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  1. #1

    The Division > The Division 2

    As someone who loves The Division, played a ton of both solo and group content, has many complete Classified 6pc sets, here is my impression of the beta. I played through all available content in the beta, and played the Invaded mission on all three specializations, both solo and in group.

    1. Graphics - I played on PC, with a 1080ti, and all settings maxed out. At best, graphics are same as TD1, but often TD2 looks worse. Perhaps the SnowDrop engine did better with a snowy environment with particle effects and fog? Maybe it's the gloomy environment of Manhattan in the winter? TD2 really doesn't look that impressive, and certainly not for a 2019 title. After recent games like God of War, AC Odyssey and RDR2, this looks like a huge step down in every way, from environment detail, foliage, lighting, shadows, to character models (hair, eyes, etc).
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    2. AI - This is an area where I see improvement. Enemies move smarter, seeking cover, maneuvering to flank you, working together to charge you from different sides, etc. This is an area where the focus should've been to increase the difficulty of the game in exchange of reduced health pools. Focus on making the AI act as closely to humans as possible, without the emphasis on tech and explosive usage that is way too excessive in this game (especially with Black Tusks).
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    3. Mods - While not having to manage a ton of mods in your inventory sounds like a good change, game feels like it lost some depth, which is never a positive in an RPG. The negative attributes on mods are also a terrible idea. It's better to tone down the positives than have any negatives. Player should never feel like adding a mod to their weapon is a downgrade. Also, more variety would be great, but perhaps that's available in the full game already.
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    4. Weapons - Overall not too bad, but I feel the snipers were really unnecessarily nerfed. First, being forced into zoom with 12x scopes is a massive nerf in half the encounters, especially group play where you don't really get to control the distance of engagement. Also, being forced out of scope on every shot is disorienting, unrealistic and unnecessary. Finally, bolt-actions without a mag take way too long to reload. 9 SECONDS to reload 6 rounds in M700?!?!?!? And why am I not able to interrupt the reload at any point to shoot?!?!? If I have to look at my character loading each round individually, then there is no reason why he can't raise the rifle at any moment to deal with the guy that just charged at him while he was performing the 9s reload.
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    5. Itemization and stats - Gear is not as exciting or unique anymore. Where are Firearms, Stamina and Electronics stats? Where are random weapon perks with stat requirements? You removed another layer of depth and customization of our characters. Where is the option of building a glass canon, a tank, or a tech user? Brand sets are a neat addition, but they are far inferior to Classified sets which complimented play styles, not just boosted stats. This is a loot based RPG, removing loot randomness and min-maxing is what killed Destiny 2. Learn from your competitors' mistakes.
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    6. Skills and "Classes" - I know that only 3 of the 8 skill types were available in the beta, but what was available felt very underwhelming. Healing drone is far inferior to healing box. Specialization skills feel worse than their alternatives. I didn't really notice much difference between the three "specializations" outside of their special weapons, which felt underpowered and ammo-starved. What made the biggest difference was the weapons in your inventory. Skill loadouts and specializations feel very underwhelming. Skill and perk loadouts in TD1 made a much bigger difference. Add to that Classified sets and min-maxing of Fire/Stam/Ele, and you had very customizable and unique builds in TD1. You could build a tank, a healer, a turret "mage", a sniper glass canon, a "melee" shotgun striker, etc. You had a great system... why did you ruin it?
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    7. End-game - Combined with loss of customization and build identity, the new enemies are not fun to play against. Being spammed by drones, turret "dogs", grenades, grenade launchers, being burned/electrocuted, etc, while having much lower survivability and long cast heal that cannot be used on the move... is a recipe for a frustrating experience, especially when playing solo. Group play yields better rewards, yet is easier. That's wrong. I'd rather have TD1 "bullet sponges" than this.


    I feel you have some fundamental design problems with the game. TD1 v1.8 is a solid game. You already have many systems that work great, do not discard them so easily, or you risk the same negative first-impression that TD1 made. Most people who leave the game with a bad impression at start never come back regardless of fixes you make. Do not make the same mistake as Destiny 2. IMHO, push back the release date and fix the game.

    My 2c. Thanks for reading.
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  2. #2
    Personally I think everything in D2 is better than D1 except the atmosphere and as a result the graphics. The snow helped mask the less than stellar textures and complimented the ground clutter in the first game. Everything is a bit more grainy as a result in D2 and is covered in an obnoxious yellow-white fog in its place. Mechanically speaking D2 feels better in most regards, but I do think it looks worse. I think they could still make due with the summer theme, but they need to shift the concept over from rebuilding to post apocalypse. Theres no contamination, no body bags, the gangs are all too organized and professional.
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  3. #3
    Too early to say, especially based off of a small taste of a beta. Though I do wonder if D2 will feel as nice as running Lexington solo on Challenging with my Lightweight M4 / House equipped Striker in D1. I did have a blast playing the beta story missions on Hard even with no audio, so I have hope.
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  4. #4
    I agree with you, I think they should postpone a little game, fix things and launch. I also prefer a lot of D1 things in particular the mods and I really missed the link and not that signature weapon
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  5. #5
    I found myself often shutting down D2 to play D1.

    Unfortunately, I agree with all of your concerns.

    I haven't been able to capture that intense, fast paced almost 'speedrun' play of D1 solo/group missions. Running around with the House, dodging death last second, healing and jumping right back into the action within seconds. With D2 I feel like that fast paced play is discouraged with the static healing, high difficulty missions becoming too much of a cover shooter.

    I used the crossbow and I don't know if i'm misusing it but multiple shots to a yellow unnamed enemy didn't even kill them!!! I assumed with the limited ammunition, 1 bow would take out an enemy (thinking of the explosive crossbow from Gears Of War). It currently feels useless, and in essence has removed a pivotal part of the game; Ultimates.

    It'd be nice if we could use an 'emergency heal' that would perhaps heal 20% of your armor instantly rather than sit back and wait for skills to heal you slowly or stand completely still while replacing armour. The problem is when getting shot at there's no way to stay alive in a tight spot like you could in D1. The pace of the game has been slowed down so much now, discouraging intense, close combat play and encouraging safer, distance play. This kills the fun.
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  6. #6
    Originally Posted by Raimsurion Go to original post
    Personally I think everything in D2 is better than D1
    Care to elaborate? I explained each of my points why I think TD2 does it worse.
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  7. #7
    nacnaz's Avatar Junior Member
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    Nov 2016
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    When they said they wanted players to be more thoughtful/tactical rather than just facetank everything I thought it was gonna be great. Slower heal, slower movement, less survivability, lower TTK....all sounded good to me. It seemed like a very smart yet counterintuitive approach - speed up the flow of the game by slowing it down. Low TTK/TTBK meant many quick interactions that can be achieved through a slower, more deliberate means. I imagined a game where you could in fact spend several seconds safely reloading a bolt action (I didn’t think of that example specifically but if you’d have told me that was the case, it would’ve fit what I envisioned).

    I think it’s clear now they were talking about coordinated groups, running two damage guys, a healer, and a sniper - at least from the footage I’ve seen. Tactful groups seem to be having a blast. But as a mostly-solo console player? That is not the experience whatsoever. I’m either just running from cover to cover on the verge of death while popping off shots in the windows available and hoping I don’t die, or I’m hanging way back and cheesing the AI - either way it’s a slog, either from being constantly over-encumbered in the first scenario, or bored in the second.
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  8. #8
    I think alot improved. They have more work to do yes but they are heading in good direction. The problem is: if they stop improving now as it's only half way well done, then it will be a waste. I just hope they keep pushing forward after release. If that means to get better, I'll be happy to refarm my stuff over and over again
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  9. #9
    This !!! Bump...
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  10. #10
    Bambihunter1971's Avatar Senior Member
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    It is hard to compare TD1 where I have over 2k hours in, to my maybe 8 hours in the beta (had to go out of town unfortunately). So, things seem so instinctive to me in TD1 that I want to think TD2 is overly complicated but I probably felt the same with TD1 (in between crashes) when it came out.

    I don't mind the concept of mods having a plus and minus concept, but the + should outweigh the -. Something like +15% CHD, and -7% accuracy. I ended up taking off my VX-12 scope after realizing there was no ADS view available. That change surprised me. Especially considering in reality such an option exists in the real world with open / raised scope mounts and canted open sights.

    I found it hard to figure out what to do next much of the time.

    The NPC's did show an improved flanking tactic which I can appreciate. I am with you thinking that at least for solo, the drone and grenade spam got old quick. I am not exaggerating when I say on the end-game mission, I spent 2 minutes straight never firing at the actual NPC enemy, just dodging grenades and shooting down drones. I finally had to pull back into a hallway. I actually found that to be a preferred tactic a lot. Move forward, draw aggro, then fall back to choke point to clean house.

    The characters movement just seemed 'off'. I don't really have a better description... Just off...

    The reloads did seem slow for a magazine fed rifle. I have always been puzzled why many games once you start a reload on 'one at a time' weapons that you can't stop in the middle and use it like you can in real life.

    One other annoyance for me which will probably be less so the more I play was foliage. A lot of areas with knee-high foliage could not be ran through and since we couldn't jump, we were out of luck.


    Overall, I think TD2 will be a good game. I have yet not decided whether I will degrade my pre-order since they pulled that BS stunt with the stash space but I am going to play it for sure.
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