[Megathread] The Division 2

[Woogs]

With new update the project is getting changed to either 2 rogue agents or hunters - so i can just spam control points until they pop out. I did the whole named kills thing already so i only miss those.

I'm pretty sure they just lowered the requirement for both objectives from 3 to 2. That way solo players wouldn't have to hit the summit a third time. I don't think they merged the objectives.

[Edge-]

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision...1_patch_notes/

Notes for TU 11.1 going live tomorrow.

Thoughts...

Hate the new approach to Summit, needing to start from the ground floor and clear to the top from there. Progress saving and you being able to return to where you left off is fine, but damn the thought of slogging through 100 FREAKING FLOORS is super unexciting to me. Being able to toggle directives/difficulty and select targeted loot is a good change, but especially with the new weekly project of clearing all 100 floors...just not quite at the top of my "excitement" list. At least you can "cheese" progression by joining a group with someone who is much higher and then just skip a ton of floors.

Some of the additional objectives and QoL changes will be nice, but none really touch on the areas that I felt were the most lacking for the game mode sadly.

Targeted loot for gearsets specifically is a good improvement as well, always frustrating to try to farm a piece and just hope that that one set out of the dozen will drop.

I may jump back in and see how it is with a group (if matchmaking is working and there are people) after the update. Wish they'd at least held the damn update for a few weeks and launched it in this state. Whoever is dictating timelines is an unreasonable dick for no apparent reason.

[Adam Jensen]

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision...1_patch_notes/

Notes for TU 11.1 going live tomorrow.

Thoughts...

Hate the new approach to Summit, needing to start from the ground floor and clear to the top from there. Progress saving and you being able to return to where you left off is fine, but damn the thought of slogging through 100 FREAKING FLOORS is super unexciting to me. Being able to toggle directives/difficulty and select targeted loot is a good change, but especially with the new weekly project of clearing all 100 floors...just not quite at the top of my "excitement" list. At least you can "cheese" progression by joining a group with someone who is much higher and then just skip a ton of floors.

Some of the additional objectives and QoL changes will be nice, but none really touch on the areas that I felt were the most lacking for the game mode sadly.

Targeted loot for gearsets specifically is a good improvement as well, always frustrating to try to farm a piece and just hope that that one set out of the dozen will drop.

I may jump back in and see how it is with a group (if matchmaking is working and there are people) after the update. Wish they'd at least held the damn update for a few weeks and launched it in this state. Whoever is dictating timelines is an unreasonable dick for no apparent reason.

I did the first 1-10 floors about a week ago just to see what the Summit was about and I really can't see why I should even bother with it. 100 floors of . . . random enemies, some of them just stupid fucking drones. Why? For an exotic cache at the end? I just don't see the draw.

[Edge-]

I did the first 1-10 floors about a week ago just to see what the Summit was about and I really can't see why I should even bother with it. 100 floors of . . . random enemies, some of them just stupid fucking drones. Why? For an exotic cache at the end? I just don't see the draw.

It's supposed to be highly repeatable content that's a bit different every time you do it. Basically, TD2's version of Underground, which was a separate game mode in TD1 and was largely well received. It had a similar basic structure, but executed it wildly differently - Go out on random missions, customize the length (1-3 parts, each taking about 15m and rewarding more for longer excursions), each map will be different (not just re-arranging furniture in big open rooms), and has it's own separate progression path (that was longterm vs. repeatable like Summit).

Basically it's been a glaring hole in TD2's content since it launched and Kenley College ended up being abandoned because folks generally seemed to hate it.

As to why to do it...theoretically because it's fun, and some folks do seem to genuinely enjoy it. Also for the rewards, some of the named/exotic gear is pretty damned good. And with the changes to drops/targeted loot, it will likely be the most effective way to farm specific gear. And with directives, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a decent way to farm XP as well.

[Coldkil]

I
Basically it's been a glaring hole in TD2's content since it launched and Kenley College ended up being abandoned because folks generally seemed to hate it.

The major issue it's not even that.

People play to get gear and levels. They're the endgame progression so far. To get gear and levels you spam random events/control points because it's just way better than doing anything else in the game. Especially loot since it's a 100% targeted drop reward for each event and they're all super fast to do. Death has way less impact because you can just start another event or redo the control point. Plus, you can reset the map anytime you want.

Now, about Kenly: it's actually kinda generous for drops. There's lots of enemies and the missions are that bad. But it's SLOW AS FUCK, HAS NO TARGETED LOOT and once you get the Diamondback, you can just reroll it at the bench instead of searching for another. And the missions are always the same. I have done it some times and then i have seen everything it can offer. They added the stupid timed run thing that no one has interest in doing.

About Summit: it being repeatable more than Kenly is an extremely good thing. Also people liked the idea of some form of content where it's all about shooting bad guys in a faster manner. Problem is drops suck and xp is abysmal. And as for Kenly, once i get my Exotic chest, why would i go there again.

The funniest part is how the directives change affect the whole world, not only the Summit. They made the most efficient content to farm even more efficient than before. Granted, you can run Summit at 9 directives and get a lot of targeted loot, so that's it. But why. I can do more things for more rewards in a better way.

I'll have to try it and see how drops are impacted by stacking directives - with the right build you can activate at least 4 or 5 with minimal to no downsides. I'm curious about if it's more efficient to run Heroic with more directives instead of Legendary. However, loot dropped by enemies is VERY SCARCE. Loot caches are crap for the most part.

I'm just getting the chest and then do what i always do - farm the world for new builds to try. It's more varied and more efficient. I suppose i'll go to Summit when the loot i need is not on the world map - and yes, don't be bothered doing the weekly project, one more exotic is useless i'm costantly capped at materials and all exotics i have are more or less godrolls.

[Edge-]

Seems like the update is a mess. Blue mods were randomly changed, directives seem to REDUCE targeted loot drops but increase quality, loot boxes on heroic in Summit are rewarding garbage rolls that aren't scaling, sometimes enemies simply don't drop any loot, mortar turret fires directly into the ground, healer hive is blowing upwards of 4-8 charges at once making it near useless...seems like this was rushed out as well.

https://forums.ubisoft.com/showthrea...ober-22nd-2020

Patch today to fix some of the directive issues at least, but man...I want to cheer for Massive but they're making it damned hard. May dive back in this weekend to see how Summit is with a group if I can find one.

[SirCowdog]

Problem is drops suck and xp is abysmal.

I'll have to try it and see how drops are impacted by stacking directives

Just a FYI: They're fixing a bug that was causing directives in the summit to not increase drop chance for taregeted loot. Not sure when that patch is going live, though.

- - - Updated - - -

Patch today to fix some of the directive issues at least, but man...I want to cheer for Massive but they're making it damned hard. May dive back in this weekend to see how Summit is with a group if I can find one.

Beat me to it. hahahah!

But yeah, I really want to continue liking Division 2, but the constant barrage of bugs and bad design decisions makes it really difficult.

[Edge-]

Mission accomplished on heroic (no directives). Got in starting at the 80th floor (lucky me!) and while we probably could have moved faster, it seems like it took around 3 hours or so to clear 20 floors which...I guess is ok?

I'll play some more, but while my impression has improved slightly, it's still pretty much still not my bag at all. The routine of "Clear floor, move through empty corridors to next floor" really gets to me, and a lot of floors are painfully easy when you can get good cover and line up on the 2/3 entrances enemies pop through. Few sweaty fights like rogues and the 100th floor (we cheesed it in the starting room), but overall was pretty darned easy. Drops weren't awful, but not too amazing, and XP felt pretty sluggish compared to what I could have been earning just pugging heroic missions.

Not gonna lie, did enjoy just mowing shit down with my AR build and shit though. That and some of the new cosmetic gear is good...and I have 23 boxes left to get...and the event ends in 5 days...fuck. I might just have to play the shit outta this for a bit, apparently they're fixing some of the bigger issues like directives being broken in a patch tomorrow so let's see how that works.

But probably gonna just stick with missions now. I don't think I could ever stomach the 1-100 grind without spreading that out over weeks.

[Adam Jensen]

Not gonna lie, did enjoy just mowing shit down with my AR build and shit though. That and some of the new cosmetic gear is good...and I have 23 boxes left to get...and the event ends in 5 days...fuck. I might just have to play the shit outta this for a bit, apparently they're fixing some of the bigger issues like directives being broken in a patch tomorrow so let's see how that works.

Event ends in 5 days? Thought it went with the Manhunt which still has several weeks?

[Coldkil]

Event ends in 5 days? Thought it went with the Manhunt which still has several weeks?

No, the events are timed - they usually last 2 weeks. If you don't finish the cosemtic one though, they're gonna put those item in standard caches over time. The only thing you really lose is the special mask you get for completing it.

[Puri]

Any advise for the three hunters on the 100th floor?

We have no issues clearing the floors below, but those hunters are impossible to kill for us (me and a friend, both using full red).

Going into the room is suicide, so we wait in the starting room until one hunter comes in. We can easily bring him down, but without CC he just heals himself up with his medkits over and over (they seem not to be limited) until he finishes us off or a second hunter comes in. Our only reliable CC is foam grenade, but you need to be very lucky to actually get him at the right moment and he's not dodging it - and you need enough grenades to get all three (and they don't refill after a failed attempt!).

Attempts with me using a cc skill build with disruption resistance were worse than both going full red, then we just don't have the DPS to get him down in the CC time frame.

The videos we see are always using four players, so the impact of one player going CC are significantly less.

Anyone here managed to down them in a two player group, and what were you using?

[Nutri]

So how long does a 100 stories heroic solo run take?
Booted up the game yesterday and tried the first floor (hehe) but that already lasted a few minutes. Am I looking at a couple of hours to complete a full run solo?

[Puri]

So how long does a 100 stories heroic solo run take?
Booted up the game yesterday and tried the first floor (hehe) but that already lasted a few minutes. Am I looking at a couple of hours to complete a full run solo?

No idea about solo, but 60+ you need roundabout 60-90 minutes per 10 floors with two players. You will usually do it slower than a dungeon, because worst case restarting two floors below after a wipe costs more time, so you mostly sit back an wait until they come to you. And for soloing I strongly suggest having a shield build available for the "remain in the circle" objectives.

[Nutri]

No idea about solo, but 60+ you need roundabout 60-90 minutes per 10 floors with two players. You will usually do it slower than a dungeon, because worst case restarting two floors below after a wipe costs more time, so you mostly sit back an wait until they come to you. And for soloing I strongly suggest having a shield build available for the "remain in the circle" objectives.

Ah alright, cheers for the insight. I'll have to buckle up then xD

[Coldkil]

So how long does a 100 stories heroic solo run take?
Booted up the game yesterday and tried the first floor (hehe) but that already lasted a few minutes. Am I looking at a couple of hours to complete a full run solo?

Way more than couple hours. i think a full hc run will take around 4 or 5 - just because of the sheer amount of floors and travel times.

- - - Updated - - -

Any advise for the three hunters on the 100th floor?

Before the patch strat was: full red dps build, equip foam, turtle in the entrance. Just wait until one of the hunters come in, foam and nuke (they don't really have much hp, they do truckloads of damage and heal continously). Sticky EMP is also really good to disable them.

[Edge-]

Any advise for the three hunters on the 100th floor?

We have no issues clearing the floors below, but those hunters are impossible to kill for us (me and a friend, both using full red).

Going into the room is suicide, so we wait in the starting room until one hunter comes in. We can easily bring him down, but without CC he just heals himself up with his medkits over and over (they seem not to be limited) until he finishes us off or a second hunter comes in. Our only reliable CC is foam grenade, but you need to be very lucky to actually get him at the right moment and he's not dodging it - and you need enough grenades to get all three (and they don't refill after a failed attempt!).

Attempts with me using a cc skill build with disruption resistance were worse than both going full red, then we just don't have the DPS to get him down in the CC time frame.

The videos we see are always using four players, so the impact of one player going CC are significantly less.

Anyone here managed to down them in a two player group, and what were you using?

It seems they have about 3-4 health packs? My group did the "Hang out and lure them in" strat and it was a bit messy at times (heroic, no directives), but even without super high damage (pretty sure 2 of our dudes were in garbage gear) we were able to force them to heal often enough that they either ran out/heal was on cooldown and we could down them one by one.

Speaking of that reminds me about one thing...FL100 is pretty underwhelming once you're done. Nothing really neat to see or any cool areas to explore. Loot drops off bosses and it's pretty decent but like, no chests to vomit loot at you...for the effort put in to clear that floor, and reach it, it really feels like they need to give better rewards. And I say this having only cleared 20 floors to get there, I couldn't imagine clearing all 100 -_-

So how long does a 100 stories heroic solo run take?
Booted up the game yesterday and tried the first floor (hehe) but that already lasted a few minutes. Am I looking at a couple of hours to complete a full run solo?

No clue, but for context our 4 man group took about 2-3 hours to do 20 floors. It's not gonna be a "one session" deal unless your "one session" is like...all day.

[Tyris Flare]

As much as I like both Division games I genuinely wonder what turns most players away, I can only imagine it's either the bullet sponge mechanics or how incredibly squishy the player is and I'll take a guess and say it's the latter, the bullet sponge is barely a big deal but almost dying from 1 grenade is what personally boils my piss. It is a shame the game ain't more popular as there is a lot to like and they have made the game so much better with patches but if they're going to release a 3rd they need to go in a different direction because this one clearly isn't working overall.

I also wonder if the usual Ubisoft approach works as well, if anyone played this on release and stopped after a few months they would come back now and agree the game is far far superior to then, the same also applied to Odyssey for me and now Breakpoint, it's good they patch stuff in later on but I almost get the feeling I'm better off waiting a year to buy anything Ubisoft related as I know it's going to be much better than the release.

Just speaking for myself and friends, I don't play Tom Clancy games for bullet sponging or finding kneepads that give 1% damage. Wildlands and immersive-mode Breakpoint are vastly more satisfying, but they probably aren't as profitable as live service garbage.

[Edge-]

Man I'm trying but it's hard fighting passed some of this nonsense. Catching up with manhunts and almost done - 3 of the freakin CP's I flipped counted towards the MH, but no XP or CP loot box because raisins. Just flipped a fourth and...NPC's eventually showed up (had to go help them as they spent 5 minutes fighting 2 dudes) and then just stood around refusing to flip the CP.

I want to play. I want to get the cosmetic rewards (they're super cool, I dig the new masks!). I want to enjoy myself. But Summit remains dreadfully dull to me (keep trying to get the named pistol and no luck) and the rest of the game is pretty "been there, done that" by now.

Since I've fallen off the Destiny train and I appear to be falling back off the Division train, I guess there are no more shlooters in my future for a bit.

Also: Fuck enemy AI forever. Seriously. Standing still? Nope, fuckin never. Running miles away, making me chase them down to complete an objective? HELL YEAH! Spending ages turtling behind cover, repositioning to get behind cover every time I move to get a shot? HELL YEAH! Shooting through cover periodically so I'm getting destroyed while I can't touch them? HELL YEAH!

[SirCowdog]

Also: Fuck enemy AI forever. Seriously. Standing still? Nope, fuckin never. Running miles away, making me chase them down to complete an objective? HELL YEAH! Spending ages turtling behind cover, repositioning to get behind cover every time I move to get a shot? HELL YEAH! Shooting through cover periodically so I'm getting destroyed while I can't touch them? HELL YEAH!

That's mostly what causes me to just alt-f4 out of disgust. I don't know what developer or director thought that this was a good idea. Enemy AI that will literally run 3 blocks away from you and hide, but being required to kill all AI to complete objectives. Or the dirtbag NPC who will NEVER leave cover.

I don't know. Lately all I do with this game is log in, play for maybe 10 minutes, then log back out due to boredom. I'm just not doing 100 floors of bullshit only to NOT have the keys to drop, and NOT get the targeted loot I set.

I swear, if history every looks back on how to drive a game directly into the ground, I hope there's a picture of the Massive dev team in there somewhere.

[Edge-]

Yeah, I'm without power at home so I'm basically done now that I've missed out on the last of the apparel event. Summit remains a huge "miss" for me, and since realistically that's all we've got (as non-raiders) in the 8ish or however many months since WONY released, and the rest of the game has...not really improved in any meaningful way otherwise (outside of cosmetic mods and neutral gear mods, those are good!), I'm probably gonna call it a day.

I'm lucky I got this free with my GPU, though I did buy WONY and the S2 season pass, but I'm absolutely done with Massive and this nonsense. Not worth the time and frustration anymore. There's still a ton to like in the game, but I just can't deal with the nonsense anymore and the direction they've taken it is not up my alley.