So, wine me, dine me, treat me to some knowledge.
I enjoyed this over the free weekend, a lot. I love the feeling the world gives off, I got to level 9 I think. Maybe 10? I crafted 1 item but got confused with raw damage and the stat it slaps on the main information for the weapon. So a M4 sniper would 1 shot enemies, but a marksman SCAR with double the damage stat (not raw damage) doesn't...? I'm assuming that main DPS figure is a calculation of RPM and DPS, range and damage fall off (if there is any?). If so, that's a bit cack handed. As single shots are always going to be more powerful than semi shots.
The only 2 things you really need to check on a weapon are the base damage & rpm, the problem with the dps calculation is it takes into account things like mag size, which is really irrelevant, & inflates the dps stupidly high. Later on you will unlock the marksman range where you can test a weapons damage.
Anyway, other than that, I loved it, I will be handing over my hard earned cash to Ubi as the team who worked on the Division have done a good job in my eyes.
Is there any guild or group that regularly play on here that I can join and play with?
Theres a good few from here play, theres a proper discord channel, think the link might be in the OP but not certain.
Missions, I see that completed main missions continue to exist on the map but with a grey icon. Does this mean I can replay them and just gain loot? Or do I gain resource points to spend on upgrading my home base as well?
The main missions where you select a difficulty can be replayed as often as you like, you will be playing them a lot at end game on challenge difficulty which unlocks at 30, so dont get burned out on them at low level, once you have done them once, you dont get any more base resources from them, but you do still get item & exp rewards
Side missions and encounters, are these 100% never ending? And are they respawning throughout the game time I'm playing? I saw 2 side missions pop up 3 levels lower than me after I just did 2. So I assume they respawn and are locked to the areas level?
Side missions dont respawn, but they do unlock others, as well as some world bosses, if you clear an area of all side missions ( any one apart from chelsea ) later in the game they will unlock search & destroy missions from the notice boards, which gives you currency to do the HVT's (high value targets)
Should I bother spending my moola early game? I've got 4k saved up and a bunch of weapon parts/tools/fabric etc. Mostly green and some blues. I've no problem killing enemies with one shot using my sniper and my G36C is killing just fine.
I would sell everything you dont use apart from weapons & gear mods which I would deconstruct for electronics/tools as these can be useful for crafting at end game.
What are the 'suggested' skills? At the moment, I'm just testing, I like the scanning function, the turret is awesome, not unlocked my 'T' skill slot yet though, which is annoying. The shield was cool but rarely used.
First aid with either booster or overdose is pretty much a default choice as it saves you running out of med kits, the other is personal choice, personally I lile seeker mines with cloud burst for CC, turrets can also be good for this, theres a proper gear set for flame turret later in game, pulse is also handy as it shows where all enemies are & buffs your damage a bit, theres also a mod for the support station that self revives you if your soloing, but this can also be done with the medical sig skill if you're solo, albeit with a cool down.
The Dark Zone... Dun Dun Dunnnnnn, now, when I get to it, will I simply be shot on site the moment I spawn by players? Is there any point even attempting it before level 30? Once I'm level 30, will I need a tonne of decent gear to even survive more than 5 seconds?
There are brackets for DZ, I believe its something like 10-19, 20-24, 24-29. then its based on gear score after, something like 0-169, 170-204. 205-229 (not sure its been a while & some changes since I had lower scores) atm tho I believe a lot of people are playing twinked alts in the 10-19 bracket, so wouldnt suggest going in there unless your pretty well kitted out.
My fear is it's been out so long, there is simply no competing against other players.
Its pretty easy to get into top gear at end game & I'm sure theres a few on discord would give you a hand if needed.
Thanks!
One more bit of advice, try to get all the virus filters from the medical upgrades 1st, this will help in later areas as you will die if you go in without the proper level of filter, if youve reached level 9 I'm guessing you did the madison field hospital mission, theres a room in there in a contaminated zone, iirc it has a level 6 blue weapon in the box at the end, if you didnt get a virus filter upgrade before going in you would die, the max virus filter level you can get is 4.