The Division 2 - My Take and Where I Stand

Skid_Marc_

Staff member
Admin
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.

TL:DR
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.
 

TokyoGwB

Casual
I will only be getting the Division 2 when it goes on sale.
I have more than enough games to play through already without adding any more at full price.
Saying that if I can find it at a cheap enough price, I may change my mind.
Still having a lot of fun with the Division 1 playing with @Skid_Marc_ and @ElektroVodka BTH so not in any hurry yet.
 

Jerad

TS3 SA
I'll likely pick up the base game and play that. I enjoyed the first one so much, the story was actually pretty great and all the little side details in the world really added to it. Plus I had lots of fun doing all the challenge missions and the like.
 
E

ElektroVodka

I'll do the same as @TokyoGwB if the beta doesn't change my mind.
I don't think i am missing anything even after starting 2 years later than anyone else, so no reason to even pre order it to be fair.
 

Kenadian

Staff member
Site Admin
As is the case most of the time I'm always torn on Games such as these.

I don't mind The Division but I can't say I actively like it either. It was hyped to be something it didn't live up to in my opinion and I didn't spend much time in it when purchased new. The only reason I've ever put any time into The Divison 1 is because of Coop with you fine people or Solo trying to level to catch up to one or several of you.

UBI is a Developer I believe over-hypes while most commonly under-delivering and it's left a sour taste in my mouth. The only Ubisoft Game I've completed in recent memory is Far Cry 3, everything else I've played hasn't managed to hold my interest long enough to complete.

I support 2 Developers fully and entrust them with as much money as they require, BIS (Bohemia Interactive Studios) and CDPR (CD Projekt Red). To a lesser degree I'll add Naughty Dog to the list but for The Last of Us only.

UBI to me is only a slightly watered down version of EA.

Having said that, I typically ignore everything previously said if you all recommend it and if people want to see it streamed. This is the only reason I ever picked up games such as SpinTires, Farming Simulator, PUBG and more recently, Battlefield.
 

TokyoGwB

Casual
The Division 2 has arrived guys.
I am starting to run through the story and am looking forward to teaming up with you for some teamwork.
Hope to see you on line soon.
 

Deb

Moderator
I downloaded it over the weekend, I should have access today, so hopefully can clear my schedule to play later today :)

I think I will enjoy this game as much as The Division, which is probably one of my favorite games since you can easily play with others or by yourself and the game scales to accommodate. There are new weapons and enemies in Division 2, which will make game play more challenging. One thing I don't like about it is the new Mod system. I thought the old Mod system was good. This new Mod system allows you only progressive access to Mods so you don't have the right ones for the right guns. Hopefully as you level up this will not be a problem. The graphics are even better than Division 1, so I am really looking forward to working through the story.
 

Deb

Moderator
I thought this was a decent video discussing the release of the Division 2 for those of you on the fence.

 

Brainling

Hardcore
I got up to level 8 or 9 this weekend. So far it seems like The Division: Now With More. Some of my biggest issues with the original game haven't been fixed (bullet spongey enemies, the world feeling like a bunch of square battle spaces), but they also didn't get any worse. There is plenty to do in the game, new events and such are constantly popping up. Exploration seems to be more rewarding now. Every time I've gone off the beaten path I've found some loot, or a little world story to see.

If you liked The Division, this is that with more. If you didn't like The Division, nothing here is going to change your mind.
 

Jerad

TS3 SA
I played to lvl 29 over the weekend so I haven't really sunk my teeth into the end game yet but it feels like the game is very geared towards it unlike the first game.

My thoughts so far, spoilers ahead:

In the first game every mission had purpose with the story and progression through the game. So far the missions all feel very inconsequential, like I am doing missions just for the exp grind to hit max level. stuff just upgrades randomly with no idea what for beyond an attempt at being immersive.

The different factions also have very little visible variation unlike the division where they all had stories and reasons why they were that faction. Now they're all colour coded and I honestly couldn't have told one faction apart beyond some variation of higher tier weapon types they carry.

The friendly NPC's you recruit to your team are just random people you talk to in settlements once you've done enough missions for that settlement, whereas in the first division you had to rescue them or help them through a mission giving them a more direct purpose and some impact to the story.

The story just isn't grabbing me like the first one did it feels less like a developed movie epic plot and more like a season of the walking dead where every episode is go get this item or that item to survive. The first one hinted at more of a deeper conspiracy and backstory and I'd hoped it would expand on that. Maybe I just haven't gone far enough or it's part of the end game stuff I haven't gotten to yet or maybe it'll come out in the DLC I don't know just so far it feels pretty meh.

HOWEVER I don't tend to play these games for their story and play for the game play itself and that feels like it has been improved dramatically over the first game and I am looking forward to grinding out gear and playing through the different raids and challenge mode missions.
 

Jerad

TS3 SA
Alright so, I'd like to retract much of the previous post I made as the game definitely does seem to go deeper and the story continues past level 30 and into the different world tiers unlike the division 1 where you just started grinding missions over and over this appears it may be much more interesting.
 

Brainling

Hardcore
I'm still WT1. I just fall off these games so hard when it gets to the end game grind point, not sure why. The only game I've ever sunk deep, deep time in to the end game was WoW years ago.
 

TokyoGwB

Casual
New Video for the upcoming update coming early February
OFFICIAL THE DIVISION 2 - EPISODE 3 TRAILER


Looking forward to this one.
 
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