The Division 2

[jamus34]

Yeah a major patch must have hit yesterday as I was able to have an hour + multplayer session and it no CTD's

[Yskonyn]

Ysk I can't wait to hit the Dark Zone and kill you in the face.  :P

I am ready for you, boy! Let's see how long you last until you rage quit.

But alas, unless they add cross platform play you will not be indulged in the glorious splattering of my face. PS4 noob. :P

At least Jamus dared to friend me. Respect! :D

[Kushan]

Played for a few hours last night. Still the occasional stutter but it's running much better.

Anyone start a GH clan on PC?

Kushan: You're very lucky if you haven't been hit by this bug as it's almost a game-breaker.  What happens, generally, is skills work OK for the first 10-15 minutes of play, then they always despawn the moment you call them, and enter a 15-second cooldown.  No matter how often you activate them, they despawn immediately every time.  I thought everyone was affected by it - there's certainly a lot of shouting about it on Reddit.  Massive have said it's their number 1 priority to fix.

Never mind I have seen that bug before. Didnt realize it. I just thought my turret or drone was being destroyed by an enemy right after I deployed it.

[GeneralHawk]

Played five plus hours yesterday and my turret and drone worked perfectly. I mostly solo and that combo is awesome. If you are on PS4 feel free to shout out Pech_SOG

[Huw the Poo]

Got to level 11 and joined a clan.  Also unlocked the DZ officer but I haven't done the tutorial mission for that yet.  That's next on the list.  I've also done a load of crafting and got some really decent armour, and in tonight's session I picked up a fantastic marksman rifle.

Oh, and I picked the seeker mine as my fourth skill, and I wish I'd picked it first now!  It's an awesome little toy!

[Jarhead0331]

It hasn't grabbed me yet. I'm playing a mission here and there to see if the feeling changes.

[Yskonyn]

Level 20 here. Set up a Clan with a few mates, but the clan challenges don't seem to scale; the six of us need to work on the same list as a Clan with much more people.

My critique last week about the living world being dead has slightly changed. Now that I've unlocked more control points activity in those areas are increasing.

I think I have about 6 missions left before the story is 'finished'.
After that its going to be grinding for loot to increase gear level. Not sure how long I will keep doing that.
Depends mostly on how much fun I am going to have in the DZ.

[Kushan]

Has anyone else run into an issue where they can't take a control point? I've been trying to take points in East Mall all week but the option to call in allies doesn't appear thus not allowing me to take the point.

[Huw the Poo]

Nope, haven't seen that mate.

[Kushan]

So think I figured it out. I leveled up my base of Operations to level 2 and it unlocked the ability to take the points. Think each zone requires a certain BoO in order to take the points.

BTW taking the solar farm was so worth it. After I took it there's like 50 boxes of various types laying around waiting to be looted.

[Huw the Poo]

The more I play and think about The Division 2, the more I realise its brilliance.  There's nothing it doesn't improve on the first game.  It's difficult to pick out a killer feature among so many.  The map is incredible, very big and detailed and absolutely full of stuff to discover.  You simply can't spend any length of time playing this game without finding some nice stuff - TD2 completely nails the "looter" part of looter shooter.

Happily it nails the "shooter" part too.  The combat is vastly improved and now actually tactical!  Facetanking just isn't a thing any more, and cover is absolutely vital.  Enemy AI is up there amongst the best I've seen.  Every firefight feels tense and exciting.  This enhancement alone is enough to make TD2 a worthy sequel.  Sometimes I just wander around the streets looking for fights because they're so enjoyable - it's one of the reasons I never used to mind the grind in Warframe, another game whose core gameplay is so refined and enjoyable that the grind is almost invisible.

When I die in TD2 I never rage about it.  The moment I go down I'm already thinking how I could have done things differently.  Should I have picked a different cover?  Did I leave myself too exposed?  Was I using the right skill, and at the right moments?  And so on.  Being killed is pretty close to a good thing actually, because of the opportunity it affords for you to learn something more.  I'm always excited to try again straight away.

I haven't seen the proper endgame yet, but with the strongholds, the promised raids, the Dark Zone (squee!)....man, I'm getting perilously close to declaring The Division 2 a masterpiece - something I rarely do.

[Huw the Poo]

I've always ignored the LMGs in this series, but I've changed my mind in the last couple of days.  If you're good enough with your stick/mouse to compensate for the recoil, they can be almost as accurate as assault rifles - with comparable damage per shot, much bigger mags, and the crucial suppression mechanic.

In other news, when I played last night I spent almost the entire time in the DZ - just as much fun as it was in the first game.  I also did the air and space museum which was a fantastic mission, and tried out some new skills.  I really like the seeker mine; it's basically a grenade that never misses!

[Kushan]

After I quick trip to work yesterday to look for my wallet, I sat down around 10am for short play session. 6.5 hours later I finally tore myself away long enough to do some chores and eat dinner. Then I went back at it until around 11:30. Been a been a few months (AC:O) since I've been this hooked on a game.

Don't really have anything to add to Huw's comments.

I've always ignored the LMGs in this series, but I've changed my mind in the last couple of days.  If you're good enough with your stick/mouse to compensate for the recoil, they can be almost as accurate as assault rifles - with comparable damage per shot, much bigger mags, and the crucial suppression mechanic.

I was carrying a assault rifle/LMG combo until Friday night when I switched to a rifle/LMG combo. Stopping power of a rifle and the LMG for targets that need to be nuked fast. I think assault rifles can suppress as well. I didn't see any of my team mates firing at the mob I was, but one of them could have been and I missed it. So far the only weapons I've been disappointed by are the sub-machine gun and the full on sniper rifles. Sub-machine guns just feel like a lesser version of assault rifles. Sniper rifles would be ok if the ranges weren't so short and I wasn't such a terrible shot. In my fumbling around to get a hit I inevitably get flanked and shot from the flanks.

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah the SMGs are pointless; assault rifles can do everything they can.  I dunno about suppression - I always thought it was only LMGs that do it, although I could easily be wrong.
I've warmed to sniper rifles though; once you get to purple gear you can one-shot a lot of enemies with a headshot.  My secondary is usually a sniper rifle.  I will never decide whether to have a rifle, assault rifle, or LMG as my primary though!

The skills are another great source of indecision.  They're all so bloody useful, it's torture having to decide on only two to take into a mission!  I've been experimenting with the hive today.  I'm not sold on the reviver hive, but the restorer seems pretty good.

Also I just want to reiterate how much fun the Dark Zone is.  The way everything unfolds differently depending on other players and whether they decide to go rogue, the mad scrambles for DZ drops, the tension of waiting for an extraction helo when you have some really nice contaminated loot to send back.  It's a game mode that pretty much invents its own content on the fly, I love it.  No matter what I do in the game I always end a session with 30-60 minutes in the Dark Zone if I'm not there already.

This is just a fantastic game, and just think - this is only the beginning!  There will be years of support yet!  O0

Did you find your wallet Kushan?

[jamus34]

Yeah the more time I spend with this the more I am impressed. I usually play with 2 other guys and I'm usually playing the suppression / area control job with my LMG and corrosion launcher which lets them either snipe the others or take out anyone trying to flank.

Every now and again you'll get a mob who looks like suicide is his only goal but otherwise I am pretty impressed with the strategy I've seen. I've seen the PC use flanking, suppression fire, grenades, RC bombs, and melee rushers. Plus healers.

Once you get past the bullet sponge mindset it's pretty technically sound.