[Megathread] The Division 2

[Edge-]

D1 calculates the Damage + RPM + Reload Speed but not additional modifier like talents.

IIRC it did...for the weapon, but it didn't calculate all the additional bonuses from gear etc. so it wasn't even really useful. You'd have lower DPS weapons outperforming because they had greater benefits, or you'd have weapons with higher/lower RPM's benefit more/less from your bonuses which cause the DPS calculation to be misleading.

D2 calculates pretty much nothing and relies on 3rd party sites.

If you want to do the calculations, sure. But you'd have to do them in D1 too to account for all the other bonuses. Honestly I like having the raw damage/RPM and reload speed front and center, because it makes it easier for me to napkin/mental math some shit. Like my main AR build uses an AK-M because I get more overall benefits from it compared to just about any other AR from what I can tell. Lower RPM means more uptime for Strained at 50% bonus crit damage, most of the downsides you can't calculate like accuracy/stability and stuff you can calculate like its slower reload speed are all offset by Braced (vs. Obliterate which would be more raw damage), and with a higher base bullet damage I get more benefits out of my crit damage than I do out of faster shooting weapons.

In D1 at least they tried to give you an idea what weapon is better, In D2 it seems like they didn't even attempt to try and said fuck it.

Oh don't get me wrong...overall the stat system in this game is a god-damned nightmare, terribly presented, remains opaque and unexplained without going online to find the theorycrafting and damage calculations folks have worked out (damage to armor is calculated after everything else? increased vs. amplified means what? etc. etc.) and missing gobs of information left and right. But IMO I feel no less informed in D2 than I did in D1, probably more informed actually.

Which in itself is fine, WoW is also very bad at giving players an idea what item is better. I am just disappointed that the predecessor is superior in that regard when it should be the other way around.

A lot of games have this problem, sadly. Looking at PoE, which is supposed to be one of the more transparent (though still confusing) games on this just take the term "Nearby". It's on dozens of skills/items/talents, and depending on which one it is it has vastly different ranges that aren't explained at all.

We all just need to accept Ion's tooltips and call it a day. "Does some more damage, but not a lot more, just a bit. And sometimes procs a buff which makes it do some more damage, a lot more."

[dope_danny]

Well they just announced the studios making a Star Wars game which was probably what they were hiring for and not a new Division game. I never get drawn in for the long grinds whenever i revisit either Division but theres always been a strong skeleton of an idea here they have just kept trying to reinvent to make it have a big splash in the mainstream and at this point with Warlords basically forgotten i don't think thats going to happen and a niche product versus "tom clancys the rebellion" or some other star wars riff on their usual stuff will just have a far bigger audience than a division 3 could have.

[Haligy]

I think this year will come second dlc for div 2?

[Nutri]

https://www.engadget.com/ubisoft-mas...142056025.html

With Massive working in Avatar and now Star Wars too, I have little hopes for anything Division related any time soon.

[Edge-]

Apparently there are rumblings Red Storm may be coming back, updated their Twitter profile to have Division images or something.

I'm not entirely sad if Massive fucks off to work on other/bigger projects, honestly I think they've needed new blood working on the game for a while. And if there is no Division 3...oh well. If there's the long-ago hinted solo spinoff from Red Storm or someone else, cool.

I'm pretty fuckin down to have a shooter Star Wars psuedo-MMO, even with some of the janky/bad design Massive seems to like.

[dope_danny]

https://www.engadget.com/ubisoft-mas...142056025.html

With Massive working in Avatar and now Star Wars too, I have little hopes for anything Division related any time soon.

Well star wars money aside can they really sell a game where people want to raid the capital during a pandemic any time soon and still pull the "its apolitical" card? I think a Division 3 would need to completely drop the viral pandemic stuff. Maybe even Final Fantasy it and set it in a different world where the first two games never happened which is risky but i just don't see any company green lighting anything close to that for a long time. it would just be another Six Days in Faluja at this point.

[Nutri]

Well star wars money aside can they really sell a game where people want to raid the capital during a pandemic any time soon and still pull the "its apolitical" card? I think a Division 3 would need to completely drop the viral pandemic stuff. Maybe even Final Fantasy it and set it in a different world where the first two games never happened which is risky but i just don't see any company green lighting anything close to that for a long time. it would just be another Six Days in Faluja at this point.

I can get into that to some extend.
But in that regard any war, epidemic, terrorist attack, hijacks, bombings, natural disaster game or move will hit at least some people on the shins.

People quickly forget. Division 3 could be 3-4 years away. There will be other shit going on in the world and this current crisis might be long forgotten already.
I don't think you could transform Division into Anthem (so to speak) altho the settings of Far Cry 1 and it's sequels are completely different as well so who knows.

[SirCowdog]

https://www.engadget.com/ubisoft-mas...142056025.html

With Massive working in Avatar and now Star Wars too, I have little hopes for anything Division related any time soon.

I said the same thing over on the official forums. Between Avatar and Star Wars, there's no way Massive will have room left over for a full Division 3 or even an expansion. Seasonal garbage only, MAAAAYBE a survival mode if we're lucky and the planets align. But I doubt it.

Division is dead in the water for the foreseeable future.

[Haligy]

Thats a shame they 2 times let good game die . They should take insipire from Bungie loot at the destiny 2 maybe not perfect but they still add dlc etc etc.

Massive ? If im ubisoft i will fire them.

I dont get it why they even make div 2 never understand and sorry im piss off coz dont know how to carry games.

Btw when will state of the game ?

[Nutri]

I said the same thing over on the official forums. Between Avatar and Star Wars, there's no way Massive will have room left over for a full Division 3 or even an expansion. Seasonal garbage only, MAAAAYBE a survival mode if we're lucky and the planets align. But I doubt it.

Division is dead in the water for the foreseeable future.

Yup.
Unless a different studio takes over. After all, can't be much worse than what Massive did. Unless it's like... Bioware or smt.
Talking purely game direction, the art/environment/gameplay team; huge kudo's.

[SirCowdog]

Massive ? If im ubisoft i will fire them.

What concerns me is that Massive is going to continue to use the snowdrop engine for whatever the Star Wars game is. So that means we have the same team with the same buggy engine with the same garbage leadership. There's no way any game made under these exact same conditions is going to end up clean.

It's a recipe for disaster.

[Nutri]

Will they also use Snowdrop for the Avatar game btw?
If so, jikes.

(I have zero interest in Avatar/SW in general so I dont really care, but those games are doomed).

[Edge-]

Will they also use Snowdrop for the Avatar game btw?
If so, jikes.

(I have zero interest in Avatar/SW in general so I dont really care, but those games are doomed).

Very likely. And why is that bad? It seems to be an overall solid engine that's used for a host of different games >.>

[Nutri]

Very likely. And why is that bad? It seems to be an overall solid engine that's used for a host of different games >.>

It looks amazing, but there are daft limitations on the number of players that can be loaded in at once. This was (partly) the reasoning to split the DZ into 3 area’s as opposed to 1 huge zone. Same nr of players, less space, denser feel to it.

The div1 dz was often deemed ‘empty’ because players where spread out, but the engine didn’t allow more people into the DZ without causing issues.

So any open or crowded area in Avator or Sw will hold 16 or so people tops.

[Edge-]

So any open or crowded area in Avator or Sw will hold 16 or so people tops.

More psuedo-MMO's, which is the direction things are going. I don't think anyone is expecting them to be proper MMO's >.>

[SirCowdog]

Will they also use Snowdrop for the Avatar game btw?
If so, jikes.

(I have zero interest in Avatar/SW in general so I dont really care, but those games are doomed).

I think this article(with lots of direct quotes from massive execs) covers it prettu well.

"Star Wars: Ubisoft Massive talks about its ambitions and snowdrop engine – News" https://verietyinfo.com/franceeng/st...p-engine-news/

My main concern is not the engine itself, but the halfassed way that Massive uses it. If we see the same lack of QC and attention to detail that there is in Division 2, then I dont expect the game to be good just because it's got "Star Wars" in the title.

[Edge-]

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision...ent_evil_25th/

I assume it will be a paid event, but there's a Resident Evil crossover going on in February and you get at least one free outfit.

Makes folks think that the Operation Nightmare stuff at Kenly was actual crossover gameplay content...which if true, holy shit am I actually legit sad/depressed that they canned it. A zombie horde mode addition at Kenly? Yeah, I'm here for that. The horde mode in Division 1 was pretty fun, and it'd be a pretty good way to not let that map go to total waste.

Oh well, free outfit and I'll be back for the next apparel event. Should be easier to breeze through as I think there are 1-2 more manhunt targets since I last played, so free double XP for a while.

[Coldkil]

Yeah, i was thinking to play again for this event - i think i have the game still installed so i just need to update it. Though it will be a very fast poke into it just to see and get the rewards tied to it.

[neik]

What build you folks can recommend for me as a beginner? I haven't fully levelled my agent yet, but if I go skill build, and let the turret and drone tank for me, wouldn't that be a good and viable option for me to learn? I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, so I don't know if there are any better builds, but I love tech tanking and flushing out enemies while I finish them off.

Thanks in advance.

[Edge-]

What build you folks can recommend for me as a beginner? I haven't fully levelled my agent yet, but if I go skill build, and let the turret and drone tank for me, wouldn't that be a good and viable option for me to learn? I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, so I don't know if there are any better builds, but I love tech tanking and flushing out enemies while I finish them off.

Thanks in advance.

During the story you can pretty much play whatever you think is fun, it's super forgiving. It's a good time to experiment with everything as well so you can get a feel for what you light or don't.

Assault drone/turret is definitely strong and will give you a lot of leeway to make mistakes since they do the majority of your damage and act as distractions. Revive hive is a good backup if find yourself dying often and need a second life. If you do stick with turret/drone, try to get gear that boosts skill damage/duration/cooldown so you can keep them as beefy as possible.

Stinger hive can be super fun to toss out and watch light up whole groups of dudes, but I imagine that its recharge would be prohibitively slow while leveling.

And are you on the base game, or do you have Warlords of New York?