The Division - officially announced for PC!

jbonez21 said:
Picked this up on Amazon for $15 and it's coming Saturday, any tips for a brand new player just starting out?
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Sign up and get a code for Agent Origin, you get some nice gear that helps when you're just starting out.
The police and National Guard backpacks both give you some extra ammo while the paramedic backpack lets you carry more medpacks. Also you get a 416 AR which is decent

The Division Agent Origins | Ubisoft (US)

Also, I don't mind crafting gear for you if you want since I'm usually full with green and blue crafting materials.

uPlay: Agent_BauerCTU
 
its not possible to craft gear for others. you can only drop loot that you earned together in the same playsession...
 
VF31Tomcatters said:
Sign up and get a code for Agent Origin, you get some nice gear that helps when you're just starting out.
The police and National Guard backpacks both give you some extra ammo while the paramedic backpack lets you carry more medpacks. Also you get a 416 AR which is decent

The Division Agent Origins | Ubisoft (US)

Also, I don't mind crafting gear for you if you want since I'm usually full with green and blue crafting materials.

uPlay: Agent_BauerCTU
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Awesome thanks! Got the code...I'll add you on uPlay
 
And the Public Test Server is down :( No word on when 1.4 will drop.

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I don't imagine it will be long. All the YouTube's have been saying "this is it, they can release this", so it will be interesting to see public reaction. I'd be looking at next Tuesday.
 
Frraksurred said:
I don't imagine it will be long. All the YouTube's have been saying "this is it, they can release this", so it will be interesting to see public reaction. I'd be looking at next Tuesday.
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Remember they have to get the patch certified by MS/Sony, which takes about a week and a half. I think next Thursday is the absolute earliest it could be released. There's a *slim* chance of Tuesday. And heaven help us if they have to re-submit for some reason.
 
PTS is public test server. The division is a fantastic game up until level 30, the max level. You continually find new and better loot to become a more powerful player. After level 30 the only upgrades are through loot and the only way to get good loot is through difficulties that are scaled way past the player level. This has caused huge player frustration. The PTS was an attempt to rebalance the endgame with community involvement. Apparently that is over and done, now everyone is waiting for the release which was planned for sometime this month.
 
I hope its next Thursday or the following Tuesday, because I took the first week of November off to play this. I barely played the pts, just wanted to wait for the final version. I'm trying like hell to max out mats. Fabric and weapon parts are done, the other 2 are mid 600s. And just taking in as much cash as I can.
 
I would guess Oct 27.
I imagine they have server-side updates to perform with the 1.4 client release, and they perform the server maintenance and server-side updates on Thursdays (right?)

I'm waiting to pick up my supply drop until the end of the month, just in case 1.4 actually does go live this month like they've been hoping.
 
Patch day is typically Tuesday/Thursday, and the fact they haven't announced anything official yet makes me think they missed Tuesday. I'd expect Thursday the 27th as the planned release date, assuming certification passes.
 
Server Maintenance tonight

Maintenance Maintenance - October 20th | Forums

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gamerk2 said:
Remember they have to get the patch certified by MS/Sony, which takes about a week and a half. I think next Thursday is the absolute earliest it could be released. There's a *slim* chance of Tuesday. And heaven help us if they have to re-submit for some reason.
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Valid points, thank you.

KickAssCop said:
What is Division PTS? Sorry I am a nub and only hit level 17 solo.
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jiminator said:
PTS is public test server.
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Thanks Jim. (y)

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So, there has been a debate going on since week 3 of the PTS. The debate has centered around whether patch 1.4 will swing the pendulum too far the other way and make NPC's and gearing up overly easy. (NOTE: this is a nitpick while acknowedging all the other possitive changes)

SkillUp released a video showing how he was soloing Challenge mode with average gear and raking in 10 pieces of 229 loot every 10 mins in the Underground. This launched a week long explosion of opinions, raging, death threats and all kinds of other nonsense. Since then he has clarified, provided more diverse proof and had other YouTubers weigh in both for and against his view.

Below is his latest video playing the final day of the PTS. Check it out and tell me what you think. In short he says the loot drop rates are fine if the NPC's in Teir 4 are nerfed just a hair less. However, currently he feels it takes no tactics and no gear optimization to be OP even while soloing Challenge mode content. He's excited about the changes coming, but does not want to see the community get bored and leave any more than he wants to see them ger frustrated and leave.

Personally I'm waiting to play 1.4 for myself before I form an opinion.



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In related news, here are some of those possitive changes:

 
I don't know why people are making comparison videos. Nobody really knows what 1.4 is going to be until it actually gets released. Assumptions have not paid off for the division. but yeah, I am looking forward to the result
 
Frraksurred said:
So, there has been a debate going on since week 3 of the PTS. The debate has centered around whether patch 1.4 will swing the pendulum too far the other way and make NPC's and gearing up overly easy. (NOTE: this is a nitpick while acknowedging all the other possitive changes)

SkillUp released a video showing how he was soloing Challenge mode with average gear and raking in 10 pieces of 229 loot every 10 mins in the Underground. This launched a week long explosion of opinions, raging, death threats and all kinds of other nonsense. Since then he has clarified, provided more diverse proof and had other YouTubers weigh in both for and against his view.

Below is his latest video playing the final day of the PTS. Check it out and tell me what you think. In short he says the loot drop rates are fine if the NPC's in Teir 4 are nerfed just a hair less. However, currently he feels it takes no tactics and no gear optimization to be OP even while soloing Challenge mode content. He's excited about the changes coming, but does not want to see the community get bored and leave any more than he wants to see them ger frustrated and leave.

Personally I'm waiting to play 1.4 for myself before I form an opinion.
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My stance has been that drop rates were about correct as it was, it was just the difficulty and gear weighing was making it hard to get SPECIFIC drops. I do think the rate of drops will be initially high, which itself could be a significant problem. And I'm speaking as one of those people who spent months stuck at that point where it was near impossible to get 229 gear due to difficulty.

We'll see in a week I guess.
 
1.4 release date is October 25.



  • Introduces World Tiers after level 30
  • Rebalanced NPC damage taken and damage dealt
  • Rebalanced Gear and Weapons
  • Rebalanced Talents, Set Bonuses and Gear Score
  • All activities except for Incursions will now scale to the size of your group. This means you can now solo Missions, HVT, Underground, etc, even on Challenge mode
  • Gear Sets previously exclusive to Season Pass owners will now be available to everybody
State of the Game Highlights



See you all next Tuesday!!
 
Lesser known 1.4 improvements:

  • No more slow walk between BoO and UG
  • Pulse now has audio cues to notify you of nearby enemies
  • Walls in UG that NPC's could previously shoot through have been fixed
  • More roaming mobs in DZ, consequently more conflicts between factions
  • Turret and Seeker Mine buffs
  • Ballistic Shield buff
  • BoO Vendors will now have 1-2 HE items to sell to match your World Tier
  • Larger Ammo capacity and less ammo needed to kill (but Police & Paramedic Backpack glitch has been removed)
  • Weapon skins shared across all your Characters (no word on if they still take up inventory)
  • Recalibration Station added to UG Terminal
  • Gap between different weapon's damage output reduced (except SMG nerf) to rely more on how modded
  • Mild buff to crafting so less materials required to convert DivTech to Parts
  • Can convert multiple parts at one time
 
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Question about this game: Is there more variety later on?

I just hit level 14, the first 5 levels were fun as they were filled with non-stop challenging missions and new enemies. Now every mission feels the same and every enemy is one of only 4 varieties ( flamethrower, rifleman, grenadier, or shield). I'm starting to experience the typical "Ubisoft Filler" where i'm forced to complete side missions and encounters which are all the same before I am high enough level for the next mission.

Have I hit the hamster wheel with this game where it's the same stuff over and over just getting better gear, or will there be more variety coming up?
 
jbonez21 said:
Question about this game: Is there more variety later on?

I just hit level 14, the first 5 levels were fun as they were filled with non-stop challenging missions and new enemies. Now every mission feels the same and every enemy is one of only 4 varieties ( flamethrower, rifleman, grenadier, or shield). I'm starting to experience the typical "Ubisoft Filler" where i'm forced to complete side missions and encounters which are all the same before I am high enough level for the next mission.

Have I hit the hamster wheel with this game where it's the same stuff over and over just getting better gear, or will there be more variety coming up?
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Thats about as good as it gets. The story missions are the best part of the game because end game is literally going to the same places and fighting the same guys over and over and over.
 
Solhokuten said:
Thats about as good as it gets. The story missions are the best part of the game because end game is literally going to the same places and fighting the same guys over and over and over.
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Ah man this is what I was afraid of, thanks for the honest answer
 
And heavy machinegunners, snipers, medics and chargers (shotgunners). The shotgunners would cause entire missions to get scrubbed in the harder modes. That is going to be changing. All this in 3 factions, flamers, rikers and LMB. Its a decent mix. If you like the loot mechanic then it works pretty well. If not....
 
Don't forget the 4th faction (Hunters) being introduced with Survival DLC, whenever that gets released.

But yeah, the end-game has been dreadful. Here's to hoping 1.4 fixes that.
Though it will be repetitive; but what game (of this type) doesn't get that way?
 
gimp said:
Don't forget the 4th faction (Hunters) being introduced with Survival DLC, whenever that gets released.

But yeah, the end-game has been dreadful. Here's to hoping 1.4 fixes that.
Though it will be repetitive; but what game (of this type) doesn't get that way?
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I hope that 1.4 improves the end game significantly. The end game has been boring. I haven't played since a few days after reaching 30.

I'm thinking that 1.4 will need some tweaking beyond this. It's a good game, they just have had some very serious balance issues to work out. I'm glad they put the DLC off, otherwise I'd have written this game off.

I think for all of this trouble they should make the next couple of DLC releases free. They owe it to the players. I mean the players really got screwed with the cheaters, bugs and various balance issues. The game has been in an unplayable state for many people for months.

I'm willing to come back. I'd love to come back if they fix things, give a reason to and make the game fun again. Heck, I'm putting off BF1 for this.

I hope it's good. I really enjoy the game. But they certainly made some missteps. I'm willing to come back, but they're going to need to earn it. We all paid really good money for this game.
 
I don't really get the thing where people think the more hours they play a game the more a gaming company owes them. I have played plenty of games for $50 that I am pretty much done with after 30 hours. This game I have played for 100s of hours. I got my money out of it a long time ago. I would not expect anything free. Not saying that is your case, but a lot of the complainers also have 100s of hours in the game and a sense of entitlement because of that. Why?
 
jiminator said:
I don't really get the thing where people think the more hours they play a game the more a gaming company owes them. I have played plenty of games for $50 that I am pretty much done with after 30 hours. This game I have played for 100s of hours. I got my money out of it a long time ago. I would not expect anything free. Not saying that is your case, but a lot of the complainers also have 100s of hours in the game and a sense of entitlement because of that. Why?
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Yeah, people complaining who have 1000 hours in to the game.
That comes out to like $0.06/hr for entertainment. That's a pretty goddamn great deal. Even the cheapest hooker that you wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole is more expensive than that.
 
jiminator said:
I don't really get the thing where people think the more hours they play a game the more a gaming company owes them. I have played plenty of games for $50 that I am pretty much done with after 30 hours. This game I have played for 100s of hours. I got my money out of it a long time ago. I would not expect anything free. Not saying that is your case, but a lot of the complainers also have 100s of hours in the game and a sense of entitlement because of that. Why?
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I don't have anywhere near that amount of play time. I believe that I got to 30 in two days of casual play - so roughly ~10 to 12 hours of actual playing time. Maybe.

People with 100's or 1000's of hours, I get that. Even with that said. They REALLY fucked up this game. And that's coming from someone who spent many, many years in game development.

I'm not your casual player due to the aforementioned background however. I'm extremely critical of games and for a long time working in the industry ruined video games for me.

The alpha and beta of The Division were crawling with bugs and glitches; and they launched anyways without fixing much of anything. The first weeks were absolutely plagued by these continued issues and continued to be for quite some time. Oh and the fucking cheating making the DZ unplayable. The Chiner spam... lots of other things.

Back in my day. We did NOT release games with A bugs, and very, very rarely B bugs. And yes these were patchable titles. We took quality very seriously.

So with that said. I feel jipped. I feel like they didn't do their due diligence.
 
So how was everyone's first day in the new New York?

So the first thing I did was a few search and destroys. Actually had to take cover and use tactics. Ran into 2 named bosses in the LZ. No green, but a lot of gold.

If you guys want the loot go to the DZ. Random trash mobs were dropping gear sets. We managed to get 3 supply drops in a row and each one had 2 greens. We were leaving so much on the ground. It was actually lots of fun. The landmarks still felt challenging, but not overwhelming. Not much pvp last night. One solo guy tried to rogue 2 of us. I died, but it wasn't insta death like before.

And then after that match make for UG 2 phase mission, which again felt challenging, but not ridiculously outgunned. Finally got my char to 40 and got that cool banshee outfit.

So yeah I had lots of fun with 1.4 so far. The hardest part is trying to figure out what previous gear and mods to keep and what to sell. For example, I sold all old backpacks, kneepads and holsters because all new ones come with performance mod slots.

I didn't even get to any incursions yet.
 
jmaker said:
So how was everyone's first day in the new New York?

So the first thing I did was a few search and destroys. Actually had to take cover and use tactics. Ran into 2 named bosses in the LZ. No green, but a lot of gold.

If you guys want the loot go to the DZ. Random trash mobs were dropping gear sets. We managed to get 3 supply drops in a row and each one had 2 greens. We were leaving so much on the ground. It was actually lots of fun. The landmarks still felt challenging, but not overwhelming. Not much pvp last night. One solo guy tried to rogue 2 of us. I died, but it wasn't insta death like before.

And then after that match make for UG 2 phase mission, which again felt challenging, but not ridiculously outgunned. Finally got my char to 40 and got that cool banshee outfit.

So yeah I had lots of fun with 1.4 so far. The hardest part is trying to figure out what previous gear and mods to keep and what to sell. For example, I sold all old backpacks, kneepads and holsters because all new ones come with performance mod slots.

I didn't even get to any incursions yet.
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Welcome to the world of tomorrow!
 
Kwaz said:
Back in my day. We did NOT release games with A bugs, and very, very rarely B bugs. And yes these were patchable titles. We took quality very seriously.

So with that said. I feel jipped. I feel like they didn't do their due diligence.
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This does not mean anything. Games have grown exponentially in terms of complexity, and with that complexity come tons of bugs. I played the product as released, and it was a good solid product. It was built for 3 platforms and they probably had a bug list in the 1000s. Given a choice between releasing a decent game or not having jobs, they chose the former. Maybe it was the wrong decision, but game developers increasing are having to produce results or see their entire division get axed. You may have worked on games with small teams and limited complexity and release flexibility. The rules change when teams are in the 100s. Many companies are pushing games out unfinished to meet deadlines and then release day-0 patches. Deadlines directly impact company market cap value. I can guarantee that given that situation you would not want to be under that microscope.
 
gimp said:
Yeah, people complaining who have 1000 hours in to the game.
That comes out to like $0.06/hr for entertainment. That's a pretty goddamn great deal. Even the cheapest hooker that you wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole is more expensive than that.
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I have a guy on my Steam friends list who has 6,000+ hours in Modern Warfare 3 he hasn't been on steam in over a year owns about 6 games. I bet there are Dota players with 20,000+ hours in that game hoping to be pro someday.
 
jmaker said:
So how was everyone's first day in the new New York?

So the first thing I did was a few search and destroys. Actually had to take cover and use tactics. Ran into 2 named bosses in the LZ. No green, but a lot of gold.

If you guys want the loot go to the DZ. Random trash mobs were dropping gear sets. We managed to get 3 supply drops in a row and each one had 2 greens. We were leaving so much on the ground. It was actually lots of fun. The landmarks still felt challenging, but not overwhelming. Not much pvp last night. One solo guy tried to rogue 2 of us. I died, but it wasn't insta death like before.

And then after that match make for UG 2 phase mission, which again felt challenging, but not ridiculously outgunned. Finally got my char to 40 and got that cool banshee outfit.

So yeah I had lots of fun with 1.4 so far. The hardest part is trying to figure out what previous gear and mods to keep and what to sell. For example, I sold all old backpacks, kneepads and holsters because all new ones come with performance mod slots.

I didn't even get to any incursions yet.
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holy crap i didn't even know 1.4 released. i'll have to download it tonight and get back into this game.
 
jiminator said:
This does not mean anything. Games have grown exponentially in terms of complexity, and with that complexity come tons of bugs. I played the product as released, and it was a good solid product. It was built for 3 platforms and they probably had a bug list in the 1000s. Given a choice between releasing a decent game or not having jobs, they chose the former. Maybe it was the wrong decision, but game developers increasing are having to produce results or see their entire division get axed. You may have worked on games with small teams and limited complexity and release flexibility. The rules change when teams are in the 100s. Many companies are pushing games out unfinished to meet deadlines and then release day-0 patches. Deadlines directly impact company market cap value. I can guarantee that given that situation you would not want to be under that microscope.
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I didn't work on small titles :)

But yes. The industry has changed. And that was one of the core elements of my post.
 
I guess I have some DLC to buy. Not sure about this.

I need to regear and figure stuff out again. It's been months. I probably might as well roll a new character it seems like.
 
Kwaz said:
I guess I have some DLC to buy. Not sure about this.

I need to regear and figure stuff out again. It's been months. I probably might as well roll a new character it seems like.
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Well, the nice thing about The Division being classless, you can reconfigure your existing character whoever you want. Once you've ranked to 30 and have everything unlocked you build your own class. Loot is more prevelent, so research a set that fits your playstyle and just start doing whatever activities you enjoy until you have the set you want. Then it's just a matter of rerolling some stats and fine tuning with mods.

Don't get me wrong, I've 4 fully ranked and maxed out characters and I enjoyed building all of them up. If you enjoy that, go for it. Just don't feel like you have to just because you want to change your focus.

--

 
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Well last night was the first time in about 5 months that I'd put any more than a few minutes into the game. I went straight to World Tier 4 on all 4 characters and spent a couple hours trying each activity. I was pleasantly surprised by just about everything. The game was certainly not easy, but was much more manageable, especially given I was solo. Challenge mode missions were punishing alone, but I made it to the end Boss. That would have never happened before. The enemy AI was much smarter and MUCH more aggressive. I could not sit in cover without being flanked, they would rush me in numbers and when they knew I was wounded or reloading. It was tough, but not the frustration-fest it used to be. I like it.

I bought roughly 60 caches (benefit of 4 characters with individual bank accounts), but honestly only found about 5-6 keepers. Keep in mind my gear was already pretty nice 229's to begin with, so I'm only keeping the absolute best stuff. I have a long way to go on mods however. Everything I had previously was lvl 31 & 32, so I'm looking at full replacement. Still need to figure out what will have the most benefit; Stability, Accuracy, Optimal Range, etc?

Quickly discovered my old Striker / Sentry build is now middle of the road, if even that. I'm now running AlphaBridge, Predators Mark, Fire Whatever & an experimental HE builds, respectively. Still ironing out the 2 & 3 piece complimentors. I think I have Nomad on one, Hunters Faith on another.

From what I'm reading AlphaBridge with an M60 as main, and a combination of Meticulous, Destructive, Deadly, Brutal, Vicious, Competent or Fierce is quickly becoming a DPS favorite. Replace as needed with Health on Kill Talents for survivability. Armor is still of the utmost importance on as many Gear pieces as possible. I hit the 70% max with my old Striker / Sentry set, but then sold it all. I'm about 49% with my new AB set. It melts NPC'S much faster however. Haven't played with the others, so I'll have more to report later. For now there is still too much to figure out. Wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing Best in Slot videos in the next week though.

Lastly, the DZ still seems like the fastest / highest rewarding activity, but everything is more fun and manageable. I'd still prefer a group for DZ and Incursions, and at least one helper for everything else, but for the first time it feels like almost everything scales for the loner. Maybe better in World Tier 3, but nonetheless.
 
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Also, some night we all have off (I'm still working 2nd shift with 1 weekend a month for another 6-8 months) we need to have a reunion jmaker, jiminator, ghostwich.

I want to try something. I want to get a squad of 4, with 3 of us running 4pc FireCrest and Flame Turrets, and one Dedicated Healer. Maybe even all 4 FireCrest. We'll hit the open world or DZ and just fling flames every where, lol. Sounds hilarious to me. :p
 
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