Since it comes at the end of my somewhat lengthy review, and it's the question I've gotten most from readers, I wanted to clarify just how long it took me to play through "Borderlands" with a single character. Keep in mind that this doesn't include New Game Plus, which allows you to replay the game with new enemy types and better loot. This is just the first time through, from the start of the game to the credits.
My finishing time with my Hunter class was 17 hours and 36 minutes, with a completion level of 36. I was generally pretty thorough when it came to completing quests, but I probably skipped about 6 quests due to them being a much lower level than I was. Given that a quest takes around 15 to 20 minutes to complete, there was probably an extra hour of gameplay I could've slogged through. Instead I chose to start my New Game Plus and take on those quests when I reach them the second time around.
I can't give you a time from level 1 to level 50, unfortunately, as I haven't reached that pinacle yet. I have noticed that leveling does slow down some in the later stages of the game, but 100 hours (a stat that the developers mentioned when describing the length of time from 1 to 50) is probably somewhat inflated. Figure it takes you 20 hours to get to level 40, it seems unlikely that the final 10 levels would take you four times as long. If I were to make an educated guess I'd say level 50 is attainable in around 40 hours, but I'll be happy to eat my words if that proves to be false.
Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not besmirching the length of the game. I've already got another character up to level 20 (a Siren), so there is plenty of value to be found in experiencing the other classes. I just thought you might like to know what sort of time investment you were getting into.