The Division (Tom Clancy's) - Catch All

Go to your library of games and right click The Division. Then select properties. then deselect Enable the steam overlay while in game.

Medmey wrote:

Go to your library of games and right click The Division. Then select properties. then deselect Enable the steam overlay while in game.

Yeah figured that out. There is something unique to these games that is giving me fits. Assassin's Creed Origin will run. But none of the Clancy games. I suspect something with the ubi player, but I'm at a loss. Been a long time since I've been this frustrated with a game(s).

sr_malo wrote:
Wink_and_the_Gun wrote:

I found that saving the things like phones until after you hit 30 is worth it... you get more xp for them, and will accelerate your post-leveling “leveling.”

This may be a good idea but before you start to worry about end game/post 30 leveling you have to get to level 30. I didn't have a problem going from tier1 to tier 5 despite grabbing a lot of things as I went along.

It’s more for the caches, than anything... the paltry amount of XP you get earlier isn’t worth it, I’ve found.

So I found a tidbit buried in a forum. I had to launch through GeForce experience and it fired right up. I'm beyond perplexed on this fix.

SpyNavy wrote:

So I found a tidbit buried in a forum. I had to launch through GeForce experience and it fired right up. I'm beyond perplexed on this fix.

What vid card you using?

ranalin wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

So I found a tidbit buried in a forum. I had to launch through GeForce experience and it fired right up. I'm beyond perplexed on this fix.

What vid card you using?

2 1080s in SLI.

I spent some time this weekend trying to finish the main story content. I'd left off with 2 missions to go, and I couldn't start that penultimate mission because I was only level 23 and needed to be at least 24 to start.

Using matchmaking, I joined a group that was playing that third-from-last mission that I'd completed previously, and between completing that mission again and following my randos around to a few other bits of side content, I eventually leveled up to Level 24.

Unfortunately I got back into a rut I'd been in with this game previously. I used matchmaking to seek out a group for the mission, matched up with one other Level 24 player working on this mission, but we never matched with more group members. It was a slog to get through the mission, every enemy seeming to soak up a million bullets, with the purples and yellows requiring a ton of work. Then we got to the final section of the mission, where no respawning is allowed, and it was just not possible for the two of us to complete. We wiped 3-4 times before my squadmate bailed. I hate that that means I just have to quit out of the mission (since it is impossible to solo) and now I just have to try again later, run through the whole mission, and hope for better luck on getting a larger/higher level group next time.

I think my best bet is to try to level more before attempting again. I have found that all of the little side missions on my map are now essentially impossible without a group. I think something in the balancing of this game has become broken. Then again, I guess this is about where I bailed on the game way back in 2016, so maybe it's always had an issue at the later part of the story content? But this may be particularly challenging now that there's not a ton of players for me to match with on these late-but-not-endgame missions.

mrlogical wrote:

I think my best bet is to try to level more before attempting again. I have found that all of the little side missions on my map are now essentially impossible without a group. I think something in the balancing of this game has become broken. Then again, I guess this is about where I bailed on the game way back in 2016, so maybe it's always had an issue at the later part of the story content? But this may be particularly challenging now that there's not a ton of players for me to match with on these late-but-not-endgame missions.

There's TONs of side missions available to do that will help level you up and give you crafting recipes for gear that odds are much better than what you have. Have to remember this is a RPG first so the numbers matter more than looks or for that matter preference.

I'm also surprised that you found anyone at all at this late stage into the cycle.

Not sure about level 24, but those last missions are definitely soloable around level 28 or so.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done the higher level stuff, but I don’t remember having that hard a time with it...

Masher, fogrob, and I have been teaming up, when we can, keeping our characters at the same level - currently around 14 or 15. I actually made two new guys... I had some time to play, and they weren’t around, so I’ve had a fair bit of solo gaming in that 1 to 15 range - sure I’ve died a couple times, but i find it’s been more because of greed, or just really bad positioning.

I would have a hard time jumping into one of (my two) maxed out L30s (with how long it’s been - and with the changes to the gear-sets) and expect to handle the top-tier (heck, even mid-tier) missions.

I feel like you’re not wanting to be carried through it, but I could probably dust off a 30 and lend some limited support (ie: not go full out). I might be able help out with strategies gear/skills/talents synergies/set-ups...? I doubt I’ll be on until Wednesday evening, though.

If you like using Discord. There is an Official server.

https://discordapp.com/invite/thediv...

It has a ten minute mute, and you need to read the #registration room first.

Plenty of people still play, and prolly willing to give you a hand.

Update: I’ll be on in ~30min

I had a slightly better time playing last night, having discovered that you can use matchmaking to join any group on any mission, rather than having to pick specific missions and hope someone is trying to play them. Completing a few missions with randos didn't get me as much XP as I would like, but I didn't play for terribly long. I'm not opposed to getting help, so I may check out that discord and/or beg for help here later! I do really hope the sequel finds a way to create challenge without making enemies take a few hundred bullets to kill.

Most RPG shooter games. The enemy's are just bullet sponges. Its an industry staple. Its difficult to get the balance right.

Playing to a weapon’s strength makes a big difference:

Sniper rifles - built in bonus for headshot damage, so the best mods to slot in would be anything that increases that bonus. That and reload speed is more important than magazine size - adding a couple rounds to a magazine isn’t as worth it. You don’t get a massive stockpile of ammo, so it’s all about those headshots!

LMGs - huge magazines (well, at least the worthwhile ones) 100 rounds! A combination of plus magazine size and plus reload speed can be helpful, but you could go full reload speed... season to taste . They’re great for suppressing a target (but won’t work on big bosses) so a teammate can run in and shoot it in the face. At later levels their effectiveness drops off rather dramatically as more enemies start having ARMOUR.

Assault Rifles - speaking of armour... the AR’s special ability is doing bonus damage to armour (the white pips on enemy health bars) - armour grants a large amount of damage reduction. Stripping that armour off is a necessity on big bosses. Without destroying that armour you’ll probably run out of ammo before they die.

Shotguns - fire several pellets at once, each counts as a separate hit. They do increased “stagger” - helpful against rushers. Completely ineffective at anything beyond short range. Annnnd, that’s all I have for shotguns

SMGs - a little like a shorter ranged version of the AR, but instead of bonus armour damage... they get a pretty nice built-in critical chance (dont waste mods getting this past 50%, it will let you... but it’s (hidden) capped at 50% CHC). Stacking crit damage mods is recommended (no cap on CHD). These can be devastating at close ranges.

Pistols - your trusty sidearm. Unlimited ammo capacity, but if you're using this... you’re either out of ammo, or using the riot shield skill (there is a gear-set bonus that will let you use an SMG instead of the pistol... it’s very nice). All pistols have a +100% damage bonus dealt to targets with less than 30% health... eh, it’s something.

My personal preference is for high single-shot damage sniper rifle (not necessarily its dps number), with an AR, secondary.

Until you hit L30, you will be CONSTANTLY changing out gear pieces - it can even be worth buying some pieces from the weapon/gear vendors. Almost anything that is 2 levels lower than you should be swapped for something new.

Thanks for the tips. I did make it through the penultimate mission last night, despite long odds!

I fortunately managed to sync up with a 4 player group playing the mission, but it seemed like it was all for naught as, when we nearly cleared the room I had wiped repeatedly on several times previously, we were all briefly disconnected. The game displayed a "scheduled downtime" message saying that servers were shutting down at 330AM ET...a message it displayed while disconnecting me at 930PM ET. Maybe someone at Ubi screwed up in scheduling their timezones? We logged back in and the group stayed together, but we had to start from the beginning. We finally beat the room I'd wiped on repeatedly (a "control room" where you have to turn off turrets, full of purples and yellows). And I was then shocked to learn that, actually, that was not the end of the mission at all. We started wiping repeatedly in the next section and my whole team abandoned me, but thankfully my patience paid off, and I eventually got more players to matchmake in with me, and got to the end of the mission. Whew!

Anyway, I'm now high enough level that it'll allow me to run the final mission, but I know that's going to be tough, so I think I'll try to level up closer towards 30 before trying it. Does running the "Survival" mode affect your single player stats and XP, or is it a totally separate mode?

Survival is totally separate. You start with no guns or loot and have to rummage around for weapons, armor and meds to stay off the virus. Its a fun mode to play a few times.

Medmey wrote:

Survival is totally separate. You start with no guns or loot and have to rummage around for weapons, armor and meds to stay off the virus. Its a fun mode to play a few times.

It's the only mode I've played for several years now. Love the blizzard!

Dang, looks like you can only play Survival once you get to Level 30. Oh well.

I find it frustrating that you appear to get 0 XP (or at least, very little) for replaying missions. They're the easiest content to match into a group to play, but they don't appear to help me in my quest to level up, beyond XP accumulated for killing enemies during the mission. Still finding it very hard to solo Encounters, and it doesn't help that they upgrade lower level encounters to stay 5 levels behind you. I can get most of the way through them on my own, but often will find a purple or yellow boss near the end and if I don't manage my position well, they'll take me down in a few shots, even if they're several levels behind me. I did a very large portion of this game solo when it first released...not sure if they made the game harder overall, or if just higher level content is more demanding, or if I just got worse.

If anyone else is also looking to run some encounters and possibly the last mission, I'll likely be on Xbox for parts of tonight and tomorrow night, roughly between 9pm-1am. I don't have an Xbox headset but will happily squad up, I'm mrlogical on xbl.

There are lots of guides out there for L30+ setups - PvE or PvP. A big thing you’ll see on the PvE setups is +x% damage to elites, and +x% damage to armour - since at the higher levels a lot of enemies will have armour, and you’ll run into a lot more elites (yellows and golds... I don’t think purples count as elite, but maybe) - they have a crap ton of HP and a ton of armour, so it will help a LOT.

Big guys will have those “weak spots” - some of these guys feel nearly unkillable if you don’t damage those fuel tanks, grenade and ammo bags.

Good luck out there, we’re all counting on you.

Had a productive weekend, getting to level 27 and completing what I thought was the final mission. Of course, I was wrong that that was the final mission, and googling it suggests I actually have two more to go, although I think the actual last mission may not involve any combat. I also fully unlocked the security wing and am close to the final unlock for the medical wing as well. Really hoping I can make it to the end before RDR2 comes out and diverts my attention!

I absolutely love the last little bit of the story. Not the boss fight, by any stretch, but they send you to a building with a nice little plot end cap.
Ah man I am so jonesing for Division 2. I am leery of the change to gun play as I feel that wasn't an area that needs fixing.

What are the changes being discussed?

Here

and a follow up state of the game here:

Woohoo, I beat the game! About 2/3 of the way through that final mission, I was impressed with the level design of the General Assembly. The encounters I was having with my squad of randos were all really challenging without being too frustrating, and I think it was helped a lot by the absence of "no respawning" sections, although also the fact that I was less-underleveled than usual (level 27 for a level 28 mission) surely helped as well. But the final encounter suffered from a lot of the usual frustrations, and my team wiped and restarted the mission at least 5 or 6 times.

I thought all was lost after that last wipe, as one of our team dropped, and my other two squaddies were now just staying in the doorway to the mission start to take potshots at the helicopter (all of our wipes happened after we'd dropped the copter down to a couple pips of armor triggering the release of a ton of ground soldiers). This felt like it fit a pattern I'd encountered in the past with random squads--you start banging your head against the wall and people rapidly lose faith and drop. Thankfully sometime in the last couple weeks with the game, I realized that, although the game will not automatically seek to matchmake a replacement for a dropped squad member, you can go back into matchmaking and turn it back on, so that's what I did. Fortunately a new squad member popped in soon after and we eventually completed the mission. Yay!

I'm level 28 now, so I think I'm going to a)get to level 30, b)scout out all the safe houses (I think I'm missing 2), and c)fully upgrade the medical wing (I just need 2 more green encounters cleared). Maybe I will seek to fully upgrade the tech wing as well, because I do like checking off boxes, but I suspect that might be a challenge to accomplish in the next couple of nights.

In any case, this game is good! I'm glad I came back to it, and I'm really hopeful that The Division 2 will address some of the stuff that rubbed me the wrong way. Between the fact that I'll have a 4 month old when it releases and the fact that I will have picked up Anthem a month or so before, I'm not sure whether I'll end up getting into The Division 2 at launch, but I'll definitely keep an eye on it.

Having finished the game twice (two L30 240+ gearlevel), my strategy is - do all the missions (yellow, green, blue, and pale-blue) before moving on to the next area. You’ll even get a new side-mission sending you to the next safe house. This should keep you on pace to be the correct level for each zone. Also (if you plan on going past L30 - higher “world-levels” are gated by your gear score), I recommend ignoring all the little pick-ups you come across in your travels - phones, survival guides, drones, etc - the XP gained by picking them up is scaled to your level. When you “level up” after 30, you get caches that have chances to get very nice gear. Caches are tied to your world-level, so if you want those caches to have THE BEST(tm) gear, then wait until world-level 5 - it’s all up to you.

Being even one level short of the target-level is quite a handicap. Being over-leveled is less of a difference. When you’re far enough below the enemy level it will put scary red skulls next to their health bars - these guys will one-shot you.

One of my two new guys just hit 28, and I’m feeling the “gear-pinch” (you quickly get used to characters with all the skills and tailored gear available) - I finished my night hitting all the gear and weapon vendors, buying every straight-up upgrade (I have 90M credits, so a few 100k for an item isn’t a concern). Once he hits L30, I can loot my stash for all the high level gear he could want - skipping straight into WL5, if I wanted.

Whew, all done. I had a ton of fun playing yesterday. I think, at the point I'd dropped off of this game a few years ago and where I resumed it a week or two ago, I'd worked myself into a tough spot where I was playing too much content for which I was underleveled. After beating the story Tuesday, yesterday I cleared out a bunch of side missions and unlocked the entire Base of Operations, all of which I did solo and with a very manageable level of challenge.

I then started exploring the end game content (I must've read through something like 20 different explanatory screens about new systems and modes). I rocketed from Gear Score 100 or so to Gear Score 250 by doing a handful of missions, buying some blueprints, and crafting items. I'd also received some special gear when I logged in for the first time in ages a few weeks ago that had been waiting for me in my stash. It was hilarious to go from moments earlier buying an assault rifle that did about 3000 dps to just equipping out of my stash another assault rifle that was 10000 dps.

Given that I'm getting RDR2 tonight, I'm probably done with this game, although I do want to take at least one try at Survival Mode. I tried matchmaking into a Dead Zone or Incursion group but failed to ever find anyone--are those modes abandoned or was it just bad luck? Anyway, I had a ton of fun with this game in the last few weeks and am now very excited for The Division 2. I may be rethinking my assumption that it won't make sense for me to buy it at launch.

My experience with the Darkzone has been limited to the Daily and Weekly “missions” - collect x things, kill x mob-types - oh yeah, that and getting jumped by teams that are set up for PvP. I don’t even bother running or shooting back... I just stand there, why give them the fight they crave? I win by not playing

I’ve yet to try Survival... it probably hasn’t helped that I’ve watched a number of “pros” that seem to know all the best routes, and where the gear is. I’ve never been able to internalize maps that way, in games, everything looks the same. I feel like I’d always be behind - “this area’s been cleaned out” etc... I guess the only way to find out would be to do it.

mrlogical wrote:

I tried matchmaking into a Dead Zone or Incursion group but failed to ever find anyone--are those modes abandoned or was it just bad luck?

Incursions are active, but normally everyone is flocking to the one that's part of the weekly challenge. So if you picked another it could explain why it never worked. As for DZ random groups. If anyone is doing that it's super rare. If you do get picked up the percentage that you'll be griefed is exceptionally high. Still every once in a while it can work out.