not that interested in getting the best gear. I was more so wondering if anything was really different. I have played a little and enjoyed it but might just switch to borderlands2 instead

Nah it's the same

The elemental multiplier is how big the effect is radius wise. What level of elemental is determined by the name prefix. Also the weapons face a tech pool which determine how often the weapon can proc. I wish they had made it more simple for the players such as 1 - 4 and that's it.

I should note that usually elemental modifiers on guns normally reduce the overall weapon damage unless other specified ie uniques and legendaries.