Do we need further segregation in the DZ?

[Xeromaus]

Am I the only one who hates the DZ? I get that it's a necessary evil but you cannot trust anyone. I'd be happier if they made it pure PvP and had done with it. I am sick of helping other agents in a firefight, only for them to kill me and steal my stuff when my back is turned. 

It's not necessary at all. There's nothing attainable within the DZ that can't be had outside it. You only go in by choice.

 

[g1nt3r]

That's why I avoid myself from being level 30. The DZ most of the time will be empty and even if you meet someone else, they're most likely people who want to farm just like you.

Level 30 is the bottom of the pipe. It's where all the shit get clogged.

And yeah, they should have just made PvE map filled with DZ-style enemies, loots, and chests for people who have reached 30 and finished all missions and side missions. Make a bracket so people can't power level their under-leveled friends in this new PvE map.

Btw, I'm planning to just replay mission on Hard and Challenging when me and my friend turned 30. I don't know about my friend, but if I found by that time that doing PvE missions isn't worth anywhere better than DZ, then I guess I'll just simply drop the game. lol

Definitely smart to level dark zone to 99 before leveling to 30. Wish I had thought of it with my main beforehand.

 

[supercat]

Yeah, although it's getting boring now because there's no significant progression in my game. 

I personally don't really bother with their jackpot machines called Blueprint. So yeah... I completely have hollow objective right now.

 

[RimBlock]

It is back to the status quo, or at least close to it. I was mainly asking to gain an understanding of your thoughts. I guess mostly you don't like roaming 4 member rogue squads tromping your patch. ubisft is prolly not listening.

Yes if the bracket gets too granular than it ruins more positive matching as oppose to more matching you to an instance with rogues on the run down.

Not my patch at all, I am just passing through.  

The key point is being put up against a person / team were there is next to no hope of being able to defeat them.  

To try and better illustrate this point, when leveling up a second character over the weekend I cam across AI with red markers with skulls above their heads.  They were considered so far above my current level that I have almost no hope of being able to kill them.  

This is the sort of equipment disparity we are seeing with some very highly built / equipped players in the PvP area targeting all and sundry in the higher DZ tier.

Tuesday will help hopefully a lot of this will get resolved.  Unfortunately the guy I have been running with is GS 202 so we will probably get split for the new DZ zone but never mind :12_slight_smile: .

Personally I am waiting for the HVT part to kick in.  My main character has now done all the missions / side quests etc so I should be ready to get right in to it.

 

[Xeromaus]

Not my patch at all, I am just passing through.  

The key point is being put up against a person / team were there is next to no hope of being able to defeat them.  

To try and better illustrate this point, when leveling up a second character over the weekend I cam across AI with red markers with skulls above their heads.  They were considered so far above my current level that I have almost no hope of being able to kill them.  

This is the sort of equipment disparity we are seeing with some very highly built / equipped players in the PvP area targeting all and sundry in the higher DZ tier.

Tuesday will help hopefully a lot of this will get resolved.  Unfortunately the guy I have been running with is GS 202 so we will probably get split for the new DZ zone but never mind :12_slight_smile: .

Personally I am waiting for the HVT part to kick in.  My main character has now done all the missions / side quests etc so I should be ready to get right in to it.

The new additions to PvE, like the HVT you mentioned, should do a LOT to assist you in gearing up for tougher DZ fights. It'll be interesting to see how you feel about the DZ once you're on the other side of the coin :10_wink:

 

[quinch1199]

Apologise if this seems dumb but the impression I had was that the DZ is still instance based. Meaning there is a limit range within the "instance" of the DZ that your character inhabits so that, in theory, only other players with characters within that range can inhabit your instance. For example you can't team up with a friend who's DZ rank is too high.

Perhaps though this needs to be more closely tied to GS rather than just DZ rank? Or is it some metric derived from Gear Score + Level + DZ rank?? I can't say I've looked into the mechanics of that side to much so appreciate input. 

Assuming the DZ is still instance based then the issues with players being killed rapidly by rogues could be a combination of poor skill/gear selection OR the tiering system isn't tight enough. Certainly any balancing system based on GS is flawed as GS means so little on its own. 

Bottom line is that the DZ, as I believe it to be currently, isn't an open PvP arena at all but clearly the way of calculating and limiting movement within occupied instances is perhaps seriously flawed. 

Its also hopeful that with this new patch and the significant opportunity to gain high level gear outside the DZ (even more than before) means there will be less uneven encounters. 

 

[RimBlock]

The new additions to PvE, like the HVT you mentioned, should do a LOT to assist you in gearing up for tougher DZ fights. It'll be interesting to see how you feel about the DZ once you're on the other side of the coin :10_wink:

Picked  up some 240 Predator gloves yesterday and have been getting other gear set 214s and 191s all over the place.  I can probably get over a 200GS right now but the combination would be extremely flawed.  I need more firepower rather than armour / clothing but that will most likely come.

The HVTs are quite good and challenging.  The two of us managed a lvl 32 HVT mission (on the 3rd attempt).  It is good that you don't have to spend intel to re-do a failed HVT mission as seemed to be indicated.  You just have to go back to the BoO and restart it.

I hung around the DZ at level 29 and didn't feel the need to attack others to have fun there.  I don't think moving to the top tier will change that after getting geared up.  Raining down righteous retribution on those that attack me will be another matter though.  That could be very enjoyable :8_laughing: .

I would also very much enjoy working with others to chase down rogues and have skirmishes like the ones you have posted but I have no encountered any in the DZ when I have been playing.

 

[RimBlock]

Apologise if this seems dumb but the impression I had was that the DZ is still instance based. Meaning there is a limit range within the "instance" of the DZ that your character inhabits so that, in theory, only other players with characters within that range can inhabit your instance. For example you can't team up with a friend who's DZ rank is too high.

Perhaps though this needs to be more closely tied to GS rather than just DZ rank? Or is it some metric derived from Gear Score + Level + DZ rank?? I can't say I've looked into the mechanics of that side to much so appreciate input. 

Assuming the DZ is still instance based then the issues with players being killed rapidly by rogues could be a combination of poor skill/gear selection OR the tiering system isn't tight enough. Certainly any balancing system based on GS is flawed as GS means so little on its own. 

Bottom line is that the DZ, as I believe it to be currently, isn't an open PvP arena at all but clearly the way of calculating and limiting movement within occupied instances is perhaps seriously flawed. 

Its also hopeful that with this new patch and the significant opportunity to gain high level gear outside the DZ (even more than before) means there will be less uneven encounters. 

High level gear outside the DZ is working well, from what I have seen.  Lots more purple and blues are also dropping too for deconstruction.

From the 'State of the Game' vid, the GS for DZ ranking is now based on the most powerful weapon on your person or in your stash (equipping it does not matter) and the most powerful items in your stash or on your person.  This is to stop people nerfing their GS to get in to lower ranked DZ areas and should deal with that fairly well.

Two issues I see with this is people using multiple characters to 'hold' gear and move it out of 'view' for the GS calculation and people saving a powerful weapon / equipment piece that they cannot / don't want to currently use, being ranked up in the DZ as they have it in their stash.

 

[quinch1199]

most powerful items in your stash or on your person

From what I've heard its not working as intended yet either...however what is "more powerful"? For example I have named gear set items I don't use as they decrease one stat I have currently to an extent where I lose use of weapon talents but the gear score on it is higher than other items I am using. I'm not using it because to me, its not as "powerful" in my build as the current item of the same type I'm using. 

As said before, Gear Score actually means very little. 

....and there's the fact I swapped out my Vector 45 ACP for a dropped 2nd wave version "because it looks cooler" even though its worse as doesn't have as many talents as the other one LOL!

 

[RimBlock]

Yep GS is very flawed with such a big overlap.  I had been running a 163 machine pistol as it was better than the 182 mp5s i had crafted. On the 8th crafting try i got a slighty better mp5 so have now switched.

Right now it seems this is the only method they have to use though.

 

[RimBlock]

...and looking in to my crystal ball......

With all these 214+ drops in HVT, how long until the player base is going to end up all bunched up in to the GS200+ DZ  :10_wink: .

At least, by all accounts, the AI appear to be more challenging and may provide a bit more interest from others there.