Incursion set up thoughts

[MurphDog6]

The incursion is online tomorrow in the following update, since then me and some friends have been gearing up so I thought I would share our thoughts about set up and get some feedback from you guys

I am going to be the tank of our group running with Survivor Link, shield and medi-pack. One friend is a electronics heavy dps using Survivor Link, the sticky bomb and Smart Cover. A medic with Recovery link, healing grenade and medi-pack. And finally we have a marksman who is running Tactical link, Smart Cover and pulse. 

In this set up I will be tanking and as such I have equipped myself with some muzzle break mods using +30% threat (to those who don't know "threat" is basically aggro in the game) and having the other members of the team using flash hiders/muzzle break mods with reduced threat. I would advise doing this between yourselves with incursion teams as you really want the tank to take the attention whilst the medic keeps him healthy and the other members destroy the NPC's. Any thoughts on this approach to the incursion and would you guys set up differently? We have debated dropping tactical link for another recovery link to save our arse in a crisis as in the incursion you will all know by now that the entire team dying ends the mission, there are no checkpoints in incursions!

 

[quinch1199]

Basic World of Warcraft instance group tactics. Group holds back and essentially hides at first contact to allow the Tank to build Aggro to critical point before engaging, this also allows friendlies to reposition and throw buff's your way (in this game Tanks can die really fast it seems!). Its then up to the Tank to not only keep monitoring his own situation but recognising when Mobs loose Aggro from him and start to apply too much pressure to the other team members. 

I'm still learning what builds in this game match these but the principles are scarily the same and any seasoned Fantasy MMORPG player will recognise the drill. 

 

[MurphDog6]

I agree that tanking seems to be tough in this game, when you have got an LMG and 2 shotguns hammering into your shield it doesn't last too long at all! (That's from past experience on the power plant challenging mode) gear wise im sat on 120k health with 100k dps and around 16k electronics, can anyone confirm if a higher electronics would benefit the health of the shield?

 

[quinch1199]

I agree that tanking seems to be tough in this game, when you have got an LMG and 2 shotguns hammering into your shield it doesn't last too long at all! (That's from past experience on the power plant challenging mode) gear wise im sat on 120k health with 100k dps and around 16k electronics, can anyone confirm if a higher electronics would benefit the health of the shield?

I'm toying with building a Tank around healing as well, like a Paladin-Tank. With AoE heals that you can give out and rebuffs when you revive and give healing through them it looks like you can stack it to make it more effective even than using a mobile physical shield. Tool up with primary of a high aggro LMG for example but of course you will really have to make use of available hard cover rather than using your own mobile cover. Be ready to throw down AoE heals to provide a central fall back position for the team but essentially sit a little further back than usual (mid range) so you can intercept those nasty shotgunners as much as possible (I know its not always possible) but the idea is to create sufficient Aggro that the aggressive enemies like them are funnelled towards you....but in doing so they run a gauntlet of cross fire and de-buffs (gas grenades even at high levels cant be underestimated) from the team. 

The trick here is to only use the "suppress" debuff when absolutely needed ... when the team are back against the wall and retreating to you for treatment! You need to keep the enemy in the open as much as possible and spreading your LMG fire about the Mob to maintain aggro

 

[MurphDog6]

Yeah an ideal tactic of bottle necking the enemy's toward the awaiting team members, I think that the use of incindiery bullets and explosive bullets are greatly overlooked during challenge missions, not great for dps but a tank running a black market M60 with 100% extended mag and +threat mods will give you a mag size of 200 or so, equip that with incindiery ammo and light up the rushing enemy's, That seems to work well when you have a lot of rushing shotgun or daredevils, just light them on fire and fall back 

 

[quinch1199]

Its just the difficulty of crowd control in this game. With so many mobs that seem to rotate with their urgency of engagement and the super aggressive ones...really makes it difficult. I guess the Tank isn't for doing much damage to be honest in this game, its all about building aggro and keeping alive long enough for others to deal the damage. Not vastly different from other MMO's but about twice as difficult. Sometimes things go so bad, so rapidly that its very easy to lose control of the situation. So many people state "fall back" but its tricky as a Paladin-style tank as you just can't afford to leave downed guys behind. 

 

[Xeromaus]

I have a feeling that once you run the incursion on hard (or normal since this one won't have a normal) mode a few times, then run the challenge style a bit, you won't need the 4 classes at all.

The devs idea of "challenging" is a pale shade of what most of us would call it. Most gamers are well versed in finding the weak point and taking advantage of it, and I think this incursion will be no exception. Expect a full breakdown video showcasing the shortest/easiest path to victory posted by someone on day one, probably within 8 hours, and an all out assault team (4 firearms heavy dps) video destroying it around the same time.

 

[quinch1199]

I have a feeling that once you run the incursion on hard (or normal since this one won't have a normal) mode a few times, then run the challenge style a bit, you won't need the 4 classes at all.

The devs idea of "challenging" is a pale shade of what most of us would call it. Most gamers are well versed in finding the weak point and taking advantage of it, and I think this incursion will be no exception. Expect a full breakdown video showcasing the shortest/easiest path to victory posted by someone on day one, probably within 8 hours, and an all out assault team (4 firearms heavy dps) video destroying it around the same time.

I agree...unfortunately. Trouble is that I think Massive are still thinking a little too much "shooter game" and not enough "fantasy MMO" mode. The Ai for the enemies is actually pretty good for most of them but I think that making most mobs just more and more bullet soaks wasn't the right way ahead. Sure, make the mini-bosses etc have more armour and also higher HP but how about making the minion mobs just more flexible?

For example instead of just making the minions just as significant bullet soaks almost as the bosses, how about THEY fall back and regroup? Instead of mobs running out, they spawn a couple more waves? They take casualties, at a certain point...either triggered by boss damage or losses they fall back...take cover but another group spawns from a different point of attack and they now attack together?

Either way, this only delays dedicated players from finding "solutions" and generally it just takes enough tries and there are a lot of players who just find happiness dominating games and then complaining because they now feel they've run out of gameplay. Happens with every single game I've known. I just hope Massive work to make the game more immersive and intelligent, rather than pander to the vocal minority who just want more and more, harder and harder end-game content.

Make the game deeper and more involving ... take Fallout 4 as an example ... you CAN complete that game quickly, power up, choose certain options and factions and you can blast through it in hours. I heard people complain about that! ("I spent all this money for such a small game....blah blah...sob sob") but ... game of the YEAR!! Come on...The Division has the potential for a long lived, vibrant, exciting and deep experience if you take the time. 

I mean...have you HEARD the conversations about eating rats?? Did you see those two guys talking about that in the street, how he was sorry about leaving the shelter but he couldn't stand being stuck in there anymore but how the other man tells him he has food...and has a handful of rats!