[Megathread] The Division 2

[Coldkil]

The only "real" thing the season pass is adding is the new specialization unlocked at start instead of having to grind/farm for them. And you're gonna get them eventually so...meh. Not worth 40 euros for sure, may snatch it if they go with a huge discount.

[sibut]

So is 515 gear dropping now, or?

[everydaygamer]

So is 515 gear dropping now, or?

They decided not to raise the gear score this patch. They didn't feel it was right to force everyone to have to replace all their gear just as the raid was finally coming out.

[Greevir]

Is there anything in this update for solo play? (no, I don't have the season pass)

[everydaygamer]

Is there anything in this update for solo play? (no, I don't have the season pass)

No without the year 1 pass its mostly just major balance changes, bug fixes and QoL improvements in preparation for the raid. For example, the friendly NPC officer when capturing control points can now revive you. They've also made a few activities guarantee a 500 GS drop if you are already at 500 GS.

[sibut]

They decided not to raise the gear score this patch. They didn't feel it was right to force everyone to have to replace all their gear just as the raid was finally coming out.

Ah ok, thanks for the info.

From my perspective, that's a mistake. I mean, at least it'd give us something to do in game for a short period in addition to the raid. There's only so long I'm personally willing to grind hoping for an item with perfect stats to drop.

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They've also made a few activities guarantee a 500 GS drop if you are already at 500 GS.

That's a pretty cool fix. I'm not sure why it wasn't in from day 1, or at least some kind of protection to make items drop, say, from 498-500 if you're 500+. I get so many 490-493 items it's pretty ridiculous.

[Coldkil]

They decided not to raise the gear score this patch. They didn't feel it was right to force everyone to have to replace all their gear just as the raid was finally coming out.

It was also one of the most vocal requests from players, so they actually listened to the playerbase and decided for it.

Anyway the new crafting system imho is way better than before and you can definitely get more powerful this way (though it still sucks that if you replace a talent on a piece of gear you're screwed forever - i have to replace quite a bunch of stuff).

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That's a pretty cool fix. I'm not sure why it wasn't in from day 1, or at least some kind of protection to make items drop, say, from 498-500 if you're 500+. I get so many 490-493 items it's pretty ridiculous.

Beware that with the crafting changes, you're likely going to be sub-500 GS again, hence drops are still going to be at a lower level - though doing weekly stuff i got quite a lot of 500 and proficiency caches drop all 500 gear to me (and i am 497 right now). You're going to do a little catch-up, but imho you were going to do it anyway given the new crafting system.

[Tekkommo]

Sigh, no matchmaking for the raid.

All my friends have stopped playing (to be fair, so have I) but I was always going to come back for a short while when the raid released.

Guess I'll have to find some Discord channel to pug. Hopefully they won't ask for ridiculous requirements.

[Puri]

Sigh, no matchmaking for the raid.

All my friends have stopped playing (to be fair, so have I) but I was always going to come back for a short while when the raid released.

Guess I'll have to find some Discord channel to pug. Hopefully they won't ask for ridiculous requirements.

Same here, the last two weeks our (full) clan did not even make a clan cache, no one's playing anymore. Guess I won't see the raid then at all, and since nothing else worthwhile has been added (or even announced) I guess I can just delete the game and reinstall it in 2 years when they fixed it and the dlcs are on sale.

[dcc626]

It's sad to me that this game is suffering from the same thing that the first one did. After a few weeks it seems people get bored and quit.

its the same thing that is happeneing to everything these days. the general population eats games up and spits them out. because there is always a next big thing on the horizon.

[dope_danny]

Same here, the last two weeks our (full) clan did not even make a clan cache, no one's playing anymore. Guess I won't see the raid then at all, and since nothing else worthwhile has been added (or even announced) I guess I can just delete the game and reinstall it in 2 years when they fixed it and the dlcs are on sale.

Everyone i know had the same reaction over time. They loved the game at first. They hit a point where gear score was blocking progress and they had a few things to chase outside the DZ and they kept having roaming parties spawn on them while trying to recapture a point or something and one shotting them to the point they just didn't consider it worth their time and they just stopped playing.
Its the big problem with games as a service, you can get people to make a game their second job as long as they arent frustrated. Frustration kills player retention even worse than boredom.

[Tekkommo]

It's sad to me that this game is suffering from the same thing that the first one did. After a few weeks it seems people get bored and quit.

Yeah it's like all games really.

The game is good and I would still recommend it, you'll get more than your moneys worth.

End game is just meh though, once you have a semi optimal build, there is little to entice you to keep playing. Recalibration is shit, it would be a good idea to let me keep on improving my gear somehow, but with the way it is, I need a god roll drop, which feels like it will never happen. There is no control at all over your gear.

I could farm other sets, but they all play the same at the end of the day, so I'm not motivated to farm a DPS, Tank and Healer set, when my current DPS set gives me all of that, and on the plus side, none of it is getting nerfed.

I don't even know if I'll get the motivation to find a pug for the raid.

[SirCowdog]

its the same thing that is happeneing to everything these days. the general population eats games up and spits them out. because there is always a next big thing on the horizon.

I would say it has more to do with a flawed concept of having progression be too linear. TD2 made the same mistake as many other looter RPGs: Once you cap your gear, there's nothing in the game to do. Where are the challenges for extremely skillful players? Where is the unlimited increasing difficulty areas like underground or greater rifts? Where are the challenges for specific builds or sets? Why is there no way for guilds or clans to compete with each other?

Basically why do you reach level cap and hit a sheer cliff of nothing to do besides repeat the same crap you've been doing for the past 4 world tiers in hopes of a god-level random drop? It's stupid. Even the raid isn't going to help with this. People will do it once or twice and then get bored and start to wonder WTF is the point of repeating it, and come to the harsh reality that there ISN'T a reason to repeat it.

[KrayZ33]

It's no wonder why people already quit, or did quit early.

That's what you get when you release games with content that only lasts a few hours and turn it into a "please come back in 4 months when we added another 30 minutes of content"-service type of game.

The game is a supposed to be a looter-shooter, but has basically zero build diversity.

TD2 has less content than TD1, you are better off playing TD1 at the moment.
Survival/Wave defense and a proper end-game raid is something that should've existed from day1.
Sets too.

[everydaygamer]

I firmly believe that matchmaking wouldn't work with a proper raid but they should still implement it. That way they can either be pleasantly surprised at how well it works or show everyone that match made groups just won't be able to complete the raid.

[Coldkil]

We have like 3 clans active because of the size limit and we're organizing mutliple groups for the raid tonight. Yes, it's a bummer to not have matchmaking for it though.

As for now, playing casually but constantly, the game is still giving me lots of fun.

Honestly, i don't care how much people plays the game - and as others said, i don't even expect most people to stick to a game for long because most players nowadays behave like childrens with attention span issues that want everything now and jump on whatever it's hot based on twitch views.

I play what i like to play and give value to quality time i have. If i exhaust a game content, i do something else or play another game. To me, not having to be costantly on every day for hours is a plus and not a problem with the game structure.

[sibut]

I was pretty much hanging on long enough to try and finish the sniper rifle, but I missed last week with work and now I'm feeling extra uninspired to play. Guess I'll uninstall and check back in six months.

[Coldkil]

Holy fuck the raid. Challenging as hell, we got stuck at first boss - but we did try for an hour or so only - mechanics and coordination are kings. I know of groups already clearing it but definitely something i'm looking forward to clear.

I can see nerfs incoming already though - i have yet to understand why but either damage was too low or timings were skewed for us; or we just did everything wrong

[SirCowdog]

Holy fuck the raid. Challenging as hell, we got stuck at first boss - but we did try for an hour or so only - mechanics and coordination are kings. I know of groups already clearing it but definitely something i'm looking forward to clear.

I can see nerfs incoming already though - i have yet to understand why but either damage was too low or timings were skewed for us; or we just did everything wrong

I just hope they have more planned for further endgame progress than just the raid. Not everyone wants to raid, especiall when the other 99.99% of the game is soloable.

I'd even go as far as to say most of TD2 players are solo or small group players. And spending a lot of time and resources on supporting raid content isn't going to keep them playing or bring them back.

It was a bad idea to go with a raid in the first place. Because now they're basically making 3 games: Dark zone pvpve. Small group or solo pve. And raids.

It's the same mistake TD1 made by trying to be too many things, amd sucking at all of them.

[Coldkil]

I just hope they have more planned for further endgame progress than just the raid. Not everyone wants to raid, especiall when the other 99.99% of the game is soloable.

I'd even go as far as to say most of TD2 players are solo or small group players. And spending a lot of time and resources on supporting raid content isn't going to keep them playing or bring them back.

It was a bad idea to go with a raid in the first place. Because now they're basically making 3 games: Dark zone pvpve. Small group or solo pve. And raids.

It's the same mistake TD1 made by trying to be too many things, amd sucking at all of them.

Agree, but i don't think the raid is a bad idea overall. They tried to do something different - what i think is especially good design-wise is that if the format bombs, they can simply scale it down to a standard party of 4 players content (given some mechanics definitely require multiple people, i don't think it will be ever soloable until a drastic change of said mechanics happen).

Anyway yes, lots of people (including myself) play a lot of time solo or in 2/3. That's a big strong point of the game - i hope they're going for "alternate releases" where they dish out a group thing, then add a solo/small group one, then again 8 players and so on. They can only expand at this point, we'll see how raid partecipation and reception goes in the following weeks.