The Division 2

[Kchrpm]

The original teasers were suggesting a great setting with more variety in the neighborhoods, and reduced time-to-kill on enemies and visible, destructible armor on high level enemies to justify their higher TTKs.

The build(s) that have been played recently by journalists seem to show that the TTK changes have mostly gone by the wayside.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjW8ZjXoEjA

[Jason]

I kinda want to play this just because it's in DC... but I have a feeling it's too much of a "serious shooter" for my lacking video game skills :lol:

[Alan P]

Really looking forward to this. I have a week off at launch and even two days off for the beta too! In between there's Anthem but once this comes out Anthem is long forgotten!

[Phil_SS]

I really really really really want to like the Division games but the 3rd person view and extreme bullet spongieness of the enemies turns me off something fierce. Looks just fantastic though. :)

[Kchrpm]

That's basically been my experience playing The Division: I love the setting, story, and core gameplay, but want to see it as a co-op first/third person shooter, not a loot-based/MMO/play-forever game.

[Kchrpm]

https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/8/18217242/the-division-2-stealing-declaration-of-independence


This is how The Division 2 starts: First, claim the White House as your new home base; then, steal the Declaration of Independence; God only knows where it will finish.

As I told Jason, if this is the kind of stuff we're doing, I might have to get this game, just got the single player stories.

[Kchrpm]

It seems that the extreme bullet sponge enemies may be the end game faction, the Black Tusk, only:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/ap2el3/why_i_am_still_undecided_about_buying_the/?utm_source=reddit-android

[Alan P]

It seems that the extreme bullet sponge enemies may be the end game faction, the Black Tusk, only:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/ap2el3/why_i_am_still_undecided_about_buying_the/?utm_source=reddit-android

I don’t know, even some of the lower level bad guys seem very spongy. Try a mission on hard and see how yellows hold up. I was hoping they’d tone that down a bit as it was a major criticism of the first game from some people.

[Kchrpm]

I did not pre-order, so I'm still waiting for the public beta/demo/whatever.

[Rare White Ape]

Usually with Ubisoft games you have to register your interest on their website to join a beta. Just be aware of that Keef.

[Kchrpm]

I did register my interest on their website, the day it was available. It was not guaranteed beta access unless you pre-ordered.

[Alan P]

I did not pre-order, so I'm still waiting for the public beta/demo/whatever.

In a couple of weeks time I believe.

[Rare White Ape]

Here we go everyone, March 1st to 4th. Looks like a fully open beta.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-02-12-the-division-2s-open-beta-dated-for-march

[Kchrpm]

This is the kind of thing that makes me actually care about open world games:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/atlp6b/the_npcs_actually_have_their_own_lives_in/


So in the technical beta your outposts send out teams and those teams will have notes about them like "Scavenging for food" or whatever. And I just thought that like in division 1 it was more or less an abstract. That was until I was walking next to them once and a lady mentioned "you can join us if you want, we could use the help"

What? I thought... This was what I thought was just some nameless NPC and they said that it threw me for a loop. So I was like okay... I joined them. No prompt, no "accept mission" i just walked along with them.

I watched them as they cleared some debris, one of them was carrying a cooler. We walked into an old parking lot and some other places, i watched them rummage the remnants of the christmas market in Chinatown.

The whole time they are talking back and forth, even once or twice they mention you. They are aware youre following them. They talk about their old lives and how they miss coffee when we walk by the starbucks. And when enemies were present they very carefully put down the box of stuff they were carrying then set up a defensive and fight.

I followed them all the way down F street and back to the theatre at which point they appeared to hand a box to some of the guards then walk off. They all seemed to split up and go hang out in the base.

[Kchrpm]

The clan features sound interesting as well.
PC Gamer: The Division 2 will have 50-person clans with their own progression system.

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-division-2-will-have-50-person-clans-with-their-own-progression-system/

[Phil_SS]

Clans are all well and good until everyone in your clan stops playing the game.......

[Rare White Ape]

This is the kind of thing that makes me actually care about open world games:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/atlp6b/the_npcs_actually_have_their_own_lives_in/

That’s actually pretty cool. I love ambient storytelling like this.

[Rare White Ape]

Heads up:

Everyone can pre-load the open beta on your platform of choice starting now.

[Jason]

Sooo how is it?

[Kchrpm]

Very much like The Division. I've been playing mostly solo, though I did a little bit with Boda. The enemies are more powerful/aggressive, and some of the skills and mods are less useful than they were in the original, so it takes some getting used to the new power dynamic. Also, in the beta, Pulse is not available, and the environments are, overall, darker than the first Division, so it can be quite difficult to spot your enemies.

I have yet to find/unlock a scope that allows you to aim down sights, instead of just having a minor zoom over the shoulder. This is another problem that will likely be solved at a certain progression level. Edit: Correction, the ACOG you unlock pretty quickly lets you aim down the scope, I just hadn't properly installed it I guess.

The world itself is great, though. A number of random events in the world, outposts that you save will have roaming groups looking for supplies as discussed earlier, and you can donate supplies to them as well. I have a feeling that it will feel more like actually saving a city than The Division did, and your main base and all of the big shelters will greatly reflect how much work you've done.

[Rare White Ape]

I’m quite enjoying this! I’ve played about two hours and did the first mission at the Grand Washington Hotel.

The enemies are definitely less bullet-spongey than the beta for the first Division (and yes that was a long time ago) but still a liiiitle bit. Headshots don’t seem to matter all that much (although my stats say I have one headshot kill so I guess I have to try harder). As for the AI, nothing too special but they do move around a lot and provide some challenge. I did have a good ah-ha moment in a room when it felt like they were infinitely spawning like in the old Call of Duty games and decided that I really should flank them and close the distance to shake them up a bit. I looked to the right and found an escalator, ran up the stairs and attacked from a new vantage point. Jobe done, so that felt cool.

The game looks beautiful on my PS4 in 4K. Looks like it might even be native 4K checkerboard. Those streets man. So much clutter and stuff laying everywhere. Everything looks fantastic and the frame rate is rock solid. Plus the White House feels way smaller than I thought it would be in real life. In my mind’s eye it’s a huge complex like some shopping mall, but I guess it really is more like a large country estate house! The distances are accurate, too. According to Google Maps it’s about 600m between the White House and the theatre.

Another good thing… guys… you know I don’t swear that often so please excuse me when I say this: the music is fucking kick arse. It’s deep house that brushes up against fast heavy metal. In the middle of battle it cranks up and gets the heart racing. Pretty exciting.

On the downsides, we’ll, it’s loaded with stuff and it’s not very nicely spaced. It’s typical for this genre, sadly, and I just don’t have the patience to sift through it all. I’d love it if they put decent effort into easing me into it, but instead they jam it all in your face as soon as you’ve completed the opening few minutes. I suppose that’s why I bounce off these games pretty hard after a few hours. The menu is just spread out and slammed up on the screen like a hastily assembled birthday cake, making them really hard to get my head around. There’s even an option for large fonts in the settings, which I tried. All it seems to do is increase the distance my eyes need to travel from one menu panel to the next.

Even the menu tutorial serves no purpose. Firstly, if your menus need a tutorial you’ve already failed. Secondly, don’t give me five topics all at once without giving me a chance to practically experience the thing you’re trying to teach. There’s no way I’m going to remember any of that. Learning to play a game should be organic.

And another downside: we all know that it’s going to be loaded with micro transactions and continuing service game events. I don’t have any patience for that either!

Still better than Anthem tho. Much, much better.

[Darius]

Hey Guys, long time no game. I was playing this over the open weekend and wanted to see what platforms you were thinking of grabbing it on? I had a lot of fun playing Ghost recon with you guys, and thats really the only way I'd want to play this one too. I played solo through a lot of the first division. Loved the setting but the game got old. I think that was largely due to not playing with anyone.

[Kchrpm]

I'd be on XBox. I might wait for reviews/patches/sales before buying in. I'm undecided, not because of the game, just because I don't game at all much anymore.

[Godson]

Paul Tassi seems to be in love with it


https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/03/17/the-division-2s-endgame-is-making-me-quit-destiny-and-anthem-for-now/amp/