The thing to remember is most people are comparing Division 1 end state to Division 2 before the first year is up. Division 1's lowest lows were far worse than Division 2s so far, with really dreadful grinds, overpowered shotgunner NPCs and completely toxic PVP metas. Its end state corrected most, if not all of this, but as someone who played through all of it, it's important to remember that...it really sucked sometimes.
It would have been nice if Div 2 launched with every mode and every lesson learned from Div 1, but that's probably not realistic. For those that gave up on Div 2 early, I recommend hopping back in. There was recently a large update that re-balanced a lot, dropped time to kill of PVE content, added in Target Loot (so you can do specific missions/areas/content to go after specific brands or gear/weapon types) etc. The build variety is far, far better now than it was, and the time it takes to put together a decent build when in World Tier 5 is more like a couple of hours instead of a month of cursing RNG.
Pros of Division 1:
- Winter in New York was, and still is, a unique setting.
- Partly because it was a new IP/world, and partly because the writing was just better, a lot of the lore/collectibles were more interesting.
- Very simple loot grind (in its final state). There were very clear paths to builds (mostly centered on Gear Sets) and if you get an okay piece you can grind to improve it. Division 2 doesn't have optimization (at least yet) and the RNG is far more extreme. That said, Div 1 added optimization in its final stretch as a game, as adding it early would cancel a lot of the reasons to grind. So it's hard to say this will remain the same.
- PVP has a higher time to kill and the Dark Zone is far larger, allowing better players to dominate Dark Zones/gives time for skill to really shine and win encounters. In Division 2, the time to kill is small enough that it's really hard to dominate in the same way - if you're being focused by a couple of players, you're probably out of it. I would say Div 2 PVP is far inferior in modes, moment-to-moment gameplay and areas to do battle in.
- Because the game had a multi-year life already, it gained some important modes that make it seem like the superior game in endgame: Last Stand (more interesting PVP mode), Survival (repeatable timed mode, with elements regarding temperature, hunger, thirst), Underground (repeatable timed mode with procedurally-generated areas) and Resistance (kind of like Horde mode - though it felt under-developed to me).
- The Global Events were fun for endgame, as they forced player to play differently - things that modified headshot damage, or caused NPS to explode or favoured close combat/vs far etc. Once everyone had their preferred builds, at least this gave us reason to change 'em up. Loot wise, it wasn't as good as Targeted Loot is these days, though.
Pros of Division 2:
- The mission design, in-mission locations and combat encounters are far superior in variety and tension.
- The NPC's tactics are far superior (they flank, they rush, you have to adapt, etc.). Basically, Div 2's PVE content feels like a step further past Resistance Mode in Div 1.
- More open world activities to do once the game is over.
- In early endgame, it's far better - there's an entire map reset, variations on missions, repeatable open world activities, etc.
- Basically, I'd say the Level 1 to endgame experience is far superior, outside of the fact that the setting isn't as interesting.
- It has a raid with more coming. While granted, this is for a small userbase, as someone who has completed it dozens of times, it is, to me, far more fun to group up with people to coordinate trying to beat it faster than any content in Div 1's (PVE) endgame was. It went from "everyone have DPS and good aim" to finish the raid, to coordinating timed shots with a variety of support builds to finish it fast. It isn't a perfect raid, but as the DPS raid, it's fun. I hope the next one is a little more mechanics heavy and a little less about DPS/sponginess.
- Newly added Targeted Loot gives players a lot of reasons to log in daily - you can seek out specific builds pretty easily now, though RNG makes Chests and Backpacks pretty tough to min max still. It's a bandaid to a problem of RNG is still pretty intense on some items, but it does indeed help a lot.
- Division 1's endstate really amounted to chasing one of a handful of builds with little room for creativity (Striker, Reclaimer, Predator's Mark, The House, etc.), especially when going after Legendary or Incursion content. Division 2, right now, feels more balanced with guns and gear. Most brand sets can roll most talents, most guns in a class are within reasonable proximity of each other in power levels, etc. Basically, if you have a build that more or less works together towards an idea (DPS or Skill damage or triggering a status effect before doing damage), it will be viable in all but the Raid.
- Hardcore mode drops tomorrow. Permadeath. This will completely change the feel of Division PVE content. As it stands, it feels like Rambo in endgame, with zero consequence to dying. Permadeath should make combat encounters and builds change up quite a bit. Again, a niche mode, but it should make the game interesting for streamers and those of us who play the game still and are looking for a different feel.
So yeah, Div 2 won't match Div 1 in atmosphere, seems like everyone agrees. Other than that, I'd say that it currently mostly trails Div 1 in modes/particularly *interesting* repeatable content and PVP. But those things weren't at launch for Div 1 either, and most of them only became particularly fun to play towards the end of the game's life when it had settled and fixed everything. The devs have said that there's more modes/content coming after episode 3 (expected in January), and that repeatable activities for PVE and PVP/DZ balancing alike are a focus.
My hope is that 6 months from now it'll be "Division 2 is better in every way but setting to Division 1." Fingers crossed.
