Originally Posted by
Graill
We were at an EB games in Seattle and during a conversation several folks brought up the purchase or on the fence questions about The Division, it was actually pretty civil as we we all facing each other and attitudes and bad manners never surfaced.
Here is most of what we ALL agreed on with the exception of one individual, I will call him.....Kenny.
First, the EB game i was at to yesterdays date has not sold their allotment of PC Division games (consoles nearly sold out), not even close, they would give exact numbers but they had more cancels than purchased the last couple of weeks.
Back to the main topic. We all agreed the Dark Zone PVP was garbage, except "Kenny". Kenny was young, wearing a typical Seattle mophead wool beanie and hoody, the exact stereotype of person you think about posting insane crap on the internet, and said this to his face, everyone got a laugh, he likes the current PVP in the DZ because he can do one thing regular agents cant, and that is fire first from behind.
SO we discussed that one aspect, the gank from behind and we made "Kenny" our whipping dog, him smiling the whole time. Kenny stated that the ability to gank first, to fire from behind was crucial to him buying the game. The mechanic is perfect for his type of play as he only likes PVP and said he wouldnt likely play the game. Keep in mind the language and schooling were not on par with what one would think a person should use during conversation, so I embelish sane words and punctuation as most of the kids vocabulary was "cool" and "brah" and some lesser potty mouth language he obviously thought was a norm so that you the reader understand.
Anyway, so we had 5 folks, including a clerk in on the conversation. No one was opposed at all to PVP in the DZ, the problem lay with the less educated developers choices on why they would implement a system like they did. We brought up controversy to gain exposure......seemed like a good call, then we hashed around the bad word of mouth, so that is a 50/50 bet on whether the coverage would result in more sales. We wont know until Ubisoft releases numbers.
We talked about the first strike gank ability verse the gamer that wants to play the game and remain in character, and Agent verse the Rogue. The Rogue is in a win win at al times, the Agent is not. The agent cant clear a DZ extraction to rpovide safety without going rogue, a penalty, the Agent cannot help friends hunt down a know ganker without going rogue, a penalty. The Agent cannot clear a group or player following to ensure their safety, knowing the other player by either name or simply actions is going to kill them without going rogue, yet another penalty.
The Rogue on the other hand is not worried about game lore, does not care about being an agent, no penalty. The Rogue can pick and choose their engagement scenario, no penalty. The Rogue can kill and extract on the spot if at an extraction point, no penalty. The Rogue can kill faster as they get first strike capability and in most scenarios will win, no penalty. The Rogue knows most agents will not shoot first, no penalty. The Rogue has a timer..........a timer.........a timer and if they kill enough, an icon that shows up on the map, a nearly non existent penatly for achieving the ability to claim alot of agent lives.
We agreed the first gank mentality that brought in a bunch of gamers like "Kenny", he laughed at this and grinned ear to ear. We agreed the developers need to come up with something different because the DZ will not survive on its own with the current mechanics. Only one side profits, and that side ruins th game for alot of folks, seeing that money is Ubisofts main goal.
We came to a consensus and I asked "Kenny"what he would do when the DZ was empty? He said he would move back to his regular games or wait for another to come along. He laughed about being a **** but said he pays money too so the fun should be his and how he chooses. We laughed at that and after nearly 90 minutes we said our goodbyes and the two that were there to buy the pre-order game still did, though they said they wouldn't use the DZ until it got "Fixed"
So what do we see? Rogues were a nifty idea, poorly executed by heads in the sky developers. No idea goes unpunished, and word of mouth and posts have indeed hurt the game sales.
The first gank ability the developers created made a rift between those that want to play the lore and play as an agent, its called immersion, and the small amount of players simply there in the DZ to gank and grab loot, that could care less about game mechanics and game lore as long as they get their gank fix. Thats the biggest gripe we all had during that convo.
I suggested this "repair" to the DZ very early on and many players have posted the idea as their own. So I will retype it, and claim the idea as it makes the most sense among the hundreds already out there.
Make the gank community a target. Give them the ability to choose a faction and run around being little monsters like they want and let the agents and them fight to their hearts content. No more free ganking, the lore stays fixed, there is draw for both sides, missions make more sense, even in pvp form.........again, why this wasn't done is beyond me.
Some stupid *** developer thought ganking would bring in large crowds, they were wrong. The idea above, is the way to fix the DZ, still let the gankers try and gank though they will have a harder time but they will have tons of perks. unique weapons, no nametags, the ability to draw on npcs for support or simply blend into npcs, plus, if the developers pulled their heads out of their nether regions the little animals could gain something like elite status becoming more powerful until they became a boss like player and then like the "rogue hunts" the agents have to kill the big sob, hell make it a mobile raid. of course, power being lost on death but the rewards for both sides?.....that's for the silly developers with no common sense to decide.
Yes I love bashing these developers because their idea and execution of the DZ simply sucks.