The Division was my favorite game of 2016, even compared to some of the very high-quality experiences that same year, which is a little surprising considering I am not a fan of online-focused/multiplayer focused games. I loved the setting, the gameplay, the Ola Strandh soundtrack, and appreciated what story was there when I would have expected worse otherwise from the genre to be honest. That portion could have been better for sure, but I was happy it was there and the collectibles were all backstory. It's a game I go back to from time to time and am playing it again now. I've put, in all, about four days worth (at the time of this writing it says '3d 20h 37m'), but with all that said, I never once stepped foot in the DZ.

I always feared it was just about going in, getting murdered by a bunch of much higher leveled players, and then that's that. How much would I be able to go in and explore it without worrying too much about that and whatever else is going against exploring the DZ locations? Is there a timer? Alright, thanks. Oh, and yes, I played it all solo. There was only one time when I was going to play it with my brother, but the servers weren't working properly at the time or something so we didn't end up playing it, which means that I will be going into the DZ solo too.

Hmm. Well, I answered my own question it seems. I took the plunge and went in. I was surprised because it wasn't human players that gave me issue. I walked in there and right off the bat, there were about ten cleaners, and they killed me four times in a row. I widdled enough enemies down so that when I walked back in, there wasn't anyone there and then I wandered about. It was a bit tense since I didn't want anyone to come up on me and just shoot me in the back (although, I think they changed that since release, and now you have to signify that you've gone rogue?)

At first, for about 15 minutes or so I saw no one; it felt kind of empty, but then at one point after killing a bunch of dudes after my first extraction of items (which wasn't what I expected it to be), I hid from some cleaners, and when in hiding I heard gunshots and came out from cover to witness all of the A.I. dead. It was another player; they waved. I didn't know how to wave back, so I just walked past him and explored more. And that happened again with one other player and then a few more were just roaming about, I think two people were together. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Has anyone played this game recently?

I'm also wondering, what's better, DPS, or the damage of a weapon? I've always just gone with whatever had better damage as opposed to the higher, green DPS, but maybe I shouldn't? I'm glad I finally went in there. I have more exploring to do now.

@ntm: Yeah, my experience with the Dark Zone from playing some months back was that it was mostly empty, though there's also the whole world tier system. Once I got to the final world tier there were definitely some assholes running around murdering you when you try to extract stuff, but they mostly just killed me once then lost interest. Easiest way to progress it to try to team up with people you meet there. They might know where to find the loot, and some will actually give you a bunch gear if they don't need it themselves.

As for weapon stats, I usually went for DPS, though keep in mind some weapons have manual triggers and/or have heavy recoil making it very hard to actually reach that DPS. Some weapons synergize better with certain character builds as well, like the accuracy/recoil reduction when you enter cover helps LMGs a lot.

Call me crazy but part of the charm of the DZ is that it's mostly empty. It's a haunting and vacant section of destroyed city and then you finally see someone and instant trepidation. Love that vibe.

@blackout62: @blacklagoon: It was cool because I played slightly different in it. That said, I've come to the conclusion that the cool things that happen in the DZ just aren't as good to me as what's outside of the DZ. What I like in the Dark Zone is that you add in challenging factional A.I. that may fight one another, but then you add in friendly people walking around as well as people that have gone rogue. I found it really interesting to see. When I was playing earlier, there was a group of four together that was rogue. I didn't know what it looked like when you go rogue, but kind of figured it was those that had a red skull on their head. I saw four people run down a street and being curious, I went to go check it out. I ducked behind some cover and couldn't really see them; all I heard was gunfire and saw some rioters behind cover where I could shoot their back if I wanted to.

Then, I started seeing the four of them come back toward me so I booked it. Unfortunately, one of them chased me down and killed me (it actually looked like lag though because it didn't look like I got hit: I just died). Those same people would be playing for the remainder of the time I was in the DZ but I never ran into them again other than once when I was extracting some stuff, but they didn't see me. They did kill one other player that was extracting though. I found it interesting as well because I never really snuck before in the game, and did in the DZ. Some of the locations are really grim, like a neighborhood filled with body bags burnt to a crisp or a stadium with JTF soldiers hanging. Seeing the way people come across you and how the A.I. factor into it is a different experience to what you get outside of the DZ, and I think that was the coolest thing about it, but for me, there was a lack of music, a lack of any real story content and no real mission to complete so I left.

Also, about it being empty, it's actually something that I didn't like quite as much. In one way I like it (only the most dangerous people are in there, where it's kill or be killed), but in another, I wasn't as into it. It makes complete sense for story reasons which I like, but after a while, it becomes a little dull. As I mentioned, it also lacks music compared to outside the DZ which I found disappointing. It's fitting I suppose, but not what I love from The Division. I liked that you can tell where the action is because you can hear explosions and gunfire down a street, so in that sense, it feels 'lively' like a more dangerous place than outside of the Dark Zone. Although not at all good for getting loot, I found my time in the DZ to be made up of running from A.I if there were more than four, or 'sneaking' around enemies. When I'd extract stuff, if no one else was around, I'd just hunker down behind some cover and the A.I. wouldn't know I was there until I had to put my stuff on the rope.

When it comes to seeing people, it was pretty clear, at least in my experience, as to who was 'on your side' and who was clearly there to murder you, so when I ran into people with a white name tag it was actually very relieving, especially if there were some tough baddies around, aside from the people that were rogue. No one seemed to care about teaming up though; everyone just seemed to do their own thing unless we came up on some bad guys, then we'd help each other. I think what the developers were trying to do with the DZ comes across extremely well, but I prefer outside the DZ. Sorry if this was too long. When it comes to what The Division 2 has to offer, I won't hesitate to go into the DZ once I'm done with all the other stuff. I was on Tier 5.

I got back into The Division a few months ago. I mainly was trying to clean-up some trophies/achievements, as I had already completed the main game shortly after launch. My experience in the DZ was similar to yours. I think I encountered 2 real players in the 3-4 hours that I messed around in it. Both of the players I met just ignored me. Contrast that to when the game first came out, and I was sometimes getting killed by players camping the entrances.