The Division (PS4, XBO, PC)

[Onken]

The atmosphere and ambient noise in the world reminds me of the Infamous games.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Great photo of people queuing inside the game.

A queuing simulator? I think I'll give this one a miss.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Yeah I saw the queuing shots, what a clunk of a move. They best hope the game doesn't take off in Korea/China or it'll be a free-for-all mass of bodies clogging up the table and queues out the door will seem quaintly civil and tolerable in comparison.

[Onken]

Never experienced any queues at that first laptop you go to. Nor any glitches or server issues on the first day. The whole experience has been fantastic so far if you ask me. Round of applause for Ubisoft and credit to them for pulling it off. The co-op our group have had together has been more fun than any of the GTA5 multiplayer modes. They've taken the best bits of so many games to make it addictive. One of the things I like most is having to get your stuff back from where you've died in the Dark Zone. I'm ten or so hours in and would see myself scoring this an 8 or 9/10.

[Shay Chaise]

They've taken the best bits of so many games to make it addictive. One of the things I like most is having to get your stuff back from where you've died in the Dark Zone.

The fucking gall of these cunts.

[Onken]

If you die a second time your souls loot stays there.

[Shay Chaise]

Fucking hell, that's even worse. So they've ripped it off but sucked all the gravity, consequences and tension out of the mechanic. Bravo.

[Onken]

Other people can grab your contaminated loot once you've dropped it and you can take theirs. Or you can just go ROUGE and kill your team mates and take their shit that way. When the helicopter is called to airlift the stuff back to the HQ you're all standing away wondering if its about to kick off. I like it.

[Undercoverman]

If you drop your shit in the DZ, you best believe I'm going to nab it and disappear up north. Any loot you grab in the DZ is contaminated. When killed, you drop every piece of contaminated loot you're carrying. You will also always lose some XP and drop some money - a special, DZ only currency that can be used to buy (usually) higher-than-elsewhere level kit that's only available from vendors in the DZ (or your own base if you get the perk). The currency can be picked up like the contaminated loot by any player upon your death. This means that anyone can kill you and steal your hard-won loot, and also some of the money you're always carrying if you've got any. If you die to mobs roaming the DZ and there's no-one around, you might be able to get it back by trekking to it after a respawn.

To get stuff out of the DZ (explained in game as decontaminated and ready for collection back at your base), you have to get it airlifted out. There are various spots on the map where an extraction can take place and when you call one in, everyone in the DZ is notified. This means that players will ordinarily converge at the zones where this can occur and there is usually some tension as sometimes a player (or group) will turn up with the intention of ganking everyone there. People often try to head to seemingly isolated EZs if they've got something really special, in the hope they can do it undisturbed. If you're carrying loot, it appears as a yellow bag on the back of your avatar, so it's good practice to check who's carrying loot before the chopper arrives as it'll tell you whether they're there to extract or for another reason. Throw in proximity voice comms and the vagaries of human interaction and you've got a recipe for shooting first and asking questions later, but some people do adopt the role of peacekeeper as the reward for killing someone who's turned on other players is good.

I'm fortunate to have started playing again with a couple of guys I played with on the beta who are now in the full game - so we're coming up together. We also helped a lower level player tonight to get some XP by playing a few missions on normal, which puts the enemy level at the average of the players there - rather than hard, which always scales it to the top level player. The game is so, so much better with regulars and we'll be back in the DZ later tonight. I'm having a fucking great time with it.

[Onken]

Yeah I've had another two sessions on it again tonight. My other friend couldn't make it on so as a duo we just did the Dark Zone together again as a pair of Level 8's - Rank 12's. Those crazy bastards running at you with axes and bats will make you lose all control and panic. I think we noticed two sets of the Mob factions fighting with each other but couldn't tell what was going on. If you want to improve your wardrobe I've found giving water and chocolate bars to certain homeless people in the street will often give you some decent rewards. I have a sweet white Turtleneck top, waterproof trendy boots and nice pair of cargos on at the moment. I absolutely adore my Marksman Rifle with 12x scope, suppressor and white paint job.

[Pinckle Wicker]

Right, fuck it! I am getting this tonight then, providing they have it in store at my local Tesco!!

[Onken]

Friday servers down.

[Benjaminos]

Well, that's me at level 30 - two more districts to clear of side missions and encounters, but all the main quests are done. The story just sort of peters out, although the last boss is pretty good. The main missions were great, the collectible phone calls and echoes were surprisingly decent, and the side missions were identikit filler bumf.

I'm still kind of ambivalent about the whole thing, really. There's nothing in it that made me go wow, but then I can't really say that it wasn't fun either. It was just a nice steady journey through shooting a few thousand bad dudes, weirdly hypnotic and relaxing in its own way. The problem with it being so grounded in reality (as I believe is a tenet of the Tom Clancy branded games) is that you limit access to the fun stuff. There are no mutants or aliens to shoot, all the cosmetic items are really generic, and the loot is boring. It's just another assault rifle, or another shotgun - no Sleeper Simulant or Ashbringer waiting to be found.

Maybe the endgame will liven it up a bit. Looks like it's grinding daily quests for 'phoenix tokens' that unlock the real top-tier stuff, and arsing around in the dark zone for the time being. I'm hoping the raid-type stuff they're introducing in the first free update will be worth a look too.

[Pinckle Wicker]

Haven't really managed to get a lot of time (uninterrupted) in on this as yet, currently at level 5. Impressions so far are that it is very addictive and once mods start to happen the life gets a bit easier when it comes to a fire-fight. Not gone near the DZ yet though, think I will need more virtual-minerals before I get in there. So, yeah I guess am saying a I really like it so far.

[Onken]

I'm really happy I bought it. In no rush to complete the campaign or judge it on its cut scenes. It's an open world game I enjoy being able to walk around and engage with enemies. I've had more thrilling gun fights in the dark zone than any time I can remember in GTA V's online. This is the best multiplayer to mess about in since Red Dead and you're missing out on something if you pass on it.

[Onken]

Solo Rouge Guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31XpU5TLVH0

This is one of The Division's biggest strengths. Shooting people in the back.

[lazarou]

Decent price for the PC version over at GamesPlanet (£29.99 or about $42, which is cheaper than anywhere else I've found). It's a UPlay key, but you're going to be using that whatever version you get anyway.

Decided to give this a shot anyway as I need a good TPS and a suitable distraction to recover from a lapse in my not smoking. Looking forward to giving it a go later.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

I'm enjoying but my internet died just as I was about to kill that prick with the flamethrower at the end of the mission where you have to to turn on all the generators. Made me want to smash my controller.

Also I'm starting to develop muscle fatigue from the constant reloading.

[Onken]

6.7 from IGN. Not a score thats representative of the game I've played but I'm someone who wishes he hadn't listened to the negative Destiny reviews and ignored it for its first year.

[Shay Chaise]

You were absolutely right to ignore Destiny for the first year, believe the reviews and moans. What took ten or fifteen hours of varied gameplay to level up and get varied gear in Year 2, took fifty+ hours of very limited missions and miserly RNG in Year 1. Year 1 was basically the demo but by the time they'd produced a full game, which is brilliant and packed full of content, many people had become burned out. I never even finished TTK campaigns.

[Undercoverman]

Mostly high-end gear for me now, 105k health, 59.7% damage mitigation through armour, 82k DPS on the Caduceus which dropped from a named elite in the open world for me somehow. Around 65k DPS on my LMG, the M249 crafted from the advanced vendor's blueprint. Not too bad for the early stages of a tank and plenty of room to improve further. None of that counts for shit if someone with an SMG gets anywhere near you. If they've rolled crit though gear attributes and mods - you're dead. The devs are going to nerf this very, very soon (how could they not?) but right now it's pretty much all that anyone is using if they're expecting to kill other players. Typical early-game stuff which'll get fixed, but there are some real cunts who've no-lifed this since day one and will destroy you in the DZ due to rolling Vector after Vector and gear for crit talents.

[Onken]

I went online with a friend last night after the footy about 10 o'clockish and ended up playing until 5am in the Dark Zone. Morning phone alarms we're going off and we had to get off. It's ruined my entire day but I'm still laughing at some of the mischief we got up to.

[Undercoverman]

Honestly, fuck yourself if you're matchmaking into challenging mode as a glass cannon. You just can't know what other roles are going to be taken. I carry two spare sets of gear for a tank/healer and a DPS/healer to make up the shortfall but you deserve to spend the mission on your arse if you're randomly joining missions with nothing to say for yourself but a high end rifle. It's even worse when people join with blue gear. That's right, I've turned into an elitist twat but I take exception to it because they expect to be stood behind the smoking muzzle of a DMR with a smirk on their face, thinking 'see that boys?' - no, it doesn't work that way. You work as a team, especially as the enemies in challenging have multi-million HP. You always see that kind of player's realisation at the first contact when they're instantly downed. Same comments every time; 'wow, they're so over powered'. You have to be a special kind of tosser to expect to be carried. The answer? Grind, build, don't get carried.

Challenging mode is fucking great, though, as is the far north of the DZ. There's a named elite up there called 'Gambit', who carries a grenade launcher. A street-wide fight among the debris with level 32 LMB elites - about 5 minutes of intense battle. Right in the middle, as we were getting pushed and I was pinned, I threw a med station from cover across the street to res a downed buddy, saving him about 10k of DZ XP. This is a game that manufactures memorable teamplay moments.

[mobias]

I went online with a friend last night after the footy about 10 o'clockish and ended up playing until 5am in the Dark Zone. Morning phone alarms we're going off and we had to get off. It's ruined my entire day but I'm still laughing at some of the mischief we got up to.

The first person to finish the game averaged 15hrs a day of gaming for the last 10 days http://www.gamesradar.com/someone-has-already-hit-divisions-dark-zone-level-cap/

[Undercoverman]

An update on where this game is at the moment -

The 'end game' as it stands right now consists of 4 rotating 'challenge' mode PvE missions which, for most hardcore players, have become predictable and straight forward. The PvP meta game still revolves around SMG/DMR and you will find most players running with a Vector/M1A combo in the DZ. It's barely worth using anything else and certainly nothing from the other classes. The dynamic in the DZ changed quite recently as the punishments for dying both rogue and non-rogue were substantially reduced - predictably, this has led to an increase in rogue activity and also the griefing that goes along with it.

It is increasingly common for roaming groups of heavily geared players to gank anyone farming in the DZ - most of the time this is infuriating and it has meant that running solo is a less and less viable option. Solo players would be advised to shun any contact with other agents, such is the likelihood they'll go rogue. Ordinarily I'll run with my usual group but I will always break off to kill a rogue (the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil etc.) so I'm racking up the kills. I've come up against some really nasty pricks as well as total cowards who never miss an opportunity to behave like a cunt. I don't mind dying over and over again so long as I can take at least one of them out, the satisfaction is the drug.

[Onken]

Until you reach level 30 I think it's strange how it brackets 1-14's, 15-19's etc. I'm level 17 and find myself getting bullied by people who I feel have deliberately chosen to stay level 19 so they're the strongest players on the map. I should go back and do some more singe player missions to always hit that top number.

[Benjaminos]

http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Twink

[Undercoverman]

Twinks are one thing - hackers are another. The subreddit recently saw an explosion in posts from people reporting the presence of hackers in the game and it's no joke. In the last few days, there's been an influx of people making use of cheats. Who knows where they're coming from, but some posit that the recent patching of certain farming exploits on the PvE side has brought more of them into the DZ/PvP arena. Due to the way that the game stores certain information client side, and the ease with which that can be manipulated, there are already a number of cheat packages available which are as simply as a couple of clicks to get running. It is (literally, in most cases) child's play.

In the past couple of days, I have been killed in the DZ by rogues teleporting around the map, unloading an entire magazine in one shot (ROF is one such aspect of combat which is stored client side) and disappearing completely once they have the manhunt rogue status (only to reappear later). Not just me, but most of the people I run with. It's clearly becoming a serious problem for online play on the PC and the complete absence of it being acknowledged as an issue is beginning to get people worried about the long term future of the game. GTA Online on the PC was absolutely destroyed by cheats, the only good time to play it being immediately after a patch dropped and the most obvious means of manipulating the game were fixed. Still, a week later and they were back at it (as they always are). I really hope that doesn't happen with The Division but it doesn't appear that the devs are even prepared to give the player base any sort of indication that they intend to do anything about it. Even worse, the subreddit actively stamps on threads highlighting it as an issue, the 'no witch hunting' rule being used to remove totally civil discussions about the issue entirely. A huge thread on the epidemic was wiped completely tonight. Another has popped up to replace it, but it's hard not to think of the mods as running PR for a game which could easily end up with the same fate as GTA Online. People are angry and want the devs to do something about it, yet they're feeling as though it's being swept under the carpet. Particularly galling is the 5 day ban users of the subreddit are getting for violating the rules of posting, yet there are reports that the most punishment a cheater can expect is a temporary 3 day ban.

The latest update's looking promising (report here), released on the 12th. This is still a great game and I'm now more than ever pleased with my build, which is focused more and more on PvP. I've begun to group with people more interested in DZ activity, so the tank build's gone out of the window for the time being, I'm considerably more balanced toward damage (150k DPS, 100k HP, 15k SP). Tonight I solo'd and attacked two separate groups of rogues, the first of which I dispatched easily (many rogues rely on their status to intimidate others), the second of which killed me on the last man, who wisely held on to his survivor link. That wouldn't be the end of it, though, as that pushed him to manhunt status. While I respawned, he linked back up with his group and they continued to gank. There's no easier way to get a server on your back than indiscriminate killing in the lower DZs. By the time I caught up with them, they'd set up at the top of the ladder in the alley next to the lowest DZ entrance. Anyone who remembers the rogue battles in the beta knows that it's an elevated position which is only accessible from that ladder, but it's a dead end. It's the last stand of many a rogue group. Either their rogue timers run out, or they die.

I set up at the end of the alley, taking potshots with my AK while the rest of the server started to make its way to our position. In the meantime, I'm shooting the shit with one of them through the proximity chat. "Let's have a conversation" I say, as I'm taking chunks off his health. "Sure" comes the accented reply - an american. "What do you want to talk about?" he says, trying to hit me with a stickybomb - which lands short. I adjust my position as some of the other people in the server line up to try the same. "What's your favourite colour?" I ask, putting more rounds toward the corner in case I can catch one of them poking a limb out.... And so we go on. The joke becomes that I'm obsessed with them (as I put a few of them down before), I play into it. We've got a dialogue going while trading shots. Every so often we down one of the group, only for them to be revived almost instantly. This is fine by me, as they're running down their resources. Eventually - as is inevitable - the rush starts to look likely. We push the rogues back from the ladder and a few of us get on at the base. We wait momentarily, pop our survivor links, wait for a grenade to go off at the top and then it's pandemonium, a free for all. One of the rogues goes down - I quickly get the melee in. 1 down. The same happens to another, and he gets the same punishment. 2 down. The last 2 are backed into the corner and by the time the group turns its attention to them, we're suffering losses. I have to pop a medkit and in doing so, get right between the two rogues at the end of the alley. So focused are they on the others (who are continuing to attack from the ladder), they don't see me switch to my (average at best) Vector and start crit'ing 65k headshots... Then it's over. 2 more melee kills. Some of the attacking party went rogue themselves in the crossfire (the pattern suggests it was me and another group of 3), but all we do is congratulate each other - I tell them that "I had to shut that guy up". As I start to head back up north, I run by my american friend in the street (probably looking to join up with his group). "Hey [my name], you wanna touch tips?" he says - which gets a laugh out of me. "Any time, mate". We go our separate ways. I wish I'd recorded it, it was easily one of my all time favourite sessions in the DZ so far.

[QDRPHNC]

Loving this game, level 28 right now, main missions finished, just grinding through the encounters to finish the base of operations.

Question about the DZ though - I've been in there, teamed up a few times, extracted stuff, and it's fun. But how the hell do these protracted PvP battles happen without a big group NPCs getting in the way? The DZ is great, and I love the seamless blending between single and multiplayer, but I feel like I'm missing something. I can't turn a corner without running into a gang. And while I'm high enough level to take care of them most of the time, I wish I could explore, interact with other players and extract without being guided into a big, dragged out firefight every few minutes. Am I missing something?

Also, I've only done a couple of extractions, does a gang of NPCs show up every time? Seems a little tedious. I was hoping to do more sneaking in the DZ, more head games and team work with other humans, rather than the all-out shooting matches of the rest of the game.

[Undercoverman]

NPCs show up every time, the only exception being where they've recently been cleared and you're running consecutive extractions. You can trust me when I say that AI will become the least of your worries once you're well geared.

Be prepared for a world of hurt once you enter the DZ as a fresh 30 - if you thought the gulf between different levels was huge, wait until you're in the big boys bracket. You'll be in the soup with players who've been mainlining this game since day 1. People who reached level 30 on day 1. Some of these people are extremely vocal on the subreddit, to the extent that they've kicked off in an almighty shitfit since the latest crafting changes were announced as part of the 1.1 update. This prompted the devs to take the unusual step of releasing a comprehensive overview of their rationale for the adjustments here:

http://tomclancy-thedivision.ubi.com/game/en-GB/news/detail.aspx?c=tcm:154-245982-16&ct=tcm:148-76770-32

Thank fuck they've recognised that crafting is the main source of dominant weaponry, and the best route to getting a dominant build. Check out the graph concerning weapon sources - just under half are crafted, more than any other source. I'd be willing to bet that a fair portion of that number represents the no-life cunts rolling Vector after Vector for the prime 3 talents - brutal, deadly and fierce. Getting that roll is extremely rare but that hasn't stopped people who've done almost nothing else in the game than farm materials and construct gun after gun in search of a weapon that will melt almost anything within seconds. The subreddit periodically throws up complaints from people who've constructed upwards of 60 Vectors for the perfect roll. This is due to a combination of factors;

- The Vector is already a good weapon due to its higher damage output over other SMGs, which isn't mitigated by its smaller mag size (which can be boosted with mods).
- The massive crit chance built into SMGs, which you stack with mods and attributes on gear, means that taking anything else is a fool's errand if you're going to be fighting players and enemies alike.
- Most of the other talents, and other weapon classes, are shite. Both for PvE and PvP. The vast majority of engagements in the game are mid to close range, and the first thing that happens in most PvP fights is that the SMG user will close the distance because they know they'll have very little to fear when doing so. Burst damage rules in this game and most engagements are over quickly once the survivor link wears off. A couple of vets might dance for a bit, but cover is almost never used as the advantages of using it are so minimal. Hipfiring SMG users can roll up on you in the same time it takes to get in cover, pop a buff (because there's fuck all reason to be in cover otherwise) and start firing. The DZ has almost no long sightlines (it opens up a bit in the north), giving the SMG user plenty of cover to work toward a target.
- Its blueprint is such that it can be crafted without Division Tech, the material resource one can only recover from the DZ. This has meant that you are relatively unlimited in how many you can construct, so long as you can farm materials elsewhere (and you have many opportunities for doing so). DivTech was designed to be in chronically short supply anyway so as to limit this practice, but the devs really fucked up by allowing such a powerful weapon to be crafted without restriction.

Some players are of the opinion that one of the DivTech SMGs may offer an advantage over the Vector so there are also plenty of stories of players doing nothing other than farming runs, going from chest to chest, in the DZ. They do this and then accuse the game of being boring! All they want to do is be on top and they'll sacrifice their experience to do so.

To break this, the devs are making crafting harder but also letting high ends drop on the death of every named enemy. Not just in the DZ, but everywhere. The chances of getting something serviceable, with the talents you want, just increased exponentially for everyone. This should hopefully level the playing field somewhat, turn the player's attention away from crafting and towards killing enemies again. It may also result in the possibility of a weapon better than your SMG (better talent roll), but I'm still expecting that the best SMG will be better than anything else. Until the devs solve that, the meta will remain as the same SMG/DMR its been since launch day.