I did come back and use my highest level character, but I was pretty far behind on the equipment curve compared to people I knew who had kept playing. Not sure, just never really felt hard unless I was playing stuff you really aren’t even supposed to play without a group.
Like I said, been a while since I last played, but are you utilizing that tool that you can drop that heals you abs long as you’re in its radius? That one has a cooldown time rather than being a consumable so it’s at least available even if you’re out of medkits.
I played Division all the way to max gear score solo and I thought it played just fine SP. Honestly I think Division is a darn good game.
I’m interested in getting back into this, but the last time I gave it a go I felt so clueless as to what the new stuff was, where it was, how to play it, etc…
I adored survival mode (or whatever it’s called).
The upside of this discussion: You have me convinced. Adding The Division to my Wishlist for the next time it’s on a big sale. Possibly during Christmas sales.
When I last tried it I was running the riot shield on the theory that maybe I could avoid dying in a hail of gunfire while repositioning by using that as makeshift cover on the way and it wasn’t working so hot. I don’t remember if I even have that tool - and if I don’t, I am unlikely to get to a point where I can get it. But I think I do, and was using it, and still having major issues. Dunno.
Like, I’m not pretending I’m the greatest at action games, but I’ve played plenty of cover shooters, so I understand the basic tactics (such as they are - I think it’s much less fun than run-and-gun shooting, personally) and they were one and all more forgiving than The Division has been in my experience. Most commonly through fully regenerating health and/or shields, lower enemy counts or more consistent backup (which means more targets for the enemies), and enemies doing much less damage, on average. So I’m perfectly willing to stipulate that the people who haven’t had problems are better at shooters than I am (almost certainly they are), but I don’t think it’s legitimate to claim that the game design itself isn’t contributing to my difficulties. And, just perhaps, might be particularly ill-suited to solo play.
Edit: Okay, so, no, don’t have that tool. I, uh…did have better armor than I had actually equipped though. And the side mission I tried the other day was level 6, apparently. So I bet those played roles. Gonna try a couple easier things, with actual armor on (in some slots, anyway - still don’t have any gloves or kneepads.)
I don’t understand how you are having difficulties playing this game solo. I absolutely suck at FPS games but I haven’t had any issues in this one. I suspect you must be missing a major mechanic in your gameplay?
I started playing this game like two months ago … and I played solo mostly, so perhaps they have fixed some of these challenges @malkav11 faced before, I am not sure. The game is exciting and there are some tactical elements to it. If you are being flanked, then use a turret, or pulse the enemy before you start to engage them, so you can double the damage inflicted. Or get to higher ground so you have height advantage.
The better the AI, the more fun solo experience, isn’t it, as compare to some dumb AI which rushed at you? I am perplex to hear people giving up in solo… this game is very playable in solo but it is challenging - not impossible and frustrating - who has time for these type of games anymore.
Perhaps you stumbled into a higher than your current level area? Then stay on the area at your level - the game is too open and you could end up in a “dangerous” area, just pull back like any other single player game and spend time levelling up in the area you are supposed to be in. There’s tons of missions in any area for you to play and get the xp to level up.
Edit to add: yeah, the game does focus on getting the right gear/armor and also the right tech upgrade (of your Base of Operations - think of this as your Tactical layer. You need to upgrade the building of your Base to unlock certain capabilities - for instance, unlocking Medical Wing so you can get the Healing support station to deploy during battle). This will allow you to have better “arsenals” at your disposals. For instance, do check out your Talents, Perks and your Signature Skill by pressing (L)oadout. That Signature Skill is where you can have a Healing Station deploy just beside you to heal you while you faced off… or you can have a Fire Turret to burn the enemies as the come near you and while they are burning, they are vulnerable and you can shoot their heads.
Weapons stability is UTMOST important in early games, imo. You might be a l33t shooter but if you didn’t mod your weapons with Stability mods, you will always miss. Perhaps @malkav11 have also miss out this important thing when he started - I also learned it the hard way and only after learning this tip from a fellow friend (yes, the game doesn’t tell you any of this stuff, so it’s easy to get frustrated).
Don’t spend money buying weapons from the vendors, but instead spend money buying weapon mods and gear mods. Focus on Stability, Chance to Hit and Critical Damage.
Focus on mods that lengthen your turrets or healing station duration so you can last longer. Don’t forget to press G to throw grenades to flank the enemies. And also V to use a medkit to temporary boost your health.
I guarantee you will like this game @Rock8man, at the minimum, you will love the detail of the game world and how real an aftermath of a plague attack on NYC looks like in-game. I remember you mentioned before in a long-ago post about how good Ubisoft team is in creating believable and breathing worlds. I have played many Ubisoft games and THIS IS as real and immersive and probably their best job ever (I hear Ghost Recon is equally good, but I have not played that game). The attention to details and the level design was jaw dropping! I cannot imagine how much hours the level designer must have put in to populate a room with all the objects and extrapolate that room to a living city! No wonder it takes them years to release this game. Get it just for being a German tourist and experiencing this side of NYC.
What’s hard to understand about the enemies being able to take you from full health to almost dead in as little as one shot? Combine that with an absolute cap of two medkits (so far - I’d be surprised if you couldn’t unlock additional capacity later but that doesn’t help right now), a paucity of medkit drops and health only regenerating within the same section of your HP bar while in an encounter and it’s real fuckin’ easy to die.
I played a couple more hours tonight, got some gear upgrades (particularly a good marksman rifle) and picked off some low-hanging fruit encounter-wise, and I was probably being a bit histrionic earlier. The game is definitely not impossible to solo. That said, everything I said in the preceding paragraph is still true and really fucking obnoxious.
I’ll keep an eye on this but missing hasn’t been my issue so far.
This reads to me like you are playing at an area that is too high for your level. I remember when I was around level 22 and “teleported” to one of my higher level friends just to see his character and he was in this area towards the end game… and I was one shot dead by one of bad guys. That was a laugh out loud moment for me because I thought I was quite high level by then (level 22 vs a max of level 30).
You definitely unlock more capacity for this, and grenades, and lots of other stuff.
My frustration wasn’t with the random battles & missions, it was the boss fights. They are all meat sponges and they dish out a ton of damage and without a buddy to res you, I could not cope. And this was me being 3 levels ABOVE the boss.
With a team, they are manageable, but solo, I couldn’t get through it.
Ok, yes. That is very hard indeed. I have to agree with you. I don’t do those “long missions which will have a face-off with boss like that Ferro Cleaners guy or the Larae Brae Rikers gang leader” until I am at least 8 levels above them. But there are tons of random battles & missions with named bosses. Those, I can manage as they are mostly in open spaces and you could run far away and try to snipe them from afar.
Nope. Same or lower level than me. I did think the supply drop mission that fucked me up was level 6 when I was level 5 but that was a display bug.
Now, taking that level of damage in a single shot is mostly from snipers, but anything is fully capable of doing a third to half my health in a second or two if they get an angle on me.
And yes, the bosses are the big issue.
You guys who have it easy - what platform are you playing on? I’m on PS4, and had an absolutely horrible experience the last few times, even with being higher level than enemies. Snipers routinely one or two-shot me, and I died constantly.
Hmm… interesting. Get a Assault Rifle - I remember the Police M4 saved my ass a lot of times in the earlier levels. Then I moved to a AK47. The better ones you will get later are the Lightweight M4 or LVOC. I swear by assault rifles. They are great. And watch out for those mods as I mentioned. Don’t give up. I totally sucked at games these days due to old age and slow response time, lol, and if I could survive this game, you can to!
Good point. PC player here so mouse and keyboard does help.
I have had plenty of assault rifles and don’t care for them that much, honestly. Not enough damage per shot and too small clips. The marksman rifle I picked up tonight, on the other hand, is beautiful. Most enemies die in one-to-two headshots or 2-4 body shots. I can probably drop 3 people in a clip, more if I’m really picking my shots. With the M4 I was lucky if I got one.
And I’m on PC. If I had to play this with a gamepad…well, I just wouldn’t. But with mouse and keyboard, connecting with and killing the enemies hasn’t been too big a problem. The problem’s been keeping them from hitting me.
Yeah, the Lightweight M4 has huge recoil but I think you will appreciate it later in the game. Don’t sell it first. It is pretty rare. And this is where I said the Stability mod is important to reduce the recoil.
And it looks like you found a nice weapon for your gameplay. I have a sniper as my secondary weapon. You will need a critical chance hit or a headshot damage modifier. And range… Ah, wish I am not at work currently!
Just a thought… grenade will make them run away from you. And don’t forget that fire turret which will immobilise them temporarily!