Hey, I'm a long time Ghost Recon (GR) fan, and new to the Division. I have a few questions I'm hoping you can help me with after playing a few hours of the trial... (I've now bought the Ultimate edition on a super discount)
- Can weapons like the Mk17 be found in specific locations early in the game, or do I need to wait for one to drop from an enemy?
- How do you give your weapon a custom paint job?
- I want to stick with my preferred weapon (MK 17) for a good part of the game... how do I level it up? Do I need a blueprint? Or do I have to wait to find a higher level one as an RNG drop? Where do I find blueprints?
- Does enemy difficulty scale with your XP level or gear level? Or what's the relationship between enemy difficulty, gear level and XP level?
- Related to the question above, is there a benefit to levelling up as quickly as possible, e.g. by unlocking XP perks? Or is it just a vicious circle in that regard?
(I ask this because I generally like to take my time levelling in games and don't want to rush to the level cap, but if there's some significant benefits to doing that, I will)
- I like to Aim Down Sights in GR, and I see that you can only do that with the ACOG or higher power optics in this game. As a result, I'm thinking of trying to open up the Optics perk as early as possible to do this. Is that a good idea or a mistake for some reason? Is there anything I should know about using the ACOG and ADS in this game that might not be obvious?
- While I'm pouring through online guides for tips - do you have any good advice for a new player on how to get the most out of the game?
1- random drop
2 - some are rewards, some are drops of mode hidden crates, others are from the apparel caches you can get keys while levelling up.
3- you simply have to find another, some weapons have blueprint that lets you craft a new version, but it's stats will be RNG only that it will be scaled to your level, can't remember if the MK.17 has a blueprint or not, most blueprints come from sidemissions or rewards
4- at first it will be zone based, higher level enemies will drop higher level loot, after reaching the lv cap you will instead go to gear score that will scale with your level and the higher difficulty options will drop better loot.
5- honestly you shouldn't care about that, enjoy the game at your pace
6- as you appear to know, you can only fully aim down scopes that have higher magnification values, honestly it's your personal preference, if you can hit your shots no one will know or care about how you aim
7- Honestly first time playing is better to just take things at your pace and no need to rush or worry about anything, if you get better gear, just slap it in. Don't need to worry about builds that much until you reach max level cap where builds and others start mattering
- Can weapons like the Mk17 be found in specific locations early in the game, or do I need to wait for one to drop from an enemy?
Random drop
You could improve your chances by farming Rifles targeted loot areas (open map, press R)
- How do you give your weapon a custom paint job?
Select an item, press F, choose related mod slot, select painting
- I want to stick with my preferred weapon (MK 17) for a good part of the game... how do I level it up? Do I need a blueprint? Or do I have to wait to find a higher level one as an RNG drop? Where do I find blueprints?
Items can't be upgraded here, so you will need to find a better version (higher lvl) of an item
- Does enemy difficulty scale with your XP level or gear level? Or what's the relationship between enemy difficulty, gear level and XP level?
Scale with your level and chosen difficulty
- Related to the question above, is there a benefit to levelling up as quickly as possible, e.g. by unlocking XP perks? Or is it just a vicious circle in that regard?
I'd say there is completely no benefit in slow leveling. So yeah, level up asap and enjoy your lvl 40 loot
- I like to Aim Down Sights in GR, and I see that you can only do that with the ACOG or higher power optics in this game. As a result, I'm thinking of trying to open up the Optics perk as early as possible to do this. Is that a good idea or a mistake for some reason? Is there anything I should know about using the ACOG and ADS in this game that might not be obvious?
Not played GR too much but I think this is different games.
Here you can't oneshot anyone, even with crit and headshot. Yes there is some specific builds that works in some specific conditions, but generally all monsters here - are bullet sponges.
- While I'm pouring through online guides for tips - do you have any good advice for a new player on how to get the most out of the game>
Yes, I have one: enjoy from your game time.
Pretty soon all "new stuff" will be expired and passed for you and all you will have - just grind of the same stuff.
Division 1 and 2 are looter-shooter games. As such, almost every piece of gear will be randomly dropped by enemies, or by end-of-mission rewards. The only sure-fire way to get a specific piece of gear is to craft it, and even then the attributes on it will be random.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
Weapon skins are found randomly throughout the game, or purchased on the cash shop.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
You'll have to find a better one as a drop as you play. Once you hit max level you can upgrade your weapon through the optimization station and recalibration station. I highly recommend you watch some youtube videos about how to use them.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
They increase with the level of each zone until you hit level 40. Then you can choose to set the world difficulty after that.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
It's important to note that while leveling, zones and main missions have set levels. But secondary missions scale to your own current level.
Leveling faster can make main story missions and zones a bit easier. But that's about it. Don't worry, as long as you're collecting everything you'll have more that enough perk points to unlock everything LONG before you reach the level cap. So just play at whatever pace you enjoy most.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
The only thing that might matter is that each scope not only has a different level of zoom, but also has an attribute that it modifies. A 4x scope might also modify weapon stability or accuracy. You should consider carefully which one you use.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
The biggest tip is to listen to build advice and playstyle advice, but ultimately come to your own conclusions. Play how YOU enjoy, not how someone else tells you is "best".Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
Lots of good advice thus far, but I'd also suggest you be open to experimenting with different weapons and gear. The game is built around that, especially once you reach max level cap.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
Hello there, Chris!! I certainly know you from the Ghost Recon forum, as you are one of my favorite regulars there. It is good to see that you're giving Division 2 a try, and I hope you like it.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
There are so many great people here at the Division 2 forum, and I see that pretty much all of your questions have been answered. One thing I did want to mention about the Mk17 rifle (and other gear too) is to check the vendors each week to see what they have for sale. They reset every Tuesday.
Haha... I was wondering if any of the folks from that forum are also over here... good to see you here!Originally Posted by GhostAgent14 Go to original post
And everyone... thanks for the great advice. This is all super helpful.
As you know, but others may not, is that the latest Ghost Recon game (Breakpoint) copied a lot of the looter shooter mechanics from the Division, so I'm somewhat familiar with how it works. However, you could ultimately ignore a lot of it and they later made it so you could turn off the RNG loot altogether. One aspect GR has that is much different is being able to one-shot (headshot) enemies in that game. This is obviously very different and more spongy.
The other interesting aspect in Breakpoint was that if you levelled your gear up from say 10 to 20, then the enemies levels went from 10 to 20, so you never really got any more powerful and enemies were always just as difficult. It was a pointless grind really. Playing at a Gear Score of 10 was no different than at 250 although your legendary gear at higher levels might have +30 range vs +10... at the end of the day, these buffs were not that important... it was more important that you could aim quickly and accurately. Player skill was way more important than gear buffs.
I gather it works pretty much the same here? Although I'm guessing buffs on higher level gear are more important as I see some advice say levelling up faster is better - makes it easier?
Sort of. Brand bonuses are always-on, similar to the perks in Breakpoints gearscore mode. They play a big part in how strong you are earlier in the game. Talents are more situational and become important later in the game. Combining talents so they synergize well is key in the endgame.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
Division is more of an RPG, but being able to aim and use cover and learn how enemies work is also VERY important. A lot of people think gear is everything in this game. It isn't. That's why you see people complain that the game is too hard even when they have the "best" gear: They never learned how to get good at playing and expected the gear to be everything.Originally Posted by Virtual-Chris Go to original post
Enemies can be spongy, and that's where both aim AND gear is important. If you're shooting their head they'll take more damage. If your gear is fully optimized and your aim is good, more bullets will connect and the enemy will die faster. Or.....if your gear and aim is bad, it will take forever.
I will say that it's VERY rare to one-shot enemies unless you're playing on a very low difficulty setting. There are some MMR builds that can do it using a particular talent that multiplies damage based on chaining headshots. But that's the only thing I can think of. But with good aim and a solid build, you should be able to drop 2-3 enemies per mag....less if they're all veterans or elites.
Coming from GR, you're going to prefer full DPS/Red builds to limit the sponge.
Since you won't have any exotics or the SHD perks, the first solid option is a (3)Providence + Ceska + Grupo + Overlord [ideally Fox's Prayer, named Kneepads]. Also look for Walker & Harris pieces. Crit and Headshot will be the attributes to favor. Though, on the climb to level 30 [and then 40 for WONY], just focus more on increasing Damage and a little less about Brand or Attributes unless it's close. I would recommend the perk to boost XP, as you'll want to get to 30 as fast as you can.
Glass Cannon [Chest] will give you the closest approximation to Ghost Recon. Once you unlock the Technician Specialization, you can consider Spotter if you don't like being so fragile. Headhunter is what you'll want if you're focused on sniping. If you want to boost survival while learning, Unbreakable is you friend.
Vigilance is the first backpack to consider. If you find yourself liking Snipers [and shotguns], Opportunist should be considered. Once you find Memento [Exotic Backpack], I would rock that.
Blueprints are earned by completing Control Points at level 3 or 4, this is how you unlock attachments.