I’ve played the Division consistently on PC since day one. It’s become my nightly before I go to be ritual. It’s a fun time and a chance to connect with my friend whom I’ve played every minute of the game with. My friend is super committed to the end game meta and I mostly tag along, but I feel I know enough of what’s going on to comment on the current state of the game. We are both looking forward to the game’s big update on April 12th. Here’s the low down on it’s major features and my thoughts on the changes coming.
Falcon Lost
- Falcon Lost is a new incursion available in the Stuyvesant area
- You must be level 30 and have completed the mission “General Assembly” to access this mission
- The encounter is balanced for 4 players with high level gear
This is the big feature of the update. Incursions are going to be “raidesque” missions for end game teams to tackle in the quest for better loot. There are no checkpoints in missions and a death of the whole team will result in having to restart. Although we won’t truly know what Incursions entails till the patch launches we are looking forward to simply because it’s new content.
Gear Sets
- Gear set equipment can be found by completing the most challenging activities in Manhattan
- Collecting and wearing gear sets grant powerful stat bonuses and talents
- Gear sets of varying gear scores can be found for many playstyles. Find the set that best suits yours
- “Tactician’s Authority” – enhances electronics and support capabilities
- “Striker’s Battlegear” – provide bonuses for assault capabilities
- “Sentry’s Call” – enhances marksman capabilities
- “Path of the Nomad” – provides bonuses for lone wanderers
All my items are currently High end or Gold colored so new loot to change up the end game meta is always appreciated. If anything it will give end game players a new goal to strive for.
Trading
- Items dropped by enemies can be shared with other players
- Trade items by dropping them as loot from your inventory, so players in your group can pick them up
- You can only share items for during the first 2 hours after you have acquired them
- Items can only be shared with players who are currently in your group and who were also in your group when the item was originally dropped
My friend and I are really looking forward to trading stuff amongst ourselves and with other friends once they reach level 30. I find the 2 hour limit of trading to be ridiculous. If I acquired a gun a friend would want, but he wasn’t on that night he’s out of luck, which sucks. If the two hour limit is applied to crafted items, I’m really going to be unhappy. I feel like the time limit makes trading pointless.
Assignments
- Assignments are automatically obtained when you log in and can be tracked from the map via the menu called “Mission Overview”
- Assignments are available for a limited time (24h for Daily Assignments and 7 days for Weekly Assignments), after which, they will be replaced by different assignments
- Assignments come in different categories:
- Combat
- Dark Zone
- Crafting
- Most assignments can be completed while playing alone but some will require enlisting other agent’s assistance to complete
Assignments were something I had not previously heard of and again am excited for them just because it’s more content. I’m curious as to what rewards will be for completing assignments. Something I don’t want to see is kill X enemy X amount of times. I think we can all agree we hate this aspect of MMO’s.
Dark Zone Supply Drops
- Dark Zone Supply Drops are a global event where the Strategic Homeland Defense agency airdrops multiple supply caches to assist Division agents
- Supply drops will occur multiple times over the course the day
- The supply drops will contain non-contaminated gear of all types that will be ready to use without the need for extraction
- These supply drops will be heavily sought after by other agents and enemy factions that roam the Dark Zone, so be ready for resistance
The Dark Zone as a loot location is pretty dismal so I’m all for shaking up the Dark Zone a bit. I think Supply drops will break up the loot route running which occurs currently as players just run from landmark to landmark hoping a boss will be spawn to drop loot.
Gear Score
- Every non-vanity gear piece that can be found when your agent is level 30 has a Gear Score value. The higher an item’s Gear Score, the stronger the item
- The overall Gear Score of your agent can be seen in your main menu next to your player level. Gear Score indicates the advancement of an agent
- Other agents’ Gear Scores are displayed next to their health bars
- Improving your gear and increasing your overall Gear Score will grant your agent access to the most dangerous high-end challenges
One of my friends biggest complaint is not knowing how powerful random players in our party are. When doing challenging missions (the hardest difficulty) it’s nice to know if your teammates are even powerful enough to carry their weight. Gear Scores should help with underpowered members dragging the team down.
Group Spectator Camera
- The Group Spectator Cam lets players spectate members of their group while waiting to be revived or the entire group to be down
- Players can use RB/LB, R1/L1 or Q/E keys to switch between group members
This should have been incorporated at launch.
New High-End Named Weapons
- Added new High-End named weapons:
- Warlord: Assault Rifle
- Valkyria: Submachine gun
- (Historian: Marksman Rifle) Please note that while the Historian will be implemented in the game with this update, it will not be acquirable in-game until update 1.2
Once you hit end game level everybody pretty much uses the High End Vector SMG. Adding in some new weapons would always be appreciated.
Crafting
- Increased costs for converting crafting materials and crafting High-End items:
- 10 Standard (Green) materials instead of 5 to craft 1 Specialized (Blue) material
- 15 Specialized (Blue) materials instead of 5 to craft 1 High-End (Gold) material
- 10 High-End (Gold) materials instead of 8 to craft 1 lvl 31 High-End (Gold) item
- Changed deconstruction yield of Standard (Green) and High-End (Gold) items:
- Deconstructing a Standard (Green) item yields 1 Standard material instead of 2
- Deconstructing a High-End (Gold) item yields 1 High-End material instead of 2
- Added new level 31 and 32 High-End items Blueprints to Vendors
- Removed Division Tech requirements from some level 31 High-End Blueprints
Of all the update news this is probably the most depressing bit. Crafting in the game sucks, but is the most reliable way to get better stuff. However players typically have to “roll” items several times before getting something good. Changing the amount of resources needed will just make the game more grindy, which I don’t personally appreciate.
What do you guys think? Sound off below.