So here @TokyoGwB and I am, on Friday, playing through some of Tom Clancy's: The Division, when @Kenadian pops into our TS channel. Among other topics there were discussed, relative to Ken's physical state at the time, Ken asked if I had pre-ordered TC:TD2, or, if I was considering it. He postured that there were a lot of controversies surrounding Ubisoft and The Division 2 right now, and recommended not pre-ordering as the game looks to be a mess.
TLR
As it stands right now, I have NOT pre-ordered The Division 2, but I have entered for a chance to get into the Beta without pre-ordering, and haven't ruled out pre-ordering prior to the Beta period, though it certainly isn't a priority. It mostly will come down to where I sit, financially, at that moment. The game is set to release 15 March 2019, and if you'd like to sign-up for a chance to play the Beta WITHOUT purchasing, you can register here.
I spent a bit of time over the weekend digging into the matter, and I found this article on Kotaku - "Ubisoft Is Walking A Tightrope With The Division 2's Paid Extras" by Stephen Totilo.
Lets go over the facts first, and then I'll go into my take on things, and how it matters (or doesn't) to me.
I understand people being frustrated about "Early Access" to the game, whether on principle or on implementation and what effect it will have on Multiplayer. I get people feeling jipped that they have to pay extra for more "Stash" space. But these things don't bother me, personally. Just like the Battlefield V Beta. If I'm going to have access to it, I can wait a couple more days. I'm not going to feel completely jaded that I missed out on 3 days because I didn't have early access to the game's release, or it's DLC expansions. I used to play a lot of games on their release date, but I haven't done that in a long while now, and I'm just not bothered by that anymore. Multiplayer in co-op games like this has never enticed or interested me, and for the DLC, well @ElektroVodka is two years late to the party, and I don't think that has dampened his fun in the game, so far!
Admittedly, I am a total RPG noob, but I just don't care about Stash space, either. In my experience, The Division's model specifically prevents me from getting attached to ANYTHING I pick up. I'm constantly switch weapons because there is constantly something better. I WANT to find that machine gun that I'll never part with, I WANT to carry the most bad-ass SMG in my lifetime, the Vector, or the best looking AR, imo, the G36. However, the game doesn't allow you to fall in love with a gun and carry it throughout the game. Something will almost always come along that is better than what you have now, so why stash it? Maybe if you have multiple characters, but how many guns are you going to save for a leveling character that you wouldn't come across leveling the character anyways? The only exception to this is the end-game armor sets, which you may want to stash until you get a complete set, but I've looked at most of the armor sets in The Division, and there is really just one or two that I'd LIKE a complete set of. There is no Pokemon "Gotta Catch'em All" feeling, and even than, I'm still not sure I'd feel the same level of attachment I'd feel to things in other games. Cars in GTA 5 for example; there were cars that I liked A LOT, and I bought a bunch of garages, and probably more than $2000 IRL money to make sure I had the cars I wanted, that they looked the way that I wanted them to, and that I had the space to store them the way I wanted to. Before there was the option to switch cars around in your garage, I was selling cars and rebuying them in a specific order to make sure they were in the right order. When mulitiple garages became available, I would always keep one free spot in a garage so that I could shuffle my cars around as I needed. And when I finally ran out of storage space and had to sell one of them, it was a choice I really had to put a lot of thought into. The Division isn't that kind of game, and therefore I don't expect The Division 2 to be that way, either, so, unless I'm proven wrong, I don't see the big deal PERSONALLY about the stash space. I won't be getting it, and I won't feel bad about it, or feel like I'm missing a large part of the game because I can only hold a measly 70 items.
My expectations for the Division 2 aren't very high. We've watched enough games release lately, I don't understand how we keep being disappointed or heartbroken. Destiny finished it's life strong, and expectations were super high for Destiny 2, yet it released as a HUGE step backwards to the community, and there was a lot of controversies and non-sense surrounding it, but they've finally cleaned it up and the community seems to be back on-board again. The same pattern happened with the first Destiny, and the same pattern happened with the first Division, so I'm expecting the pattern to occur with the release of The Division 2. I'm not here to sell you on the Division 2, or tell you that it's going to be the greatest game ever. I'm not supporting Ubisoft's tactics, or asking you to buy into them, I'm just not going to be deterred or expecting it to be the worst game ever, either. Unlike Destiny, which I could never care about, The Division has managed to interest me in the story. For me, it'll at least be worth the $60 to see where the story goes. Maybe The Division 2 will go the way of Halo 4; $60 spent to see the storyline go in a direction that looses my interest, and prevents me from spending $60 on their next title, it's perfectly possible, but I'm willing to pay the fee for that closure.
That's my personal opinion.
TLR
As it stands right now, I have NOT pre-ordered The Division 2, but I have entered for a chance to get into the Beta without pre-ordering, and haven't ruled out pre-ordering prior to the Beta period, though it certainly isn't a priority. It mostly will come down to where I sit, financially, at that moment. The game is set to release 15 March 2019, and if you'd like to sign-up for a chance to play the Beta WITHOUT purchasing, you can register here.
I spent a bit of time over the weekend digging into the matter, and I found this article on Kotaku - "Ubisoft Is Walking A Tightrope With The Division 2's Paid Extras" by Stephen Totilo.
Lets go over the facts first, and then I'll go into my take on things, and how it matters (or doesn't) to me.
- The base game cost is $60 USD, and it releases on 15 March 2019.
- Pre-ordering the game, at any level, will gain you access to the Beta and "The Capitol Defender Pack", which includes "The Lullaby" ( An exotic SPAS-12 Shotgun) and the "Hazmat 2.0" outfit.
- DLC Expansions, even for owners of the base game.
- Spending $100 USD+ will get you the "Year-One Pass", but it only grants you a few days early-access to the, otherwise free, DLC.
- Spending $120 USD+ will get you extra space in your "Stash" so that you can retain more loot.
- Spending $180 or $250 USD will get you various forms of physical medium that do not have any effect on gameplay (books, maps, statues, etc).
I understand people being frustrated about "Early Access" to the game, whether on principle or on implementation and what effect it will have on Multiplayer. I get people feeling jipped that they have to pay extra for more "Stash" space. But these things don't bother me, personally. Just like the Battlefield V Beta. If I'm going to have access to it, I can wait a couple more days. I'm not going to feel completely jaded that I missed out on 3 days because I didn't have early access to the game's release, or it's DLC expansions. I used to play a lot of games on their release date, but I haven't done that in a long while now, and I'm just not bothered by that anymore. Multiplayer in co-op games like this has never enticed or interested me, and for the DLC, well @ElektroVodka is two years late to the party, and I don't think that has dampened his fun in the game, so far!
Admittedly, I am a total RPG noob, but I just don't care about Stash space, either. In my experience, The Division's model specifically prevents me from getting attached to ANYTHING I pick up. I'm constantly switch weapons because there is constantly something better. I WANT to find that machine gun that I'll never part with, I WANT to carry the most bad-ass SMG in my lifetime, the Vector, or the best looking AR, imo, the G36. However, the game doesn't allow you to fall in love with a gun and carry it throughout the game. Something will almost always come along that is better than what you have now, so why stash it? Maybe if you have multiple characters, but how many guns are you going to save for a leveling character that you wouldn't come across leveling the character anyways? The only exception to this is the end-game armor sets, which you may want to stash until you get a complete set, but I've looked at most of the armor sets in The Division, and there is really just one or two that I'd LIKE a complete set of. There is no Pokemon "Gotta Catch'em All" feeling, and even than, I'm still not sure I'd feel the same level of attachment I'd feel to things in other games. Cars in GTA 5 for example; there were cars that I liked A LOT, and I bought a bunch of garages, and probably more than $2000 IRL money to make sure I had the cars I wanted, that they looked the way that I wanted them to, and that I had the space to store them the way I wanted to. Before there was the option to switch cars around in your garage, I was selling cars and rebuying them in a specific order to make sure they were in the right order. When mulitiple garages became available, I would always keep one free spot in a garage so that I could shuffle my cars around as I needed. And when I finally ran out of storage space and had to sell one of them, it was a choice I really had to put a lot of thought into. The Division isn't that kind of game, and therefore I don't expect The Division 2 to be that way, either, so, unless I'm proven wrong, I don't see the big deal PERSONALLY about the stash space. I won't be getting it, and I won't feel bad about it, or feel like I'm missing a large part of the game because I can only hold a measly 70 items.
My expectations for the Division 2 aren't very high. We've watched enough games release lately, I don't understand how we keep being disappointed or heartbroken. Destiny finished it's life strong, and expectations were super high for Destiny 2, yet it released as a HUGE step backwards to the community, and there was a lot of controversies and non-sense surrounding it, but they've finally cleaned it up and the community seems to be back on-board again. The same pattern happened with the first Destiny, and the same pattern happened with the first Division, so I'm expecting the pattern to occur with the release of The Division 2. I'm not here to sell you on the Division 2, or tell you that it's going to be the greatest game ever. I'm not supporting Ubisoft's tactics, or asking you to buy into them, I'm just not going to be deterred or expecting it to be the worst game ever, either. Unlike Destiny, which I could never care about, The Division has managed to interest me in the story. For me, it'll at least be worth the $60 to see where the story goes. Maybe The Division 2 will go the way of Halo 4; $60 spent to see the storyline go in a direction that looses my interest, and prevents me from spending $60 on their next title, it's perfectly possible, but I'm willing to pay the fee for that closure.
That's my personal opinion.