Why I am no longer having fun in the Division

[BiggityB]

I'll start off by saying I loved this game in the beginning. I followed it from the first E3 trailer that blew me away. But slowly the game has been losing the fun factor at least for me for the reasons below.

1) Gear score means absolutely nothing in regards to the quality of your gear. When I get a 240 gear piece and its worse than my 182 piece I currently have equipped than what's the point? Gear score needs to actually mean something or it needs to be gotten rid of as a measurement tool.

2) The dark zone - I don't know of a solution to the DZ. I just feel like its troll city for those that exploited the incursion in the beginning and are now super high powered. When someone rolls up on you and tells you to your face, with no provocation, "I'm gonna troll you so hard." I'm just going to leave my dropped items and log out because it's not worth the hassle. I understand the DZ is the wild west of the Division and anything goes but for the casual gamer that plays maybe 10 hours a week or  it basically makes you evaluate your time before even starting the game. Do I want to play for 2 hours and probably make zero progress or lose progress because someone wants to be an troll or do I want to play a different game? Like I said I don't know of a solution other than maybe some more DZ brackets with smaller zone ranges.

3) The incursions - I know they are free and there is nothing bad about free content but man it feels like very little effort went into making them. The missions are much more interesting and intricate. They are really boring and have no interesting mechanics. I am hoping the paid DLC coming soon is much, much better.

Now I know a lot of you will just call me a whiner and tell me to "Get good" but I know I am not the only one that has a full time job and cant sink 40 hours a week into the game.  The divide between players is growing daily and the division may not survive the gap. I am still hopeful that Massive continues working on the game and making the tweaks and eventually it will be playable again soon.

 

[SwordfishTom]

You took the words right out of my mouth! I feel 100% the same way about all the points you made. I'm 41 and half blind and sometimes yelled at for 'lack of skill' as well when I go down a few times during an incursion. I was super pumped about the HVT addition at first but at a gear score of 196-199 (depending on what I equip) I've had like 7 level 240 gear drops that are junk. They bring down every single stat by HUGE amounts. I won't even mention the 191/214 brackets of the new gear. Same with challenge runs. I get something to dismantle for crafting. Woo-hoo! It also takes longer to run a challenge mission than it does the new incursion on hard. So, I definitely agree with you!

 

[Xeromaus]

I'll start off by saying I loved this game in the beginning. I followed it from the first E3 trailer that blew me away. But slowly the game has been losing the fun factor at least for me for the reasons below.

1) Gear score means absolutely nothing in regards to the quality of your gear. When I get a 240 gear piece and its worse than my 182 piece I currently have equipped than what's the point? Gear score needs to actually mean something or it needs to be gotten rid of as a measurement tool.

2) The dark zone - I don't know of a solution to the DZ. I just feel like its troll city for those that exploited the incursion in the beginning and are now super high powered. When someone rolls up on you and tells you to your face, with no provocation, "I'm gonna troll you so hard." I'm just going to leave my dropped items and log out because it's not worth the hassle. I understand the DZ is the wild west of the Division and anything goes but for the casual gamer that plays maybe 10 hours a week or  it basically makes you evaluate your time before even starting the game. Do I want to play for 2 hours and probably make zero progress or lose progress because someone wants to be an troll or do I want to play a different game? Like I said I don't know of a solution other than maybe some more DZ brackets with smaller zone ranges.

3) The incursions - I know they are free and there is nothing bad about free content but man it feels like very little effort went into making them. The missions are much more interesting and intricate. They are really boring and have no interesting mechanics. I am hoping the paid DLC coming soon is much, much better.

Now I know a lot of you will just call me a whiner and tell me to "Get good" but I know I am not the only one that has a full time job and cant sink 40 hours a week into the game.  The divide between players is growing daily and the division may not survive the gap. I am still hopeful that Massive continues working on the game and making the tweaks and eventually it will be playable again soon.

I hear the argument of "my 182's are better than 240s" daily here and elsewhere, but have yet to see anyone that can demonstrate how.

With the rain of high gear falling on us now, you're still blaming exploiters from FL?? If you have DZ issues, switch phase. If you still find issues in your new phase, do it again.

The incursions are boring now, I won't disagree there. When you ask for an even playing field between light time casuals and heavy time hardcore players, the answer you're given is "here's easy to get loot for you!". Now even end game content is a breeze because of it, and no interesting mechanic would help that. Not every game you want to play is made to fit your time constraints, and asking it to bend to your needs usually results in the overall quality being degraded to laughable levels.

 

[g1nt3r]

After being away from the game for a bit I've found it to be intimidating to come back. I've been dealing with family issue for the past month and have had very little time to play. Just gonna have to jump in and try to have fun haha. Reading this definitely worries me though.

 

[Xeromaus]

After being away from the game for a bit I've found it to be intimidating to come back. I've been dealing with family issue for the past month and have had very little time to play. Just gonna have to jump in and try to have fun haha. Reading this definitely worries me though.

From what I hear, you're a solid gamer, in The Division and elsewhere. You'll have no issues jumping back in at all.

 

[g1nt3r]

From what I hear, you're a solid gamer, in The Division and elsewhere. You'll have no issues jumping back in at all.

Well you've heard right, I still own as usual.  :10_wink:

 

[HHHope]

It's not that hard to get back into @g1nt3r . The DZ is hectic , fun and rewarding. 

 

[Little Warfy]

With the rain of high gear falling on us now, you're still blaming exploiters from FL?? If you have DZ issues, switch phase. If you still find issues in your new phase, do it again.

hi, ive seen a couple of people mention the "phase" what is it?

 

[Xeromaus]

hi, ive seen a couple of people mention the "phase" what is it?

When you enter the DZ, you're put into a phase or instance that has a limited number of players that can be in it at any one time. Once this limit is reached, another phase/instance of the DZ opens up, which then populates to it's limit, and another phase/instance opens, and so on. There's usually 10+ phases open at minimum. To get a new phase, either join someone elses group, or log out and back in. You may also have luck just exiting and re-entering the DZ, but it's not as reliable as a log out or forcing a phase transition.

 

[Addihul]

My clan and i have tested farming CM/FL and doing HVTs back to back.. but right now nothing compares to DZ 5/6 farming. Sadly, most folks don't have 3 solid friends to run it successfully. On a good night we can pull in good amounts of materials, weapons, and 240s. It is a glorious thing to have an efficient group. However, with randos it turns in to complete mayhem. PUGs in the DZ since 1.2 are a gamble. So my suggestion is to find a clan/squad that is farming the DZ on a daily basis and can hold their own when rogues hit. I think with 1.2 it's all about the clan or group of friends. Soloing fun and its ease of play has gone way down unless you want to just do HVTs which can get old fast.

Join the Division Discord to find tons of skilled players willing to group up. Maybe you'll latch on to one who's in a clan and you'll get an invite. Next thing you know you'll be the one wrecking through those DZ griefers

 

[quinch1199]

When you enter the DZ, you're put into a phase or instance that has a limited number of players that can be in it at any one time. Once this limit is reached, another phase/instance of the DZ opens up, which then populates to it's limit, and another phase/instance opens, and so on. There's usually 10+ phases open at minimum. To get a new phase, either join someone elses group, or log out and back in. You may also have luck just exiting and re-entering the DZ, but it's not as reliable as a log out or forcing a phase transition.

Its my understanding that each instance is also set up to match (within a set range) your character abilities. AFAIK its currently based on weapon gear score but not really working correctly? 

The aim is to try to avoid you meeting enemies (Ai or player!) who completely outstrip you in damage output. 

 

[Xeromaus]

Its my understanding that each instance is also set up to match (within a set range) your character abilities. AFAIK its currently based on weapon gear score but not really working correctly? 

The aim is to try to avoid you meeting enemies (Ai or player!) who completely outstrip you in damage output. 

I honestly have no idea. When I was near teh bottom of the barrel, I never messed with the DZ, and only started really running it when I would have been in the top bracket anyway.

 

[Sergei Veselov]

Honestly I hate to say it. But fuck this game, to me it seems these game creators and or coders do not even play their own game. I just ran into the darkzone wearing Lone Star Gear most of it being 240 and a pretty good hook up on Toughness and such. But I cannot do damage to players for the life of me. They reverted the game to annoying specified gear once again and its infuriating. How can I play the style I want when these dipshits cannot get their guns to proper levels of balance? Do they not care? Or do they see us as cash cows. I hate to say it, I mean I REALLY hate to say it. But Infestation Survivor Stories was more balanced and fun, Im sorry I had to say such a horrid thing. But in all honesty, fix your shit guys. This is just awful. 

 

[quinch1199]

I honestly have no idea. When I was near teh bottom of the barrel, I never messed with the DZ, and only started really running it when I would have been in the top bracket anyway.

I'm just thinking as you're actively encouraged from about level 15 as a character to get into the DZ and I've heard no stories of level 15 players being killed by level 30-95 agents so there must be some form of "instancing". 

 

[Xeromaus]

I'm just thinking as you're actively encouraged from about level 15 as a character to get into the DZ and I've heard no stories of level 15 players being killed by level 30-95 agents so there must be some form of "instancing". 

Unless it's a new thing, I remember getting pounded by a few 99s when I was around 20-25...

 

[Xeromaus]

Honestly I hate to say it. But fuck this game, to me it seems these game creators and or coders do not even play their own game. I just ran into the darkzone wearing Lone Star Gear most of it being 240 and a pretty good hook up on Toughness and such. But I cannot do damage to players for the life of me. They reverted the game to annoying specified gear once again and its infuriating. How can I play the style I want when these dipshits cannot get their guns to proper levels of balance? Do they not care? Or do they see us as cash cows. I hate to say it, I mean I REALLY hate to say it. But Infestation Survivor Stories was more balanced and fun, Im sorry I had to say such a horrid thing. But in all honesty, fix your shit guys. This is just awful. 

The armor cap has been raised to 75%, and exotic resilience is easier to come by than ever, but you can also build to do 20-30k per headshot to players with an smg, so it seems pretty balanced to me.

As per usual in these types of discussions, you won't reach that level of damage alone, it takes a group. My  job in my group is to make things dead, or at least stun them. As such, there are damage stats I don't have to focus on, or even have any at all, like crit hit chance or electronics. Our tech/electronics guy takes care of maxing that out for me with pulse, allowing me to stack higher damage stats in place of it. In turn, he only needs to stack up electronics and health, with no worry at all about weapon damage. We're both FAR stronger using the group to our advantages than we would be solo, and that's the way the game was designed. Trying to do everything yourself just makes you mediocre at everything.

 

[Addihul]

Focus fire.. Choose a target, communicate to your team who you're killing, and kill them.. one by one. 4v4s tend to just be 1v1, 1v1, 1v1, 1v1. A little coordination goes a long way now that you can't just sentry stack and rof wreck players.

 

[KidGreengene]

I love the changes they made to the game. I don't DZ much these days because I don't like that 1 guy can outgun 4 guys. The spread should not be that wide and because of that, I don't DZ much at all. that is about all I don't like in the game. I think the HVT's went a long way to clarify an issue they had withe the incursion exploit.

 

[ShootFirstPodcast]

I'll start off by saying I loved this game in the beginning. I followed it from the first E3 trailer that blew me away. But slowly the game has been losing the fun factor at least for me for the reasons below.

1) Gear score means absolutely nothing in regards to the quality of your gear. When I get a 240 gear piece and its worse than my 182 piece I currently have equipped than what's the point? Gear score needs to actually mean something or it needs to be gotten rid of as a measurement tool.

2) The dark zone - I don't know of a solution to the DZ. I just feel like its troll city for those that exploited the incursion in the beginning and are now super high powered. When someone rolls up on you and tells you to your face, with no provocation, "I'm gonna troll you so hard." I'm just going to leave my dropped items and log out because it's not worth the hassle. I understand the DZ is the wild west of the Division and anything goes but for the casual gamer that plays maybe 10 hours a week or  it basically makes you evaluate your time before even starting the game. Do I want to play for 2 hours and probably make zero progress or lose progress because someone wants to be an troll or do I want to play a different game? Like I said I don't know of a solution other than maybe some more DZ brackets with smaller zone ranges.

3) The incursions - I know they are free and there is nothing bad about free content but man it feels like very little effort went into making them. The missions are much more interesting and intricate. They are really boring and have no interesting mechanics. I am hoping the paid DLC coming soon is much, much better.

Now I know a lot of you will just call me a whiner and tell me to "Get good" but I know I am not the only one that has a full time job and cant sink 40 hours a week into the game.  The divide between players is growing daily and the division may not survive the gap. I am still hopeful that Massive continues working on the game and making the tweaks and eventually it will be playable again soon.

It absolutely has nothing to do with someone telling you to "Get good" or that you're a "whiner" for sure, but I feel the need to disagree with your feelings on the game.  That's not to say that you're wrong (everyone has different feelings and different point of views and all that), as this game just might not be YOUR kind of game.  I will say, though; my wife and I are very casual gamers and The Division fits us well.  Honestly, we don't have time for an Incursion to last 2 hours, and so originally we had trouble doing Falcon Lost because we weren't geared enough for it.. and we also didn't necessarily have the skill in the Dark Zone to get geared enough for the Incursion.  We still managed to beat it on the weekend, and another time during the work week in less than two hours.. and even just under an hour.  But NOW after 1.2, gear is dropping like crazy.  You mentioned there being a "divide" between players.. but I disagree.  Essentially what Massive did was make it to where the divide is disappearing.. Now there's so many ways to get 240 Gear that by the time the next DLC comes out, we'll all be basically on the same level with only luck on rolls and gaming skill to divide us.  We work a lot and don't get to play very much, but both of us are over 200 Gear Score, and we're getting better character-wise every time we play.  However, again; I would say that if you feel this disheartened by the game even after the changes that have been made, then maybe the game just isn't your cup of tea.. in which case it's probably less about the things that you've listed (that have technically all been fixed).  The only exception is the new Incursion.  However, the new Incursion is as easy as it is because it's just like the Hard Mode Falcon Lost (which most people can farm pretty easily.. not me, but most people can).  Obviously if they made a mission the same level as another mission and you're able to do the other mission easily.... then by simple math, it should be transferable.  I'd wait to at least see what Clear Sky Challenge mode looks like before passing too much judgement.

After being away from the game for a bit I've found it to be intimidating to come back. I've been dealing with family issue for the past month and have had very little time to play. Just gonna have to jump in and try to have fun haha. Reading this definitely worries me though.

Our brother-in-law went from like 173 to 195 in less than 2 hours.. and then last night went from 195 to 218 in less than an hour and a half.  Getting back in won't be hard at all.  Lol.

 

[Sergei Veselov]

That is the sad scenario, before they made it to were everyone became a walking talking tank I could damage players very well with even medicore guns solo. Shotguns and such could be viable but everyone is still just using SMG's to this day. It is unappealing really, that I cannot run around with a good Assault Rifle or shotgun and do nothing. If your gonna have variety you should be able to make any missmatch of guns viable not just SMG's. Unless a patch comes out this game is gonna die fast and that is what concerns me, it has great potential but it fails to deliver in MANY cases. I do not see this game surviving much longer on the consoles. The PC side of things are already dying out fast and soon the console market will as well. The Division is just the video game version of the Mario movie back from the 90's. Hyped up to hell, but failed terribly once it seen a good amount of light. Sad, but expected.