The Division

[chuckskull]

Anyone else playing this?

I'm about half way through the story and I've done a few hours of dark zone. Was highly skeptical, but so far really enjoying it. Ubi really does a brill open world, very pretty and so much attention to detail. Love the little things; like lights in the apartments going off when they hear gunfire.

Well, when it works so many server crashes in the first 2 days now and now a warning in uPlay that 'some online features' aren't working, didn't bother logging in to find out which. Seriously; spend the damn money on servers. You know when your game comes out, you know there will be a load spike and I'll bet you know almost exactly how large it will be. It stinks of corner cutting. The client is seems stable and runs smoothly though, which is something I suppose.

Anyway back to the game itself; the whole loot n shoot gameplay loop still works especially in an engaging open world that's big enough to avoid fighting over the same spot constantly. None of the single player missions repeat locations as far as I can tell. The darkzone is fun, surprisingly little PVP, mostly because the PVE is frenetic enough to keep everyone busy. Which works well IMO. Seem's to make everyone quite co-operative, I walked in alone 3 times and found a group of rando's to take me all 3 times within minutes.

There are a few silly design choices that I will now gripe about; If you're going to make the enemies spongy as hell, make them drop ammo reasonably consistently, rather than the current system of only dropping when you're low <20%. This is especially tedious in the darkzone where you can easily dump half your ammo into an elite. I think they were going for a feeling of scarcity but you end up with a feeling of faffing around instead, just let me keep it topped up. I know that dude has bullets; HE WAS SHOOTING AT ME.

Another DZ gripe, just let everyone extract their gear at once, the limited number of slots which I think was meant to be a conflict driver just means waiting for a 2nd extract almost every time. It's only 2 minutes but 2 minutes every 10-15 really starts to wear. Speaking of wearing my patience; why is my Stash(where your extracted loot goes) smaller than my little backpack? Seriously I could sleep in that thing, it's a chest the size of a bed only taller, but it only holds 30 items, whereas my mid level backpack holds 55 and why on earth can't I access it from the DZ entrance? No, you have to run to the DZ entrance, exit out into the single player map, fast travel(which isn't fast) to the base of operations/safehouse, run 100m to the box, collect and manage/sell/melt all the loot, then run a few hundred meters back to the DZ entrance(because you cn't fast travel to it) to keep playing. Just WHY?! I can't even think why they designed it like that.

Lastly Virus scanner missions. Find the inconspicuous boxes in the place you've never been within x seconds. It's so tedious I stopped doing them. The time limit is pointless all it means is you have to retrace your steps back to the first to reactivate it and try again. There's no challenge, no skill required, nothing interesting to do/fight; you just end up running around in circles til you've found them basically. Thankfully they're pretty rare, but I just can't understand who on came up with it and thought; "Yes, this! This is good gameplay". The time limit also ruins the exploration side of the mission which could of been it's saving grace.

Despite those gripes it's a good game, big step up from Watch Dogs and ubi even seems to have gotten uPlay into a reasonably usable state(I stopped buying their PC games over how it used to be).

[herulach]

I've 5 hours in it so far, and I can't tell if I like it or not. the shooting mechanics are pretty fun, although some of the enemies are frankly far too spongy. (just done the department store mission and the end boss for that is stupid, ended up just cheesing it from the mezzanine).

I'm also not really sure I understand the loot system. Since the weapon selection is pretty limited I'm currently using an AK I got 4 levels ago, which has better DPS than anything dropping at my current level. difficult to tell if this is intentional or not, I've not yet gone into the dark zone, but it will need to drop some godly loot to be worth the effort I reckon.

[chuckskull]

I remember him, PITA. A few like that. The Cleaners generally need to die in a fire. Liberal use of grenades and explosive rounds is the best way I've found. Some have weakspots too. I think more dudes with less health would have been a better design choice.

The DPS numbers include reload time+mods so if you have a mag mod in it skews the numbers pretty bad as decent one can bump DPS by 10-20%. Took me ages to figure that out. Best to strip the weapon then compare. If it's the same type & colour(rarity) but a higher level, it will be better.

I know what you mean about not being sure about it, there's nothing revolutionary in there it's a well trodden formula but it's well executed which is what tipped it over the edge for me. There's nothing really exciting or attention grabbing in the gameplay. To the point at first it felt like I replaying it not playing it. Try it with a group btw, much more entertaining.

[Firejack]

The Division beta was Good, The Division after release just seems to get better every time I play it. The experience is very consistent and there is lots to do, much more then I got the impression there would be after playing in the beta.

Playing with others is a much more enjoyable experience. The coop system, either in the open world or on missions, is great. You can easily hook up with friends at anytime and have fun together. Just try not to have too much of a level gap but thats fairly easy to do since levelling is so fast. The levelling system is more about gradually introducing you to mechanics and advancing you through the story then some sort of ridiculous grind. Pleasantly surprised to see a couple of people on my friend list already hit the max level. You can play very casually at your own speed and you will still hit max level in 2-3 weeks it seems.

[Allen]

Sunk a few too many hours into this already, level 30 rank 21. Just did a challenge mode mission last night for the daily reward..... my word..... You think mobs in the DZ are bullet sponges? I emptied a whole clip of 20-odd rounds from my sniper into an enemies head at long range, each a perfect shot critting for ~150k, still only took 1 bar of his shield down. With my AR at close range, it took around 3-4 clips to do the same 1 bar of shield, and several heals to keep me alive. Their rushers will eat you alive if they get near you! You NEED 4 people! The rewards are pretty awesome though.

Need more friends on my Uplay list, add "Seventy9_" to join up in game for some fun if you're on the PC. Sadly there's no level scaling in a group as I found out yesterday when I grouped up with a level 5 outwar6010 and he was facing level 25 mobs which would have melted his face!

Yeah, I have a few gripes; Crafting multiple items (like upgrading mats) takes far too long and too many keystrokes. Grenade/consumable item selection is rubbish. Lag/disconnects in single player mode, whilst infrequent, are the bane of my existence. But still, it is a great game, and awesome fun to play!

With regards to weapons, the DPS figures are massively skewed. Do not use only the DPS numbers to compare weapons, or any item for that matter. The DPS number seems to ignore certain stats like situational buffs (+dmg to elites for example, very useful or challenge mode) and includes mods, so comparing a newer unmodded weapon to an older modded weapon will always look worse. Especially when at max level where the 10-20% difference chuckskull mentions is around 10-20k DPS!

Also, people are going to try and start using DPS numbers to start groups for challenge modes, like "LFG CM 100K+ DPS", but this isn't the type of game where a DPS is able to be consistently applied like auto-targeting MMO's, someone with a 50K DPS weapon but a hit rate of 100% is going to do the same damage as someone with a 100K DPS weapon hitting 50% of the time. DPS alone is a poor representation of player skill/ability. So don't worry about those DPS numbers too much.

[Allen]

Ooh, forgot to mention the Dark Zone. DZ in BETA was a horrible experience, since no-one cared it was a gank-fest. Now there are serious negatives to going rogue, maybe too serious in many people's opinions. The reward for killing another player is minimal, the chance for an upgrade from their loot is less than minimal, yet the punishment for being killed as a rogue, which is very likely to happen, is massive! At the moment, it suites me. I can run around and have fun, join up with some people, or go it alone. The feeling of risk is still very great and I'm always watching my back. Extraction is always very nerve-wrecking though.

Overall I am enjoying the DZ much more now than in BETA, but that's probably because I'm quite the pacifist in open world PvP games. I hate ganking and gankers. I get no joy in ruining someone else's fun nor do I enjoy being harassed. So until they "fix" the DZ, I'll enjoy it as much as I can.

[chuckskull]

I'm chuckskull1 on uPlay btw, didn't occur to me to add that before, because I'm a bit dim, be nice to play with someone other than randoms. Should be on tonight. I'm only lvl 21 I think and DZ 16(wanna get that up to thirty), another gripe why is everything you can buy with DZ credits locked to DZ rank 30? Just why? Makes no sense. Should be able to grind up it pretty quick from what I've seen.

Another thing it took me far to long to figure out. X is auto-run.

[Kanoe]

It does feel like a game where you do want to go round with other people. If you see a friend request on uplay from KingKanoe that's me.

Edit: Well actually i'm hoping I can get a refund as come to play to for the first time and I haven't even made it into game yet. Game just crashes and crashes and crashes before I even get to start. Unbelievable.

Edit Edit: Well that's annoying, no chance of a refund either according to the T&C's as soon as I got my Uplay key your not allowed a refund.

How can they possibly be allowed to get away with this!?

[Allen]

Wow, that sucks. What kind of crash are you experiencing? System freeze? CTD? Black screen (with noise)? Any error messages?

I guess you've gone through the usual of checking known issues on Ubi support site, forums and Reddit? Drivers up-to-date etc?

If you're still unable to launch the game, contact Ubi. Sucks I know, but they surely must help you to get the game running.

[herulach]

Check somethings not stealing focus. I get CTD if i click on anything during loading (including the launcher) but before the engine proper starts.

[shaithis]

Its good but not enough content

[Mortalcio]

I'm thinking about getting it, would you recommend purchasing it now or wait till the price drops?

[shaithis]

I'm thinking about getting it, would you recommend purchasing it now or wait till the price drops?

It depends on what you want from it. Cheat protection is non-existent at the moment, making the Dark Zone none-too-fun a lot of the time

Supposedly the next patch will add a cheat reporting system, trading gear for ~2 hours with party members, adds raids and extra DZ encounters, plus a number of other small changes......so might be worth speculating on that (which arrives 12/04)

[deejayburnout]

I would get it. sunk 53 hours in so far and level 30 outside DZ and 25 inside. game is so addictive.

Been a lone wolf in Dz and had some fun. only been killed twice by other players. Been told to beat it or die a few times when extracting goods.

[Allen]

Completely fed up with The Division now, Massive/Ubisoft have really messed up what was a great game. I mean REALLY messed up.

First off there was the "unintended" high drop rate of Phoenix Credits allowing people who hit 30 in the first day or two to get crazy high gear within hours. They nerfed that so hard so it would then take weeks/months for everyone else. It should have been somewhere in between from the get go.

Then there was Bullet King, an exploit used by many people (I won't deny it, myself included, due to being pee'd off from the first issue) to farm the same named mob spawn over and over getting crazy high Phoenix Credits and item drops. I did it enough to get a couple of hundred credits, but know many farmed it for hours getting thousands, and again gearing in hours. They nerfed that by completely removing all named mobs once you killed them. Again, it should have been somewhere in between, like a timed re-spawn, maybe 30-60 minutes.

Then there was an exploit found in two missions, both resulted in farming end bosses over and over for unlimited Phoenix Credits and HE items. I didn't try these at all, but many people did, again gearing up in hours.

Now there's this lovely new "raid", the Incursion. It's just a Horde Mode. No thought, no tactics, no strategy, just a small room with a completely static boss (a bloody car of all things), and lots of enemies running around one shotting you and your team mates. Oh by the way, did I mentioned there are exploits in it, allowing you to kill the end boss without anything attacking you plus getting weekly rewards over and over? Why of course there is, it wouldn't be The Division without exploits. Did they fix the exploits? Kinda. Took them several days though, allowing all the exploiters (not myself, tried it a couple of times without exploiting, ridiculously hard and buggy as hell) to gear up in hours again. What a surprise. Why did they "kinda" fix it you ask? They disabled the weekly rewards so no-one, even legit players, like casual players who can only play on a weekend, can no long get the reward for completing the Incursion. Wow... Way to screw over a larger percentage of your player base Massive/Ubisoft.

Also, a few things with regards to gear:

1. Rubbish RNG. Rubbish RNG plus rubbish RNG. Rubbish RNG times rubbish RNG. Rubbish RNG cubed, Rubbish RNG to the power of 10. Oh, and did I mention rubbish RNG?

2. Hard caps on defence mean the higher they scale enemies (which seems to be the way these guys create end game content, take the same crap and double/triple their HP and DPS) the more almost impossible it will be as their damage isn't capped but your defence is. Does nothing for a "skill and cover based tactical shooter".

3. This new Gear Score idea was well thought out. Yeah, give other people more reason to kick you from groups. Give other people more reason to insult you and call you a noob because your "magic number" isn't high enough, despite your accuracy and situational awareness being much higher than theirs which ends up meaning you do more damage and stay alive longer. Yeah, make it so the new gear is based on item level 30-32, but the old and better gear has a low gear score, meaning you can actually raise your gear score but lower your stats!

4. Crafting was supposed to be an option, and guess what, they nerfed it into oblivion. After, of course, all the exploiters and no-lifers crafted hundreds of each HE item to get the "perfect" rolls. Now you'll be lucky to craft one piece a day, and as per point number 1, RNG WILL screw you over any chance it can get, so that one item a day will more than likely be deconstructed.

Seriously? I'm done. I have put a huge amount of hours in to this game and apart from a little Bullet King farming I refuse to exploit just to get ahead, or be at least a little competitive. Best news I have read lately, with days of farming (exploiting) Falcon Down people are saying the maximum possible GS at the moment is 219.33, now thanks to the heavy footed and knee jerk reaction changes made it will take months for ordinary gamers to get to that GS. The next Incursion has a recommended GS of 220!

Way to take a great base game and completely ruin it by trying to force players to play 24x7x365 just to try and min/max their gear. Will devs never learn from other games mistakes?

[Allen]

And I've just read the "fix" they put in place for the weekly reward in Falcon Lost has already been exploited, so it's back to exploiting all weekend until they get a new fix.

It seems like the new exploit has something to do with the PC's local time, changing it makes the game think it's a new week... Seriously, who codes this? It's laughable!