@moldyspud: I've been trying to figure out how to respond to your comment respectfully, but I can't get there. I can understand if you don't enjoy the game, I don't need everyone to have the same tastes that I do.

But criticizing a beta test for lack of content is silly, and saying the game lacks "any kind of artistic value or effort" is disrespectful in the most lazy way. No, the developers don't deserve a medal just because they tried hard, but acting as if they simply didn't try is ridiculous, and a weak type of criticism. I can point out details of the graffiti, the faithful recreation of the city, the incredible fidelity in weapon design and graphics, in sound design, the thought going into the arrangement of furniture inside the field hospital of Madison Square Garden, the decorations inside random apartments--there's a lot going on here that, clearly, you didn't appreciate. I'm not bothered by that. But I am bothered that you'd try to act angry and superior, as if your verbal vomit has more value than the kind of impressive creativity that has gone into this game.

I loved the beta. I loved the gameplay. I'm not in love with the look of the city, but I can respect the work that went into it. I will absolutely buy this game Day 1.

I'm returning your comments for a full refund.

I put 12+ hours into the beta this weekend, woke up before work this morning...and ran the Madison Square Garden mission one more time. My biggest fear for the game was that shooting would feel thin or weightless, or that movement would feel awkward. Turns out, no need to worry.

I also counted the number of PvE regions at 14, while they let us run around in 2. Also, 6 Dark Zone regions, and again, they let us into 2. This means, even with only one main story mission and 1/5 of the map regions, I put 14 hours into the game, and enjoyed it all.

I think I'll get my money's worth.

@mi_hung_lo: As Emperor of Ubisoft, I name you Chancellor of the Exchequer.

@obsidian_born: It really depends on how the speed of game progression without the micro-transactions is tuned. If it follows more free-to-play models, where the game is intentionally slow so that you're motivated to pay money, then that bothers me when paired with a slot-machine-like reward system.

I don't want to judge it before it's out, but I don't want to buy a full price game that, under the hood, is running at the speed of a free-to-play title. They'll need to do more than tell me it's not pay-to-win.

How dare you fix your game, Ubisoft! It shouldn't have had problems in the first place! What do you think this is, development of a complex MMO with shooting mechanics, diverse skills, significant environmental interaction, thousands of audio cues, and a seamless world without loading screens?

But most of all, how dare you communicate with your players? I wouldn't stand for these shenanigans if I were Emperor of Ubisoft.

@TheDarkNut: Not really, but, well, I guess I didn't expect it to be this bad.

@xolivierx: I'm not bothered by the large amounts of bullets required to kill, since I see this as an MMORPG first, shooter second. Similarly, the HUD is downright minimalist in comparison to something like World of Warcraft or even Guild Wars 2, so not a concern for me. I seldom have problems seeing past the HUD, which is why I'm not bothered by even Xenoblade Chronicles X. Again, more MMO, less shooter.

The more I've seen of the game, the more relevant and useful all the on-screen information seems to me, telling me where my skill cooldown is at, enemy positioning, cover pathways, area of effect for explosions, whether an enemy is suppressed (relevant for skills and talents), health levels, armor levels, etc. With something like Battlefront or Uncharted, all that information would be meaningless. But in a game with the degree of RPG elements that The Division has, including varying damage types, cover types, resistances, threat management, and skill interactions, this information all matters.

And if it's a series of quests similar to what we've seen in preview footage, I'll be okay with that. I don't need Witcher 3 quality short stories from this game, if the gameplay is what I expect it will be. MMOs are often a series of fetch quests in some form or another, as are many quests in open worlds. Some games dress them up better than others, design them better than others, but they're all excuses to get you to go out and apply the game's basic mechanics. I'm not expecting War & Peace, but if I get even a bit of War, I will be very pleased.

I clicked to find out more about Witcher 3 (a game I love). Instead, I got a long list of games that happened to include Witcher 3.

What an odd headline.

@Thanatos2k: Yeah, considering that they've never done that befo---oh, wait, yeah, they did that with Battlefield 4 a few times. And Battlefield Hardline. And there was that Battle of Jakku map in Battlefront, though we don't have to count that.

Either way, which beach in Nebraska? I'm looking forward to the tour.