Regardless of the damage scale, weapons Borderlands just have more abilities. You think Felwinter's is bad? Try Conference Call. It's not as much a shotgun as it is a way to send swarms of bullets at a target from every direction. Plus, the Vault Hunters' action skills are much more powerful than the guardian supers. The commando turret is a nuke. Zero's invisibility puts the hunters to shame, and allows him to throw kunai that can eat through flesh and metal. Kreig's mutation makes him pretty much indestructible. Borderlands is a PvE only game with no need for PvP balance. This allows the protagonists to be completely overpowered. They don't have as many limits on their abilities as the guardians.