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[shanafan]

Dark Zone Changes

Changes to the Dark Zone have moved the statistics of players engaging in the area’s content into a more desired range. The developers are happy with the current state of the Dark Zone and have found that people are, on average, spending twice as long in this area than other areas of the game.

My buddy and I spent 6 hours straight in there over the weekend. Nonstop fun. There was a huge fire fight underground. It was a blast.

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

From what I can tell, as long as you don't log out with more than 40 items in your backpack you are good to go.

I always have less that 10 items in my backpack. Time to craft a HE backpack then.

 

[TsuWave]

what should i go for critical hit chance or critical hit damage?

 

[firehawk12]

There is a permanent PvE area. It's called the rest of the map.

What is there to do? I mean you can't even farm bosses because once you kill them, they don't respawn. People just fast travel to missions and ignore the map completely. The only reason the map exists is to house the 400 collectibles you need to find for the platinum trophy, because this is an Ubisoft game.

I agree. I've seen you mention Diablo and I've said often that I wish the devs would pull away from the MMO-lite design that they seem to be going for and look at Diablo for inspiration. Instead of pve becoming "raid or die", I'd much rather see stuff more along the lines of Greater Rifts and Adventure mode to give pve content some replay ability.

Yeah, having just played D3 after a long absence, it's amazing how well the GR works. It constantly scales to your level so that you can never truly "beat" it until you have the perfect gear set, and it's constantly rewarding to run. And all they need to do is have a Dark Zone area where you could set the difficulty of the enemies and then let people run that over and over again.

Right now they could easily hack together an adventure mode by just letting people spawn level 32 enemies all over the PvE areas and then give players a reward for killing all the level 32s in the game. Then let the player rinse and repeat that as much as they want. I think it'd be more fulfilling than glitching the Russian consulate level or the Police Academy level in order to kill bosses over and over again.

 

[arts&crafts]

Source



Really curious to hear more about these gear sets and Incursions!

So scavenging works?

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

What is there to do? I mean you can't even farm bosses because once you kill them, they don't respawn. People just fast travel to missions and ignore the map completely. The only reason the map exists is to house the 400 collectibles you need to find for the platinum trophy, because this is an Ubisoft game.

.

 

[firehawk12]

Then the current state of the game isn't for your play style then. You can play missions on a higher difficulty to get better loot, so there is that. But, the DZ is one of the main points of the game.

I said this a while ago, but someone told me that the developers promised that PvE would be as viable as PvP. So far, this is definitely not the case, as you are forced to at least engage in the PvP areas if not in PvP itself in order to get the best gear (or at least remove the RNG of never getting a HE chest piece/holster).

 

[Granadier]

I always have less that 10 items in my backpack. Time to craft a HE backpack then.

I've done the same (just once) and haven't had any issues so far. Always keep a low inventory.

What is there to do? I mean you can't even farm bosses because once you kill them, they don't respawn. People just fast travel to missions and ignore the map completely. The only reason the map exists is to house the 400 collectibles you need to find for the platinum trophy, because this is an Ubisoft game.

Then that's where your problem lies. Trying to push that problem onto the DZ and requesting that it change just to satisfy the needs of the few is backwards. Focus on ideas to change the already existing PvE area to be more engaging instead.

 

[wesleyshark]

From what I can tell, as long as you don't log out with more than 40 items in your backpack you are good to go.

I'm always betwen 0-10 items at any time. Deconstruct everything. If I need it saved, it's in the stash. I have a crafted backpack too, I guess that's why the bug hasn't hit me.

 

[firehawk12]

Then that's where your problem lies. Trying to push that problem onto the DZ and requesting that it change just to satisfy the needs of the few is backwards. Focus on ideas to change the already existing PvE area to be more engaging instead.

As erawsd mentioned, there's no reason why they can't implement some form of adventure mode and just throw in respawning level 32 enemies into the PvE areas of the map. At least it'd give people something to do other than run Lexington ad infinitum or glitch mission boss spawns.

.

Homu did nothing wrong!

Spoiler

You are Homu, Massive is Madoka?

 

[noomi]

So scavenging works?

Seems like it does, just not in the sense that we thought.

 

[Granadier]

what should i go for critical hit chance or critical hit damage?

Chance till you hit ~40% then damage.

 

[wesleyshark]

As erawsd mentioned, there's no reason why they can't implement some form of adventure mode and just throw in respawning level 32 enemies into the PvE areas of the map. At least it'd give people something to do other than run Lexington ad infinitum or glitch mission boss spawns.

They just patched out farmable respawning level 32 enemies...

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Is there any disadvantage to using a low level weapon after you get the in-game message?

 

[oSoLucky]

I said this a while ago, but someone told me that the developers promised that PvE would be as viable as PvP. So far, this is definitely not the case, as you are forced to at least engage in the PvP areas if not in PvP itself in order to get the best gear (or at least remove the RNG of never getting a HE chest piece/holster).

I keep seeing that repeated, but it's not as simple as "The DZ has the best gear". 3 of the 31 HE armor pieces, all of the gear mods, all of the large weapon mods(and 2 that fit on any), arguably the top AR(though I don't think so), a great SMG, with only a small difference between it and the best ones, and lots more are available without ever touching the DZ. You can farm GA over and over for mats or one of the CMs/aforementioned bosses. When I hit DZ50, I only had gloves and sidearm that were still purple and only 1 yellow 30 item.

Is there something that I'm missing here?

I didn't see your last bit. "a couple pieces of the best gear" isn't the same as "the best gear".

 

[noomi]

Hmmm I wonder what ever happened with us getting more phoenix credit for enemy kills. Last patch was supposed to have it, but they took it for due to some stability issues...

Phoenix Credits drop have been increased on lvl 31 and 32 enemies in the Dark Zonelease note that due to this fix causing client stability issues, we have to remove it from this update until it can be addressed in a next one

Lvl 30: 1-3 Phoenix Credits
Lvl 31: 2-4 Phoenix Credits
Lvl 32: 3-5 Phoenix Credits

This would only be for named enemies (bosses), right?

 

[wesleyshark]

Yeah I don't get it...some of the best gear is found through blueprints in the BoO. Yeah the dz vendors have some cool stuff but a lot of it isn't as good as the BoO stuff.

Most of my currently equipped items are from PvE, save for a mask and gloves that I got as drops from named bosses in the dz and a chest piece I crafted from a dz blueprint.

 

[TsuWave]

Chance till you hit ~40% then damage.

i should have waited until i got a reply because i'm currently at the recalibration menu and its giving me the option between both and i can't back out to see what my current crit hit chance is at. i think last time i checked my character menu my "crit hit chance with this weapon" was at around 40% or near, guess i'll go with damage. thanks.

 

[chogidogs]

Daily and weekly assignments are planned to be given to players in the near future, alongside the current system of hard/challenge mode missions. These assignments will provide Phoenix Credits to players.

I'd rather have HE Division Tech.

 

[TitusTroy]

do Dark Zone NPC's scale based upon your DZ Level or your 'normal' non-DZ Level?

 

[spyder_ur]

Seems like it does, just not in the sense that we thought.

What do you mean exactly? I thought it confirmed exactly what scavenging does as they now have a couple times.

I think what he was pointing out was that if there is a possible drop associated with killing a boss/opening a chest, etc, then that reward is likely to be better. It doesn't suddenly add HE gear to the drops for small crates in the DZ.

This makes a lot of sense to me when I think about how much scavenging helps me when farming Division Tech - it is more likely to be a yellow. I almost never get a green.

 

[knitoe]

What do you mean exactly? I thought it confirmed exactly what scavenging does as they now have a couple times.

I think what he was pointing out was that if there is a possible drop associated with killing a boss/opening a chest, etc, then that reward is likely to be better. It doesn't suddenly add HE gear to the drops for small crates in the DZ.

This makes a lot of sense to me when I think about how much scavenging helps me when farming Division Tech - it is more likely to be a yellow. I almost never get a green.

What is your scavenging? I am at 125% and get mostly greens. And, what gear has scavenging stats?

 

[firehawk12]

I keep seeing that repeated, but it's not as simple as "The DZ has the best gear". 3 of the 31 HE armor pieces, all of the gear mods, all of the large weapon mods(and 2 that fit on any), arguably the top AR(though I don't think so), a great SMG, with only a small difference between it and the best ones, and lots more are available without ever touching the DZ. You can farm GA over and over for mats or one of the CMs/aforementioned bosses. When I hit DZ50, I only had gloves and sidearm that were still purple and only 1 yellow 30 item.

Is there something that I'm missing here?

I don't know about the other weapons in DZ06, but the MP5 is a better SMG than the Vector. But even then, you can only complete half the gear with the BoO vendor.

But it's not about having a full set of HE gear anyway. It's about trying to get the perfect affixes on all your gear, and the only viable way to do that is to craft gear and hope that the RNG gives you a piece of gear with the skills/talents that you want because challenging missions only give you level 30 gear and named enemies can drop seemingly anything, including HE performance mods that you'll probably never use.

And for half of the blueprints in the game, you need division tech which you can only get in areas where you are constantly competing with other players for this extremely scarce resource.

This would only be for named enemies (bosses), right?

Yeah.

do Dark Zone NPC's scale based upon your DZ Level or your 'normal' non-DZ Level?

Before (your normal non-DZ) level 30, they scale to the level of the zone. At level 30, each zone is set to either level 30, 31, or 32.

 

[Granadier]

i should have waited until i got a reply because i'm currently at the recalibration menu and its giving me the option between both and i can't back out to see what my current crit hit chance is at. i think last time i checked my character menu my "crit hit chance with this weapon" was at around 40% or near, guess i'll go with damage. thanks.

Yeah, anything above 40% can be considered a waste since pulse gives bonus crit. But chance is capped at 60% so if you are higher and pulse, the pulse crit chance is wasted.

 

[shanafan]

do Dark Zone NPC's scale based upon your DZ Level or your 'normal' non-DZ Level?

It's based on your PVE level.

 

[noomi]

What do you mean exactly? I thought it confirmed exactly what scavenging does as they now have a couple times.

I think what he was pointing out was that if there is a possible drop associated with killing a boss/opening a chest, etc, then that reward is likely to be better. It doesn't suddenly add HE gear to the drops for small crates in the DZ.

This makes a lot of sense to me when I think about how much scavenging helps me when farming Division Tech - it is more likely to be a yellow. I almost never get a green.

That's what I meant I just didn't go into detail explaining it since the quote I posted had explain it

 

[spyder_ur]

What is your scavenging? I am at 125% and get mostly greens.

Somewhere in the 180s - I have knee pads I wear in the dark zone which give +25% item find (statted as scavenging) as a named talent (called Perceptive) and also have +93% scavenging on the same pair. A mask with a bit and then just collect/equip the mods that give between 7-9%.

As to what gear has it, kneepads can roll it the highest. My mask has +21% or something. And then you can go further with mods that have it, I think they are even craftable but they also drop a ton. It might be able to roll on backpacks? Not positive.

That's what I meant I just didn't go into detail explaining it since the quote I posted had explain it

Ah, gotcha.

 

[TheLetdown]

Could someone confirm something for me?

I have a Firearms gear mod that gives +armor. I believe it was a drop, and I believe it was 31. I'm not at home so I can't check for sure, but I'm fairly sure about both.

Now, I've tried around 10 times to craft Firearms gear mods from the blueprint I got at the BoO and have yet to get one with +armor.

Has anyone crafted this? Can it even be crafted or is this stat relegated to drops?

 

[wesleyshark]

Could someone confirm something for me?

I have a Firearms gear mod that gives +armor. I believe it was a drop, and I believe it was 31. I'm not at home so I can't check for sure, but I'm fairly sure about both.

Now, I've tried around 10 times to craft Firearms gear mods from the blueprint I got at the BoO and have yet to get one with +armor.

Has anyone crafted this? Can it even be crafted or is this stat relegated to drops?

I just so happened to craft a firearms mod with an armor bonus yesterday.

 

[TitusTroy]

Before (your normal non-DZ) level 30, they scale to the level of the zone. At level 30, each zone is set to either level 30, 31, or 32.

It's based on your PVE level.

so what's the point of getting to DZ Level 99?...are there special weapons or rewards at Lvl 99?

 

[oSoLucky]

I don't know about the other weapons in DZ06, but the MP5 is a better SMG than the Vector. But even then, you can only complete half the gear with the BoO vendor.

But it's not about having a full set of HE gear anyway. It's about trying to get the perfect affixes on all your gear, and the only viable way to do that is to craft gear and hope that the RNG gives you a piece of gear with the skills/talents that you want because challenging missions only give you level 30 gear and named enemies can drop seemingly anything, including HE performance mods that you'll probably never use.

And for half of the blueprints in the game, you need division tech which you can only get in areas where you are constantly competing with other players for this extremely scarce resource.


Yeah.


Before (your normal non-DZ) level 30, they scale to the level of the zone. At level 30, each zone is set to either level 30, 31, or 32.

That's why I said a great SMG. The Aug and MP5 don't make the Vector look like shit, it's only slightly behind. Division Tech is a bad mechanic imo, getting to 50 should be enough. There are still plenty of materials to farm.

Over half of what a person needs to craft comes from BoO. The devs intended this game for DZ to be the main activity. That much is clear. It seems their vision at launch just isn't what purely PvE players wanted, but maybe the new content will be great.

 

[Tenshin]

So all the people affected by the backpack glitch still fucked until the update on late april? Fucking hell i want a refund...

 

[deadduck]

so what's the point of getting to DZ Level 99?...are there special weapons or rewards at Lvl 99?

Nope, it's just a buffer.

Below 50 and you can't buy the good blueprints. You can equip the gear tho (my 2nd is gonna get some good stuff, but will be DZ1).

Maybe later they'll add some higher level DZ requirements.

You do get people checking out your level in the DZ, maybe trying to gauge your gear.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

so what's the point of getting to DZ Level 99?...are there special weapons or rewards at Lvl 99?

No idea but no way I am reaching DZ rank 99. Cant even reach DZ rank 50. Guess I will never use all 1000 PC I have..sigh*

 

[TitusTroy]

Below 50 and you can't buy the good blueprints. You can equip the gear tho (my 2nd is gonna get some good stuff, but will be DZ1)

you need DZ Level 50 for the best blueprints/gear?...I thought it was DZ Level 30...I'm currently at DZ 20 and I was thinking I was close

 

[shanafan]

No idea but no way I am reaching DZ rank 99. Cant even reach DZ rank 50. Guess I will never use all 1000 PC I have..sigh*

Game came out less than a month ago. I am pretty sure you will eventually hit DZ rank 50 if you keep playing.

 

[Sourtreats]

So what would be more valuable to buy next, weapon attachments or armour mods?

Currently 100k/74k/21k. The only thing I could do with is reducing the recoil on my AK47.

 

[noomi]

you need DZ Level 50 for the best blueprints/gear?...I thought it was DZ Level 30...I'm currently at DZ 20 and I was thinking I was close

You will need rank 50DZ to be able to purchase some of the the best gear currently available in the game.

This Vendor is found in DZ06 Safe House.

So what would be more valuable to buy next, weapon attachments or armour mods?

Currently 100k/74k/21k. The only thing I could do with is reducing the recoil on my AK47.

The HE extended mag size blueprint from the BoO Specialized Gear Vendor is a good start, as well as the HE Firearms Gear Mod as well if you have the pcreds.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

I crafted a high end firearms backpack the other night, am I playing on borrowed time?

 

[Medicated]

I crafted a high end firearms backpack the over night am I playing on borrowed time?

I crafted one like 2 weeks ago and definitely logged out multiple times with 40+ items in my pack without issues. I think it is pretty rare to encounter the glitch.

 

[firehawk12]

so what's the point of getting to DZ Level 99?...are there special weapons or rewards at Lvl 99?

There's no point. Well, other than the fact that there's literally nothing else to do in the game at the moment other than DZ stuff once you reach the end game and you gain experience for doing anything in the DZ.

Over half of what a person needs to craft comes from BoO. The devs intended this game for DZ to be the main activity. That much is clear. It seems their vision at launch just isn't what purely PvE players wanted, but maybe the new content will be great.

Part of me wonders why the entire game isn't based around the dark zone mechanic. I think it'd be kind of hilarious if you're doing a campaign mission and other players decide to drop in and stop you from killing the boss just because they feel like stopping people from finishing the game.

I think Jeff Gerstmann had it right when he suggested that the PvE areas only exist to appeal to "casuals" like me who just want to play a straight up loot game, with the expectation that I would stop playing the game the moment I shot down the helicopter. lol

 

[JetBlackPanda]

I crafted one like 2 weeks ago and definitely logged out multiple times with 40+ items in my pack without issues. I think it is pretty rare to encounter the glitch.

That's good to know. I haven't had any problems. If I choose a different backpack can I avoid the problem? Or just the fact that I crafted one can cause it?

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

DeathSr

DZ rank 66 too

 

[TheLetdown]

I just so happened to craft a firearms mod with an armor bonus yesterday.

From the blueprint found in BoO, right?

I keep getting Skill Haste, which isn't completely horrible, considering I have pretty low skill power. But stacking armor has been so effective in reducing the "glass" from my glass cannon. It stretches my 60k HP a lot further than it would normally go.

So what would be more valuable to buy next, weapon attachments or armour mods?

Currently 100k/74k/21k. The only thing I could do with is reducing the recoil on my AK47.

If you haven't already gotten it, definitely pick up the Extended Mag blueprint at the Base. That thing's a game changer.

 

[Sourtreats]

The HE extended mag size blueprint from the BoO Specialized Gear Vendor is a good start, as well as the HE Firearms Gear Mod as well if you have the pcreds.

If you haven't already gotten it, definitely pick up the Extended Mag blueprint at the Base. That thing's a game changer.

Got myself that after I got my AK and Vector. Could probably do with crafting another as one of them was pretty terribad.

Whats the best mod for stability? (I'm guessing stability = recoil)

 

[Medicated]

That's good to know. I haven't had any problems. If I choose a different backpack can I avoid the problem? Or just the fact that I crafted one can cause it?

I believe it is any HE pack you craft but from what I understand if you just make sure to keep the amount of items you carry low at all times you can avoid the chance of it glitching and fucking you over.

 

[oSoLucky]

Nope, it's just a buffer.

Below 50 and you can't buy the good blueprints. You can equip the gear tho (my 2nd is gonna get some good stuff, but will be DZ1).

Maybe later they'll add some higher level DZ requirements.

You do get people checking out your level in the DZ, maybe trying to gauge your gear.

I love it. When I hit 50, I did nothing but PvP in the DZ so I didn't level much. I get underestimated as a fresh 50 all the time by people in their 60s and 70s.

 

[wesleyshark]

From the blueprint found in BoO, right?

I keep getting Skill Haste, which isn't completely horrible, considering I have pretty low skill power. But stacking armor has been so effective in reducing the "glass" from my glass cannon. It stretches my 60k HP a lot further than it would normally go.

Yep. BoO vendor. I also have a bunch of stamina mods with armor bonuses also.

 

[TitusTroy]

are there any plans to open up the Dark Zone in future updates?...it seems kind of small now compared to the PvE area

 

[JetBlackPanda]

I believe it is any HE pack you craft but from what I understand if you just make sure to keep the amount of items you carry low at all times you can avoid the chance of it glitching and fucking you over.

Right but I have a few high end backpacks that were drops. If i switch to that will it remove the chance of the bug manifesting itself.