[Megathread] The Division 2

[SirCowdog]

What the fuck. (from the TU11 PTS phase 2)



EDIT: Enforcer/Firewall/exotic chest/Eclipse backpack build incoming. Because fuck you and also your enemies.

I suspect it's because of the interaction between EP and that new exotic(enforcer?) that confuses enemies on kill? Seems like a stupid powerful combo.

[Coldkil]

I suspect it's because of the interaction between EP and that new exotic(enforcer?) that confuses enemies on kill? Seems like a stupid powerful combo.

Enforcer is not new, it was given via WONY purchase iirc and it can be dropped in DZ. It's a shotgun with Perfect Pummel, but instead of being a shit like Tsunami it hits like a freakin truck.

Anyway, it's all about the new chest, that basically applies bleeding to anything you shoot, and more people is bleeding, more armor regen you get (up to 25%). Add eclipse backpack for a whopping 30% amplification, Firewall shield for more damage and defense, Pummel, i also have a godrolled Forge with max crit chance and 15WD rerolled on it (which means i can use even less blue). Start with an AR/SMG just to spread bleeds and then blast faces. Or shoot with the shotgun from a distance and every pellet is a bleed on someone.

The Directive backpack is also interesting, due to double bleed duration. It's a great QoL improvement. But damn 30% amplification? Also Anarchist is kinda good, but not amplified damage.

I need to run Summit and clear it as fast as possible.

[SirCowdog]

Enforcer is not new, it was given via WONY purchase iirc and it can be dropped in DZ. It's a shotgun with Perfect Pummel, but instead of being a shit like Tsunami it hits like a freakin truck.

Anyway, it's all about the new chest, that basically applies bleeding to anything you shoot, and more people is bleeding, more armor regen you get (up to 25%). Add eclipse backpack for a whopping 30% amplification, Firewall shield for more damage and defense, Pummel, i also have a godrolled Forge with max crit chance and 15WD rerolled on it (which means i can use even less blue). Start with an AR/SMG just to spread bleeds and then blast faces. Or shoot with the shotgun from a distance and every pellet is a bleed on someone.

The Directive backpack is also interesting, due to double bleed duration. It's a great QoL improvement. But damn 30% amplification? Also Anarchist is kinda good, but not amplified damage.

I need to run Summit and clear it as fast as possible.

Oh, I was thinking of the thing(I can't remember if it was a gun or another piece of equipment) that confuses enemies when you get a kill, synergizing with EP.

[Nutri]

https://imgur.com/pMWkzbh

So in other words; “Okay, according to feedback Summit is fucked right now but we’re still gonna push it september 22nd. We’ll fix it somewhere in a future update loosely based on your feedback because we are forced to say that we are engaged with our community while we still do things our way”.

This’ll be Reddit popcorn.

[Coldkil]

https://imgur.com/pMWkzbh

So in other words; “Okay, according to feedback Summit is fucked right now but we’re still gonna push it september 22nd. We’ll fix it somewhere in a future update loosely based on your feedback because we are forced to say that we are engaged with our community while we still do things our way”.

This’ll be Reddit popcorn.

If anything, it'll be like Kenly. I'm gonna run it to get all the specific loot in there, then bolt off it. It's just another way to farm gear in the end but targeted loot made the open wolrd so much better/efficient.

[SirCowdog]

https://imgur.com/pMWkzbh

So in other words; “Okay, according to feedback Summit is fucked right now but we’re still gonna push it september 22nd. We’ll fix it somewhere in a future update loosely based on your feedback because we are forced to say that we are engaged with our community while we still do things our way”.

This’ll be Reddit popcorn.

I mean...as long as they make good changes, I don't care that it's unfinished now. It's not like I'm paying for updates, and there's plenty of other games to keep me busy in the meantime.

1) The entire game mode should have an option to set a starting difficulty at floor 1, and get harder from there.
2) Targeted loot is weak and needs a complete overhaul anyway, so maybe they'll do that?
3) As long as they add new stuff to the game mode all the time, it's fine. One floor could be zombies, another guardians, a third polarity, a fourth foggy, etc etc etc. Just keep piling on everything into the random pool of possibilities, IMO. Hell, make a floor that's randomly all heavies, or all warhounds for the lolz!
4) Add a solo challenge mode. One death and you're out. No going back. Additional rewards based on how far you get.

[Witchblade77]

and they are still trying to reuse Kenly college (for that end of year nightmare event). sigh...

[Edge-]

and they are still trying to reuse Kenly college (for that end of year nightmare event). sigh...

It's not a bad idea. All evidence points towards the team not being very big anymore (IIRC they're also working on the Avatar game at Massive), I imagine in no small part due to the game not really being a big financial hit for them. Reusing Kenly gives them a big shortcut because they've already got a map already mostly finished, that'll save them a big chunk of time that they can dedicate towards the actual gameplay in that area.

Better than just letting all the time invested on that area go to waste because they tried to do something a bit different and missed the mark hard.

[Coldkil]

It's not a bad idea. All evidence points towards the team not being very big anymore (IIRC they're also working on the Avatar game at Massive), I imagine in no small part due to the game not really being a big financial hit for them. Reusing Kenly gives them a big shortcut because they've already got a map already mostly finished, that'll save them a big chunk of time that they can dedicate towards the actual gameplay in that area.

Better than just letting all the time invested on that area go to waste because they tried to do something a bit different and missed the mark hard.

Well, Kenly problem is not the map. It's just that it was 9 missions and once done them, you were done. Drops were fine since there were a lot of enemies, but no targeted loot means it's not efficient at all. Missions weren't that great also, plus they were a drag compared to multiple other activities that are just much faster and more reewarding. Even getting the Diamondback may be easier through exotic caches and targeted loot.

If missions were cut a little shorter, and maybe add all the factions in a randomized/cyclical way (so every 2 weeks you get 9 different missions), and add the targeted loot to the three different locations, it would be an okay zone to farm.

EDIT: so, Summit is here and clanmates already playing it are reaching the 80s (but beware that everyone can start at 51 directly, since it's where Heroic difficulty starts). Legendary is what is gonna make or break the deal and i absolutely need that exotic chest.

Sidenote, yersterday we "speed" runned the raid and got the Ravenous! Holy hell it's an insane rifle. Immediately replaced the Merciless in my build, i can easily drop the Braced talent for soemthing more offensive, Obliterate should be fun as it shoots dual bullets every time.

[SirCowdog]

, Obliterate should be fun as it shoots dual bullets every time.

Obliterate got a buff in TU11 too. A couple added seconds of fire, IIRC.

- - - Updated - - -

Played the Summit for about 30 minutes. Quit out of extreme boredom.

I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it.

[Edge-]

Apparently the Stranded Tanker mission is bugged so don't waste time with it, the fire hose thingy at the end isn't properly spawning so you get stuck on the last boss. AND DON'T CHECK OUT THE BATTLE PASS - seeing lots of reports it's creating an infinite loop of the Manhunt video.

As to the update...I'll give Summit a try, but based on everything I'm seeing so far my expectations are pretty low. Seeming more like I'll likely be spending time leveling my silly alt to get the grey/green/blue appearance gear stuff (if it's even necessary). Haven't really been playing much lately and I guess that'll continue, god damnit why is it that Massive can't seem to figure shit out.

TD1 was a shitshow that turned into something solid as hell, TD2 seems to have reversed that process starting out pretty darned solid (but not finding success, sadly) and getting progressively worse over time : /

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision...al_patchnotes/

Some stuff that wasn't in the official notes (not 100% confirmed), apparently we'll have to run the 1-50 floors to try to get parts for the exotic chest. And then clear floor 100, which a multi-directive legendary set of floors will TOTES be achievable for most folks and doesn't conflict in any way with the need to farm some of the parts on bloody normal difficulty. Seriously, what the fuck are they thinking with this nonsense.

Exotic backpack/SMG are both seasonal rewards so those will be plenty easy.

[Witchblade77]

oh my freaking god. tanker bug - check. infinite loop - check. and I'm not just getting it while checking out rewards track, I just got it after fast traveling to Haven. it just started playing and its not skippable. joy!

I wonder if leveling a new alt for transmog is bugged as well......

[Edge-]

Report on the update so far -

Neutral mods area great! Got another 10% CHD out of my AR set which was nice, will have to see what other sets I can swap mods around in and what I can recal, if anything.

Appearance mods are...I don't know where to find them. Am I just like dumb? Couldn't fully explore this though as I had to force-quit the game.

Summit - Started on normal and it's a slog. I expected it to be piss easy, but damn most of the floors were just "kill a handful of dudes and move on". Objectives were meh (got a few hostage rescues, one toxic room, a few fire turrets). I like that there are lots of side rooms you can find, those will be better on heroic. But...

Ran into the infinite manhunt loop before I could really explore too far. Force quit the game and I'll wait for them to sort out this updates bugs before I bother trying it again.

That's all I was really able to mess around with, didn't even swap specs or try anything else. Though I'm totally gonna try my AR build with Burn Out and Obliterate on my chest now. Maybe swap to an M4 or something else with either Ranger (bit more damage) or Fast Hands (should be a solid 80%+ reload speed each reload).

So far: Not terribly impressed with it, but that's very subject to change pending trying Summit on harder difficulties and discovering where the hell equipment cosmetics are.

Gonna start leveling an alt in the meantime in the hopes I can at least figure out how the hell to get the gear cosmetics working.

And RIP my 400K XP daily mission from the Season Pass thingy. I bought it last time, but even though it's only $10 I ain't terribly impressed with Massive and am not looking to throw any money their way at the moment.

[SirCowdog]

a multi-directive legendary set of floors

The mandatory directives combined with legendary difficulty and completely new directives is just asinine.

The only explanations I can think of are either the devs being completely out of touch, or it was intentionally done to slow down the rate of content consumption.

[Edge-]

Rolled an alt, realized I am indeed a big dummy and the appearance mods are literally that - individual mods for each piece of gear. That makes a lot more sense, and thankfully should mean we at least get to keep those appearances as we swap loadouts. Still wish loadouts would swap your full cosmetic gear but oh well.

And proceeded to run into a bug in the first proper mission you get that blocked progress. Yeah, definitely done with the update for a while.

@SirCowdog I honestly don't understand their implementation of Summit in the slightest, including the forced directives on the legendary floors. Everything about it makes me think that they had some good ideas when brainstorming but got hit with tight deadlines that forced them to cut a lot of corners. Because like...it makes no sense.

Bonus: "Scavenged Skills" may be one of the most braindead directives I've ever heard of. GG on turning any boss fight without tons of adds into the Keener fight for skill builds, bros. I look forward to "Scavenged Magazines" where you can only reload once you've collected enough drops from enemies. Seriously, this shit makes me wonder if anyone at Massive even plays their bloody game.

[Witchblade77]

The mandatory directives combined with legendary difficulty and completely new directives is just asinine.

The only explanations I can think of are either the devs being completely out of touch, or it was intentionally done to slow down the rate of content consumption.

it honestly sounds like underground dailies, but without an option to have custom missions (floors) which is just.... odd. I really cannot figure out what they are thinking here either

SO and I managed to do couple of manhunt/league missions before giving up due to infinite manhunt intro loop that would show up every damn time I would travel to any safe area (and i STILL do not understand how they decide on a timer, because wall street is sooo much easier and faster then liberty island... and yet their timer is the same? WUT?)

wait... season pass used to come with a daily mission??? huh. I was thinking of potentially buying it for gear dyes, but with bugs, I cannot even preview which ones they are....

I really hope they fix these bugs soon.... like... in the next 1 or 2 days preferably.

edited to add, wait... one of the directives is keener's mission tech mechanics??? are they insane? WTF?

[Coldkil]

To recap without quoting everyone:

- nice to know the manhunt bug is due to the pass. Now i don't know if i really want it.

- everyone can start summit directly al lvl 51, i wont even bother going the lower levels. ill go tk farm the exotic components

- the random directives is a shit move. depending on the build you can end with literally game breaking combinations of them.

- the two new directives are shit tier. one basically makes skill builds unusable, the other is just HURR DURR DON'T DIE. I think i'm gonna play no directives or with 1/2 at best. I don't get why they have to change them since they striked a pretty nice balance with past season.
@Witchblade77 if you get the pass, you have an additional project thats basically "do a mission, get a good amount of xp" not really mandatory.

[Edge-]

- everyone can start summit directly al lvl 51, i wont even bother going the lower levels. ill go tk farm the exotic components

Yes, but you need to get some pieces for the exotic chest armor from the lower levels. They apparently have a chance to drop from chests (which appear every 3 or so floors?) and there's in in 1-10 and 1 in 11-20 to get.

wait... season pass used to come with a daily mission??? huh. I was thinking of potentially buying it for gear dyes, but with bugs, I cannot even preview which ones they are....

Sorry, realized that's not too clear: Daily project*

It's legit just a free 400K XP, so that's over 1.1M XP if you do the mission on heroic with a group + XP from kills. It's nothing huge, but it's something extra to do every day and it's actually a pretty nice way to get a bunch of levels.

[Witchblade77]

thanks for clarifying. and meh, I generally manage to finish out a season while playing 2 days a week at best, few hours each day, so unless it comes with some unique cosmetics that look awesome - meh.

wait, manhunt bug is due to season pass? but... I don't have it? and still get it? O_O

[Edge-]

thanks for clarifying. and meh, I generally manage to finish out a season while playing 2 days a week at best, few hours each day, so unless it comes with some unique cosmetics that look awesome - meh.

wait, manhunt bug is due to season pass? but... I don't have it? and still get it? O_O

Just the additional seasonal rewards, but I haven't even been able to look at what they are thanks to infinite manhunt cinematic loop.

And I don't think anybody knows the source of the bug yet, but fo. The CM was in Reddit earlier grabbing info/videos/usernames from folks who have run into it.

Edit: Seems to be caused by trying to view the season track poking around a bit. And that holding ESC might force you out of it. Amusingly, this was apparently a bug on the PTS in the very first build that was not addressed.

Edit 2: Also WTF DID THEY DO TO FLAME TURRET. I guess I never used it in TD2 but like...it has a small frontal cone it shoots in and that's it? You freakin kidding me? Picked it up first to use to CC enemies while I shotgunned them on my alt and was absolutely crushed to see it become so utterly worthless.

What the fucking fuck man, I'm legit annoyed by this and I don't know why.