The Division: Worth It Now?

[soren7550]

Hey, remember The Division? Came out around a year ago, had a lot of hype leading up to the release, apparently didn't live up to said hype?

Yeah, my birthday is coming up in a week or so, and I remember thinking the beta for it was pretty alright (at the very least, I really loved how it looked, and the idea behind the whole thing), so I was wondering if it would be worth it to pick it up pre owned. I've heard that much like Destiny, it's gotten a lot of fixes/updates/new content that really improves upon the release version.

Also, is a XBL Gold/PS Plus membership required to play it, or just an internet connection?

 

[Saelune]

I mean, its not that it is a horrible game, it just is not as great as it was hyped up to be and can be rather tedious at times. I do recommend finding others to play with though, it is better co-op.

I would imagine you could play it without online, but then you would not have online function and not be able to go into the PvP area.

 

[Ryotknife]

i thoroughly enjoyed it, but i also play with friends. For me, it had some of the most intense firefights ive ever had against AI opponents in a first person shooter. That is not to say the AI is incredible, its actually rather simplistic, but whereas the individual AI classes are simple, they do work enough together that when combined with their damag sponge will require you to utilize tactics. Its the only shooter i can think of where 3 guys armed with machine guns and the latest tech in a fortified position at the end of a hallway will shit their pants in terror at the sight of 7 guys in hoodies armed with golf clubs. Unrealistic to be sure, but challenging never the less. A single shotgunner can and will rip through your whole team, causing you to preplan if a wave of shotgunners come after you.

This is all late game stuff though. While you are leveling up the game is easy enough. Ill go through some features next.

The underground, first expansion. Basically procedural created dungeons that give loot. Nothing exciting really, but does give a lot of loot.

Survival, second expansion. I love this mode. You and 20 some people are dropped onto a server instance of the map in random locations (keep in mind its a massive map, you will likely only see a handful of players the entire time). You start with basically no gear and a pistol. you are infected so you need to find medicine to buy some more time, and its cold outside so you have to find warm clothes. there is a freezing gauge, the better your clothes the slower it empties. Going near fire or going inside warms you up. You can kill enemies for loot, but many players die early from biting off more than they can chew. You can either find loot from enemies or chests, or find crafting materials to make your own. When players die, you can loot their stuff (so long as you play pve mode, you cant attack each other till you get to the Dark Zone. Oftentimes, you have to run or hide from enemies. Most players dont make it. The objective is to get to the Dark Zone (which is pvp enabled, and has more difficult enemies) and summon a helicopter to extract. Most successful runs take anywhere from 45-80 minutes, although people have lasted 2 hours (medicine has diminishing returns and will stabilize you for less and less time)

havent played the last expansion, dont even know if its out.

Also, stay out of the (non survival) dark zone unless you know what you are doing or you like to be griefed.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can enjoy playing something like The Division or Destiny, they are both just grinds. What's the point of getting a nice gun and it being useless in a couple levels only to have to find a slightly better version of that nice gun again? You literally get something you enjoy playing with to only be stripped of that. The gameplay of The Division wasn't even good, it was an extremely sluggish version of Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon. It's even more sluggish than a Mass Effect game. Playing the beta made me feel like my actions didn't matter and only my stats did because of how poor the gameplay was coupled with how important stats were felt like the end result was merely basic math. The guns were horribly balanced as well, assault rifles had so much recoil that their increased bullet damage was useless in comparison to a SMG that you can just hold down the trigger into an enemy's head thereby doing more DPS. At least Destiny's gunplay is good.

I'm pretty sure PS+/Live would be required to play it.

 

[Ryotknife]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can enjoy playing something like The Division or Destiny, they are both just grinds. What's the point of getting a nice gun and it being useless in a couple levels only to have to find a slightly better version of that nice gun again? You literally get something you enjoy playing with to only be stripped of that.

thats....almost every game with RPG elements...

The gameplay of The Division wasn't even good, it was an extremely sluggish version of Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon. It's even more sluggish than a Mass Effect game. Playing the beta made me feel like my actions didn't matter and only my stats did because of how poor the gameplay was coupled with how important stats were felt like the end result was merely basic math. The guns were horribly balanced as well, assault rifles had so much recoil that their increased bullet damage was useless in comparison to a SMG that you can just hold down the trigger into an enemy's head thereby doing more DPS. At least Destiny's gunplay is good.

I'm pretty sure PS+/Live would be required to play it.

That was beta, now all weapon types are viable. SMGs are high damage output but spray like hell. Shotguns are close range and can stagger enemies, essentially stunning them for 2 seconds. Assault rifles are all rounders and deal increased damage to armor. Sniper rifles are sniper rifles. Machine guns can be outfitted with 200 round clips and have a decent spread capable of hitting enemies at long range, allowing you to supress multiple targets at once to reduce incoming damage to your team (also does more damage to targets out of cover, but thats meh), but increase risk to user because you are popping out of cover for long periods of time unloading.

there are about 15 different gear sets, all tooled towards different playstyle. One increases balistic shield capabilities and allows you to use it with an SMG, opening up a completely new playstyle if you dont like to fight behind cover. One turns your sniper rifle into a high damage semi automatic rifle, removing headshot damage but causing all hits to crit. one focuses on using fire as a weapon. One is a team utility, allowing you to buff allies with cooldowns. One allows you do basically combine two weapons into one (ie if you have two assault rifles equipped it will get the abilities from both at the same time)

There is no real grind anymore either. People complained that gear was too hard to get, so now you are showered with gear. Just doing a single successful survival mode will net you about....15-20 peices of gear i think.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can enjoy playing something like The Division or Destiny, they are both just grinds. What's the point of getting a nice gun and it being useless in a couple levels only to have to find a slightly better version of that nice gun again? You literally get something you enjoy playing with to only be stripped of that.

thats....almost every game with RPG elements...

The gameplay of The Division wasn't even good, it was an extremely sluggish version of Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon. It's even more sluggish than a Mass Effect game. Playing the beta made me feel like my actions didn't matter and only my stats did because of how poor the gameplay was coupled with how important stats were felt like the end result was merely basic math. The guns were horribly balanced as well, assault rifles had so much recoil that their increased bullet damage was useless in comparison to a SMG that you can just hold down the trigger into an enemy's head thereby doing more DPS. At least Destiny's gunplay is good.

I'm pretty sure PS+/Live would be required to play it.

That was beta, now all weapon types are viable. SMGs are high damage output but spray like hell. Shotguns are close range and can stagger enemies, essentially stunning them for 2 seconds. Assault rifles are all rounders and deal increased damage to armor. Sniper rifles are sniper rifles. Machine guns can be outfitted with 200 round clips and have a decent spread capable of hitting enemies at long range, allowing you to supress multiple targets at once to reduce incoming damage to your team (also does more damage to targets out of cover, but thats meh), but increase risk to user because you are popping out of cover for long periods of time unloading.

there are about 15 different gear sets, all tooled towards different playstyle. One increases balistic shield capabilities and allows you to use it with an SMG, opening up a completely new playstyle if you dont like to fight behind cover. One turns your sniper rifle into a high damage semi automatic rifle, removing headshot damage but causing all hits to crit. one focuses on using fire as a weapon. One is a team utility, allowing you to buff allies with cooldowns. One allows you do basically combine two weapons into one (ie if you have two assault rifles equipped it will get the abilities from both at the same time)

There is no real grind anymore either. People complained that gear was too hard to get, so now you are showered with gear. Just doing a single successful survival mode will net you about....15-20 peices of gear i think.

There's several RPGs not about constantly getting new weapons/gear. The Souls series, Mass Effect, Deus Ex, and even DnD. Having to constantly manage your inventory doesn't add to the core value of any game, thus it really shouldn't be there. You can merely just have character leveling increase damage output vs weapons. Games usually get better when removing elements and focusing on the core experience. Tons of multiplayer games are played and still played without need of constantly having players get more stuff, just creating damn good gameplay is all you need. Developers create systems to keep people playing instead of just creating great addictive gameplay.

The overall shooting mechanics and movement system in The Division was just bad. Even if they fixed a lot of other things, the core gameplay just wasn't very fun. It's not a good thing when Mass Effect is a better shooter. When The Division was revealed I was hoping it would play like Watch Dogs/Ghost Recon Future Soldier with regards to core gameplay. Then the co-op aspect would be like Mass Effect 3's MP but being missions in an open world vs just horde mode. The Division really ended up being nothing like that at all.

 

[Ryotknife]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can enjoy playing something like The Division or Destiny, they are both just grinds. What's the point of getting a nice gun and it being useless in a couple levels only to have to find a slightly better version of that nice gun again? You literally get something you enjoy playing with to only be stripped of that.

thats....almost every game with RPG elements...

The gameplay of The Division wasn't even good, it was an extremely sluggish version of Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon. It's even more sluggish than a Mass Effect game. Playing the beta made me feel like my actions didn't matter and only my stats did because of how poor the gameplay was coupled with how important stats were felt like the end result was merely basic math. The guns were horribly balanced as well, assault rifles had so much recoil that their increased bullet damage was useless in comparison to a SMG that you can just hold down the trigger into an enemy's head thereby doing more DPS. At least Destiny's gunplay is good.

I'm pretty sure PS+/Live would be required to play it.

That was beta, now all weapon types are viable. SMGs are high damage output but spray like hell. Shotguns are close range and can stagger enemies, essentially stunning them for 2 seconds. Assault rifles are all rounders and deal increased damage to armor. Sniper rifles are sniper rifles. Machine guns can be outfitted with 200 round clips and have a decent spread capable of hitting enemies at long range, allowing you to supress multiple targets at once to reduce incoming damage to your team (also does more damage to targets out of cover, but thats meh), but increase risk to user because you are popping out of cover for long periods of time unloading.

there are about 15 different gear sets, all tooled towards different playstyle. One increases balistic shield capabilities and allows you to use it with an SMG, opening up a completely new playstyle if you dont like to fight behind cover. One turns your sniper rifle into a high damage semi automatic rifle, removing headshot damage but causing all hits to crit. one focuses on using fire as a weapon. One is a team utility, allowing you to buff allies with cooldowns. One allows you do basically combine two weapons into one (ie if you have two assault rifles equipped it will get the abilities from both at the same time)

There is no real grind anymore either. People complained that gear was too hard to get, so now you are showered with gear. Just doing a single successful survival mode will net you about....15-20 peices of gear i think.

There's several RPGs not about constantly getting new weapons/gear. The Souls series, Mass Effect, Deus Ex, and even DnD. Having to constantly manage your inventory doesn't add to the core value of any game, thus it really shouldn't be there. You can merely just have character leveling increase damage output vs weapons. Games usually get better when removing elements and focusing on the core experience. Tons of multiplayer games are played and still played without need of constantly having players get more stuff, just creating damn good gameplay is all you need. Developers create systems to keep people playing instead of just creating great addictive gameplay.

The overall shooting mechanics and movement system in The Division was just bad. Even if they fixed a lot of other things, the core gameplay just wasn't very fun. It's not a good thing when Mass Effect is a better shooter. When The Division was revealed I was hoping it would play like Watch Dogs/Ghost Recon Future Soldier with regards to core gameplay. Then the co-op aspect would be like Mass Effect 3's MP but being missions in an open world vs just horde mode. The Division really ended up being nothing like that at all.

last time i checked, gear was very important in souls games, to the point where entire guides were made telling you how to easily find powerful weapons and armors. Even in Mass effect, you are finding new pieces of equipment and constantly upgrading. And no, mass effect was not a better shooter (Better story/characters though). You actually have to try to die in mass effect, whereas in division one mistake can get you destroyed. At no point in any mass effect game was i on the edge of my toes, unlike in the division.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

last time i checked, gear was very important in souls games, to the point where entire guides were made telling you how to easily find powerful weapons and armors. Even in Mass effect, you are finding new pieces of equipment and constantly upgrading. And no, mass effect was not a better shooter (Better story/characters though). You actually have to try to die in mass effect, whereas in division one mistake can get you destroyed. At no point in any mass effect game was i on the edge of my toes, unlike in the division.

In a Souls game, you don't get some great armor and then it becomes useless in a couple hours and you have to find Great Armor +1. I didn't play the 1st Mass Effect but in the sequels I only ever wore the gear that looked the best. Mass Effect is a better shooter just in regards to shooting mechanics and controls. One mistake in the ME3 multiplayer would get you killed. The Division had nothing like getting a clutch quick-scope headshot on a phantom that totally just saved 2 of your friends.

 

[Ryotknife]

last time i checked, gear was very important in souls games, to the point where entire guides were made telling you how to easily find powerful weapons and armors. Even in Mass effect, you are finding new pieces of equipment and constantly upgrading. And no, mass effect was not a better shooter (Better story/characters though). You actually have to try to die in mass effect, whereas in division one mistake can get you destroyed. At no point in any mass effect game was i on the edge of my toes, unlike in the division.

In a Souls game, you don't get some great armor and then it becomes useless in a couple hours and you have to find Great Armor +1. I didn't play the 1st Mass Effect but in the sequels I only ever wore the gear that looked the best. Mass Effect is a better shooter just in regards to shooting mechanics and controls. One mistake in the ME3 multiplayer would get you killed. The Division had nothing like getting a clutch quick-scope headshot on a phantom that totally just saved 2 of your friends.

people were charging the enemies as fast as they could in multiplayer and hardly ever gave a thought to cover, defense, or team tactics because everyone is an invincible god of bionic destruction. As for Division have nothing like a quick scope saving your teammates, how about:

-shooting a grenadier in the head, forcing him to drop his grenade before he throws it, causing him to not only scramble for cover and become an easy target for your team, but preventing him from causing your team to scramble out of cover (or get one shotted)

-snipers kill you in 1-2 hits, if you get in close they will pull a pistol or smg and stop sniping.

-A machine gunner pinning your team down. Shooting his ammo pack will stun him for 5 seconds and give your team a chance to kill him

-shooting roller mines that are about to destroy your team behind cover

-multiple enemies have weak points that not only can kill them, but if you time it right can send their team running for the hills for a few seconds.

-CCing a wave of shotgunners. Shotgunners are so dangerous that you will have to plan out your course of action beforehand or else your team will get slaughtered in seconds. To give you an idea, 3 of us were doing Warren Power plant on challenging mode, it took us a hour just to get past the first 10% of the map it was so difficult because we died over and over again to just a few of them. Those are not "bosses" they are regular enemies.

Im sorry, i playede ME3 multiplayer. It reminds me of Saints Row 4, where you are such an over powered badass that there are no enemies that can give even a remote challenge. This is coming from someone who loved SR 3. Let us not even get into ME 3 pay to win program. In none of the matches i played were we even remotely close to losing (and i was new), and this was at Gold I think. Meanwhile, me and my friend had survival matches were only 2 people (out of 24) managed to complete it. In fact, survival mode probably has a success rate of about 25%.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Im sorry, i playede ME3 multiplayer. It reminds me of Saints Row 4, where you are such an over powered badass that there are no enemies that can give even a remote challenge. This is coming from someone who loved SR 3. Let us not even get into ME 3 pay to win program. In none of the matches i played were we even remotely close to losing (and i was new), and this was at Gold I think. Meanwhile, me and my friend had survival matches were only 2 people (out of 24) managed to complete it. In fact, survival mode probably has a success rate of about 25%.

Gold on ME3 is pretty hard without a solid group. If it was easy on Gold, then you probably just joined Geth farming games, the Geth are decently easy overall though. From Bioware's own stats at the one year point I believe, "less than one per cent of all matches completed successfully were on the game's hardest difficulty, Gold". Then, they added a Platinum difficulty on top of that. What pay-to-win program? It doesn't take long to get the "good" guns unless they added even better guns since the last time I played which was quite a bit ago. I got the Carnifex and Widow pretty quickly, then it's just about getting them over and over again to bring down the weight, but that's not necessary. You can play a character that doesn't even need a gun really, I loved playing a melee build of the Geth Infiltrator. The only annoying thing for me was trying to get new characters, which weren't better than the normal characters, it's just that I wanted to try them out. I'm guessing the Salarian Infiltrator is still the best infiltrator and he was an original character. I'm not a fan of random packs in any game, I would prefer to spend the in-game money on the stuff I want vs the random factor. However, it was never pay-to-win in the time I played.

 

[votemarvel]

I enjoyed the Division. It controlled well, looked great, and had a decent story.

My big issue was that despite Ubisoft saying it could be played solo, they never really followed through with that because of the bullet sponge bosses. Add in that these sponges also spawn a seemingly endless number of minions and you end up with a tedious grind after a fun and challenging mission.

Plus perhaps it was my bad luck but I seemed to end up with the biggest bunch of idiots when I went into matchmaking. I'm not the greatest player in the world by any margin but even I know not to go running into enemy fire.