Quick Look: Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Warlords of New York

Division 2: New York Boogaloo

I'm like Jeff, played a bit at launch and sputtered out around level 23, and now this expansion is making me want to finish the main game. The most noticeable change/improvement since launch is definitely the skill changes, most skills don't completely suck now and actually feel useful (pulse in particular). The gear changes aren't super noticeable tbh, it's good that I can actually tell what the red/blue/yellow bonuses do for me (which I remember being really vague before), but I don't see why they won't change the actual gear scoring system.

Every other game like this has gear with a single number to look at, to quickly compare if a new drop better/worse than what you have equipped. Armor is more or less treated this way (with the armor value), but identifying which weapons are superior is still a pain in the ass. Which is better, a sniper with 22k damage, a shotgun with 13k damage, an assault rifle with 2k damage, or a rifle with 5k damage? Who knows! The only way to accurately discern this is to go and waste 10 minutes trying out different weapons at the shooting range, give me a break. I get that there's a lot that goes into weapon damage (actual damage value, ROF, magazine size, range, gear bonuses, etc.), but just give me a single damage number that I can use to compare like every other game on the market.

Does it actually affect my enjoyment of the game? Not really, because you get drops often enough while leveling such that min/maxing isn't super necessary (like Rorie said in the video). However, it's still annoying to hear them use the term "Gear 2.0" despite the fact that they haven't fixed the biggest problem with the gear system since launch.

I have no issue telling if a gun is better or not, it's really not hard especially with how basic the stat system is now.

They definitely overnerfed a variety of stuff; the bullet sponge problem has certainly resurfaced from Division 1. I'm personally seeing it on normal difficulty without having bought this expansion. I do plan on getting the expansion but I'm waiting for a sale, considering the huge sale Division 2 itself went on.

Yeah I talk about that a bit more at the very end. Definitely one of the weirder parts of the game. Makes me kind of miss FFXIV's one button "equip best gear" button. I get that there's a lot more variety of actions in TD2 but it's a bit overwhelming sometimes!

There's too much available toilet paper to make this a believable pandemic.

Not counting the loot overhaul, which affects the base game as well, this looks like more of the same. Which is perfectly fine by me. Like Rorie said, the core combat in this game is super satisfying, so I'm fine with exploring a new area, playing with a few new skills, and checking out the new dungeons.

Also, this was a really good QL. Lots of great info condensed into a pretty short time.

Thanks! I wanted to keep it fairly brief since it is really kind of more Division, which, as you said, it kind of rad in and of itself.

easily the best opening 10 seconds of any giant bomb video created.

A Jeff + Rorie Quick Look, a rare treat!

How Vinny didn't end up doing this idk... guess he'll tell us about it on the BeastCast xD

Dammit. I think I need to return to this game now.

This expansion is really good, mostly in part due to how it changes the gear system and other systems. It's much clearer now.

Unfortunately as mentioned the sponginess of dudes is back, severly. It's not great. Bosses and elites were a bit squishy and a bit too few previously, but now, dear looooooooord. It takes years to shoot named enemies on heroic. Like you can fire at a dude for 5+ minutes straight and they might die. It's not fun at all.

I do however like how dangerous they've made the enemies damage wise, I just wish they really took a lot less damage. But I suspect we might see that corrected.

@nasher27: just go with what you like shooting? I really don't understand the complaint of not knowing what's better, it's completely situational and up to preference. If you like how shotguns and assault rifles feel use them and ignore the other classes, or do it based on your build. It's like being mad/frustrated that Halo doesn't say what's objectively the best weapon.

Must admit I was a bit bummed out this wasn't a co-op cross-coast thing with Rorie, Jeff and Vinny when I first turned it on. But we've had that. This was great for a whole different reason. Informative, concise and conveyed exactly what we all need to know.

TL;DR? Those of us who fell off the Division (I did the first and haven't even touched the sequel) probably need to get back on it.

@shiro2809: It's different for a loot-based game that is specifically built upon stats and leveling up/improving those stats. Especially in the case of The Division 2, which already had a damage sponge problem that was apparently exacerbated by this update, although admittedly I haven't had much trouble playing solo.

I paid for the ultimate edition of The Division 2 and played the hell out of the game at release. I was max level doing the hardest missions non stop and stopped before the first raid because the gear and attributes were so bad and allll over the place but I would love to try the game again because it was so much damn fun, just ran out of content essentially once I was highest gear score available at the time.

So the question I guess is this, can I play this with season pass that I got with ultimate edition or do I need to buy this separately?

My first name is Aaron. My older brother is Jason. Every single time my mom says my name it's "Jas- I mean AARON..." This video has made me feel seen.

@nasher27: the same exact rules apply though. What weapon type you prefer dictates what you use. As long as they're similar levels they'll be comparable, the only differences you should be looking for is within a weapon class.

Shotguns will always be better than assault rifles in close range and snipers will always beat them both at long range, there's no way you can objectively compare which one is stronger or better.

No idea how it is now but any bullet sponginess was solved by shooting breakpoints or focus firing to knock off heavies armour. I've had trouble not killing the heavies with sledge hammers when i was grabbing some commendations.

I really enjoyed Division 2, but I felt like the endgame/Black Tusk stuff kinda ruined the flow of the game. They made the game way more playable and accessible to solo players, but the World Tier stuff felt like it sort of ruined that. I mean...if there was one big takeaway from Division 1 it's that enemies that literally take 20 minutes and hundreds and hundreds of rounds from an LMG to kill are not remotely fun, and that kind of thing starts to come back in the endgame content and, from what I hear, is part of Warlords. I still think Division 2 is an outstanding game overall, I just kinda wish developers had more imagination for endgame content sometimes rather than "the same only health bar way bigger" type stuff.