Developer response to the feedback from PTS Phase 2. They're thankfully removing gear lock from PvE. No mention of when this is going live, even though the season officially ends next week.
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - that robot dog is not a good boy
- Thread starter grommit!
- Start date
Interesting. Need to find some time to update those weapon buffs to see how it shakes out my rankings. And might have some new farming to do between that and the gear bonus tweaks.
New Season "Vanguard" starts tomorrow - release notes
Highlights from the stream:
Highlights from the stream:
- New tacticool themed apparel event starts Feb 20, rerun of Last Resort in April
- Tinkering menu that integrates recalibration and optimization can be accessed anywhere
- Open world caches scale with world difficulty
- New exotic rifle will be available at the Descent vendor, as will the Descent outfits
- Some global events adjusted to be less of a pain - e.g. can now do reduced damage to protected enemies in Guardians
- New vendor similar to Cassie coming in TU20.1 (i.e. mid-season) that sells item caches for textiles
- Keener, Kajika etc outfits will be available for premium credits during the season
Your New Reliable also got a nice damage boost [along with most LMG] - or are those changes a later update?
All of the balancing changes are coming tomorrow in TU20. They did say some localization work was still outstanding for the in-game descriptions to reflect the changes.
PSA - the game is suffering from random hitching, and both hangfire and I saw the "you are X in queue" message this morning. Devs have acknowledged the issue, but while you can play the manhunt, I'd avoid Descent for now.
(edit) hitching appears to have been fixed, but completing the Descent project doesn't drop the collectible
(edit) hitching appears to have been fixed, but completing the Descent project doesn't drop the collectible
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YuriRuler90
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
I saw the patch notes on reddit the other day and decided to update and dive back in after almost a year of not playing. It's been fun. Thank god I had like 8 builds god rolled out, because my aim was absolute crap after not playing any FPSs for that long.
Ran the incursion to see what it was all about. Pretty fun, we had to redo a part due to a bug not opening a door. Got an Ouroboros on my first run and decided to gift it to a teammate that had been looking for one for a while.
The rebalancing made my Negotiators Dilemma set even more awesome with the paired MG5.
Did they add a bunch of new things to the CP4 loot pool? It seemed like I was starting to get new items from the two that I finished.
Ran the incursion to see what it was all about. Pretty fun, we had to redo a part due to a bug not opening a door. Got an Ouroboros on my first run and decided to gift it to a teammate that had been looking for one for a while.
The rebalancing made my Negotiators Dilemma set even more awesome with the paired MG5.
Did they add a bunch of new things to the CP4 loot pool? It seemed like I was starting to get new items from the two that I finished.
I can't remember what they've added over the last year or two, but you should at least be getting new blueprints if you haven't played for awhile.
(edit) oops, 19K
Logged in this morning to see if I had enough NSA credits for the new Exotic.. except Wally had nothing for sale ![:\](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/civis/data/assets/smilies/slash-1x.png "Slash :\")
Though I didn't have enough credits anyway.. so now I've got something to do in between Manhunts. Though might have some farming to do as well if I feel like making some builds that take advantage of the changes they made.
Mk17 is back to being a good Rifle option. Most of the LMG got nice bumps. I think I had solid stashed items for the rest - of which the Shield Splinterer & Rail splitter became intriguing again with the +10Mag [always felt a few bullets short, hence why I favored EB]. Curious to see how the M16a feels with more power, but assume it will still suck.
If I can quit my PfE, I might try a Tank/Hybrid with some of the brand bonus tweaks. Curious if they're aiming to bring back Berserk with the Health changes, or if they'll consider bumping the max value on the Health attribute.
Though I didn't have enough credits anyway.. so now I've got something to do in between Manhunts. Though might have some farming to do as well if I feel like making some builds that take advantage of the changes they made.
Mk17 is back to being a good Rifle option. Most of the LMG got nice bumps. I think I had solid stashed items for the rest - of which the Shield Splinterer & Rail splitter became intriguing again with the +10Mag [always felt a few bullets short, hence why I favored EB]. Curious to see how the M16a feels with more power, but assume it will still suck.
If I can quit my PfE, I might try a Tank/Hybrid with some of the brand bonus tweaks. Curious if they're aiming to bring back Berserk with the Health changes, or if they'll consider bumping the max value on the Health attribute.
It seems there were quite a few undocumented changes in TU20. Including how the hunter fight on floor 100 of summit works - i.e. you can no longer hang out in the corridor sniping them 
The new strategy seems to be for all but one of the group to head to the balcony area leading outside. They then aggro the hunters to give the remaining player a chance to join them. Doesn't help solo players though.
Anyhow, it seems the Descent project still isn't dropping new comms
Anyhow, it seems the Descent project still isn't dropping new comms
Came back to the game this week after giving it six months after the last try involved crashing and burning (literally - the system hard froze) every 30 minutes of play. Haven't had a crash in about 7 hours, though I'm needing to retune the video settings since it was really jerky when I loaded it up.
Descent is equal parts stupid and brilliant - there's something I'm not getting about how resources are or are not carried over between runs. As in, nothing seems to be. Even though there's a terminal in the starting lobby where it looks like you should be able to buy things. And it's absolutely destroying me given just how fragile you are at the start, how absolutely useless most of the skills are, and how meaningless most of the talents awarded by rooms seem to be.
The worst thing is the mix of enemies, with EVERY FUCKING ROOM getting at least two shield-carrying bashers who run straight at you the moment the doors open, and EVERY FUCKING ROOM getting drone bombers. I kind of get the point that they want you to keep moving, but the chip damage you take from bullets grinds your armor down so incredibly fast. And the floor bosses are... not impossible, but again with the ammo and armor constraints they feel like impossible bullet sponges. It's like the franchise has come full circle back to the beginning of Div 1 with the miserable balancing.
And yet... it's so damn fun, and I've tossed ten tries or more at it in the last three days.
Had some fun this afternoon noodling around with the current league time trials - is it just me or are those tuned easier than they used to be? I remember getting middle-ranking scores in the past, the three I did today I got 10 stars / 10 / 9, on only one try each.
Going to have to think about my builds - had a very generic 2/2/2 when I loaded up, thinking about more yellow, maybe tinkering some blues into yellows.
Descent is equal parts stupid and brilliant - there's something I'm not getting about how resources are or are not carried over between runs. As in, nothing seems to be. Even though there's a terminal in the starting lobby where it looks like you should be able to buy things. And it's absolutely destroying me given just how fragile you are at the start, how absolutely useless most of the skills are, and how meaningless most of the talents awarded by rooms seem to be.
The worst thing is the mix of enemies, with EVERY FUCKING ROOM getting at least two shield-carrying bashers who run straight at you the moment the doors open, and EVERY FUCKING ROOM getting drone bombers. I kind of get the point that they want you to keep moving, but the chip damage you take from bullets grinds your armor down so incredibly fast. And the floor bosses are... not impossible, but again with the ammo and armor constraints they feel like impossible bullet sponges. It's like the franchise has come full circle back to the beginning of Div 1 with the miserable balancing.
And yet... it's so damn fun, and I've tossed ten tries or more at it in the last three days.
Had some fun this afternoon noodling around with the current league time trials - is it just me or are those tuned easier than they used to be? I remember getting middle-ranking scores in the past, the three I did today I got 10 stars / 10 / 9, on only one try each.
Going to have to think about my builds - had a very generic 2/2/2 when I loaded up, thinking about more yellow, maybe tinkering some blues into yellows.
Perks bought at the terminal inside Descent (when you're wearing the AR suit) are only good for that run. They are purchased with currency you earn that goes away when you exit.
Perks bought at the terminal outside Descent (when you're in your regular gear) are permanent. They are purchased with currency you earn in Descent and keep.
If you don't like any of the talents at the start of a loop, you can re-roll at the cost of Descent (in-mode) currency. Don't underestimate the utility of talents like Trauma, Preservation or Lucky Shot. Skills get more important deeper into runs when you start facing multiple waves of enemies.
They've also started rotating groups of talents and skills every three days, so you can always try again later in the week.
The mode gets easier once you've worked out which rooms to avoid, and where to position yourself within them.
Yes, they went from Heroic & Challenging to Challenging & Hard sometime ago.
Patch notes for TU20.1 due to go live on Tuesday.
This will introduce the new vendor "Danny Weaver" that accepts textiles for item caches. No fix for the weekly Descent project yet.
This will introduce the new vendor "Danny Weaver" that accepts textiles for item caches. No fix for the weekly Descent project yet.
A little off-topic, but I know a few of you play Ghost Recon from time to time. Considering buying one of the more recent iterations on steam and was looking for recommendations. Which have you liked the most or still play? Which is better for solo or team play?
thanks, Blonde.
thanks, Blonde.
I preferred Wildlands as it felt more like a real place. Breakpoint's world felt sterile in comparison. If you do decide to get Breakpoint, try the "Ghost experience" without the gear score enabled.
I like the shooting mechanics of Breakpoint more [sans gear score crap], especially after Motherland - but agree with Grom that Wildlands feels more alive. Can usually get them each for around $10 when on sale.
Thanks for the input Grom/JTJ. I watched a few videos and think I've cooled on it for now. Honestly, I should be focusing on my backlog.
If they still do the trial thing where you can play with someone that has the game, I'm happy to download them in case we're ever on at the same time and you want to give it a spin. Always enjoyed the game play, I just ran out of things I wanted to do.
Speaking of things to do, plowed through a Descent run and capped the nemesis to finally get enough credits for the new exotic. Was happy to see they added Pummel. Also picked up a nice chunk of season levels. Kind of want to start working toward a different outfit..
I.. might prefer Descent to the normal game at the moment. I hope they add some new levels/rooms eventually. The random builds you can piece together can be quite fun, and having played each mission 20+ times, I'm only really chasing the story and unlocks at this point.
I always ignore skills, and usually skipped most Blue options.. but recently went for a few tiers of Entrench, which can get kind of crazy. I just wish I could save my progress if I don't die, just to see how far you can push the builds without having to find hours to block off for one run.
Would also love a Special Event where you could take a saved Descent build out into the regular game..
I always ignore skills, and usually skipped most Blue options.. but recently went for a few tiers of Entrench, which can get kind of crazy. I just wish I could save my progress if I don't die, just to see how far you can push the builds without having to find hours to block off for one run.
Would also love a Special Event where you could take a saved Descent build out into the regular game..
PSA, it seems the high-end gear you get from Danny Weaver (the new vendor who accepts textiles) is always max-rolled.
Sadly, the Descent project is still not dropping the collectible. The fix won't be dropping until TU20.2 goes live.
Sadly, the Descent project is still not dropping the collectible. The fix won't be dropping until TU20.2 goes live.
Don't know if it's a bug, the XP scales over time, or normal.. but I somehow got a chunk of uninterrupted time - hit Loop 18 before I had to sign off. Gained a little over 40 XP levels
And did find a small bug, as I now have 5 extra apparel event tickets after hitting 17/17.
And did find a small bug, as I now have 5 extra apparel event tickets after hitting 17/17.
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Time has certainly flown by - it's the five year anniversary.
The fan kit includes some neat concept art: https://ubi.li/5thAnniv_FanKit
The fan kit includes some neat concept art: https://ubi.li/5thAnniv_FanKit
TU20.2 patch notes - hopefully the fix for Descent collectibles will stick.
(edit) Descent comms are dropping again, got all seven that would have dropped if this hadn't been broken. I particularly enjoyed this line
(edit) Descent comms are dropping again, got all seven that would have dropped if this hadn't been broken. I particularly enjoyed this line
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PSA - don't recalibrate any weapons for now. It seems some weapon talents have been un-intentionally re-rolled: https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/help/...reset-after-the-latest-update-march/000107527
Final manhunt target for Year 5 is now active, and I'll just say watch out for the back spawns. Interesting story twist too
PTS notes for Year 6 Season 1 look to be very rifle focused, including a nice change to the Diamondback.
PTS notes for Year 6 Season 1 look to be very rifle focused, including a nice change to the Diamondback.
Ha, what?
Both versions of the game I played were releasable.. though I preferred the alpha to the beta, gameplay wise. That Ubisoft executive team remains a clown show.
Both versions of the game I played were releasable.. though I preferred the alpha to the beta, gameplay wise. That Ubisoft executive team remains a clown show.
Year 6 Season 1 patch notes
Biggest change is that everyone can level up to L40 without owning Warlords. Guess there's no point in keeping my L30 character around anymore.
Biggest change is that everyone can level up to L40 without owning Warlords. Guess there's no point in keeping my L30 character around anymore.
I think it's a way to provide a sense of progression without increasing the level cap. We'll have to wait until Season 2 to see how that works though.Seasonal characters
Fingers crossed it is accelerated or I might not feel down to grind .. and I hope by modifiers they mean like a paired down Descent and not just random Directives.
Apparently it's their take on how Diablo 4 does things?