I think thats what we should do next as a group,just to test it out

I'm level 19 now and I have quite high DPS so I will give the first Dark Zone area a try as it's lvl 10 - 14 I think and I have replayed a lot of main missions on hard with NPC's around lvl 15 that are all purple or gold. I just want to have a mooch to see what it's all about but like you I am enjoying exploring the main map the most and I want to clear all that before really giving the Dark Zone a proper go.

I thought The Division was very daunting when I first turned it on but now I have got a lot of playtime in I find it very simple to navigate. There is a lot to take in at first with the wing upgrades, crafting, all of the different types of missions etc.

I actually disagree with you on the map being flooded with too much to do, you only really get about 5 to 6 encounters and 3 to 4 side missions per zone. It doesn't light up the phone recordings and other collectibles until you get close so I don't find that they get in the way. Stuff like Assassins Creed was annoying as you look on the map and every 10 metres there is something to pick up and it felt too busy, this feels a lot cleaner.

I'm really excited about Quantum Break and it was the main reason I chose Xbox One over the PS4, however, I am enjoying The Division that much that I will get to lvl 30 and complete all of the map before I start on Quantum Break. There is bound to be a game drought over the summer and as I am having so much fun on this it seems silly for me to start something new so soon!

Have you unlocked all the safe houses and updated the missions at the vendor, and the encounters at the notice boards mate?

My map seems way too packed to know what to do next, and I'm above you on level 23!!

In reply to a post by time2die:

I think thats what we should do next as a group,just to test it out

We've got decent guns now and support from the West Country Massive, so why not.

Yup but I didn't do them all at the start, I unlock a safe house, got to the board and go to the situation guy to get all of the stuff for that area. I then do those missions and then move onto the next safe house.

The map would be pretty busy if you went and opened them all up at the start, but I am not sure why you would do that as it doesn't seem like the game should be played that way? Each time you complete all of the side missions for one area it tells you to go to the next safe zone and gives you some exp for it, so it feels like you are meant to just do 1 zone at a time.

Don't get me wrong I do venture into other areas to do the bigger missions and when I need to veer off to do something else, but in general I just smash all the encounters and side missions in one zone then move on. I certainly don't think the map is busy anymore but I did feel that way during the first 10ish hours of play.

I've just thought, have you got that upgrade where it shows you all collectibles once you have completed all of the encounters and side missions in a zone? If you have that then I can imagine that makes loads of little blue icons all over each zone for the folders, phone recordings, echo's etc.

I have purposely not bought that upgrade yet so I don't have that, but I can see that being an issue if you have it! As far as I could see you couldn't change the "legend" to not show collectibles like you can on stuff like Assassins Creed, which is the main reason I didnt buy that upgrade....

I've been playing a bit with my lad recently and I'm currently lvl27 and dz lvl 17, believe me when I say it's tough in the darkzone lol.
I've mostly concentrated on health which is currently just over 50k and my weapons are somewhere between 15k-20k.
I'll party up with you at the weekend if you like Jaxx.
One thing to bare in mind is that to be in the dz with friends you have to be around the same outside normal lvl ie between lvl20-24 or 25-29.

I wonder what would happen if we all at the same time shot at another player,what about if just one of us went rogue and then others would try and kill us and hunt us down but we would have 3 allies there to turn on them if you know what i mean.

Yea I have seen you online a few times but as you are always about 6 - 8 levels ahead of me I haven't joined you. I will definitely hop on for a game with you at the weekend though, I guess as you hit 30 and I get closer to the cap we will be able to play more!

50k health is ridiculous, I've focussed on DPS and it's just over 15k at the moment but I've just found a few nice purple blueprints / items so looking forward to seeing how they affect things tonight!

No mate, I haven't done that one yet but the map is still really busy when you zoom out!

I opened up the safe houses for fast travel around the map, and to unlock all of the different weapons vendors. They all seem to have different guns. If I'm getting walloped on a mission, I warp back to where I know the different guns are, then warp straight back to retry the mission.

When you get further on Jaxx, it's a mission in itself just to fight your way through the street crews, to get to your chosen mission lol! You end up with no grenades or special ammo before you even start it!

And also because Timey told me it was a good idea to unlock as many as you could do easily. He wasn't wrong!

We worked out last night that if you do a mission with just two of you, the initial wave of snipers etc are all red. If you add a third person to the party, they go purple. With four of you, they go yellow! So if you're not all on top of your game weapons level wise, it's actually much easier to play just as a pair!