot, I've seen three "red" chests, three "white" the entire 5 hours [containing mostly greens, and 3 purples]. Every single gun, shield, and grenade mod on the ground, in chests or in vending machines, hasn't been anything new. As far as I can tell, no new parts, no new named weapons [no new red text], nada. The promise of new loot was one of, if not THE biggest reason for getting the DLC, as at level 50, you can only farm New Haven and Crimson Fastness so many times before starting to pick up very similar high-end weapons... Even the quest items you get are lesser versions of shields/guns you may already have from loot runs... so as far as the promise of new loot, its either completely unoticeable, or not there at all, either way I can't tell... but at this point I have replaced exactly zero guns in my inventory...
Recommendation:
For $10, its a decent purchase for your pre-50 alts... it would've been more worth it to get the XP for quests and kills... and at least you would have a better chance of finding better weapons for your character. For anyone playing post 50... its really just a funny scenic meet-and-greet tour of the island with no real rewards for doing so...