Hi all,
I wanted to share my experience as a primarily solo player coming from playing legendaries solo on Division 1 and playing on a high-end PC connected to an OLED with HDR capabilities and a full Atmos home theater system.
Audio
-Atmos Support: First off, thank you! I didn't see this listed previously and it was really appreciated. Atmos really adds to the immersive quality of Division 2 and the effects were done very well. Pulling the trigger on sniper rifles rifles has been very satisfying!
-Soundtrack: Love the background music that kicks in during combat. The synth-heavy tracks are vaguely reminiscent of classic 80s-90s titles (in a good way) and enhance boss fights.
-Glitches: First missions's named boss has an audio glitch where sound effects just cut out and sound tinny. It continued every time a weapon was fired until he was killed.
-Hardware: I had no issues (except for the constant connection problems that were patched) during gameplay and was able to max all settings on a 1080ti and Intel 6850k with 16gb of RAM.
Aesthetics
-HDR: Also a welcomed addition! It took some fine-tuning, but the game looks amazing. Lighting and textures were great and I spent a lot of time just exploring the open world and space within missions. A huge leap forward from Division 1.
-Static Images: A complaint with D1 I have is that some status icons (like Nomad status) won't hide, which is a concern with OLED. I didn't see anything like this in D2, except for the "Private Beta" label on the left. Hopefully there won't be any permanent icons like in D1 as gear is added.
-Menu: For some reason, opening settings while in game would cause the menu to freeze and lag.
-Environment: I loved the new 'feel' of the environment. It reminded me of my army days on the MOUT ranges of Fort Bragg. Jungle/swamp surround an empty urban landscape. It made the open world really fun to explore. That said, I've visited DC a few times and I didn't feel like any monument or point of reference reminded me of DC. I lived in Manhattan for ~4years and D1 constantly reminds me of being in NYC again. Using the Post Office as a base of operations in D1 was awesome because I've been there a lot and it grounded the experience. I've never explored the White House, so it made it difficult to have that same feeling in D2. When I think of DC, I think the museums, the monuments and the train station are the first thing I think of. Hoping the full game captures that essence in the campaign.
Solo Play
-Do Not Disturb: As a solo player that's primarily in it for the story and exploration, the "Call for Help" notifications were super annoying. I wish these could be muted. I also had a friend join my game and play my map while I was offline without me approving an invite. This actually made me angry and I almost deleted my character to start over since a side mission disappeared. I did notice there are multiple social settings, so I adjusted these to lower permissions for invites, but someone shouldn't be allowed to just jump into my game. ...and when I log out, they definitely shouldn't be able to play my map and prevent me from seeing story elements. This would be a dealbreaker for me if it doesn't change.
-Healing: Playing against the Black Tusks solo was challenging, but not impossible. (Worst part was the connection errors that made me start over, so I couldn't finish the mission...but, got as far as the final named boss before my final disconnect.) The Survivalist Specialization seems like it'll be the new Nomad and a necessity for solo players. ...but, solo players should have access to instant armor repair. It's just impossible to survive a Black Tusk onslaught with multiple bombing drones, an enemy manning the stationary weapon (which doesn't accept headshots...but that's a possible glitch), one hit melee kills, grenades, shock ammo/grenades that last WAY too long, a healer and a healing drone reviving downed enemies that you just shot. I think this can also be mitigated if extended magazines add more ammo or reload time is cut for solo players, but as-is...it just takes to long to heal, reload and aim with a marksman rifle for solo players.
-Gear Sets: I like that gear sets are accessible early into the game and add strategy.
-Mods: I also like that mods are universal and once I crafted a scope, I didn't have to balance my storage space just to keep an extra scope for a spare weapon. The rewards/penalties could use some tweaking, though. For example, a mod that improves accuracy is useless if it reduces damage output. (Negative far outweighs the positive gains in many cases.)
-Weapons: Similar to mods, these could use some tweaking. It was surprising to see the M4 family of rifles go from being the best weapons in D1 to the worst in D2. ...while there was a House replacement. The Rifle class definitely needs to be adjusted. ...these were fine until I got my first Marksman rifle then I never used them again. Single fire weapons need high damage output, but many of the rifles had lower damage than weapons with the highest RPMs in the game. Rifles should be more like no scope versions of marksman rifles. ...so, lower RPM than assault rifles and lower damage than marksman rifles, but a balance between both.and magazine capacity of an assault rifle. Maybe even make the M4 family of rifles 3 round burst...like real life?
-Slower Gameplay: It appears devs have actively slowed gamplay down to emphasize cover and tactics. I don't mind this... The only concern I have with the longer healing, reload, protected weak points like rushing enemies wearing armored helmets, etc. times is that it can make solo end game play very difficult.
-PvP / Co-Op: I don't care. Seriously. Will never care.
-Campaign: So far, the story has been great and the recruiting and tertiary base dynamic is interesting. I also like that there are so many random loot crates around with awesome cache rooms to unlock when taking over a checkpoint.
-Solo Rewards: Please reward solo play. Solo play was severely penalized in D1. Would like to see achievements for solo players. ...maybe even a special buffed solo-only class that locks out group play. In real life, the best toys only go to smaller specialized units, not larger groups.