All month long we've been bringing youspecial coverage of our IGN First game of the month, Tom Clancy's The Division. To close out February, we're excited to host a community Q&A with Ubisoft Massive, the developer behind The Division. No question is off limits: Want to know what the team's favorite pizza is, or their inspiration for pandemic New York City? Now's your chance to ask.
Philofax asks: What, if any, are the significant changes being made after player feedback from the open beta?
Player feedback is important to us. Based on the closed and open beta feedback, we did, for example, make some adjustments in the Darkzone. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
Shaqfoo33 asks: Will there be any objectives within the Dark Zone?
We have landmarks that indicate locations with challenging encounters. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
Hunter3x7 asks: Why is there no stash in the DZ? It's very time consuming to keep going back to the base, would it not make sense to keep it by the DZ Vendors?
When you extract a contaminated item in the Darkzone the helicopter takes it to your Base of Operations where it gets decontaminated. The stash isn't only available in the base, you can also find your stash in safe houses that you unlock in the world. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
ONE2THR asks: Will there be a reputation system in the final product, would like to know which players are high risk and likely to go rogue? If not, would you consider adding one?
There is no mechanic like this in the Darkzone. I think the excitement of the Darkzone is created by the fact that you don't really know if other players are good or bad. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
The Division: Why the 'Tom Clancy' Name Matters - IGN First
Unholygamemaster asks: Have you guys considered allowing players to use melee weapons/takedowns?
We have experimented with it. But being an RPG with a focus on stats, this wouldn't gel with players expectations that a takedown would be a guaranteed kill. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
ray2608 asks: The Division is often compared to Destiny. In my opinion Destiny suffered from doing the same missions /strikes over and over again. What are you going to do to keep players entertained and feel rewarded for the amount of hours they are playing?
One of the best things about the Darkzone is just how unpredictable it is. Human behavior is never the same twice and that keeps the Darkzone experience fresh. For the missions outside the Darkzone we offer several difficulty modes (something you haven't seen in the Beta) with varying rewards. And, finally, we are naturally looking to continuously add fresh content for players to tackle. - Magnus Jansen, Creative Director
The Unknown Key asks: Will there be high-end armor in The Division, along with weapons?
Yes! There is high-end gear, weapon mods and gear mods when you get to the endgame. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
Blackeffect asks: Will there be a way to inspect other players stats and gear?
That's not a feature we have in the game. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
Sheppy Shep asks: For people (like myself) obsessed with customization in regards to appearance, how expansive can you say the customization for The Division with Avatar, Clothing and etc is?
In the game you'll have access to full face customization, whereas you had a reduced feature set in the Beta. As you explore the streets of Manhattan you'll find many different pieces of clothing that allows you to fully customize your appearance. We feel that you should be able to dress and look the way you want at all times, and not have to switch your look just because you find a gear piece with better stats. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
kevinpgardner asks: Will there be a companion app that allows inspecting gear/other agents, news, daily missions hub, move gear from stash to agent without having to go to base of operations?? (I know the drone app was scrapped so wondering what type of companion app support we'll get.)
We've been focusing all our efforts on the in-game experience, so there is no companion app. - Magnus Jansen, Creative Director
AustinDaThief asks: Specifically for Ubisoft Massive, in regards to your weather system, will it always be snowing dynamic? Will we see DLC that may take place in the summer, et cetera?
In The Division you're fighting to take back New York in the aftermath of the virus, which means a couple of weeks after the outbreak. The weather is finicky at this time of year, so who knows what will happen. - Magnus Jansen, Creative Director
7kGrumble asks: In the beta, cutscenes show our character never speaks. Will our characters have a voice in the full game?
We actually went back and forth on this early on during development. At the end of the day we found that when you're in a group of players speaking over VoIP and playing the game, it becomes really weird to have several player characters talking and speaking in various situations. - Magnus Jansen, Creative Director
The-3DArtist asks: What kind of items can be crafted and how important is crafting to the game?
You can craft weapons, gear and mods in the Base of Operations and you will be able to craft high-end gear when you get to the max level. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
Darren Antonio asks: How much data are we expected to find in the game showing the past events during the outbreak?
Players that watch our ECHO scenes, listen to phone logs and other field data will get a detailed insight into how the chaos unfolded in Manhattan. - Petter Mannerfelt, Game Director
Brandin Tyrrel is an Associate Editor at IGN. You can find him on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel.
Copy and paste using phone
Just video links missing
Interesting read.