The Division 2 - Catch All

Balthezor wrote:
vypre wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

Is that really the case with the season pass? Just getting the free content early? That doesn't make sense. Why would anyone pay $40 for it plus cosmetics.

Seems to be.

"Year 1 Pass holders will be able to play the story content seven days before everyone else. They’ll also get immediate access to the three Specializations coming during the year. Non-pass holders will have to grind in order to unlocked them.

The Year 1 Pass comes with Classified Assignments, which are bite-sized story missions that will shed some light about the last hours before the fall of the city. Each Assignment awards an exclusive backpack trophy for those who complete them.

Season pass holders will also have access to an extra Bounty per week, and an extra Project each day until March 1, 2020."

https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/28/the...

Thanks for link. I'm baffled but sort of happy about it. Baffled because you get less for getting it.

The key thing to note is that they talk about extra specializations and that echoes very closely to what they do with Siege and new operators. In Siege you earn renown for playing and new operators cost a significant sum of that currency. Or if you buy the pass you instantly unlock them. I imagine this will be a similar situation. It also sounds like those classified assignments will be exclusive and the extra bounties will probably help reduce some of the grind as well.

So season pass in D2 sounds like a premium account in some of the free to play games - the way to reduce some of the grind. IIRC it's like 40 bucks or so for a year, seems reasonable if you are going to play the game for a year.

The only potential problem with all this I see is that when the new specializations come out and IF they are OP and IF they require an enormous grind for non-season pass players, this might negatively affect the PvP crowd. But then again, everything negatively affects the PvP crowd, they are a touchy bunch.

Most PvP content will be normalized, so I don't think it will impact too much the PvP meta. Also, specializations in D1 were not that hard to unlock, I don't expect they change that in some radical way. I mean, is kind of unfair for PvP but doesn't seems like "pay to win" or anything like that, is basically early access to all the content

Balthezor wrote:
vypre wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

Is that really the case with the season pass? Just getting the free content early? That doesn't make sense. Why would anyone pay $40 for it plus cosmetics.

Seems to be.

"Year 1 Pass holders will be able to play the story content seven days before everyone else. They’ll also get immediate access to the three Specializations coming during the year. Non-pass holders will have to grind in order to unlocked them.

The Year 1 Pass comes with Classified Assignments, which are bite-sized story missions that will shed some light about the last hours before the fall of the city. Each Assignment awards an exclusive backpack trophy for those who complete them.

Season pass holders will also have access to an extra Bounty per week, and an extra Project each day until March 1, 2020."

https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/28/the...

Thanks for link. I'm baffled but sort of happy about it. Baffled because you get less for getting it.

Remember when I was confused a couple weeks back?

Still happy won't be missing out on too much with standard edition.

Edit. For me and the time I'll put into the game I'm not sure I'd get any extra value from the Year One Pass. I'm sure big fans who'll put in way more time than me probably will though.

setrio wrote:

Most PvP content will be normalized, so I don't think it will impact too much the PvP meta. Also, specializations in D1 were not that hard to unlock, I don't expect they change that in some radical way. I mean, is kind of unfair for PvP but doesn't seems like "pay to win" or anything like that, is basically early access to all the content

True but, as Ranalin mentioned above, any kind of early access is viewed as an unfair (albeit temporary) advantage in PvP world.

Do I have to do PvP? If I wanted just PvE, would I really be missing out on any cool gear or something that can only be gained from PvP?

Based on D1, nop, you are fine if you don't want to do any PvP. Don't know if this is going to change on D2 but I think you will be ok too

So PVP just gives you access to better loot sooner?

Kind of, in D1 the DZ was were some items dropped more frequently, but you usually don't go to the DZ just for the loot, it's the gameplay and experience. At some point, it was the only place where some items drop but that was changing in the lifetime of D1. Don't know how this is going to work in D2, but I expect a similar approach.

Not participating in PvP also doesn't mean not going into the Dark Zone.

ranalin wrote:

Not participating in PvP also doesn't mean not going into the Dark Zone.

Is that new for 2?

In 1 I remember pesky campers dancing a jig around my tattered corpse on more than one occasion when venturing into the DZ.

The DZ probably will be the same in that regard because people, but they made some changes to prevent or at least mitigate that. For example, except one of the DZ zones the rest are normalized in terms of gear (everything has the same stats for everyone), the spawn points have turrets so you can't be harassed on the entry points and the rogue protocol is more rewarding and with new mechanics besides kill other agents.

setrio wrote:

the spawn points have turrets so you can't be harassed on the entry points

Cool.

Anyone know why certain game, this one included turn of the lights on my Corsair keyboard?

SpyNavy wrote:

Anyone know why certain game, this one included turn of the lights on my Corsair keyboard?

I think there is a setting in the 3rd Party Options for LED keyboard support - you might want to fiddle with that?

Hmm I just got an email from Ubi highlighting rewards for participating in the open beta. There is a weapon skin for participating in "any beta", an arm patch for completing the "invaded" mission, and two "backpack trophies", one for completing the Dark Zone intro mission and one for participating in the Open Beta specifically. I believe that means that as of right now the only one of these rewards I will be able to claim is the skin for playing "any beta." I'm ever so slightly tempted to download this beta just because there are more things to earn, but since it means playing a bunch of the same content over again and I'll already be doing that when the game launches for real, I will resist (especially because it doesn't look like the arm patch or the backpack trophies are of any particular use).

mrlogical wrote:

since it means playing a bunch of the same content over again and I'll already be doing that when the game launches for real, I will resist (especially because it doesn't look like the arm patch or the backpack trophies are of any particular use).

That's very logical, mrlogical. I however can't resist the temptation to collect ALL THE USELESS DOODADS!

I'm with mrlogical on this one. I played the hell out of the private beta. I don't think I will waste time doing it again since its the same content.

Balthezor wrote:

I'm with mrlogical on this one. I played the hell out of the private beta. I don't think I will waste time doing it again since its the same content.

I'll be waiting for your post on Monday about how you caved and played them all to get the DOODADS!

My only temptation to play it this weekend is the voice in my head saying "yeah, those bonuses don't seem like they matter...but what if they do?" Pretty positive I will stay strong, though.

ukickmydog wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

I'm with mrlogical on this one. I played the hell out of the private beta. I don't think I will waste time doing it again since its the same content.

I'll be waiting for your post on Monday about how you caved and played them all to get the DOODADS!

Haha. What I did was make a character and did the first 5 min. I hope that is good enough!

I wonder how the account carries over- if it's all on the same Ubi account I guess it'll be OK. I've got this game coming to me free from buying a Radeon GPU but they haven't given me a key yet. If I have time this weekend maybe I'll give the free beta a try just for the goodies. I didn't play the first one so I'm going in cold.

I'm just worried when the real game comes out I won't be able to perfectly recreate the character I randomly created; I'd say she was ~35 or so, had a big poofy 70s kind of Italian 'fro for hair, and capri mom jeans. And was apparently some super-agent. Might honestly be one of the most accidentally hilarious characters I have ever wound up with in any game.

chaosmos wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

Anyone know why certain game, this one included turn of the lights on my Corsair keyboard?

I think there is a setting in the 3rd Party Options for LED keyboard support - you might want to fiddle with that?

Have to disable the SDK in the ICUE software and then it works.

Lol, I just did the first mission, killed the final guy and saved the hostage, then I fast traveled back to the theater. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do that yet because I was supposed to go to the atrium in the hotel. Problem is, after I ran back there, there is an elevator that will no longer let me up to the atrium level so now I'm stuck and can't finish the mission. yay.

Like the world building and graphics look great, guns feel good (apart from that age old targeting mess … don't make the reticule turn red if, when I press fire, my bullets will be going into the door frame in front of me, not the tartget); the general trash mobs and elites are fine but OMG I still hate the bosses so much (the laboratory mission had me doing a Dark Souls uninstall and throwing away my password!). I don't mind abusive games (Elite: Dangerous, Everquest and Black Desert say hello...) but bullet sponges always get my back up …

*runs off to perform some much needed mindfulness*

I got stuck on that mission but couldn't get to the roof. I destroyed the stuff in front of the door but invisible barrier wasn't letting me through. My brother joined and walked right through then i teleported to him. Hoping that isn't a common thing.

I like it so far. I'm a little lost because I never played the first one and there's a lot of stuff to do. But I think I might be in for this. Gameplay is fun. I like collecting loot and if my brother is playing too, means I've got someone to always play with.

That issue should have been patched during the maintenance window this morning.

Cool. I managed to get to Level 8 (max for the demo) and finished the main missions. Definitely fun. They've earned my pre-order. Going to go standard edition. 3 days early access doesn't mean much for me since most of my fun will be around PvE.

I am getting some weird stuttering issues though. Like loading or lag. I've got it on an SSD and it's fine for the most part, but travelling around, it's like it's loading the next zone and it just stutters for a few seconds. Also quite a lot of sound issues too. Hoping they fix all that.