This morning I woke up in the Colloseum. This is not a bad place to start, since there is a red chest basically just outside to loot. I knew that i was going to have to clear a path to Sledge's Safehouse but before I did that I figured that since a solo player doesn't get to do much in the colloseum that I should at least head over to visit Chuck Durden to get my arena fix in.
During the first play through I only did the first two missions here. This time around I figured I should complete all three, and I did. Once again, the Volcano proved to be useful here against the skags of various sorts (I did switch out for the fire alpha skag, but that should be expected.) Even so, my version of the Volcano is still starting to act a bit weak and I'm not confident it will be up to the task against Sledge.
On finishing the Arena missions I headed to the Safehouse. I might complain about the Volcano a lot, but I am also still using it as my main weapon since aside from my Liquid sniper (dealing greater damage, but no elemental) it is the most effective. I have always found this area to be pretty easy and today wasn't really different. This time, when encountering the Roid Rage Psycho at the end, I chose to keep a few of the midgets alive. This proved to be a good strategy because eventually I was knocked down and a quick shot at a midget gave me that second wind. I was back in the game. Of course, during that whole time the Psycho was burning, thanks to the Volcano so by the time I stood up again he only needed a couple more shots. For some reason I forgot where to find the switch to open the trap door to get the key. I searched around for about 4 minutes before I noticed it hanging right behind me. I snatched up the keys, backtracked (really, the back door couldn't open?) and cashed out at the vendor by the door.
I pretty much went straight to Headstone Mine. I didn't have a plan really - I just knew I was taking the quickest route to the end. At one point I grew impatient and just sprinted along the tracks instead of engaging in the enemies. Lazy perhaps, but I wasn't missing out on any chests so figured it was ok. I made it to the vending machines outside Sledge's room and had to quit for the day.