Tom Clancy's The Division 2

_CreeD_

gimli2112 wrote: »

took a division day off

Dollar Flu?

Zero-Cool

_CreeD_ wrote: »

Dollar Flu?

Wouldn't mind self isolating with the division for 2 weeks.

Rob2D

Lunch time, or as I like to call it, Division time! :pac:



Seriously though, this game is hard again. I can't even do a challenging. Fair enough, I don't have a build on me or anything but still......was getting shredded. And I see the sponge is well and truly back.

I'm kind of lost now without daily missions. Matchmaking challenging was sort of my classic go to after new Division patches. I tried to matchmake a couple random missions but got nobody. What are people doing for loot right now??? Do you stay in NY or DC???

goon_magee

Rob2D wrote: »

Lunch time, or as I like to call it, Division time! :pac:



Seriously though, this game is hard again. I can't even do a challenging. Fair enough, I don't have a build on me or anything but still......was getting shredded. And I see the sponge is well and truly back.

I'm kind of lost now without daily missions. Matchmaking challenging was sort of my classic go to after new Division patches. I tried to matchmake a couple random missions but got nobody. What are people doing for loot right now??? Do you stay in NY or DC???

Bounties and farming checkpoints on challenging has been my go to. But if I need specific drops I'm farming missions with the targeted loot I need. Haven't had any difficulty getting groups on Xbox for anything; was able to get groups for Bank Headquarters and Roosevelt Island yesterday evening no problem. The dark zone has proven effective as well for me at times, with plenty loot dropping and nowhere near as many rogues as I was expecting given the changes made to try and drive people towards PvP in there.

Definitely agree that it feels like a big loss right now not having the daily missions to run now, though I don't think it will be as noticeable once the new seasonal activities start getting rolled out. Part of me thinks they took away the daily missions to create a bit of a content void that will encourage people to dive into Warlords.

gimli2112

challenging missions with randoms and bounties challenging and heroic

the revive hive only seems to get me up 50% of the time again, sorely tempted to put on the mortar turret but will probably need a skill build before I do
that mortar has been a godsend when randoms have it

Rob2D

goon_magee wrote: »

Part of me thinks they took away the daily missions to create a bit of a content void that will encourage people to dive into Warlords.

Makes sense.

Oh man, people are going crazy over on the subreddit over the difficulty spike:pac: I had to laugh at them.

I survived 1.3. They have merely adopted the bullet sponge. I was born in it, moulded by it.....

_CreeD_

The difficulty jump was needed. While I like my old spank'n'tank build it led to lazy games, I had enough punch with the Nemesis to knock out almost anything in one or two shots and enough tankiness and regen to survive all but a massed rush of elites. With the update you now have to spec heavily enough into damage that there is no effective tank build (imho) past Hard. My new AR/Crit build is now about as effective as my pre-update build but only if I am more mobile and preempt NPC actions more efficiently since I can still hit hard but not take as much damage. I've gone from Marksman Rifle main and AR backup to exactly the opposite as I need to move and be more opportunistic instead of being a healing pill-box with a super cannon and I'm really enjoying the change.

OptimusTractor

As I was saying to the lads last night whoever came up with the NY shd locations is definitely missing classic Tomb Raider.

Rob2D

OptimusTractor wrote: »

As I was saying to the lads last night whoever came up with the NY shd locations is definitely missing classic Tomb Raider.

I could do with a box to push around to help reach some of them!

goon_magee

_CreeD_ wrote: »

The difficulty jump was needed. While I like my old spank'n'tank build it led to lazy games, I had enough punch with the Nemesis to knock out almost anything in one or two shots and enough tankiness and regen to survive all but a massed rush of elites. With the update you now have to spec heavily enough into damage that there is no effective tank build (imho) past Hard. My new AR/Crit build is now about as effective as my pre-update build but only if I am more mobile and preempt NPC actions more efficiently since I can still hit hard but not take as much damage. I've gone from Marksman Rifle main and AR backup to exactly the opposite as I need to move and be more opportunistic instead of being a healing pill-box with a super cannon and I'm really enjoying the change.

Yeah the increase in difficulty was definitely required.

I just hope they don't listen to the moaners on the forums and reddit and roll it back at all. The game wasn't playing like the tactical shooter it was intended to be, and it only seems right that building heavily into damage should come at the sacrifice of tankiness. There is an actual need for good team diversity now once you get past hard and into challenging/heroic/legendary.

At the end of the day, those looking for the relaxed experience of year 1 have normal and hard difficulty to mess around with; they aren't locked out of any content, and having challenging and upwards reserved for those who want to really focus on their builds and team play is no bad thing.

OptimusTractor

goon_magee wrote: »

Yeah the increase in difficulty was definitely required.

I just hope they don't listen to the moaners on the forums and reddit and roll it back at all. The game wasn't playing like the tactical shooter it was intended to be, and it only seems right that building heavily into damage should come at the sacrifice of tankiness. There is an actual need for good team diversity now once you get past hard and into challenging/heroic/legendary.

At the end of the day, those looking for the relaxed experience of year 1 have normal and hard difficulty to mess around with; they aren't locked out of any content, and having challenging and upwards reserved for those who want to really focus on their builds and team play is no bad thing.

In a gaming Utopia this would be the norm. But alas Reddit tears carry more weight than gold these day.

Edit;

goon_magee

Yep, I took a look at the reddit after Rob mentioned it above as I had largely avoided it since Warlords launched and it is an absolute cesspit at the moment. I'm definitely expecting them to address difficulty and at the very least say it is being monitored in the next State of the Game. Expect nerfs to difficulty followed by threads flooded with comments from the same people crying about how the game is too easy and there is nothing to work towards anymore :pac:

gimli2112

anyone work out how to spawn the named npcs in NY? Was up since 4:30 'cos sleep is for the week. Cycled through four of the locations and nada. They seem to be around events which can disrupt them apparently. Also heard you have to be in game 30 minutes and dying resets the clock which would be annoying. Might put the world back to challenging for this.

Also shield builds look interesting. The one I saw was a tier level sic but he only seemed to have one utility core attribute and 5 blue attributes. Need to look into this. 1.5M+ armor, unbreakable or the exotic chest and a shield could be scary

DeadlyByDesign

Might actually get a 40 raid gong lads if we keep consistant. Loving it so far and I cannot emphasis how much gear 2.0 has turned the game around for me. I have keenar left to do tonight then setting my sights on a build and the striker gear. Is there a " Go To" meta build yet?

gimli2112

there's a few videos springing up on youtube which I need to look at. At present I'm just filling up the Library, with a nagging feeling I should be paying attention to the stuff I'm thrashing

EoinMcLovin

Season investigations seem pretty straight forward; 9 control points, 3 bounties, 3 missions and one stronghold. There is also double season xp at the moment too

gimli2112

Getting to level 35 gets you an exotic mask. I can't remember what it does but remember thinking I want it.

EoinMcLovin

gimli2112 wrote: »

Getting to level 35 gets you an exotic mask. I can't remember what it does but remember thinking I want it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghSq-NnQV_4

DeadlyByDesign

Ah here thats really good! Premium stuff is well worth dropping a tenner when you have to pay for it

gimli2112

Do I need to pay for something extra? I don't really mind, just need to know where to buy it.

goon_magee

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

Might actually get a 40 raid gong lads if we keep consistant. Loving it so far and I cannot emphasis how much gear 2.0 has turned the game around for me. I have keenar left to do tonight then setting my sights on a build and the striker gear. Is there a " Go To" meta build yet?

I feel similarly enthusiastic about gear 2.0. The complexity of the stat rolls and complete dependence on RNG were the main reasons I would usually fall off this game a couple of weeks after each update. Being able to actually make sense of gear and pull together builds with relatively little hassle has completely brought back my interest in the game.

Still a fair amount of RNG involved with getting those god rolls; I'm able to run challenging no problem and heroic if I play really cautious, but am only about 60% optimised if I was to put a number on it. I seem to have hit a wall, but being able to look at my gear and easily see now where exactly the gaps in my build are means I actually want to continue playing to plug those gaps, whereas with the year 1 gear system, I would have just given up.

EoinMcLovin

gimli2112 wrote: »

Do I need to pay for something extra? I don't really mind, just need to know where to buy it.

Premium Season pass is free this season, you have to redeem it in Addons page in game

goon_magee

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Premium Season pass is free this season, you have to redeem it in Addons page in game

Any word yet on how hard it is to level up? Hoping it isn't an absolute grind fest. If I recall correctly the devs said they were aiming to have one level take the same amount of time as it takes to gain a SHD level. Hoping they stuck to that, seems reasonable enough given I've been able to hit level 20 SHD with around 10 -15 hours played since unlocking the SHD watch.

EoinMcLovin

goon_magee wrote: »

Any word yet on how hard it is to level up? Hoping it isn't an absolute grind fest. If I recall correctly the devs said they were aiming to have one level take the same amount of time as it takes to gain a SHD level. Hoping they stuck to that, seems reasonable enough given I've been able to hit level 20 SHD with around 10 -15 hours played since unlocking the SHD watch.

Well I know that there is double season xp at the moment and you could probably activate directives as each one gives 25% xp increase

gimli2112

The SHD levels are the definition of grindy. Every level givers you 0.2% to put into one of 16 attributes which cycles between four main groups.. You don't go up a level and suddenly think my gun is much more stable now I've increased stability from 1.2% to 1.4% and yet it's oddly satisfying.
The difficulty spike and new area helps here but once this gets old I reckon it will become a struggle

DeadlyByDesign

SHD Levels are basically the paragon system from Diablo 3 (if anyone has played it) right?

goon_magee

gimli2112 wrote: »

The SHD levels are the definition of grindy. Every level givers you 0.2% to put into one of 16 attributes which cycles between four main groups.. You don't go up a level and suddenly think my gun is much more stable now I've increased stability from 1.2% to 1.4% and yet it's oddly satisfying.
The difficulty spike and new area helps here but once this gets old I reckon it will become a struggle

They definitely are grindy, and somewhat of a shock coming off the back of Borderlands 3 where the Guardian Ranks seem to yield more significant gains in a shorter space of time. There is some good gains to be had overall, ending up with a flat 10% increase to reload speed for example will end up being significant, but I doubt I'll be around long enough to ever max out everything. I really think with the incremental increases being so small, the system really should just let you increase whatever you want whenever you want, rather than the set rotation in place.

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

SHD Levels are basically the paragon system from Diablo 3 (if anyone has played it) right?

Pretty much the exact same thing.

_CreeD_

I wouldn't look at the SHD points as a goal, trying to grind them out deliberately would drive you nuts over a very very very long time. I'm glad they added them though. One of the few times I used the official forums was back for Div1 when I suggested a long term incremental system, though I wanted it to be more based around your actual acivities and play style. E.g. for every 100 headshots your accuracy increases .1%, have specific weapon awards for using that archetype for x-amount of time (100s of hours). It needed something to make you feel like you were always improving beyond the first 20-30 of levelling and the subsequent gear grind.

goon_magee

Seems a bit of a missed opportunity not linking the first seasonal manhunt to NY? I already feel like there is barely any reason to be in NY since the campaign is over, so it would have been nice to have another reason to trek around it for a while.