First off thank you Massive for continuing to support this game. I love it so much and it think it deserves so much more. This is a step in the right away and appreciate you reading user feedback from PTS as a way to improve the game changes. I'm a PS5 console player at 4,000+ SHD level but decided to buy the PC game just to test out the PTS because I like the game so much.

Here is my feedback from phase 1 testing

PVP Darkzone Feedback

• The nerf to the shield is too much. I'm an in sync shield player like most average to pro players. It's one thing to nerf the in sync talent buff but it's another thing to add the disorient and making the shield even more fragile (since it was nerfed before already). This effectively kills the skill and doesn't balance things in my opinion. Please consider just disabling the shield in sync talent as planned for shields but roll back the disorient and shield taking more damage changes. It doesn't help that the TTK is already low in PVP and without shields, it's even lower from all crit body shots vs using your aim to get headshots above the shield.
• Intimidate seems to be broken as there isn't a cap on the stacks and you can see various youtube videos of people hitting 500k to 2mil headshots with a lady death

PVE Countdown Feedback / Bugs

• I saw something similar on the known issues list but not exactly the same. I get delta'd when I get matched into a countdown ALREADY in progress. It's 100% reproducible. I can only get into countdown when the raid hasn't started yet.
• There is actually too much loot dropping which can effectively imbalance the game in terms of diversity in where to grind for gear. It was already bad with Lincoln Memorial, then we got Summit, and now Countdown. There is essentially zero replay value with existing missions since there is no incentive to run those missions based on allocated loot.
• The NPC's are too easy which makes the game mode unchallenging or motivating. I was a level 13 and shredding everything. I hope that we can adjust the difficulty level like the summit for better drops. The hunters are so easy to kill just like named enemies. They should be stronger similar to rogue agents in heroic difficulty. If you have a decent time, you end up killing everything at the extraction and just sitting there waiting for the helicopter. There should be more continuous spawns of black tusks.
• The new menus / UI needs work. The countdown intro screen looks very basic with the same font sizes. It would be nice to have some better visuals to match the amazing map design. The countdown end screen is pretty bad too and not well designed. It's very glitchy and jumps you out when everyone exits. The countdown end screen should be visible until you back out. The expertise menu also does not match the library, recalibration, and optimization menus. seems like a different font and size were used.
• My character lost its arms and legs for some reason! Not sure if its because I'm an LVL 1 to start.

All my experiences were streamed on my twitch channel if you need references: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1445955090?filter=archives&sort=time

That's it for now. Appreciate everything you all do and looking forward to PTS Phase 2!

I think pvp would be much better if they removed in DZ and conflict, it's so lame to be behind a shield in pvp

There is actually too much loot dropping which can effectively imbalance the game in terms of diversity in where to grind for gear. It was already bad with Lincoln Memorial, then we got Summit, and now Countdown. There is essentially zero replay value with existing missions since there is no incentive to run those missions based on allocated loot.

With the amount of goods we need to progress though the Expertise system, we NEED this loot. I love how Boarderlands rewards you, from what I have seen, this looks like a much better place to land than where we have been.

I'm on record of preferring the Shields to simply take longer to deploy and stash - but it's way more work to redo those animations than just tweak it's health while adding confused.

What about moving Crusader to Hipfire ACC/STB with a reload penalty? Seems crazy someone could operate a gun just as well as normal with the added awkward weight of that shield..

I think the whole damage multiplier for shields is entirely the wrong way to go about balancing them. The role of a shield build should be to take aggro and protect/revive teammates when needed. so making them take more damage kills that whole functionality and like OP said, actually makes the balance worse. The problem with those builds isn't that they're too tanky (that should be the whole point of using a shield in the first place), but rather that they do too much damage. so, I think instead of a damage taken modifier we need a damage dealt modifier. another option would be disabling crit, headshot, and skill damage when using shields.

in short, they need to bring back true tank builds that don't do a ton of damage and shields that can actually tank, in PVP and PVE.

Just disable the crusader/striker shield until someone has 5 Armor cores.
Why do people need a Shield if they aren't a Tank in the first place.

Or just delete the Crusader/Striker shields.
And then bring D3FNC 2.0, 100x better!!
Or no D3FNC but still get rid of those 2 shields.

Shields were never the problem. Its the OP weapons (pistols) and stacking tallents like intimidate, insync.

Nerfing shields without nerfing crit dmg its just bad. Allowing for 200+ crit dmg builds to bodyshoot you over and over removes skill gap between body and HS players.
Why bodyshoot gets rewarded with confuse effect by destroing shield ? Why crit dmg rolls / mods are 12% while HS rolls and mods are 10 % ?
Feels like no1 did any research about real pvp problems like corner glitch, bugged traps, skills like hives, fire, corrosive can hit you behid walls... and many many others. Instead of looking into problems with the shields and whats causing them, you decided to nerf shields just like that.

@quantum-9 HS is 100%, so always 10% when you land a HS.

CD only hits up to your CHC, which if maxed is only 60%, so that 12% is really 7.2%. As noted, it works on the body too, hence why the number is a good bit lower than HS.

Shields are a problem, they throw off the Armor V WD matrix the devs balanced around. They are too easy to deploy/stash, and offer no drawbacks - which isn't realistic. It's just a ton a work to redo the animation, so they're trying a quick fix to discourage shield usage.

It's why I think making the Crusader revert the player to Hipfire, with a reload penalty is better though.

@spacepackage amazing that they busted Intimidate for PVE and also busted it for PVP but in a different way

@imagine_brata the more sweaty players love players that run shield because it makes them vulnerable from the lack of movement and being stationary. there are trade-offs for using a shield and its not all benefits.

@txdieselkid yeah i like it too but that's all i would play in the game to farm which will make it boring really fast. every mission, and game mode should have equal rewards scale to make the players come back to play a diverse set of content.

@latenitedelight hip fire is equivalent to being on fire and not being able to ADS. this would kill the skill too.

I think the whole damage multiplier for shields is entirely the wrong way to go about balancing them. The role of a shield build should be to take aggro and protect/revive teammates when needed. so making them take more damage kills that whole functionality and like OP said, actually makes the balance worse. The problem with those builds isn't that they're too tanky (that should be the whole point of using a shield in the first place), but rather that they do too much damage. so, I think instead of a damage taken modifier we need a damage dealt modifier. another option would be disabling crit, headshot, and skill damage when using shields.

in short, they need to bring back true tank builds that don't do a ton of damage and shields that can actually tank, in PVP and PVE.

@Metal_Greg I agree 100%. we need more tanky stuff.

Shields were never the problem. Its the OP weapons (pistols) and stacking tallents like intimidate, insync.

Nerfing shields without nerfing crit dmg its just bad. Allowing for 200+ crit dmg builds to bodyshoot you over and over removes skill gap between body and HS players.
Why bodyshoot gets rewarded with confuse effect by destroing shield ? Why crit dmg rolls / mods are 12% while HS rolls and mods are 10 % ?
Feels like no1 did any research about real pvp problems like corner glitch, bugged traps, skills like hives, fire, corrosive can hit you behid walls... and many many others. Instead of looking into problems with the shields and whats causing them, you decided to nerf shields just like that.

@Quantum-9 agree 100% on the crit damage body shots being the next problem. and for the love god, yes! nerf the skills. PVP is so fun when everyone is running around shooting their guns. it just takes one guy to bring in a shrapnel trap or fire sticky to end the fun for everyone.

@spacepackage amazing that they busted Intimidate for PVE and also busted it for PVP but in a different way

@unknown_merc44 crazy huh? i wonder if there is any automated regression testing or are they still relying on manual QA game testers

Been a long standing DZ player since the beta and seen the poor balance over the past 4 years this latest attempt doesn't surprise me one bit , the thing is Div 2 is not Div 1 and we don't have the armor rejen builds like it had , True Patroit was the closest we ever had to a Nomad style build with the Pestilence until they nerfed the armor rejen , Strikers should have the same talents as it had in Div 1 and the useless backfire should have been The House exotic

But instead we have a heap of builds that resolve around shields and without a shield the TTK is even shorter than where it is currently, if you want a long TTK they need to bring back the tanks build to do this

As for Skill builds these are stupidly overpowered in PvP especially when they are Tier 6 using wheb paired with glass cannon and Creeping Death for burn builds as even with 100% hazpro build you can't counter

If skills are to be kept in the DZ then it should have a modifier so it will only work as a Tier 2 build no matter if you build is a Tier 6 or at worst just get rid of them altogether

@spacepackage good, I don't think the Crusader Shield should have ever been in the game. A shield is a defensive item that should only pair with Pistols. Maybe offer a few more auto Pistols like the SMG-11/12 or C75.

@spacepackage good, I don't think the Crusader Shield should have ever been in the game. A shield is a defensive item that should only pair with Pistols. Maybe offer a few more auto Pistols like the SMG-11/12 or C75.

I can agree to that it should be a pistols only skill