Right, so I got into the beta and managed to play it on Sunday.... 25gb later.
Here's my experience and impressions. Forgive the texty wall.
My concern still lingers around actual end-game content. In about 5 hours worth of play (was afk for periods in that as well) I managed to reach level 7 where the max level is 30.
The Beta was limited to a section of the city and Dark zone. The problem this created was that you could run around a Lot and not encounter any bad guys. Over time I felt this was good in the sense that enemies don't rapidly respawn and bad in that I imagine too much of that can lead to boredom.
Missions were seemingly obtained in 2 ways (excluding the story mission that will be available in the full game). By updating your map by interacting with maps in Safe Zones and by speaking with JTF officers in those same areas. The JTF missions were all "side quest" in nature. These reward you with decent XP, some credits, normally a blueprint of some kind and a piece of gear. Missions obtained from the maps provide you with less XP, few credits and XP specific to the type of mission you finished.
The mission specific XP ties into your home base. Once you have claimed it, you are able to commission 3 specific wings. The only one you have access to in the Beta was the Medical wing. Some work needs to be done before you can start working on upgrading the wing, but once that is in place, doing missions of a specific colour on your map reward you with XP relative to the wing in your base. The options to upgrade were limited to a choice of 2, but the effect is that those upgrades unlock upgrades for your skills (IE you can change your Pulse skill from just showing enemies locations, to do that as well as block you and your team from enemies Pulse scans) as well as other upgrades for your character. Aside from the upgrades to Pulse, everything else was not available in the Beta, but I imagine that will allow a decent amount of customisation.
Then there's the Dark Zone(DZ). That cesspool of a place. I can see a lot of time generally being spent here by those who either don't like PvE, or get bored of it quickly. I both love and hate it. There are LFG tools for both PvE and the DZ, but honestly, that is one place you want to team with someone you can trust. I ran solo about 80% of the time, which is doable in the areas that are a little lower than your PvE level. On that note, XP and levels are earned separately in PvE and the DZ. The DZ levels are more tied into the level of chest you are able to open within the zone. Getting back to playing in there, as soon as I got in, it just Felt more edgy. Another player and I entered a couple seconds apart and you get this awkward standoff where you both look at one another hoping the other player isn't going to just open up on you.
Enemies are generally more difficult, mini-bosses are encountered more frequently and the loot drops are generally better. This leads to extractions. I like the concept, but I hate how it can play out. You find Extraction Zones as you run around the DZ... these are set locations. Once you pick up any gear (you get a nifty yellow bio-hazard container on your backpack, conveniently showing anyone who sees you that you have picked "something" up) you can start an extraction. Anyone within a decent radius is notified that an extraction has started, and a 1m45s counter starts. That is how long you need to just wait before you can consider getting you're loot out. After the timer expires, a helicopter flies over and lowers a cable, which is the point where you're actually able to get your loot out the DZ. You then run up to the cable and hold F while a progress bar goes up (feels like forever but probably 5s). And herein is where the scumbaggery can start. As all close-by are notified, while you attempt to attach your back to the rope, you can be killed. Your progress bar regresses when you take damage, so it's not even a case of surviving long enough to attach your loot, you cannot be taking damage. Once you die, you can be looted for ALL the gear you found leading up to an extraction as well as other items that were seemingly hard to come by in my brief ventures there.
That complaint aside, I'd probably spend a lot more time there if the Beta wasn't over. Lots of videos floating around of wall hackers already, but fortunately I wouldn't say I was affected by any.
Overall I really enjoyed it, bar the lack of baddies that was felt at times in PvE. I'm a lot closer to buying than this game than not.
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