I'm so enthralled with The Division 2 and it is exactly the game I wanted. Well, it is missing a few things that would have made it better, but after Kingdom Hearts III, I've been looking for a meatier game to dig my teeth into. Yes, Devil May Cry 5 was great, but it was short. Yes, Anthem, despite a lot of feedback, was actually a game I enjoyed. This is a cool, ever-evolving genre that I want to see more of, which all started with Destiny. That was the game that made me buy a PS4. I got that sweet white PS4 with the game.

From my perspective then, this current generation is all tied to looter-shooters, or massive online player shooters. Whatever the companies, that aren't Bungie, want us to call them so they don't have to say, "Yes, we are making a Destiny-like" which would be so much easier. Can we just be honest? Do you think game developers back on the NES shied away from saying, "We are making a game like Super Mario Bros." No, I don't think they did. In fact, marketing was all about bringing up the competition. Anyway, what I am getting at is that I may have started with Destiny, but when The Division launched that was the one I liked the most and still do. This is also great, but it has a lot of hidden details that are hard to parse through so here are, essentially, some more tips. Let's get through this together!

30 Be A Team Player

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This should go without saying, but you should always be a team player. There is no “the world revolves around I” in team. Do you like my spin on the old classic? Anyway, in The Division 2, you can actually earn rewards for being with a team. This is under the Commendations menu in your progress data. Here you can find mini-achievements that will reward you with some minor stuff at first like emblem patches, but if you keep at it the stuff will get better.

29 Who Am I?

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In similar looter-shooters like Destiny, your character progresses with each sequel and expansion. That is not the case in The Division 2. Even though you create a character from scratch I just assumed I was still the same character from the first game, but I was wrong. This may be obvious to some, but a good while I thought I was the same agent. Knowing, or not knowing probably won’t impact your enjoyment of the game, but hey, there you go.

28 Patch Notes

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Do you ever stare at your download screen via your PS4, or Xbox One and are baffled by how many patches a game gets? What really strikes me is seeing like a 1.04, or higher on day one. How can there have been four patches before launch? Anyway, I have a lot of trouble finding out the details of said patches in games, but in the main menu, the start screen, in this game there is a Patch menu that details what went down. It’s another small touch for those that care.

27 Secret Missions

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This may go without saying, but there is a lot to tackle in The Division 2 in terms of missions. One of the coolest threads I followed on a whim was in regard to a group of settlers out on the hunt for water. I patiently followed them until we go to a shoot out wherein I found some good loot and a story not found on the map. It was a genuine surprise, but one that takes, again, patience because the AI can be a little herky-jerky.

26 Photo Mode, Really?

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Photo modes are pretty common in most new games. Even though Ubisoft has included modes like this in many of its games, like the recently released Far Cry: New Dawn, I assumed it wasn’t going to be in The Division 2. The game is always online and thus never pauses. It would be ridiculous to take a photo in the middle of a firefight, right? Exactly, but if you hit square after going into your starter menu, you can summon it. This is truly baffling.

25 A Match Made In Heaven

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This might just be me, but I discovered late in game that you could match-make for main missions on the map. You don’t have to wait until you get to the mission gate in the game world in order to start your search. That is something I really wish I knew early on in the game, which should have been in my first article, but again, it was a late game discovery. I hope I am not alone on this goof.

24 Loot Literally Everything

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Getting new gear from big chests is all well and good, but there are other things sprinkled throughout the city you should be aware of. There are tons of random loot cases strewn throughout Washington, D.C. that aren’t marked like trash cans and backpacks. They contain materials like food, used to help out guards at Control Points, along with valuable crafting materials. Unless you have a scanning ability activated, they can be hard to see. Don’t pass them by, is all I’m saying.

23 A Punch To The Face

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I don’t know if I missed this tutorial pop up, or what, but I didn’t know you could melee enemies until a good way through the game. I was being attacked by one of the Hyena baton chargers, trying to mash reload as I was getting pummeled when I accidentally triggered a melee attack. It’s R3, you know, like in most shooters. I know. Duh, right? Well, it is there in a pinch, but it isn’t that powerful so maybe not knowing is actually better?

22 Sunrise, Sunset

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This may be yet another obvious statement, but the game is a lot easier in daylight. It is alarmingly hard to locate enemies in the darkness unless you have a scanning ability activated that can highlight targets for a given period of time. It’s too bad there isn’t a fast night to day, or day to night cycle in the game like in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Maybe there is a way, but I haven’t found it yet. Well, if you can help it, fight in the daylight!

21 More Than Meets The Eye

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Eventually, this next tip will become obvious, but let me save you some time pondering. There are two types of upgrade points you get in the first half of the game. Skill points will unlock new gadgets like drones, or shields. Then there are SHD points that can be used for perks like increasing your armor kit, or grenade capacity. I thought these were mutually exclusive, but after you unlock one gadget in a category, the rest can be unlocked via SHD points for just five points a piece.

20 Brand Manager

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Did you ever notice that your gear has brand names? If you put on a backpack, and say, a holster from the same company then that unlocks additional stat boosts. It stacks up to three times so having a full suit of one brand isn’t going to get you godlike powers. The only other game I know that recognizes brands for boosting stats is The World Ends With You. Did that game inspire this trend? I would put money on it!

19 Weak Points

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Speaking of fashion trends, or something like that, let’s talk about enemy apparel. Enemies are actually wearing armor now. It is not just visual flair, unlike the last game. So it actually matters where you shoot for damage. Yes, there were heavily armored dudes in the first game where it mattered, but I’m talking about every enemy in this game. Aim for the weak points and you can even get additional experience points if you unlock a certain perk in your tree.

18 Zoning Permits

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Before moving onto the next zone I always made sure to conquer the one I was already in. Whenever I entered a new area the first thing I went for was the Safe House so I could unlock a quick travel point for that area. The next thing I did was tackle the Control Points. Doing so will not only decrease the number of random enemies in that area, but these will also become fast travel points as well. I’ll get to another bonus later.

17 Sound It Out

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I say this a lot in my tip articles, but wear headphones. Your robotic Division AI will constantly call out random bits of relevant data. It will sense nearby caches of goods, enemies approaching, and if fellow players are in need of help. Not only that, but the music and overall sound design are top notch. The enemy chatter is not good though. They are pretty ridiculous and never shut up. It’s almost like I’m the bad guy?

16 Zone Bosses

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Conquering one zone before you move on is not only great for your memory, but it also unlocks a zone boss. I don’t know if this actually correlates to bosses appearing, but more than once whenever I finished a zone, a boss would appear for a limited amount of time. Needless to say, they can be pretty challenging, but they often have some tremendous loot drops. If you fail once it will disappear before randomly generating again. I don’t know the spawn rate, or what can trigger it again. Do you?

15 The Universal Gun

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You may not realize this at first, but gun mods work across most guns. They are also infinite. Let’s say you craft a certain sight in your workstation. That’s it! There is no need to craft it again because you can potentially equip it to every gun you own. So when you find new loot, remember, mod it first, and then compare it with your old guns. The turnout may surprise you. I should also mention armor mods are single use only. Dang!

14 Dodge And Reload

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As of the writing of this article, I can confirm there is kind of a beneficial glitch in this game that helps with reloading. If you dodge roll in the middle of reloading a gun, this will skip the need to finish the animation. That is to say when you get out of the dodge roll your gun has a chance to be fully ready to go again. I would say I got this to work about half of the time I tried it, which is better than nothing. If Ubisoft gets wise they may patch it out, if this is even a bug.

13 Be A Team Player Except For...

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If you’re with one, or more people on a mission, loot will drop for everyone. I assumed it was always going to be the same across all worlds. Let’s say I was with three of my friends. In their game world, the drop would be the same and one of them grabbing it first wouldn’t make a difference. Again, that is what I assumed. Eventually, I noticed that the number of items highlighted in the loot beam decreased as people ran to it. So it actually does matter. Is it for every drop? That I don’t know.

12 Maybe Don’t Craft?

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I’m a bit mixed on the crafting table. When you create mods for your guns that’s great, because they are mostly universal and have no levels. Everything else about the desk kind of stinks. If you craft a backpack it will be for your current level, which is nice, but because you made it, it doesn’t have a brand thus, it has fewer stat boosts. What a rip! Guns are worth it sometimes though, but again, that is a big maybe on the sometimes. It is literally a dice roll.

11 Junk Collecting

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Not everything you gather in the world is useful. From all of the food and crafting materials out there, a lot of it is just labeled as junk. The funny thing is this so-called “junk” is anything but. You can find toys, paintings, watches, and so on but it has no use to you other than to sell it. It took me a while to catch the small icon at the bottom of the vendor screen. If you click in the left stick it will sell all junk. Don't be precious with it. Sell! Sell! Sell!