The Division - How to level up!

[Sarcoth]

There are two leveling system you need to increase in The Division to keep up with weapon upgrades and being able to group with others.

The first system is your Character Level. This number is orange on your HUD and goes from 1-30 when the game comes out. I presume they will be increasing this limit over time. Your level experience is increased by killing AI, completing missions, finding new locations, and finding special items located outside the DZ. Basically, everything you do outside the DZ is towards your level gain.

The second system is your Dark Zone Rank. This number is purple on your HUD and goes from 1 to an unknown number. In the beta, we were restricted to a maximum level 8 and a DZ rank 12. Because of this, I am making a guess that the max rank will be higher than the max level when the game comes out. Once again, this max will most likely be increased in the future. Your rank experience is increased by performing different activities in the DZ. Such as, killing other players, killing rogues, and killing AI. Although, even though killing AI increases your DZ rank, it also gives you a little bit of experience for your Character Level too. This is so small though that you should never use it as a way to level up. Basically, everything you do INSIDE the DZ is towards your rank gain.

I played multiple characters in the beta and I think I got a pretty good system for leveling up.

1. Go up to level 7 outside the DZ. Complete the early starting missions that allow you to unlock the medical wing, tech wing, and security wing. You may want to only do two of these at the start, but since we didn't have access to the security wing mission in beta, I don't. Try not to get over halfway in level 7 and you should be fine.
2. Now that you are level 7, head over to the DZ. Focus on the early area of the DZ. Your goal here is to get rank 8 as a minimum, but I think you should aim for rank 12. Once you get rank 8, you get access to some good upgrades, but don't waste your credits yet. Save them. Go for rank 12 and you are done here for now.
3. After you are done in the DZ, head back out and get to level 8. This should give you access to even more upgrades inside the DZ. Head back in and see what you can get. This will specifically give you access to level 8 weapons/armor that also require rank 12. You can buy other level 8/rank 8 items, but the good stuff is the former.
4. Now, you'll want to start a repeat process. Go to level 15 outside the DZ, head to the DZ and get another 12 ranks. Go outside the DZ, get 1 level, then go back into the DZ to upgrade.

Understand?

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Yeah, I really enjoyed the closed beta for The Division and had planned on playing it in my spare time, but after the open beta, it will probably become my primary game.

Reasons:
1) It is a shooter. Ever since SH changed form a PvP-Hunting guild to a Raiding Guild, I started playing shooter-type games to get my fix. But, shooting AI over other players can only do so much. Thankfully, they do have a PvP area called the DZ.
2) It will have crafting. Everyone that has ever played with me knows how much I love crafting.
3) It will have raiding. The game will start off with squad missions. A squad is 4-players and definitely not a raid. Two weeks after launch, they are adding in two-squad raids. I'm fine with calling this a raid. There is even talk of including three or more squad raids. Now we're talking!
4) PvP. Mentioned slightly in #1, but PvP will only take place in the DZ. Here is where I hope to leave my mark by hunting down those that attack other players. Then again, if I get too bored, I will end up praying on others as well. Just keep the Rogues coming and I'll be happy.
5) Friends. I can play the game with my friends. This is what will keep me coming back to the game. Most of my friends on the XBox are getting the game and yesterday I found out that a group of my friends from Steam are also getting the game. I will end up getting it on both systems. I'm going to start on the XBox One, but as soon as I get to max level with good gear, I'll get the game on PC as well.

[Sarcoth]

The live game turned out to be a completely different beast than the beta. A lot of changes were made.

First, the bracket in the DZ for the early levels was changed from level 1-14. I tried to go there at level 8, but I was in for a surprise when all the AI there were much higher. Many deaths occurred. I decided to level up to 14; making this my first goal.

The second surprise was that DZ ranking for buying gear in the DZ. The blue gear could still be bought at rank 10, but now purple gear required a DZ rank of 30! Reaching DZ rank 30 was my second goal. I spent many hours working on this, but at around rank 24, it got to the point of being too slow. I'm sure it is possible, but hunting the DZ alone for hours got tedious. Having Kiron with me passed the time easier, but we eventually got bored of how slow it was and decided to level up. I gave up on the second goal.

After I went back out of the DZ, I hit level 15 rather quickly. I then went back to the DZ and discovered the next bracket was for levels 15-19. This put reaching level 19 as the new goal. At levels 1-14, I could purchase blue items (that required DZ rank 10 to purchase) from the DZ merchants. After reaching level 15 though, now they only sold purple items (requiring DZ rank 30). That kind of sucks, but the goal at this point is to upgrade to all purple anyhow. The problem is now reaching DZ rank 30 is going to be a requirement.

I hit level 19 last night and then I fast traveled to all the vendors located outside the DZ. These are found in Safe Houses. Credits to purchase these items went quickly and I was only able to buy one gun and 4 pieces of gear. Now that I hit 19, I'm heading back to the DZ and all the AI have also been leveled up. It's definitely harder, but my hope is that the DZ experience will go faster now that I'm a higher level. If the AI are harder, they should give more DZ rank. Once I get all my gear upgraded, this process should go smoother.

[Sarcoth]

When I start playing on the PC version of the game, here is how I plan to level up now that I know what to expect from the game.

While trying to reach level 14:
1) First only focus on missions (normal difficulty) so you can get the resources they give for upgrading your headquarters (security, medical, tech).
2) When missions can too difficult for your level, supplement them with side missions, but only the ones that give upgrades for the headquarters. Do not do the missions that only give XP, weapons, and or blueprints.
3) When you have finally done all the missions that give upgrades and you need XP, you can start doing the other side missions. Or, there is an alternative to that if you have friends that are higher level. Have them take you on their missions so you can get the rewards at the end. Personally, doing this would be awesome because it would make you an elite fighting machine in the DZ. Just make sure you watch the XP reward at the end. These tend to give a lot of XP and your goal is to be as low into level 14 as possible. Some of the higher level missions can give you way more XP than you want.

[Sarcoth]

I created a new character on the Xbox version to help the slackers behind in level. I'm using my method above of only doing story missions and side missions to gain resources used to upgrade the three wings in my headquarters. It is a little more challenging since I'm somewhat under level for the missions, but I think this will be a great way to dominate the DZ for brackets 1-14. I plan to keep this character at level 14 as long as possible while I hunt in the DZ, probably more rogue than not.