The Division 2 - Shown at the Microsoft Press Conference

[Angel P 390]

On 7/16/2019 at 8:24 PM, Brandon H said:

Really wish this had cross-play. I’m on Xbox and loving it, but it would put it over the top to clan up with y’all.

Same.  Haven’t played in over a month but would if there was an LCVG Xbox clan. 

[Brandon H 73]

I went ahead and created an LCVG clan on Xbox. Send an invite request if anyone wants to join.

[Magness 274]

The big update including episode one and expeditions is out today. They made some pretty big changes to skills and, from the little time I got to mess around with them today the changes were good overall I’d say. Almost all skills last twice as long now with much shorter cool downs and much better damage output making them MUCH more viable. There’s also a nice upgrade to the crafting bench for WT5 ensuring that all crafted items hit 500 GS. 

 

There’s a ton of new content so I really haven’t gotten that far into it all but, other than slower loading times the new update seems good so far. 

[Brandon H 73]

Hit WT3 last night and have eyes on crossing WT4 tonight if I can find a good group for a couple of missions.

[Kyle-K 87]

Might have to jump back in now that there is new content.

[Magness 274]

Had some time to play last night so, my friend and I tried the raid again on “Discovery” mode. We did get further in (with only 2 of us) but, damn is that hard without 8 players  You can matchmake though to fill in the other spots now so that’s good. I’ve played around a bit more with skill builds and skill power on gear sets and they are MUCH more useful now. Without mods the turret and drone I used were nice and pretty useful in fights after the update and with mods and gearset bonuses, they can genuinely swing a tough fight your way. Previously the skills were more limited - pulling aggro or harassing targets on one side and things like that. Now they are more powerful, last longer and can be used more often so they can actually take out some targets, pull aggro more effectively or even close off one side to prevent enemies from flanking you - very nice. 
 

I've also been working on the Gunner specialization and it’s a good but weird one. I didn’t feel like it was very useful at first and damage output was pretty low but, as I’ve leveled up the specialization skills including damage bonuses, armor penetration and the armor on kill bonuses it’s become much better. It’s still weird though as it’s built purposefully to attack from open positions which is the opposite of everything else in the Division  So you stand out in the open and just unleash on the baddies and with the specialization skills leveled up you really do chew through the baddies. As they attack you and are focusing on you it can be weird just standing there and taking it (resistances help on gear/mods here too) but, the armor bonuses mean that you don’t start losing armor or actually taking damage till you stop killing (run out of rounds). It's nice in how different it is to the other specialization but, I’m not sure I’ll keep using it after I finish it and it really isn’t great until you’ve upgraded a lot of the specialization skills; you just can’t be out of cover and attack for more than a few seconds before they peel all your armor off until you’ve got the armor on kill at the very least. 

 

Anyway, I'm still so impressed with this game and how much content is here and all included in the base game. Excellent work by Ubisoft and Massive. 

[Eldorado 460]

My gunner spec is complete and I’ve moved onto field research.  That combined with the Stoner LMG I picked up on an Ep 1 mission I have been wrecking. The version of the gun that dropped had a 250 round mag that I mod up to 300. I start firing and don’t stop for like a full minute and a half. Keep firing asshole! It also has a built in suppressor so I’ve already hit someone 5-6 times before they even find me.  I think I need to tweak my load out to utilize a different device. I’ll check that out tonight. I also have all of my green True Patriot armor set now. Got that last piece last night. 

[Magness 274]

Nice man, your LMG damage must be insane  I do like the TP set with the Gunner and use that myself atm with an assault rifle and LMG (no Stoner yet). It’s so good at tagging baddies with the flag effects and spreading it around heh. 

[Eldorado 460]

Yep, I've noticed the little flags popping up over the heads of guys I'm taking down.  And I pile on crit hit, chance, and elite damage on my gun mods.  I run with so much crit hit because once I find a sweet spot I can generally keep it right on target.  

 

My buddy also has all of his green OD armor now too.  Since he and I play so much it's like getting double drops, because as long as it isn't modded we can swap freely and we've been doing that ever since 250-300.  We didn't mod anything on the way up and I'm 99% certain it's why we've leveled so fast.  As a matter of fact, he joined right at the end of the Stoner gun mission and he got the better version of it, 50 more rounds and almost an extra 800 in damage.  He doesn't do LMG so he gave it to me.  The mission wasn't too hard so you should definitely go knock it out.

[Magness 274]

Will do

[Brandon H 73]

Finished Tidal Basin and hit WT5 last night. Do gear drops slow down at this level? I ran bounties and the expedition with a crew after hitting WT5 and got a number of drops,  but nothing over 450 or so. I’m stuck at 448.

[Eldorado 460]

Once you change tiers drops should start to go up in rank. You might have to equip anything and everything you find to get better drops. The only time drops didn’t get stronger was when I was near the end of a tier. 

6 hours ago, Brandon H said:

Finished Tidal Basin and hit WT5 last night. Do gear drops slow down at this level? I ran bounties and the expedition with a crew after hitting WT5 and got a number of drops,  but nothing over 450 or so. I’m stuck at 448.

 

[Brandon H 73]

Played for a few hours today and advanced gear score a bit. This is the first time the game has seemed grindy to me. For the life of me, I can’t get a good weapon to drop (especially an assault rifle) that actually is a few points higher than my current gear score.

[Eldorado 460]

You can also up mission difficulty which will lead to better drops. Also do an event or two near the control point before taking the control point. You will raise the alert level, ie difficulty, and get better drops. Wouldn’t recommend past alert 3 at most by yourself. 4 is a total bitch even in a pair. 

[Magness 274]

Agree on raising level at control points; it’s a pretty quick and easy way to get more drops for the same activity. And yea raising the difficulty in missions and flipping the mission between Invaded/Normal is a good idea to see what drops you’ll get. I’d also say to do a few bounties simply for the change of pace but, also named bosses in bounties at Hard/Challenge almost always drop gear at you highest GS rank (request backup if doing it alone). 
 

The Strongholds are going to drop some of the best gear especially at higher difficulties and doing specific missions on specific difficulties now guarantees exotic weapon part drops so you could start picking those up. It can be grindy depending on the activity and whether or not it’s fun but, Division seems better than most at giving you plenty of “other” things to do that are fun. 

[Eldorado 460]

The two of us alone tried the raid last night, just for shits and giggles.  We gave it a few goes, but didn't get past the first area.  Made it once to the point a helicopter brings more troops in.  Died shortly after.  Got nothing for our time, but it was fun nonetheless.  

[Magness 274]

I don’t find the raid too hard.... with 8 players  In a team of only 2 even on “Discovery” it’s WAY too hard. The raid is fun and if you have a team of 2 you can still matchmake to fill the other 6 spots so you can at least try it out once to get a feel for it. 

[Whooter 407]

Okay, I'm out of the loop, what's this "Discovery" mode for the raid?

 

 

[Magness 274]

 Discovery mode is “easy” difficulty for the raid. It lets you play through the raid with another 8 players and get the achievements, location discoveries and other perks reserved for the raid without having to fight really difficult baddies. It’s still a raid so it’s not overly easy and still needs 8 players but, you’ll get some good gear drops and you can likely go through it on Discovery mode and not get downed even once.  

[Magness 274]

I played through the 2 new story missions and did the 2 expedition zones that have unlocked (3 investigations at each) and all of the new stuff has been a lot of fun. Investigations are very different to the rest of the D2 content which made them interesting and fun to figure out and play through. I got 99 gear/weapon drops out of Outcast boxes, kills and the supply caches - all 500 - between the 6 investigations so = they drop a lot. The new areas are pretty cool design wise too as there are some areas with wide open spaces and great line of sight and others that are tight corridors and rooms where you need to watch all sides (and above) for ambushes and just generally really good, varied environments. 
 

I think the 3rd investigation area unlocks next week and I am looking forward to playing that now but, I’m sure I can keep myself busy with all of this content until then. 

[Whooter 407]

14 hours ago, Magness said:

 Discovery mode is “easy” difficulty for the raid. It lets you play through the raid with another 8 players and get the achievements, location discoveries and other perks reserved for the raid without having to fight really difficult baddies. It’s still a raid so it’s not overly easy and still needs 8 players but, you’ll get some good gear drops and you can likely go through it on Discovery mode and not get downed even once.  

 

Awesome, thanks!  Is there matchmaking for Discovery mode, or do you still need to PUG people manually?

[Magness 274]

Thankfully they added matchmaking to the raid so you can join solo and matchmake for the other 7 spots, join with a friend and matchmake for the other 6, etc. That makes joining the raid on discovery or normal much easier. 

[Eldorado 460]

On 8/1/2019 at 11:29 AM, Magness said:

Thankfully they added matchmaking to the raid so you can join solo and matchmake for the other 7 spots, join with a friend and matchmake for the other 6, etc. That makes joining the raid on discovery or normal much easier. 

So do you get on over the weekend normally?  He really wants to give the raid a go, as a clan.  We Discord during play, I cuss a fair bit.  

[Magness 274]

Yes I’m usually on over the weekend and would typically be around 9am UK time (very early for you 2) and again around 3 UK time if that works for your morning...

[Eldorado 460]

He said he probably wouldn't be able to make it that early.