The Division 2

Can't say I'm surprised at all that Breakpoint underperformed. Fans of GR told them through the whole dev process how they were fucking it up and instead of listening they seem to have just said, "oh well, we'll get new fans" and thankfully it worked out exactly how you'd expect. I've gotten pretty good value out of Uplay+ though. Like 60 hours before I finally gave up on Breakpoint and another 60+ in Division 2 on PC.

Div 2 is still far from perfect (or even Div 1 1.8), but aside from the constant cycle of "run 2-3 missions, then spend 10 minutes figuring out what's junk and what should be saved for recalibration" I don't have any huge issues with the game like I did. It's a bit worse than usual right now because I'm playing a build I know is going to get nerfed so I have to not only look for upgrades for what I'm playing but also 2-3 other potential builds to swap to after the next round of "Oh, you were having fun with that? Unacceptable!" happens.

On the other hand, with targeted loot and a print out of the max rolls for each slot, you also don't really have to be super careful when sorting shit. Just don't throw out anything within a few percent of max and you're fine. It's only really bad when you fill up the 300-slot stash and have to sort through all the stuff you saved to keep only the best of the best, and 1-2 copies of the important weapon talents. Mods are still terrible design in every possible way though.

Finally the wallets are talking and they're forced to pay attention to players again. Division 2 should have learned a "massive" amount of lessons from Division 1, instead it seems like they developed it like Division 1 was never made, they tried to get too cute with gear rng on multiple levels, and 6 months later had to do an overhaul to get players interested again.

Breakpoint was in bad shape, even from the last open beta they had the week before release, releasing a bug riddled, micro trans stuffed game that was a clone of division instead of typical ghost recon, it deserved to bomb. Sad thing is I have a friend who still supported and defended this game and still got the season pass, same with Anthem, geez.

My adult nephew who I game with wanted to try this out and it was on sale, so we picked up copies. This is really what Fallout 76 should have been. I am really liking it, but I am not the biggest fan of uber realistic games, so I see it getting boring to me really quick. Only so many variants of dudes with guns you can have. But I'm really enjoying the ride so far.

Namon said:

My adult nephew who I game with wanted to try this out and it was on sale, so we picked up copies. This is really what Fallout 76 should have been. I am really liking it, but I am not the biggest fan of uber realistic games, so I see it getting boring to me really quick. Only so many variants of dudes with guns you can have. But I'm really enjoying the ride so far.

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it's basically a really enjoyable ride right up until you get to the endgame, then it falls apart REALLY quickly. of course, that's based on my experience at release, but from what i've loosely followed since, there hasn't really been much improvement.

mkopec said:

While I have not played this game in a long while, I do agree that it falls apart at the end game for sure. Plus the loot design in this game is lacking. Too much RNG stats on a single item basically meaning to get a good item you have to wade through 1000 bad items of the same type. I feel this game would definitely profit from a classic Diablo loot system. Base item, suffix, prefix. This would go a long way in improving the item economy.

I also feel the whole "Tom Clancy" shit is stifling this game rather than adding to it. Enemies become boring, predictable, youre basically shooting the same shit from lv1-max. Only difference is at end game bosses now have an armor cocoon you have to chip away at. Now I know this is more of an opinion and some will disagree, I feel that this game would profit from some varied types of mobs, like zombies, Cthulhu type shit like was in Secret World. This would really hep this games variety. But the Tom Clancy in the title basically means we will never see cool more varied monsters and mobs other than maybe some more bigger robotic dogs.

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This is my concern more so than anything else. It's way way too based on reality which just doesn't translate well to a game like this. I really want to try Destiny 2 and Borderlands now but my nephew is my main gaming partner and he hates FPS games.

And hamstrung XP in Odyssey? I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again, that was just simply not the case at all. I sunk god knows how many hours into that game and got the platinum and I never felt like I was desperate for XP. No you couldn't just go from main story point to main story point, but that's not how the game is designed... at all, and frankly that'd be akin to playing about 10% of the content anyway. The story was there to drive you to various regions and areas and then you were to play through the missions and what not in that new area to further advance the conquest of your chosen side. It is totally fair to say that system is boring, sure. But to say it's unfair, is like complaining you have to play through the first few levels in a mario world first, before reaching the boss level. That's just part of the game. Frankly anyone who bought those stupid XP potions were idiots and should have just watched a let's play of the game.

As far as MT goes.. I'm not the hugest fan and did not partake. Mainly because I want to earn shit in game, more than some moral stance on it. Like if I buy a skin...I'd rather be buying a small level or something I have to work through to get it as a drop. To me ideally it'd be great if they just did micro expansions where for 5 bucks I get a new fort unlocked with some new items (skins) that I can get off defeating mobs there.

mkopec said:

While I have not played this game in a long while, I do agree that it falls apart at the end game for sure. Plus the loot design in this game is lacking. Too much RNG stats on a single item basically meaning to get a good item you have to wade through 1000 bad items of the same type. I feel this game would definitely profit from a classic Diablo loot system. Base item, suffix, prefix. This would go a long way in improving the item economy.

I also feel the whole "Tom Clancy" shit is stifling this game rather than adding to it. Enemies become boring, predictable, youre basically shooting the same shit from lv1-max. Only difference is at end game bosses now have an armor cocoon you have to chip away at. Now I know this is more of an opinion and some will disagree, I feel that this game would profit from some varied types of mobs, like zombies, Cthulhu type shit like was in Secret World. This would really hep this games variety. But the Tom Clancy in the title basically means we will never see cool more varied monsters and mobs other than maybe some more bigger robotic dogs.

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I like the realistic setting and there is absolutely a place for it. I would also enjoy a game like this that allows for some fantasy setting as well, though.

Only thing the loot system really needs now is to be able to recalibrate both a stat and a talent. The biggest problem is the same one it's had since the first round of balance changes: an item with ideal stats but the wrong talent is automatically garbage compared to an item with x-1 ideal stats and the right talents. TU6 only made it worse by increasing the recal cap, and the difference between, say, a mask of those two categories could be 50%+ DTE. Guns having a massive damage roll range is still terrible too, and the only way to fix that is to either get rid of the range or bring back optimization station.

That said, even with targeted loot making it easier to find what you're looking for in theory, the loot grind does still suck after a while. Before you just did whatever and hoped you would win the lottery. Now you farm the spot where the brands you need drop until you get a bunch of those x-1 stat / correct talent items, and then you farm the Alps/Airaldi spots until you get a bunch of near-max roll single-stat items to recalibrate onto the first batch. Note that this is practically impossible to do with vests and backpacks still, since they almost never roll remotely close to the actual max due to the item budget being used on 2+ stats, 1+ talents, and at least a couple mod slots.

What's making me quit Div 2 again though is the blueprints. I do the daily projects, I do as many CP4's as I can (this is a huge issue now too, as I find that I can raise at most maybe 1 in 10 of the CPs on the map to level 4 because they just don't have enough connected events) and all I ever get are useless fucking gear BPs. It's something like an 8:1 ratio so far.

I absolutely would not want any sort of weird sci-fi shit in Division either. (And I hated Destiny 2 so much by the end of Forsaken that I never even bothered to try it on my new PC.)

Namon said:

And hamstrung XP in Odyssey? I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again, that was just simply not the case at all.

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There was no reason for them to increase the level cap in AC:O other than to massively inflate the XP curve, especially the second time when it went up from 70 to 99, in an attempt to get more people to buy the permanent xp boost. The alt-xp stuff was bad enough, but levels were meaningless other than to create more busy work when you had to upgrade all your gear over and over.

mkopec said:

I have not played the latest iteration of Borderlands, but I have over 800 hours invested in Destiny 2. And while it has its own problems, I feel its the best "feeling" shooter ever made. From the movement, the skills, the supers (ults) and the weapons and weapon types. It really feeds that power fantasy that is sadly missing from a lot of these games.It can also be very challenging at the end game PvE activities too, which is a bonus. Plus it has its own nuanced PvP which is also a ton of fun.

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Right now that it's free to play I may give it a shot with my son to see if we like it. I just like having a pre-made group out of the box, as I just absolutely loath random groups in today's online world. I also have War Frame but the character progression system is just so weird, it's off putting to me.

mkopec said:

Yeah thats why I said its an opinion of mine. But from playing this at release and getting to end game stuff, it just all felt the same.

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Yeah it definitely has a lot of same-y enemies...

Honestly I just want a good lovecraftian game. I really feel like it's extremely overdue for a good action adventure set right smack dab in the middle of Cthulhu taking over

Vorph said:

There was no reason for them to increase the level cap in AC:O other than to massively inflate the XP curve, especially the second time when it went up from 70 to 99, in an attempt to get more people to buy the permanent xp boost. The alt-xp stuff was bad enough, but level were meaningless other than to create more busy work when you had to upgrade all your gear over and over.

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Welp I stand corrected then.... I was finished right when they had upped it to 70, which did seem odd enough on its own. I haven't played through the DLC mainly because the first series seemed more of the same but crammed into one region and it was kind of boring. I'd have to go back and play again to form my own opinion, but now that I have "real" internet, it's fun to play with other people (that I know), and I try to find games that facilitate limited multiplayer.

mkopec said:

I would not worry too much about a group. Destiny 2 has a robust matchmaking system and from what I have seen there is no really bad people, besides 90% of this game can be soloed. Its only the very end game pinnacle PvE content that needs a solid group.

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I may not be an MMO Fan any more (I just hate things with groups larger than 4-6), but I still like "end game" playing and that's ultimately my desire. I absolutely love the journey but also realize there's potential for endless gaming if a game has a robust end game.

mkopec said:

I would at least try it for sure. Its free and a ton of content for free. And like I said, the gunplay and movement in Destiny 2 is like the best in the business, IMO.

LOL, and here I am in this thread (again) trying to recruit people for Destiny 2 , lol. Honest it was not my intention.

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Heh I kind of brought it up. But legit as long as Division 2 is fun with my nephew... and I will readily admit, my tastes on gaming is not normal. I love doing shit over and over... but at the same time, if shit stops being fun, we stop playing it's that simple.