[Megathread] The Division 2

[Witchblade77]

at least Division 1 had more of a variety of things to do even between events. underground is a LOT more fun then Summit IMO, and west side piers have that feel of pop up events if anything. darkzone in Division 1 IMO is much MUCH better then in 2, not in a least due to it being a single larger zone vs bunch of scattered smaller areas. Survival you eventually memorize, but when you are competing against a bunch of other people, it becomes fun again because even with knowing where supplies are, they become more limited and scarce.

right now without new seasons, Division 2 at least for me has less replayability then 1. and I have a LOT of hours in 1. and aint that a sad state of things?

P.S. Division 2 has much more detailed visuals but the drawback of that is that its so busy, visually that it loses its distinctiveness as a result. D1 graphics are simpler. and more focused. so despite being older and less detailed, to me it just looks... better.

[Edge-]

at least Division 1 had more of a variety of things to do even between events. underground is a LOT more fun then Summit IMO, and west side piers have that feel of pop up events if anything. darkzone in Division 1 IMO is much MUCH better then in 2, not in a least due to it being a single larger zone vs bunch of scattered smaller areas. Survival you eventually memorize, but when you are competing against a bunch of other people, it becomes fun again because even with knowing where supplies are, they become more limited and scarce.

right now without new seasons, Division 2 at least for me has less replayability then 1. and I have a LOT of hours in 1. and aint that a sad state of things?

P.S. Division 2 has much more detailed visuals but the drawback of that is that its so busy, visually that it loses its distinctiveness as a result. D1 graphics are simpler. and more focused. so despite being older and less detailed, to me it just looks... better.

One thing I noticed when I went back to replay D1 a bit - the running animation is weird. Like, D2 seems to have the "Gear of War" sprinting animation more or less and it's aight. D1 has a better running "animation" IMO, feels like you're actually "moving" more with the animations, but the weird part is it seems like you're ice skating and not moving as quickly as you should be.

And yes, underground is a million times better than summit and I'm sad that some of the great modes from D1 like survival, the horde mode at the piers, and the far superior underground were never added. D2 really doesn't have much in the way of content diversity outside of maybe...Kenley, but holy hell fuck Kenley who wants that shit.

[SirCowdog]

Destiny 2 -

offer best gun gameplay in the genre.

I always see people say this, but I honestly have to disagree.

Yes, the gunplay is very good....for controllers. But on a mouse + keyboard it's bog standard. Literally no different than any other shooter. And it completely lacks the complexity of any kind of cover system or depth. Just shoot shoot shoot....fire special on cooldown. There's very little depth to it.

Now compare that gunplay to something like Division 1 or 2, where you have a bazillion different types of weapons, each with their own baseline accuracy, bullet spread, falloff range, and reload speed. Then modify/customize that to suit your own preferences....and throw weapon talents into the mix AND a complex parkour/cover system into it.

I've always felt Destiny gunplay was just average.

[Aliven]

I always see people say this, but I honestly have to disagree.

Yes, the gunplay is very good....for controllers. But on a mouse + keyboard it's bog standard. Literally no different than any other shooter. And it completely lacks the complexity of any kind of cover system or depth. Just shoot shoot shoot....fire special on cooldown. There's very little depth to it.

Now compare that gunplay to something like Division 1 or 2, where you have a bazillion different types of weapons, each with their own baseline accuracy, bullet spread, falloff range, and reload speed. Then modify/customize that to suit your own preferences....and throw weapon talents into the mix AND a complex parkour/cover system into it.

I've always felt Destiny gunplay was just average.

You also have the recoil, handling etc in destiny 2.

Yes, division is more complicated but not more deep.

I play on PC and the gunplay is way more fun to play that on division 2. After playing it the division 2 feels clunky as hell. Im talking pure feedback from using guns.

[Nutri]

One of the most fun things about Destiny 2 vs Division is that you can actually kill stuff in a reasonable TTK.

The big armored guys in Division 2 make tanky-ness a bit more acceptable with the destructible armor plates, but blasting 5 clips from point blank into the head of a hoodie wearing street-punk is just... stupid.

You constantly feel 'weak' in Division, because the moment you pop your head in a crowded area, you're dead. It would be so much better if you could be a bit more Rambo, without becoming OP.

[SirCowdog]

You also have the recoil, handling etc in destiny 2.

Yes, division is more complicated but not more deep.

I play on PC and the gunplay is way more fun to play that on division 2. After playing it the division 2 feels clunky as hell. Im talking pure feedback from using guns.

Fun is subjective. I don't use that as a measuring stick when talking about the actual mechanical attributes of a game.

Destiny may have some sort of system where guns have recoil and handling, but last time I checked the ability to modify each individual attribute on a weapon wasn't very good. To be fair, I could be out of date. haven't checked it in a few months.

- - - Updated - - -

blasting 5 clips from point blank into the head of a hoodie wearing street-punk is just... stupid.

If it takes that many rounds to kill something, you're doing something very VERY wrong. Like using gear 5 levels below you on purpose. With any sort of competent build you should be dropping 2-3 enemies per mag unless you're a skill build. In which case your skills should be dropping things quickly.

You constantly feel 'weak' in Division, because the moment you pop your head in a crowded area, you're dead. It would be so much better if you could be a bit more Rambo, without becoming OP.

You can. You just have to build to do it.

I made a series of videos(nothing special, just recordings of gameplay) showing how it's very possible all the way through heroic on any mission or content. The only place you can't go "rambo" is legendary, which is specifically overtuned on purpose to create "the ultimate challenge".

Here's the playlist of me doing run-n-gun with Hunter's Fury with the exotic shotgun without using a shield. I even do some of the "hardest" missions, like DARPA labs and Pentagon.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...rX14faO23CIE88

[neik]

Some updates: https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/artic...ision-universe

[Edge-]

Heartland - I'm kinda cool with F2P version, but didn't Red Storm mostly handle PVP? I'm kinda not here for any kinda PvP, but if they can whip up a proper decent game with decent support I'm here for it. Will keep an eye out for details, but the F2P actually has me a bit concerned that it's got a smaller budget from Ubi and will be...lacking.

D2 Update - I guess it's only been 3 months since Massive found out that they're still going to be making content for Division 2 which isn't too long, but I'm kinda annoyed we still don't have any word. New mode for Division franchise? Cool, rad, but like, can we get something to do in the 6 (9 with the 3 since Feb) months until then? I'm actually kinda back tinkering around (it's a good game to play while watching YT videos and shit) but the utter lack of anything to do that I haven't done a trillion time (well Summit...but holy shit fuck Summit) still depresses me.

Mobile - I guess, why not? Hopefully it won't be like that other Ubi game that included characters from their TC franchises and shit. That was fun for about a week.

Movie/book - Genuinely don't care.

Weird that this comes from the director for EMEA (europe, middle east, asia), but I guess maybe he works outta the Bucharest studio?

Man, it genuinely doesn't feel like there's any actual over-arching plan for the Division franchise at Ubi and they're just throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks. It was understandable in the first game, but two years into the sequel it just feels...depressing.

But hey, I can afk and watch videos while my skill build kills everything with the assault turret/drone so why not.

Edit: That image is awful and garbage though. It reads like a timeline but it actually isn't. Ubisoft, get your shit together, how did this get through 20 rounds of approvals without someone mentioning that this looks like a really misleading timeline?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It reminded me of the timeline of Marvel's movie dates and such. It looks slightly different. If I had to guess, D2 team is being told not to do much at all with the series....which is crazy but....not unexpected.

[Edge-]

It reminded me of the timeline of Marvel's movie dates and such. It looks slightly different. If I had to guess, D2 team is being told not to do much at all with the series....which is crazy but....not unexpected.

The Manhunt with Faye was supposed to be the end of support for Division 2 apparently, so the directive to create more content earlier this year seems to have been unexpected. And given that Massive is also working on the Avatar/Star Wars MMO/online games I imagine it was pretty chaotic trying to re-allocate resources.

The fact that they're making a F2P spinoff is actually a lot more than I expected, because honestly at this point I'm not expecting a Division 3.

Marvel's timeline was far different (and an actual timeline), and the way Disney/Marvel have mapped out the future for the franchise from early on is sorta a masterclass in planning.

Edit: Seeing some chatter...I hope Heartland isn't gonna be another BR spinoff to try to compete with COD:WZ since their other BR game hasn't seemed to have taken off. Nothing that indicates this, but just idle chatter about possibilities. This is why you should wait until you have something more to announce than a name. At least the community seems happy that the franchise is getting some love.

[Nutri]

From Polygon:

“ As for gameplay, Ubisoft hasn’t said what format Heartland will take. It’s possible Ubisoft could follow in the footsteps of Epic Games and Electronic Arts in creating a battle royale game like Fortnite or Apex Legends. Something akin to Riot Games’ Valorant, which is a five-on-five game, is possible, too”.

If thats the case, which is not unimaginable (since it’s Redstorm, the ‘pvp guys’), then it would be a super hard pass on my end. I hate battle royal games with a passion.

Would also mean no ‘real’ new Division game for a bunch of years. Maybe extended Div2 support then, but everything is too vague atm. If Heartland is a battle royal then it makes a lot more sense on why theyre adding content to Division 2. Ive signed up for the testing thing. Wait and see for now. If its a Destiny 2 style f2p game then it might be interesting.

[Coldkil]

I have the idea that since Division is a loved brand BUT not really feasible for long term sustain without important investment, they're just gonna move the PvP scene (which is apparently the most active) to a new game which is pretty likely to be the Nth battle royal apex/fortnite/pubg F2P clone.

I'm curious about the new game mode, but, it's coming really late at this point.

I'm pretty interested in the movie though. I really love the setting.

[Nutri]

I think the long term sustain plan came in jeopardy when they put their Massive Entertainment studio to work on Avatar and Star Wars, both pretty large scale projects.
If this wasn't the case they could have done more expansions like NY.

If Heartland really is a battle royal then it's not really a surprise that it's being handled by Red Storm. Not to downplay the difficulty of making games, but BR is something completely different than making a huge living world akin to Div1/2, with all that's included (raids/dungeons, nps's etc) - I would only assume.

That also goes for Div2's next addition; a game mode. Something a smaller studio could do, vs a large staffed studio like Massive. The moment they'll come out and say Heartland is a BR game, I think we'll have to stop expecting a part 3 within the next 4-5 years if at all.

[Coldkil]

Agree. Which sucks because Division is both a really good cover shooter and has an awesome/unique setting - being fictional but pretty "realistic", with real locations and so on. The biggest issue the game has PvE wise is that you have the capped stats on gear instead of ratings like WoW so you can cap your gear pretty fast, otherwise it could have made use of a system similar to M+ for missions, getting you the costant "carrot on a stick" incentive.

I know there are a lot of issues with the game, but imo, give the PvE nature of Division, they could make it more RPG-ey gear wise to have way more longevity. But that's not gonna happen.

[Witchblade77]

honestly, if they didn't phone it in with the last season and Faye's conclusion I probably would be a lot more ok with no more updates. but the way they fucked up that story just left a bad taste in my mouth TBH. it felt like they just wanted to get it over with and move on to something else.

[Edge-]

https://twitter.com/TheDivisionGame/...32020461228035

Womp womp, no updates about TD2 content or Heartland at E3. Was kinda hoping they'd whet our appetite by showing an early look but I guess not : (

[Nutri]

Maybe they are further along with their other project, and not ready to show Heartland yet:
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/...-recon-mashup/

Seems to be a free to play game as well, just like Heartland. I'm still not sure what to think of f2p games yet, but it feels like Ubisoft is putting a lot of their eggs in that basket.

[dope_danny]

It seems like if The Divisions life as a big budget retail IP isn't dead already this is the start of a shift to a series of F2P spin offs instead. If you can't grab a significant userbase longterm then i wouldn't be surprised to see an assett flip into a battle royale or something to milk impulse fomo buyers for more than a retail price even if they drop it the same day.
I think part of it is the mainstream consumer starting to hit the live service fatigue wall with too many games trying to insert themselves into their daily life as a second job and on another level after a year of real life viral pandemic and a raid on the capital thats easier to make the first taste free than pay to gamify the misery of 2020 right?

On one hand it sucks because i liked both games but the first especially but the game really never found its footing and dedicated audience to the degree destiny did. Its a shame because third person shooters that aren't "moviegames" so to speak are growing increasingly rare and as a player of stuff like monster hunter the small size co-op experience appeals to me along with the setting but i just think this could be them hoping its another fortnite but we get another Rift or something instead.

[Edge-]

It seems like if The Divisions life as a big budget retail IP isn't dead already this is the start of a shift to a series of F2P spin offs instead. If you can't grab a significant userbase longterm then i wouldn't be surprised to see an assett flip into a battle royale or something to milk impulse fomo buyers for more than a retail price even if they drop it the same day.

Considering there's a F2P title coming out, new content later this year for TD2 that wasn't originally planned, and another Division/Splinter Cell/Ghost Recon mashup codenamed Battlecat? Yeah, not buying this at all.

From what little I've seen it appears Heartland will have a PvE mode as well, so it's not just a possible BR title.

I think part of it is the mainstream consumer starting to hit the live service fatigue wall with too many games trying to insert themselves into their daily life as a second job and on another level after a year of real life viral pandemic and a raid on the capital thats easier to make the first taste free than pay to gamify the misery of 2020 right?

Division hardly did this to begin with given the lack of a lot of longterm progression pre-opti station, and post-opti station material cost reduction. If anything, a F2P game like Heartland is likely aiming more to try to insert itself into daily life than Division 2 ever did.

i just think this could be them hoping its another fortnite

Doesn't seem like this at all, especially considering Ubi already tried the BR-proper landscape with Hyper Scape. Which seemed to land with a bit of a thud, which was actually kinda disappointing to me since it eschewed inventory management from BR which was one thing that I really dislike (even if I still don't like BR). Hell, Heartland doesn't even remotely seem set up for anything akin to Fortnite and its BR and its metaverse and building etc. etc. etc.

[Coldkil]

From what little I've seen it appears Heartland will have a PvE mode as well, so it's not just a possible BR title.

If this is true, i'm defo gonna play it. I love Division as a setting and their world building, so a F2P casual game would be nice. I don't even care if there's a BR mode, if i can log in and do some stuff every once in a while i will be fine.