Known issues with The Division

With The Division just over a few weeks away from its debut, it’s time to address some of the major complaints that have been voiced by the gaming community following both the closed and open betas that took place earlier this month.

Most of them are legitimate concerns, but are they really that serious? Should they be a deciding factor in whether you buy the game or not? Take a look and see for yourself!

Graphical Downgrade

While we play games primarily for their gameplay, graphics are not something that can be ignored.

There’s an obvious downgrade in the visuals from the previews we saw at E3. The game just doesn’t look as good — we know that without a doubt now. The question here is, is this Watch Dogs all over again?

No.

The PC version looks great. While it’s not on par with the graphics showcased back then, it still looks like more effort has been put into the PC version to offer PC gamers the opportunity to take advantage of the more powerful hardware they possess. 

Even the console versions don’t look too far off. While it doesn’t look quite as good as some of the multi-platform titles like MGSV: Phantom Pain, it still looks like it belongs on the current generation.

Unrealistic boss fights (a.k.a Bullet Sponges)

This is something I’m confused by as well, mainly due to the Tom Clancy name on the game. After all, his games are supposed to be realistic in nature. So how does something like a boss (or even a random NPC) take multiple head shots and bullets like it’s nothing? Especially when the enemies we’re dealing with in The Division are human?

It feels like Ubisoft may have made the wrong move by trying to make The Division different from a sci-fi shooter. 

The answer’s simple. The Division is an online-only shooter with RPG elements — just like Destiny. You cannot make a game like this a tactical shooter and expect it to play out well, especially as progression in the game is vertical. You cannot create working end game content if the players would just be finishing off whatever end-game bosses there are with a single bullet from their overpowered rifles and expect it to remain relevant for an extended period of time.

Lack of Variety

This is another concern raised due to the Tom Clancy name. In a game like this, there needs to be interesting loot and enemies to encounter. 

Just how much variety can you get with a game based in a realistic setting? How interesting can the guns get when it’s all based in reality?

It’s difficult to say, since the game’s not even out yet. But for now it seems highly unlikely that we will be getting a lot of variety — be it with our weapons, adversaries, or equipment. This may be a turn off for some, since one of the main goals of an MMO, even if it’s a shooter, is to get decked out in the coolest looking gear available in-game. As it stands right now, The Division is way too close to reality to imagine anything particularly exotic in-game.  

You probably shouldn’t expect your max level character in The Division to look anything like this. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

However, we should assume that the developers know the dangers of making an MMO without interesting content, so it will be interesting to see what The Division has in store for us as a non sci-fi shooter. 

The Dark Zone Issues (Going Rogue)

This has some serious potential to expose more players to an H1Z1 style PvP arena, something that has only been available to the PC crowd so far. 

But the Dark Zone is far from perfect. One of the major problems with the Dark Zone (based off what we saw in the beta) was that going rogue was more often a cause for more headaches. 

Going rogue essentially paints a giant, red bull’s eye on you, labeling you as a hostile player for all to see and putting a bounty on your head. The problem is, this makes it a bit too unfair for the rogue agent. It’s one thing to have a target on you for players in your vicinity. It’s another to have players be able to track your movement through walls.

If you’re looking for some good old fashioned PvP, going rogue is unavoidable. The thing is, in The Division, you’ll find yourself outnumbered almost all the time, especially if you’re going in solo. After killing a set amount of players, you’ll find yourself the victim of a manhunt which sets the entire server against you while you have a giant target indicating your position on map.

Another issue is that going rogue isn’t determined by who opens fire first. It depends on who did an X amount of damage to the other player. While the reason for this feature is probably to stop players from going rogue by shooting teammates accidentally, this does open up ways to bait players into going rogue in order to collect an easy bounty.

While all this seems a bit unfair for solo players, it’s undeniable that The Division was designed with co-op in mind. It does also create a high risk-high reward style of play, which makes sense because rogue agents have the opportunity of nabbing the hefty bounty on their heads for themselves, along with the added bonus of stealing their victim’s loot should they manage to survive the rogue timer. 

With all that being said, there’s only one thing you should know with The Division.

Know what you’re getting into

The Division is not a tactical shooter, despite it having the Tom Clancy name. Expect it to function just like the other online-only shooters we have available right now. Bullet sponges are not going to go away, even if your enemies are simple humans.

The Tom Clancy name does affect everything else — from the setting right down to your inventory. It’s a realistic shooter in the sense that you won’t be running around firing laser canons or plasma rifles at non-human enemies. Don’t expect to encounter many different enemy types either.

If you’re interested in PvP and looking to play solo, you’ll have a worse time here in general. As it stands right now, single players get punished more often than not in the game’s PvP area (Dark Zone). 

With all that said, The Division does bring a lot of things to the table that helps it stand out among its competition. That and these issues only came to light after the beta so who knows? Perhaps all the issues people have with The Division will get fixed by the time of its release, or later on once the game is running on live servers.