With the beta having been live for a little while now on X-Box, and just launching on other platforms, what do people think about the game, and what is playable in the beta?

I am a bit more positive than I was before the beta launched, as now I have gotten a look at what will likely be the normal "gaming loop" of the game, it seems to be something that will hold my interest, as long as there is enough variety of content.

Dark Zones seem super fun, and could lead to a lot of great game play situations. I love it when a game gives you the chance to be a dick to someone (adds a great tension to a situation), and the increased risk of doing so in this game looks like it will strike a good balance so not everyone is trying to go rogue on you.

Played a bunch of Dark Zone last night. I honestly have no interest (yet) in the base game. I had a blast with some friends being those people that Ubisoft has been warning you about in the Dark Zone. We basically killed everyone on sight and took their stuff. In a way, it works well because it then gives everyone an incentive to play it like a standard death match multiplayer. And really there isn't that much risk to losing items (yet) because you can just respawn and get new drops. It sounds like griefing but in practice it created a fun little ongoing skirmish between the same players.

Really liked what I have played so far. I was skeptical about the dark zone stuff but In practice it's really fun. Got into a group with a GB duder and a couple of randoms we invited as we went around exploring. Managed to get a couple of fairly easy extractions before we got into a gunfight with another group of players. I had quite a good stash of items so was trying to avoid combat. I got to one of the extraction zones and called the chopper. Just as it was about to arrive another group of players showed up and things went bad. Two of my group went down fast and I took off running. I fast roped down the side of a building and made off through the side alleys. Almost got to another extraction zone but got ambushed by two players.

Took a few screenshots from the PC version. It's a nice looking game.

I also haven't played the Beta.

After reading general reactions I'm disappointed to see such negativity over the base game, especially after such a positive QL from Jeff & Dan. However, I get the complaints about the spongeyness of the shooting, especially in a realistic setting - for a game taking itself so seriously, this just looks funny. But how do you overcome a gaming contrivance such as that without jeopardising the playability for the masses?

I feel I'm in a minority because I missed the Destiny train when it came out and this game could be my chance at a decent CO-OP experience with pals. Hope it lives up to those lofty expectations.

hopefully i get an invite but i doubt it, but from what i see the game looks good. I'm watching the quicklook now and the game looks pretty damn good on xbone to me, so i'm sure the pc version will look fine. Hopefully it doesn't feel empty and incomplete like Destiny, and doesn't try to hold all it's real content behind over priced dlc packs.

My impressions after playing a few hours:

• It's got fantastic atmosphere. Some of the run down, virus infected apartments are legitimately creepy and unnerving.
• Weather effects are fantastic and play a role in combat. I had a snowstorm drift in, and it was basically impossible to target anything effectively
• The one mission seemed kinda cool I guess.
• The Dark Zone extraction point takes far too long.
• The customisation and weapon types seem to have a bit of depth to them
• I really can't formulate an opinion based on this beta
• I still have no idea what The Division is

It's a great beta and the combat and mechanics are solid. But the last two points are really killing me. There's barely enough content in the beta to really justify it being a beta. A single mission, side objectives and the DZ isn't enough to sink your teeth into. As it stands now, I'm cautiously optimistic. If Ubisoft doesn't drop the ball (and let's be honest, they've done a LOT of ball dropping) it could turn out to be a pretty fantastic product. But I'm not holding out any great hopes.

It's fun so far, my only concern is how empty it is. I wish you could see people (other than people in your squad) when you're in the main game - like in Destiny's free roam mode. Also, there aren't a ton of encounters between running around between missions/side quests. My top concerns would be: the world feeling alive and enough missions/content. The graphics are good, not spectacular, but it looks good and runs with no problems.

I like the gameplay - like I said in another thread it's "Destiny's structure with Mass Effect/Gears/Ghost Recon gameplay". The loot system is way better and rewarding than Destiny's. I'm talking about early Destiny, I don't know what it's like now. It won't be perfect, but I don't see a game coming out in the next several months that looks like it'll be better - as far as big budget games go. This will give you a great co-op experience, especially since powers matter here. Someone can have a medic power, someone else focus on sentry guns or explosives, and so on.

It seems fun enough, though I wish I understood the Dark Zone stuff better, aimlessly ran around for about 20 minutes and shot a few dudes and then left. Also it gave my pc it's first ever hard lock, though perhaps it'll be more stable by final release. Runs pretty well generally though.

I liked what I played of it. The shooting and movement control well (I like the idea of automatically transitioning from cover to cover regardless of distance by holding down a button), and even with the beta's highly limited content availability I was already feeling the loot lust beginning to take over. I really like the level of customisation that looks to be available too, and especially how you have an armour sheet and a separate appearance sheet. So you can wear armour that's practical while still having the freedom to look how you want. It also looks fantastic even on PS4. Lot of great lighting and fog effects. Framerate seems rock solid too.

The Dark Zones seem like they're kind of a mess, though. Really unstructured for one thing, though I suppose there'll be missions that are set around it. The PVP traitor stuff seems interesting in theory, but from my experience what it involved was a group of four killing everyone else. In some cases they'd actually just hang outside the dark zone entrance and would then mow you down in seconds... Plus the shooting in general doesn't seem to control well enough within a PVP setting. That, and because of the RPG-ness in most cases shootouts fall down to who has the best gear. Shooting a player point blank twice with a double-barrel shotgun only for them to survive and then down me in seconds with their assault rifle is pretty stupid.

Oh, and I guess this is to be expected, but the enemy AI is dumb as rocks.

Really enjoying this actually, which is surprising because I thought I would hate it!! Couldn't get on with Destiny so I was surprised to like this.

Looks gorgeous on PS4 too!

Just went into a dark zone on my own. Expected to get owned so went down into the subways. Found 3 nice blue items down there, made my way back to one of the extraction zones and got all my stuff out! You have to use a bit of stealth but it was hugely satisfying when it worked out. Stayed around after and watched two groups of players fight it out. Was hoping they would kill each other so I could swoop in a steal all the loot but it didn't work out.

That seems like a cool way to play. Wonder if there are any skills that help you in that regard. A skill that hides you from radar pings for example.

I don't think you show up on pings unless you go rogue. I think that's why they never spotted me when the firefight went down. But yeah I'm looking forward to seeing what the other skills are.

You can "mod" your skills and being protected from pulses is one of the choices. I chose the mod that showed loot crates (and enemies still), but when the game comes out I'll probably equip the pulse protection one when going in the dark zone, especially alone.

What is the player limit in Dark Zones, and is there any way for one to tell how many other people are in the zone with them?

SLI perf wacky for anyone else? i'm getting 40-50% GPU usage.

(i'm around if people want to roam the dark zones.. but i'm not gank'n people)

but here is what it looks like at 4k:

@mike: You can see people near to you in the player menu like destiny. But I haven't seen anyway to see how many people are in the zone with you. The dark zones are pretty big and you only tend to run into other people around the extraction zones.

@deathstriker:I thought the skill mod stuff wasn't in the beta? Ill have to check that out.

Modding a skill unlocked when I upgraded the med wing for the second time. We can't do the other trees since the other two wings and their missions are locked in the beta.

It's kinda.... cool?

I did not expect a Destiny like game from it and some of the RPG things like damage numbers and bullet spongy enemies don't fit the setting in my opinion, but it plays quite okay. And it seems to have a story to go with the grind. I'm level 8 now in full blues with a SCAR-L so that feels alright. Haven't done much of the Darkzone yet, but it seems better than I expected in solo play.

PC performance is acceptable. Everything on max murders my R9 270X videocard, but with a lot on low it runs at 60-90fps and it still looks alright. The sounds in this game are very Heat like so that's awesome too.

It's still an Ubisoft game, so it might fall apart at retail (already noticed some spotty netcode and bugs here and there), but if it doesn't, I might buy it.

@deathstriker: Yeah just got to that part.

Pro tip people. If you find yourself in abandoned apartments, LOOT THAT SHIT. I have found so much cool stuff by looking around abandoned buildings.

I'm running a 980 and the game runs like crap, is this the same for anyone else? I'm talking average of 45fps with drops to 30, rarely holds 60fps for long at all. Defaulted to Ultra so I even tried dropping it to high, no change in frame rate at all. Seems really stuttery.

@mike: I would guess 16 but it could be 32. Never seen more than 10-ish people at once. If they made it too big the game would cease to function, and with 32 it might eventually as well so 16 might actually be the sweet spot for once.

This game is really excellent at just about everything except that when you fight someone with better gear than you they pretty much automatically win, which is kind of a huge deal in the long run, though not a big issue right now. If this was a skill based game it'd be maybe the best third person multiplayer shooter ever, but it's 50/50 at best (outside of PvE) and I suspect it'll just get worse post the first month of release or so.

Running around solo trying to scrape by is some super intense shit, and if everyone in the game is running around in a 2 man group that can be really interesting as well. Only the 4 man well organized groups are particularly dry and uninteresting. The risk/reward structure is just fantastic, though it maybe could use a bit of tuning (too hard to get dark money from anything other than murdering people or murdering murderers of other people, too easy to get experience from bounties; dark money is the only real consequence of death).

This game isn't really that much like Destiny, it's a lot more like Defiance except with a well defined world. I'd also stress that it's amazing to play and relatively boring to watch. Defiance/The Last of Us is a pretty good mish mash, turns out.

Anybody know if there is controller support or if it's any good on pc? Doesn't seem like it requires much precise aiming since it's so bullet spongy.

What's your Cpu? I'm not in the beta yet, but i'm running an 980 with a 6600k now and found that games that used to drop to 30's and 40's when i had an 8350 now run steady 60 for me.

@oursin_360: I'm playing it with a controller on PC, works great.

man, this game seems like it's going to be real good

i think it looks and feels fantastic, it's just going to depend on what the story is like and how it's structured and if there is something beyond getting better loot to drive you forward

Regarding bullet spongy enemies, I don't have any idea what people are talking about. Most mobs go down in a few burst of an assault rifle, and bosses are really the only mobs that take more than one magazine to kill. If you are having trouble with enemies, it's likely because you are hitting them in limbs and other "non-critical" areas which don't score extra damage. Just aim at the chest and fire a short burst, letting the spread move up to the head. Do not spray and pray or hold down the trigger, you will miss more often than not and enemies will take far longer to kill.

It seems most people label any sort of enemy in a shooter that doesn't go down immediately as a ''bullet sponge'' I've noticed. But you're right, so long as you're fighting enemies within level range most don't take that many hits, especially when aiming for the head. As you said named boss enemies are the only ones that do indeed soak up a helluva lot of punishment. But then they're (sub)bosses anyway so that's the point.

i'm finding playing with a controller MUCH better when the k/m .. i can hit shit with either :) but controlling in the 3rd person works better with a controller

(i'm level 8 and dark zone 11 now)

All the mobs are at least 'puple' with armor on the hospital mission on hard and gain quite some hp when scaled to 4 players. Those take more than one or two mags from a 3000-3500+ dps assault rifle to go down.

I only played the one mission and some of the encounters. I like it a lot. This could be a really great game, in the end it comes down to combat.

I'm not saying the enemies being bullet sponges are bad or not, but that is the definition of bullet sponge lol. And it seems like from what i've seen that the higher level enemies are harder by requiring more bullets to kill, definition bullet sponge. That's not bad IMO though, that's what loot games are from diablo to borderlands to destiny.

Yep there is full Xbox controller support as you'd expect. I'm on a 4690k @4.4GHz. Shouldn't be a problem really. It seems like something is just causing it to stutter and drop 15fps every so often for a second or two. It's annoying, at least if it was consistently lower it'd be less jarring!

Eh, I still think standards of what constitutes as a bullet sponge (and that it's basically always used as a derogative) are a little harsh all the same. The locust in Gears of War, now they are some bullet sponging motherfuckers! Though from my experience common enemies in The Division really don't take that much to kill. Enemy players, however...

i guess i just don't understand the dark zone. is it just a place to find loot and that's it? it seems so barren and weird

My impression are: Ubisoft won't send me the goddamn beta code even after they sent this stupid ''you have guaranteed beta access'' email.

For now, yeah. I first thought it would function as the game's equivalent of 'dungeons', but in the beta at least it seems to have a noticeable lack of focus. As said before I assume there'll be missions to undertake within the Dark Zone in the full game much like in the main area.

@yummylee: yeah, i hope there are missions associated to it, but i can totally see the appeal. playing solo, though, i'm not sure how much i will get out of it haha

@bollard: sounds like a pretty typical Ubisoft PC port to me. I recently got back into Blackflag but the frame rate was dire. It kept locking down to 30 or even running at 20 while outside the animus. Did some reading and found the game performance was just crappy no matter your rig or settings. Had to download a program to fix this issue and it's been 60fps since.

Beta code still hasn't shown up in my beta access page, contacted customer support and all they could say is that it was busy as fuck. So maybe I'll get my key tomorrow, which probably means that by the time I downloaded the game the beta is over lol. QL looked cool.

wow, that sucks i wonder if it could be server side? Hopefully i'll get to test it out this weekend

So I bought into it simply because I'm a sucker for any sort of semi-realistic modern setting RPGs. I generally like Tom Clancy games, and after watching several videos of gameplay on YT and not being repulsed by it, I bought in. With tempered expectations after RB6: Siege, which just wasn't what I was looking for with the set in stone MOBA-like characters, equipment and confined levels, I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I was having within the first few minutes of gameplay.

It looks great, especially at night, sounds great, and plays more than adequately for a cover shooter. Even with the options of customization and missions being limited for the beta, it was just enough to make me pretty excited for the full release.

I've been mostly soloing for the past few hours, and it felt perfectly fine in that regard. That is to say that I didn't feel like the game was constantly shouting at me for not being with a bunch of other players. So just from being on my own in the game as I tend to do, I can easily imagine the addition of some of my regular gaming friends will offer a fun coop/DZ experience as well if/when they get it.

Some points did telegraph the grindy and bulletsponge concerns, the latter of which I'm not a fan of, but since it's just as much cover and twitch based shooting, it felt dynamic enough in the middle of firefights to where it didn't bother me that much. And at the same time, there were also lots of sniping headshots that were putting targets down with a single bullet, and it felt cool to chip down an enemy with the AR and then transition to my side arm that does +100% damage to targets with <30% health for the kill. Super badass.

I've been enjoying the game far more than I expected.

There's also nothing that brings a bunch of random people together than a player going rogue in the Dark Zone and people converging on said rogue like moths to a flame.

By the way, the moment you see a bunch of players converging on rogues, join in. You get the most Dark Zone credits either from going rogue and surviving or taking out a rogue and getting their bounty. Nothing more satisfying than exacting vengeance on rogues.

Man.. this has been a blast! I can't wait for the full game!!

@general_desire: That seems like such a shitty excuse. Especially after getting a goddamn "you are guaranteed beta access" email.

"Yo, our system is too busy to print out a fucking code". What do you think is going to happen with your game on launch day? Super lame

@mike: i think it is 30 per dark zone. the server shifts around teams a lot too.

you ae welcome to join me tomorrow. I'm already maxed out and have a legionary gun (if that is what orange is), but i want to fill all the other slots with purple items.

The level 1-7 Dark Zones are amazing as long as you don't get a 4 man group in there; level 8 Dark Zones are trash since people have already discovered the most boring ways to play the game. A reasonable projection of the pvp aspect of the game as a whole, will be fun for a week or two and then boring as shit and almost entirely gear driven instead of skill driven. PvE still has a lot of potential though. The world seems pretty big:

This sums up my feelings quite well. Played around for a couple of hours tonight and really liked what I saw. I'm a little concerned about single player viability however. I understand that it's essentially an MMO, but I was perfectly content playing by myself (and my schedule doesn't always match up with that of my friends). The problem--when I step back and look at it--is the world is kind of empty* and hopefully things don't become boring. That may change when it launches, and there were already quite a few random encounters and whatnot. Other than those small quibbles I'm liking it, which is weird because I hated Destiny from the moment I tried that beta.

Odds are I'll probably wait for a sale of some sort.

*yeah I know, super plague, etc.

You shoot enemies and numbers come out of them and they drop loot, so that's cool.

The shooting itself is nothing special to write home to mom about though, so that's not so cool.

Love the setting and all the customization of the weapons and abilities seem fairly deep, so that's nice.

Upgrading mother base to get more skills and perks via missions is a good idea, but i do hope there's a good variety to the missions and not just rescue hostages and clear enemy bases and fix antennas and what not.. More diversity is never a bad thing.

All and all i feel like i'm going to pour some serious hours in to this when it comes out.