IamA Game Director for The Division, Ryan Barnard. AMA!

When you made the E3 trailer did you realize then that the internet would collectively crap its pants over a car door being closed?

Hahaha! Gross image. Thank you.

No, absolutely not. We were blown away at the reaction to that.

Is it hard to combine the elements of MMO games to tactical shooters? I've been waiting for a game like this and The Division made it come true. Thanks and looking forward to getting the game!

To be honest, this is the first time someone has asked me this including E3 and gamescom. You should go into journalism imo.

It was extremely challenging to combine elements of MMOs, ranged combat and group synergies. Thankfully, our design team is awesome and continues to save my butt over and over :) But seriously, we've spent almost the better part of a year trying to get it right and we'll continue to iterate upon it until the release of the game.

OK, since I said I wouldn't answer questions until 6. Let's talk about breakfast stuff until then.

What is your favorite breakfast meal.

Favorite? I spent a lot of time in San Diego so I have to say mexican breakfast; eggs, chorizo, beans cheese. It's all good.

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6 CET - or 4 minutes from now. Still time to find out about my other favorite meals.

If you could have any meal in the world, right now, what would you eat? Also, why is everyone on floor 5 so handsome?

How do you know what people on floor 5 look like? I'm kind of freaked out right now...

What is your favorite snack?

Dry roasted peanuts. That's also enough food questions :)

Hey! Just wanted to say the game looks awesome and is basically the reason I'm looking into a PS4. Now to the question...over in /r/thedivision, there was some concern about the companion play being unfair in PvP situations for those players who might not have a player on a smart phone or tablet. Can you shed some light on this?

Great question. So, as you know we've been somewhat tight-lipped about PvP. But, what I can say, is balance is very important in a PvP environment so introducing elements that would throw off that balance is not something we'll do with the game.

Hi there! Thanks for doing this. I'm finally not late to an AMA. I have a few questions if you don't mind taking a look.

1) Was the PC version already planned with the console versions, only announced later? If not, why was their no PC version to begin with?

2) Does this game include zombies? Or is it mainly PVP?

Thanks for your time, have a great day!

So let's get going.

1: Since the beginning we were focusing on developing the game for the next generation of consoles. But after E3 with the incredible response that we got from you guys it allowed us to go back and take a look at the PC question. We decided that it made sense for Massive to do a PC version at the same time.

2: So... two questions that aren't related :) Since we're a Tom Clancy game, being grounded in reality is important for us. So, no you will not be seeing any zombies wandering the streets of NYC.

PvP is a very important part of the game, but whether it's "mainly" is really up to you and how you want to play.

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it. I'm glad you guys decided to stick with reality. Not having zombies will honestly make the game a lot more interesting. Also thanks for supporting PC, the platform I will personally be getting the game for. :)

You're welcome, thank Fred the Producer ;)

I'm wondering how you plan on approaching "end game" content as it seems to be the stopping point for many games that take the open world RPG approach. How will you keep us interested and keep the game exciting and new? Thanks!

Another strong question that unfortunately I can't go into detail with. We're VERY aware that end game is where many games have failed to provide enough good content to keep people playing. So we're making that we spend enough time pre-launch to make a very robust end game experience for The Division.

Don't worry, we're on it.

Time is up, thanks everyone for coming we'll be doing more of these in the future as long as you guys ask for them. Head to our subreddit, we'll be watching. http://i.imgur.com/M75Bpol.jpg

Is there a main story and missions/quests that the player and his/her allies follow or is it free roaming multiplayer with NPCs?

More info on PC development?

:)

Hi Shizrah,

At the heart of the game is exploration and investigation so the main story is extremely important for us. How we want to deliver that story to you guys is a little bit different than what is done in many contemporary RPGs. We really want truly emergent content and story.

So, what that basically means, is your story playing through The Division will possibly be different than my experience while still following the same major story arc for both of us.

Hello Ryan, I was wondering.. In the Division, will be be able to drive? I am hoping I can ram raid some well known New York landmark.

This is a very interesting question. We are still wrestling with this ourselves. Introducing vehicles can drastically change the scope and size of the game world. So, it's definitely something we're looking at.

I'm pretty excited for this game. What happens when you die? Is there special spawn points or what?

Great question! Do you mean in life or in the game? In life, I'm still not sure. But in the game, you will respawn at set locations near where you died. :)

Hey Ryan what is your favovite feature of the game and do you like your eggs scrambled or fried or sun side up?

My favorite feature of eggs is PvP.

To play with the companion app, the player need to have the game or he can join others friends without the game?

The companion app will be completely standalone and free to play. You will need an online connection and you will connect with players playing the main HD game.

Hey Ryan! Before this actually starts are there any off-limits questions you're not allowed to answer yet?

Yes, lots. Too many to list! I'll do my best though so ask away :)

Is the Division going to have as much of an emphasis on exploration as I'm hoping it will?

I don't know how much you're "hoping" but it's probably more than that. :)

What will you guys have at PAX next week?

Hopefully not me :) We won't be at PAX this time around.

Hello. I was wondering what it took for you to gain the position you hold now. Where did you go to college/university, if you did at all? How was that experience, again, if you went? After that, what were the events that lead to you becoming Game Director? If you had any tips for somebody who wishes to get to where you are, or even just make video games for a living, what would they be? Thanks in advance if you answer my questions. If you don't, well, I'll just leave this here...

Don't cry, it'll be ok.

So, I've been in the games industry for 11 years now. I did go to college for nothing that relates to video games so you can deduce how useful that was. :)

Really, what I always recommend to anyone who wants to get in to design in the games industry there's nothing that can replace experience. So just do it! Go take any entry level job you can in the games industry and just bust your ass.

If you're good, people will notice and you'll start to climb the chain and maybe eventually you'll be typing answers on a website somewhere.

Loved the ground effect games. Will the PC version get its own team or are you just going to port from console?

Thanks, the team will love seeing this. We are approaching the PC version like we're developing the game from the ground up. It will not be a port and making sure the experience is just as compelling for the PC as the next-gen consoles is important for us.

What aspect of this game do you think will really set it apart from the next-gen competition?

German shepherds and advanced door closing physics. :)

But seriously, there is going to be strong competition at the time we're releasing and what we're focusing on is trying to really give the most complete package we can in a game; from character creation through to end-game.

Hi Ryan! Thanks for this AmA. Will thirst or hunger come into effect while playing the game?

It's important for us that it's not a "harsh" survival game. While finding food and water will be important in the game you won't starve or die if you don't come across them.

Whats up Ryan, really looking forward to this, game of E3 for me Favorite non Ubisoft game?

Of all time?

This generation brah

Currently, I'm playing tons of DOTA 2.

how far does the game go with customization?

Customization is really important for us. I think it's the first thing that connects you to your Division agent. But, how far we will go with customization hasn't been decided yet.

Will there be an offline mode for the Division? Play the game offline when not connected to the internet...?

From the beginning, The Division has been developed from the ground up to be an online experience. So you will need an active internet connection to play.

Being an open world game, how will you handle environmental destruction/changes. Like what we saw in the release video of cars being damaged and destroyed?

So that game is open world but it's "personalized" open world for you or your group. Not only things like damage and destruction but major story events which change New York will be persistent for "your" version of NYC.

Awesome Stuff! Hello btw!

Hi Rooster! Thanks for redditing with me.

Hi Ryan, can we deploy maps indoors?

I think what you're referring to is the in world "area scan" in the demo which obviously have problems in tight corridors or indoors. So, it would probably make sense that there were several "types" of maps which will be available for the game ;)

Hello!

I am very excited to hear the release for PC but I have a question.

Will the game feature many small dedicated severs like a first person shooter? or massive servers like a traditional mmo. ~Thanks!

Hey Astrothunderkat "hooooo!"

What we want for The Division is for players around the world to be able to play with each other. The concept of a picking a "server" will be a thing of the past. So, to you, you will just log in and play.

What was your inspiration for this game?

That's a loooong story. So I'll try to summarize.

About a year and a half ago we got the opportunity from Ubi Paris to make a new IP meshing Clancy and RPG which was daunting :)

When we latched on to this very contemporary idea of "fragility of society" and the domino effect in the western world everything kind of flowed from that. We could come up with a new Clancy unit which made sense responding to this kind of catastrophe and we could bring a fresh twist to the Clancy universe itself.

I saw recently a green translucent sphere over a group of players and it said it increased dmg 50%. Is this a buff? In a Clancy game? Does this mean the game will be more fantasy than previous Clancy titles? Thanks!

Yes, that was the companion demo video which one of the skills is increasing the groups damage in an area. One of the pillars of Clancy games is new future tech and we will be pushing that with The Division. But, definitely not fantasy. No dragons... unfortunately :*(

Good day! I was wondering what kind of community management (clan/guild) tools you had planned for the game? As you probably know, that is a big part of online gaming today, especially for PC gamers, so we're very interested in that aspect.

Again, @aemond would love to hear from you on Twitter :)

Seriously though, we know having strong community tools for the game is super important and as we get closer to release you'll be hearing more about those.

Will the combat have more of an action feel or more of a hybrid action/strategy. All gameplay I've seen seems to have the crosshair "stick" to targets, so I'm curious if accuracy is player skill based or stat based.

Game looks great, and I couldn't be happier about a PC release!

First and foremost The Division is an RPG. Of course, we have a ranged element to our combat which is skill based. So I guess it's a little bit of both with an emphasis on talent and skill use.

Hey! Can you play alone, without a clan? :-)

Hey polska17. Absolutely you can play alone. We hope that you will want to play with others as we're developing this as a multiplayer game. But, if you are an antisocial human you can play from start to finish without interacting with anyone else. :)

Hello Ryan, i was wondering how does it feel to be a part of a such a massive and popoular game studio. And i love your previous games and you are a big idol. Thanks.

Wibben? Get back to work! ;)

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Well I woke up late since I just got back from gamescom. So, I had noodles. Such a sad breakfast...

Hey Ryan, one reason that really catches my attention about this game is how there are really not supposed to be any clases which gives the idea that the game is not that complicated (like borderlands for example). Can you tell us more about how that all is going to work>?

Yes! Great question and nice name too, supercheesus.

The reason why we're approaching classes this way for our game is because we want to avoid the classic "class" choice at character creation that you see in most RPGs. Rather than being locked into a class before you understand how to play our game, we want you to define your playstyle "class" through playing the game.