Im more of a PVE player, and I started to gear up late, so most players in the DZ have an advantage over me. But nevertheless, it IS possible for anyone to get to Rank 50, earn a load of DZ currency and buy the recipes. Here are a few tips that helped me get to DZ rank 50 solo.
Trust no one.
If there are 2-4 people at the extraction point, run away and come back later. NEVER, EVER trust a squad of 4 players. Squads attack solo players 95% of the time in my experience. Once someone has helped you out a few times, its probably safe to assume they are credible. But NEVER take your eye of another player unless you know them personally.
Extract carefully
Overcome the urge to run to the nearest Extraction Point when you get good loot. Be patient, pick a good EP, and pick your moment. Preferably head to a lower DZ rather than a closer higher DZ. Dont take risks out of panic when youve got shinnies in your bag.
Use your VOIP
When people hear a voice, they are more likely to treat you like a real human being. True, some people will be backstabbing ****s, but some people will be grateful for a friendly face in the DZ, and another gun watching their back during extraction. Say hi to people, tell them you're just here to grind, and sometimes it will work out. Ive been ganked loads, but Ive also been REVIVED and SAVED by random acts of kindness from players Ive never met before.
Start in DZ01 and DZ002 until you find your feet.
Know your limits. Better geared players tend to gravitate towards higher DZ bosses. When you start out, dont head up to DZ06 and jockey with high levels over bosses. They will screw you.
Stack Scavenging.
High End drops are rare, and in DZ1 and DZ2 I barely saw them. I did manage to get Midas with 98% scavenging on my gear.
Explore
Try and unlock all the safe houses and Checkpoints. Sometimes you wont be able to reach a vendor because of ganking, but if youve unlocked it,, and you die, sometimes you can respawn into it if you log out or die.
Get good advice
Go on youtube and watch some vids on the DZ and builds that will help you. There are some basic skills talents and stats you need to survive. Learn from the experts.
The first rule of gunfighting is..
If you're going to a gun fight bring a gun. Preferably a BIG gun, and if you're going, bring ALL YOUR friends with guns. Strength in numbers.
Accept that you will get ganked
Be philosophical about being ganked and losing loot. Its only YOUR loot when its on the chopper. Its like poker, its only your money when youve cashed in your chips.
Know when to quit.
One night there was a high gear player and two hackers camping DZ01. I left and got a coffee. 15 mins later they were gone. If you cant win, leave.
Dont be a hypocrite
Karma is a *****. Live by the rules you want applied to you. Dont gank lowbies in the DZ and then complain on the forums when you get your *** kicked. If you start a ganking war expect to be on the receiving end.
The DZ is a rough place, thats why its fun. Know what youre getting into and accept you will get ganked, have loot stolen, and get gang banged by 15 npcs. Nevertheless, its exciting, and there is lots of loot to be had. I see a lot of people on the forums raging on the forums about the DZ, people who COULD be enjoying it if they did it right. So break yourself in gently and accept its not an easy ticket. Happy hunting.
PS to all you high geared guys out there who sometimes camp the DZ01 entrances.... if you like the Dark Zone, and you dont want to see it nerfed, you need to stop that ****. Everytime a new player enters the DZ and gets buttslammed by a group of 300k dps rogues, they likely wont come back. They will also likely head to the forums to say the DZ is broken. Keep doing that nonsense and eventually Ubi will turn the DZ into a carebear zone. Its up to you.
May I post my somewhat alternative view here? No? I'll post it anyway
True. BUT! The higher the number of the DZ zone the more friendlier other players are.Trust no one.
If you're in group - never wait for extraction too close to each other - all four of you can be downed by a high-yield sticky bomb.
When the extraction arrives - don't dash to the rope. Let the two of you make an extraction then switch places. There is plenty of time. Even if some other agent occupied your place by the rope - just have patience. After this extraction is completed, call in for another helicopter.
If there are some other players around you - always hit survivor link when you extract. This habit helped me to secure my loot under fire from 4 sides at once. Twice.
If you're alone - just run away and come back when there's no one around.
Not true, actually higher DZ is safer. Of course there are lvl32 mobs there, but no rogues. Well, at least not as many as in DZ01-04.Preferably head to a lower DZ rather than a closer higher DZ.
Actually start with Challenging missions. When you feel that you're ok with lvl32 enemies - start right from DZ06. You'll find it less populated (actually there are times when you can walk in there for ten minutes and not see a single mob - they're quickly picked by others). You'll find that other agents are more friendly there and virtually no rogues whatsoever. When you gear up you can try rogue hunting in DZ01-04.Start in DZ01 and DZ002 until you find your feet.
True. Be at peace with knowledge that everything you have in your DZ container, also your DZ keys, your current DZ exp can be gone within the next couple of minutes. Simply accept this risk.Accept that you will get ganked... Know when to quit.
Don't get overcome with remorse and lust for revenge. If you get killed by a rogue - don't go after them. This is the most difficult part - most probably you'll be killed once more. Simply move on and forget about the incident. This is a video game, not a real life. You fight with non-existtnt bullets over non-existent stuff.
True. Help others, even if they backstabbed you.Karma is a *****.
I couldn't agree more with the OP
I've been playing since release day and I've cleared the PVE zone of everything, just daily missions and DZ left and I'm less and less inclined to go to the DZ which is sad.
I'm a moral guy and just don't have it in me to screw people over, I wouldn't enjoy it but clearly I'm in a minority. Yesterday evening in DZ 1 there were a group of four players, all DZ ranked 51 and geared with god knows what cause they appeared to posses the ability to kill me with two shots, they were not interested in gear, I didn't have anything on me, they were there for the express reason of kicking puppies and acting like ******s.
Got killed, went back to the checkpoint, went back in got killed again 2 mins later by the same people and left, shut down the game and went and played another game. What was the point in carrying on at that point?
I have seen the future and it isn't the Dark Zone. People will come here and get treated like this and they won't bother, the DZ will become a deserted boring place filled only with people who exploited they're way to high end gear and have no morals at all, this is like playing World of tanks and taking out a tier 5 tank only to find a platoon of tier 10's have put themselves in your match.
It's a seal clubbers paradise and I for one would rather play a fun game, this isn't fun. Shame really, I massively enjoyed it up to this point.
I do not agree with this suggestion. Unless you have a team of friends that are willing to carry you through challenge mission, you will not be able to stand your ground in those missions with your fresh-to-hit 30 gear. Situation might be different if this character is not your first and you can send him lvl30 crafted gear that does not require DZ rank 30 to wear. If you are solo player and this is your first character to 30, you should first farm DZ01 and DZ02 to get rank 30 and the associated specialized gear from vendors. I personally leveled my character to lvl28/29 and than grinded DZ until I got rank 30. I can only assume this will be even more important now when most of people are already 30 because you will avoid ganking and overcrowded low DZ areas in low DZ brackets at lvl30.Originally Posted by uktorq Go to original post
I also have all but single piece of my gear HE item level 31 and I can not go face to face with most lvl32 elites. Purple lvl32 patrols are easy but if I underestimate them or get jump, things can get hairy. Elite lvl32 enemies are no joke when you are solo regardless of your gear level. Elite shotgun charge will very quickly smack you back to safe house or checkpoint if you let it jump you. Named bosses hit like trucks and most grenades are 1-hko kills for non-tank characters.
Most importantly, if you are after DZ ranks. You should stick to DZ01 and DZ02 areas. Find yourself a team or friendly player, run efficient rout and kill every NPC in sight. Do not rush after bosses only, you need DZ experience, which means purple lvl30 patrol is great source of easy experience even if it does not drop purples or Phoenix credits. The difference between experience gains from lvl30 enemies and lvl32 enemies is negligible. This rule was super important before patch 1.02, which drastically reduced penalties for dieing. Original penalties were very drastic even if you died in PvE to NPCs. Losing 1 whole DZ rank or even more because you overstretched yourself and went to DZ06 was simply not worth it. DZ01 and DZ02 is the way to get to rank 50 fast.
I did it, after all, and I'm far from being good in this game. I started challenging missions just as soon I hit 30 lvl and even though it was extremely difficult at first, this is certainly doable. I had no team, I just teamed up with whoever was available through matchmaking. At some times we were all 'green' with no gear and experience but nevertheless we tried, died and tried again. At some other times I teamed up with geared guys who carried us through the mission more or less intact. Now I run 6-10 Lexington centers a day and sometimes help other lvl30 'rookies' through it. When I finally went into DZ06 with rank 6 it appeared that I became instantly overpowered because it seemed sooo easy as compared to challenging mode. Never seriously bothered with DZ till I hit lvl30.Originally Posted by TGxBaronO1 Go to original post
Believe it or not, but all my gear at the point I got lvl 30 was NOT from the DZ. And the first golden gear I got was from challenging missions. Went up from DZR6 to DZR54 within a week - all in DZ05-06. And I only have 1 character.If you are solo player and this is your first character to 30, you should first farm DZ01 and DZ02 to get rank 30 and the associated specialized gear from vendors. I
That is fine Uktorq but it would be much easier for a solo player and also would not require you to be piggy-back riding through challenge missions. You can also meet a group of people that will kick you from their group if they realize you are poorly geared freshman. It can absolutely be done but there are easier ways to do it. If you need to spend hour or so in a challenge missions, you might be better of in DZ farming 01 and 02 areas for more purples that you can equip or turn into crafting materials that you will use to get your HE gear.
Also, I did DZ rank 1 to 30 within 10 to 12 hours in DZ01 on second day I started doing DZ. The amount of time needed to kill lvl30 packs in DZ01/02 is incomparable to DZ05/06 areas. I can literally wipe 5-man patrol in single clip of my Custom M44 or SA-58. You need same amount of ammunition to kill single mob in DZ06.
Ammo is free )) Speaking of which - the main reason I roam exclusively in DZ05-06 is because the game devs said that the best loot is in there. Speaking of which - does it really matter? Is the frequency of gold drops in higher dark zones any better?Originally Posted by TGxBaronO1 Go to original post
Originally Posted by LonigusEze Go to original post
I have to admit, the proximity based Voice comms on PC pretty awesome.
The very idea that people hear based on how close they are to you is great.
Very sorry to hear its not working on PS4 atm