The Division 2 Open Beta experience
The Division 2 Open Beta experience
So a little back story. I was introduced to The Division around year 2 or so of its launch, from our great Gnome Overlord The Mighty Jingles. I really wish he had done a series. Anyways, a fan of Borderlands 2 I wanted to give this a go. Ubisoft was willing to let me try the game for free and I decided to wait for it to go on sale, that didn't happen. Bought it full price but didn't care, it was a lot of fun, and then the classified sets dropped and that sucked even more time. The fact that I could instantly change between roles without a new character was awesome. Solo'd most of the stuff, stayed away from the Dark Zone until Rogue 2.0 cause that crap got old.
So as a surprise to no one, I decided to hop into the Open Beta and get a look at DC and see if it really is as good as I was hoping.
Yes, yes it is. Ok, bugs admittedly but this could be an older build or just my system. So far the major bugs I've dealt with is getting stuck on doors (though not permanent) or hitting a wall where it should be wide open. Sounds are another issue. I don't think they have the environment down quite right because I'd often loose reloading sounds, or mortars incoming (that was rare though), long range fire was another issue, I remember replaying one mission only to have the gunshots from the other side be completely mute aside from the bullets hitting objects near me. Oh, and in confined spaces its like enemies are closer than they actually should be. Otherwise, not too terrible and this could be already fixed just not in time for the open beta.
So on to gameplay. Honestly, this is the biggest improvement over the original. In Manhatten, side missions were just minor engagements and you were lucky to see some veterens. And it wasn't like there was anything new on each different one you did. It got old by the time you made it to Hell's Kitchen, let alone the other half of the map. It was terrible. Now in TD2 side missions are actual SIDE MISSIONS. Shorter than your main ones, but not overly so, and they have an actual progression, not "Defend JTF soldiers" or "Reset comms". Instead we have things like "Find the Declaration of Independence" and actually fight off a True Sons stronghold. Awesome. Though.... I have issues with mission, mainly because its a historical document and needs to be preserved and I doubt the local safe ares are equipped to care for such a piece of paper. Retaking the vault would have been better, but I'm nit-picking.
Next... loot. Ohh boy, This is 10x better than the original. In the original, beginning levels, blue was the highest type gear you could get your hands on until something like level 25, out of 30. You got blues at about level 10 or so, maybe even earlier. It was nothing like borderlands where you could be a level one fighting that first boss, and out comes your first legendary weapon at level 4, and it was so good it would be a good weapon 10 levels later. In The Division 1? none of that. Nope. Stuck with whites, then blues if you could find them (but you almost never did, you'd buy them most likely) then purples, then for the last two, high end. And with the introduction of World Tier, that was the worst. There was 0 reason to farm high end level 30 gear when it became obsolete 15 minutes later. To make matters even worse, everything at the vendors was World Tier 5 stuff after it became apparent you could purchase the stuff at a fraction of the cost, then deconstruct for the materials if you dropped to WT1. So far, I don't know how the endgame plays but I found purple at level 4. Blues started popping up at like level 3 or so. The vendors also were more random (or the 2 that we had anyway), I found one purple, a couple of blues here and there along with greens. And the prices were fair. It wasn't going to take hours of grinding just pay for a new piece of gear to replace your outdated gloves. it wasnt the 10x markup, more like 3x. Its still a little rough if you power level but not to the extent TD1 was.
Also, loot chests respawn. This was frustrating in the original. You come across a loot box, loot at and get usually a blue item, and to make matters worse, rarely was it any good. Sometimes it was useful but pretty meh overall. to make matters worse, it was a 1 time box, you couldn't open it again. And it only went to blues, there was no purple gear dropping from it. In TD2, none of that, Thats where I found my set of level 4 purple gloves. A loot chest from a control point that I had retaken.
Which brings me to that part. Control points. Now it actually feels like you are helping retake a city overrun by murderous factions. And keep it that way. It would be awesome if say you logged out and all of a sudden some gang had retaken it, requiring you to go back out there retake the place. But otherwise.... nice touch. Also, take care of them, they tend to send out parties and unlike the JTF in the original, these guys can actually friggin kill those roaming mobs. Just don't expect them to take down elites.
And another thing. Don't make the mistake of this being like the first one "Oh, level 6, I'm level 10, I can just stand in the open, rush and kill these things" Nope, don't even try it. You will die. Cover cover cover, always stay in cover. This can be a problem when someone has a grenade launcher/mortar and is lobbing explosives on top of you, but thats where actual tactics come in to play. This also changes the way the DZ works. You can't chicken dance and kill a team of 4-8 players who are strictly there to farm loot and mind their own business while you try to ruin it for everyone. If you want to go rogue, stay away from groups unless you're a group yourself. Though this is bad for solo players.... but I hope that the DZs wont the number one best spot to farm loop.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to March 15th.