Gaming Tom Clancy's - The Division | Division 2 announced

[paulscholes18]

Probably not on tonight because of the game but I'll be on tomorrow, up for a good session.

Yes

 

[swooshboy]

FYI:

 

[swooshboy]

They have improved high end items as well - so they are legitimate alternatives to gear set items.

Think I am going to go with 3x Firecrest and then either 3x Striker, or 2x Striker + 1 HE item such as a Specialized Backpack.

I was thinking of AlphaBridge, but I find it boring using the same weapon types - prefer having a Marksman Rifle and AR (currently M44 and G36). My M44 is still a 229 weapon, but it is pretty much perfect (v high base damage and headshot multiplier) plus it has 3 excellent talents. So am not sure I will be able to replace hat all that easily.

 

[swooshboy]

Been trying to get Barrett’s chestpeace but no luck so far

Got mine last night from a field proficiency cache

Have been doing Lex a few times - it's a good way of trying different builds and weapons. Hadn't seen it drop during the mission, but then opened the caches after and:

Obviously, you then hope you get a decent roll on it - and couldn't be happier with what I got! I re-rolled one attribute for Armor - but it was already rolled for Stamina and had Ammo Capacity as well. The health was a bonus on top of that!

So here is my build right now:

3x Firecrest

• +30% flame turret damage & +50% flame turret range

Barret's Chestpiece

• Increase skill power by 10% when no skills are on cooldown
• Increase damage by 5% when one skill is on cooldown
• Increase armor by 10% when both skills are on cooldown

Specialized Backpack

• Add 200% of Firearms and Stamina to Skill Power

Nimble Holster

• While doing a cover to cover move in combat, you heal 2% of your max Health for every 1 meter run

The holster is actually really useful - rather than having to use a medikit, you can just move to a different cover (either in front, behind, or next to you) and you get instant health - seems to work very very effectively.

Weapons I use a Carbon M700 MMR and Military G36 AR for farming bosses in the LZ, but for doing missions in groups I switch the sniper rifle for the Pakhan LMG. I still want to try out a few other weapons (which I already have in my stash).

All of the above is level 256 gear - so all has been gotten in the past week since the 1.5 patch. I also have loads of other gear sets which I want to give a go as well - AlphaBridge, Sentry/Striker combo... It is SO easy to get different gearsets and weapons now. I used to logon for the bi-weekly supply drop but do a few runs of Lex, or one round of the bosses in the LZ then you will be swimming in gear in no time.

I found it frustrating before trying to get a particular gearpiece item to complete a set - that's no longer an issue

 

[paulscholes18]

Got mine last night from a field proficiency cache

Have been doing Lex a few times - it's a good way of trying different builds and weapons. Hadn't seen it drop during the mission, but then opened the caches after and:

Obviously, you then hope you get a decent roll on it - and couldn't be happier with what I got! I re-rolled one attribute for Armor - but it was already rolled for Stamina and had Ammo Capacity as well. The health was a bonus on top of that!

So here is my build right now:

3x Firecrest

• +30% flame turret damage & +50% flame turret range

Barret's Chestpiece

• Increase skill power by 10% when no skills are on cooldown
• Increase damage by 5% when one skill is on cooldown
• Increase armor by 10% when both skills are on cooldown

Specialized Backpack

• Add 200% of Firearms and Stamina to Skill Power

Nimble Holster

• While doing a cover to cover move in combat, you heal 2% of your max Health for every 1 meter run

The holster is actually really useful - rather than having to use a medikit, you can just move to a different cover (either in front, behind, or next to you) and you get instant health - seems to work very very effectively.

Weapons I use a Carbon M700 MMR and Military G36 AR for farming bosses in the LZ, but for doing missions in groups I switch the sniper rifle for the Pakhan LMG. I still want to try out a few other weapons (which I already have in my stash).

All of the above is level 256 gear - so all has been gotten in the past week since the 1.5 patch. I also have loads of other gear sets which I want to give a go as well - AlphaBridge, Sentry/Striker combo... It is SO easy to get different gearsets and weapons now. I used to logon for the bi-weekly supply drop but do a few runs of Lex, or one round of the bosses in the LZ then you will be swimming in gear in no time.

I found it frustrating before trying to get a particular gearpiece item to complete a set - that's no longer an issue

Nice, running with 4 piece D3-FNC, but looking for the backpack that heals your skills, as I have a 93R with Brutal and Coolheaded

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Back on this with the new update. Just collecting gear and guns until I find something I like.
I just really wish they added some DZ game modes. Something for when you have collected the gear you want.
Rather than put the game down, take that gear into the DZ for some 4v4 tactical games. The map is great, and there is so much potential, they just need to allow it

 

[paulscholes18]

Back on this with the new update. Just collecting gear and guns until I find something I like.
I just really wish they added some DZ game modes. Something for when you have collected the gear you want.
Rather than put the game down, take that gear into the DZ for some 4v4 tactical games. The map is great, and there is so much potential, they just need to allow it

Patch 1.6 with Last stand DLC is going to be DZ and PVP based

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Patch 1.6 with Last stand DLC is going to be DZ and PVP based

Hopefully it'll have objective modes.
This weirdly enough has been the game I've put more hours into, this gen, it just lacked something, but overall, I thought it was a great game with a good concept

 

[paulscholes18]

Got mine last night from a field proficiency cache

Have been doing Lex a few times - it's a good way of trying different builds and weapons. Hadn't seen it drop during the mission, but then opened the caches after and:

Obviously, you then hope you get a decent roll on it - and couldn't be happier with what I got! I re-rolled one attribute for Armor - but it was already rolled for Stamina and had Ammo Capacity as well. The health was a bonus on top of that!

So here is my build right now:

3x Firecrest

• +30% flame turret damage & +50% flame turret range

Barret's Chestpiece

• Increase skill power by 10% when no skills are on cooldown
• Increase damage by 5% when one skill is on cooldown
• Increase armor by 10% when both skills are on cooldown

Specialized Backpack

• Add 200% of Firearms and Stamina to Skill Power

Nimble Holster

• While doing a cover to cover move in combat, you heal 2% of your max Health for every 1 meter run

The holster is actually really useful - rather than having to use a medikit, you can just move to a different cover (either in front, behind, or next to you) and you get instant health - seems to work very very effectively.

Weapons I use a Carbon M700 MMR and Military G36 AR for farming bosses in the LZ, but for doing missions in groups I switch the sniper rifle for the Pakhan LMG. I still want to try out a few other weapons (which I already have in my stash).

All of the above is level 256 gear - so all has been gotten in the past week since the 1.5 patch. I also have loads of other gear sets which I want to give a go as well - AlphaBridge, Sentry/Striker combo... It is SO easy to get different gearsets and weapons now. I used to logon for the bi-weekly supply drop but do a few runs of Lex, or one round of the bosses in the LZ then you will be swimming in gear in no time.

I found it frustrating before trying to get a particular gearpiece item to complete a set - that's no longer an issue

Just got mine from a field proficiency cache, had Armor and Firearms might roll XP for Ammo as 900 bullets don't last long with a SMG

 

[swooshboy]

Just got mine from a field proficiency cache, had Armor and Firearms might roll XP for Ammo as 900 bullets don't last long with a SMG

Nice - I usually have stamina on my chest - so would either roll firearms for that, or go for Ammo as you said. You could also roll ammo on your backpack - not sure if you have already?

I've noticed using the Pakhan that LMG's seem to have loads of ammo - I never seem to get low on that. Agree that SMGs seem to eat through ammo at an alarming rate!

 

[swooshboy]

Back on this with the new update. Just collecting gear and guns until I find something I like.
I just really wish they added some DZ game modes. Something for when you have collected the gear you want.
Rather than put the game down, take that gear into the DZ for some 4v4 tactical games. The map is great, and there is so much potential, they just need to allow it

So much easier to get gear pieces - it really is now a case of being able to aim for a specific build, rather than just having to get lucky with what drops!

 

[paulscholes18]

Nice - I usually have stamina on my chest - so would either roll firearms for that, or go for Ammo as you said. You could also roll ammo on your backpack - not sure if you have already?

I've noticed using the Pakhan that LMG's seem to have loads of ammo - I never seem to get low on that. Agree that SMGs seem to eat through ammo at an alarming rate!

As I'm running with a shield, skill power and firearms I think are more important

 

[GaryLifo]

Recently bought this again as I have the season pass still and want to try the survival dlc when it launches on PS4.

I got rid of it back in August as I just wasn't interested in playing it as a solo player.

I'm only GS 202 and world tier 3 at the moment. Tried doing the lowest HVT and was getting slaughtered by level 32 red bar enemies

 

[paulscholes18]

Recently bought this again as I have the season pass still and want to try the survival dlc when it launches on PS4.

I got rid of it back in August as I just wasn't interested in playing it as a solo player.

I'm only GS 202 and world tier 3 at the moment. Tried doing the lowest HVT and was getting slaughtered by level 32 red bar enemies

What your PS4 name I'll get you to a 256 GS in no time

 

[swooshboy]

Recently bought this again as I have the season pass still and want to try the survival dlc when it launches on PS4.

I got rid of it back in August as I just wasn't interested in playing it as a solo player.

I'm only GS 202 and world tier 3 at the moment. Tried doing the lowest HVT and was getting slaughtered by level 32 red bar enemies

Forget the HVTs - go around the open world and take down the bosses - they will drop gear and weapons based on your world tier - tier 4 = 229, 5 = 256 etc.

These are straightforward to kill and all drop loot. Get your gear score up and it will get much easier very quickly.

 

[GaryLifo]

What your PS4 name I'll get you to a 256 GS in no time

Sorry missed this post.

My psn tag is identical to my caf username.

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Beat the Survival mode just now after a few close encounters.
Yesterday after spending over an hour, I forgot I didn't build an advanced filter and ended up dying while running through an infected area.... Wasn't funny at the time, at 1:30am, but over that now.

I gotta say, it's a great game mode though and very enjoyable. Loot wise is quite low considering you can do Lexington very quick, but the suspense of the mode is excellent

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Anybody still playing this?
Just went into survival on my own, did everything, killed my hunter the lot, ended up dying as I ran out of time with 8 seconds left for the chopper to land

 

[FC Ronaldo]

For any of you lot still playing this, this came up on my YouTube recommendations so I thought I'd share...


@paulscholes18 @swooshboy

 

[Simbo]

Been tempted to boot this up again but you've just reminded me one of the reasons I lost interest in it. Sucks out the sense of achievement when you've spent hours and days grinding up your gear then all of a sudden a loot farm bug appears letting everyone cheat their way to your level.

 

[Igor Drefljak]

That loot farm has been patched

 

[swooshboy]

To be honest since the 1.4 and 1.5 patch I haven't felt it has been a grind at all to get loot - you get so much just from the LZ bosses and random groups of NPCs roaming the streets. Then do Lexington a few times and you are swimming in loot, credits and PxC.

The game is so much improved compared to what it was pre-1.4.

 

[swooshboy]

Right now I use a 3 or 4 piece Firecrest build (Barret's Chest, Specialized Backpack, FC Mask, FC Gloves, FC Knee Pads and then either a FC Holster or the Nimble Holster) or an AlphaBridge build with either ARs or LMGs.

The FC build is more fun, but the AB build is better for missions like Lex where you are running through them in a group.

I haven't done any HVTs or UG a go for a while, so might see how the FC build works out in them. Also yet to try Survival...

 

[Igor Drefljak]

New DZ Zones 7-9

 

[paulscholes18]

New incursion, No GS increase, AB nerf also confirmed

 

[swooshboy]

1.6 Dark Zone Changes
In 1.6 the Dark Zone will be increased by three new DZ Segments that are accessible for all players from DZ 6. These are the details we got about these areas:

DZ North (Dark Zone 7-9)

• Dark Zone extension 7 – 9 is called DZ North

• DZ North is different than the rest of the Dark Zone and a lot darker
• It has more interiors / more rooftops / more underground areas
• It has more combat arena focused areas
• It has more freedom to move around, so you have more tactical approaches to your gameplay
• When you include all the new playable areas the size of the DZ will be basically doubled
• The DZ has still the same player count (24), so the players will be spread out a lot more
• More PVE oriented players have less chances to meet another players

Leaderboards

• The leaderboards are part of the Dark Zone but not of Last Stand and will be accessible for everybody
• So far we got no further details about these leaderboards

New DZ Mechanics

• Fasttravel between checkpoints will be possible, but you will lose any contaminated gear

Expansion III Last Stand
In Expansion III: Last Stand, The Division gets new ways to compete with other players in a brand new separate game mode! Compared to the open and unstructured nature of the Dark Zone, Last Stand is session based and features clear objectives and win conditions.

With Last Stand, you have now a game mode where you know you will find combat against other players that are also there for the same thing.

Last Stand Game Mode – Setup and Story
When the situation in the Dark Zone escalated, as the outbreak spiraled out of control and all semblance of civilization collapsed, the Joint Task Force was forced to withdraw from the area, leaving behind important tactical terminals; SHD tech data relays loaded with operational information. Now, Rogue agents are closing in on those relays and if they manage to get their hands on the information, it would be catastrophic for the SHD and the mission to save New York.

It will be your job, together with a group of seven other Division agents, to stop that from happening.

A new way to fight
In the Last Stand Game Mode two teams of eight players are fighting each other on an instanced map to control terminals, until one team has transferred enough information to win the match.

• Each side of a Last Stand match is made up of eight players, divided into two teams of four players.
• Each match can last for a maximum of 20 minutes
• There is no rogue mechanic in the Last Stand Game mode, so you will not lose XP or loot and you don´t have to worry about the normal DZ penalties.
• You need to be level 30 to play Last Stand.

Combat Arenas and Objectives
Arenas

• In Last Stand, the Dark Zone is split into four different maps (roughly based on DZ 1-3, 4-6, and the new Dark Zone areas 7-8 and 8-9 respectively.

Objectives

• Each map has three tactical locations – A, B and C – that in turn are divided into three encryption points that all need to be controlled in order to start the data transfer.
• Over the course of a game, you will try to control as many of these locations as possible, while neutralizing any points held by the enemy team.

Respawn Mechanics

• Capturing a terminal will also activate a spawn relay, which will give you more options on how to get back into the fight if you get killed. To give you a better overview you will choose where to spawn from the megamap instead of from the list you get in the regular game.
• At a given point during the match, the rules change, and you can start automatically spawning in close to your team mates, making the later game more aggressive and fast paced.

PVE in Last Stand, Base Defenses, Team Boosts
PVE

• Just like in the regular Dark Zone – the regular NPC enemies are still roaming the streets and the usual Landmarks are all there. These NPCs are also guarding the control points.
• Killing NPC enemies will reward your team with SHD tech, a team resource that you can use to unlock tactical boosts and fortifications that were left behind by the JTF and the first wave Division agents.

Base Defenses

• In your “home” base – the tactical location you spawn the closest to when the match starts - you can activate automatic turrets to help you defend it, or a large Pulse that will alert you when enemies get too close.

Team Boosts

• After set milestones during a match, tactical boost stations come online. Using your SHD tech resource as a currency, these stations will give your team different bonuses, such as faster data upload speed or more points for killing enemies. A station can only be activated by one team at a time.
• These boosts aren’t permanent though, and only last for a set amount of time before they go neutral again.

Matchmaking in Last Stand

• Matchmaking for Last Stand is based not only on your current Gear Score, similar to the Dark Zone brackets, but also on other factors - like how well you’ve been playing recently.
• If you sign up as a group, the server will aggregate the recent performance of all the players in your group and make sure you end up in a suitable game together.
• You can queue up solo or together with up to three friends
• You won’t be able to queue up as an eight-man group.

Stat normalization
In Last Stand, we’re introducing a new form of balancing for player builds that limits the impact of Gear Set and stat randomness. We’ll be trying this system on the Public Test Server, and will be gathering as much feedback as we possibly can on it.


How to start Last Stand
To get started with Last Stand, head to the Terminal and look for the tactical terminal standing close to the recalibration station. It’s hard to miss!


Rewards – new Last Stand rank

• As you play you will gain special experience points and gain Last Stand ranks, up to a maximum of 40.
• Each rank you attain will reward you with a sealed cache of items, and unlock exclusive vanity items that cannot be found anywhere else in the game – the mode comes with two unique, full vanity sets and two sets of weapon skins.
• After you hit maximum rank you’ll keep earning Last Stand experience and getting new caches
• You will get extra rewards every time your team wins, but over the course of a match we track more than 30 actions you might perform. Once the match wraps up, you will be ranked according to how you did, similar to how it works in Survival, and you’ll be rewarded accordingly.

Expansion III will also add a new Incursion
Expansion III: Last Stand will also include a new Incursion, which will be available on the PTS and that we’ll talk about in more detail in the future.


Summary so far
So this is a lot of new information. We get a Dark Zone expansion, we get a new Incursion and we get the new Last Stand game mode that is dedicated PVP. All of this will be released at the same time for all platforms and there will be no Gear Score increase – you can start playing the moment it is released.


Currently we have no final release date.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivisio..._divisions_expansion_iii_last_stand_overview/

 

[Big-Red]

Dedicated pvp eh?

 

[swooshboy]

Dedicated pvp eh?

Yep - like the sound of not losing any rank or do when you die!

Enough to entice you back?

I'm pretty sure that Ghost Recon will take most of my time when it comes out in March, but until then will still enjoy the division

 

[swooshboy]

New incursion, No GS increase, AB nerf also confirmed

Glad they aren't increasing GS and think an AB nerf is needed.

Right now it's the most effective loadout - but it's boring!

I prefer Firecrest to it anyway, but if farming Lex then you may as well use AB for speed.

I also heard that people are recommending buying or keeping names weapons ahead of the update. Seems as though these might all get a buff, so worth keeping them if you have them.

 

[paulscholes18]

Glad they aren't increasing GS and think an AB nerf is needed.

Right now it's the most effective loadout - but it's boring!

I prefer Firecrest to it anyway, but if farming Lex then you may as well use AB for speed.

I also heard that people are recommending buying or keeping names weapons ahead of the update. Seems as though these might all get a buff, so worth keeping them if you have them.

Yep Likebutter said that on his stream, he was one of a few that went and tested 1.6

 

[Chiring]

Any of you guys who're still playing manage to score the Barrett's chest piece ? Been farming Lex for the past few days and haven't scored anything noteworthy

 

[Igor Drefljak]

I got one after ages.
No armor roll, rolled in electronics. Been in my stash ever since

With the drop of armor as a talent, I may be able to make some use of this though

 

[P-Nut]

Not played this in ages. I enjoyed it for a time but it became mad repetitive. If they ever release number 2 they need a hell of a lot more missions

 

[paulscholes18]

UPDATE 1.6 IN DETAIL
20/01/2017 12:00 PM



Agents,

At the same time as we release Expansion III: Last Stand and the Land Stand game mode, we will be releasing the free Update 1.6 to all our players. With the major overhaul begun in Update 1.4, and the symbolic conclusion of that work in 1.5, we’re ready to bring you even bigger and better content. Thus, Update 1.6 will bring the regular balancing tweaks and changes – including some major ones detailed below – but at the same time we’ll expand the game map, add new special events, revamp the Named gear, add Dark Zone leaderboards and release a whole new difficulty level!

Update 1.6 will be released for free on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. You can read more about the separate Last Stand game mode in our Intelligence Annex #13: Taking a Stand.

Remember that Update 1.6 will be available on the Public Test Server that’s coming soon and that the balancing and systems discussed below are subject to change. We want to hear from you, we want your feedback, so join us on the upcoming PTS forums to discuss the update. There might be additional changes coming based on feedback from the workshops with the Elite Task Force held at Red Storm Studios on January 11-13. Those three days were filled with fantastic and productive meetings and discussions on all the topics below, and more. We’re incredibly grateful that the members of the ETF took time out of their busy lives to come visit us and help us make the game better for everyone.

It’s worth noting that 1.6 will not bring a new World Tier. We don’t want you to have to go through old content to increase your gear score again before you can do any new activities – this way you’ll be able to jump straight in. Also, Update 1.6 will include bug fixes not covered in this article, so check out the patch notes to find out more about those.

THE NORTHERN FRONT
In Update 1.6, the gates in the northern parts of the Dark Zone will open and Dark Zone 7, 8 and 9 will finally become available! While the Dark Zone has never been the most welcoming place in New York, the situation up in Dark Zone 7-9 is especially dire. We don’t want to spoil too much in this article, as we’d rather have you experience the new areas on your own, and there’s a couple of surprises waiting for you in there. In total, these new areas – including all their vertical space, like rooftops and underground locations - almost double the playable size of the current Dark Zone.

Following the same format as Dark Zone 1-6, DZ 7-9 are filled with roaming NPCs and Landmarks and the further north you go, the more challenging it gets. It’s not a place for the fainthearted and include some of the coolest and eeriest set pieces in The Division. Dark Zone 7 is located just north of DZ6, with 8 and 9 spreading out to the east of that, placing them north of the Midtown East district.

The new Landmarks can have multiple waves of enemies spawning after you’ve killed the initial NPC enemies. Clearing Landmarks will now award you with additional loot placed directly into your inventory, bypassing the need to extract it.

While we’re increasing the size of the Dark Zone, we’re not increasing the amount of players present in each Dark Zone instance. In practice, this means that players will be spread out more, opening up more opportunities for PvE. With the increase in area size, we’ve also made it possible to fast travel between Dark Zone checkpoints.

We’re very excited to extend the map and bring you these new areas to explore!

Summary of the new Dark Zone areas

• The Dark Zone has been expanded with three new areas, Dark Zone 7-9, north of Dark Zone 6 and Midtown East.
• New Landmarks feature waves of enemies.
• Landmarks award you with additional loot placed directly into your inventory.
• Fast travel between Dark Zone checkpoints has become available.

CONTAMINATION EVENTS
We’re also adding new special events to the Dark Zone. Contaminated body bags have been piled up in parts of the subways below the Dark Zone, increasing the strength of the virus in those areas. The Cleaners have started sweeping these locations, burning everything in their path – including civilians who happen to get in their way.

Roughly every hour, elite Cleaners will appear in underground locations in the Dark Zone and it’s your job to stop them. A word of warning though – the contamination has reached unprecedented lethal levels in these places, so your virus filter will not be enough to resist it. Act quickly and learn how to manage your health while venturing into the contaminated underground.

Summary of Contamination events

• New Contamination Events have been added to the Dark Zone.
• Roughly every hour, elite Cleaners will spawn in the Dark Zone underground. Contamination in those areas will reach lethal levels, so your virus filter will not be able to resist it.

DARK ZONE LEADERBOARDS
Another addition coming to the Dark Zone is leaderboards, which will allow you to compare yourself with other players across a wide variety of activities on a weekly and a monthly basis. The activities tracked are divided between PvP and PvE. For PvP, they include Rogues killed, Manhunts survived and Extractions hijacked. For PvE, we’ll be tracking activities like NPC enemies killed, locked chests looted and items extracted.

All the tracked activities will be turned into total score, which is divided into three tiers, and the higher your score is compared to your fellow Dark Zone players the better rewards you will earn when the leaderboards reset.

Summary of Dark Zone leaderboards

• Leaderboards have been added to the Dark Zone, tracking a wide range of different activities both in PvP and PvE. All tracked activities will be turned into a total score.
• Leaderboard rankings are divided into three tiers and will give out rewards when they reset on a weekly and a monthly basis.

LEGENDARY DIFFICULTY
For this update, we wanted to give our hardcore players a real challenge. In order to do so, a Legendary difficulty mode has been added to three missions in the game - Times Square, WarrenGate Power Plant and Napalm Production Site. This mode is supposed to be the most challenging mode in the game, even more so than Heroic Incursions, and is really going to test your build, your tactics and your group synergy.

You won’t be fighting the same enemies you usually fight in those missions, though. All the previous content has been taken out and replaced with new, powerful and much smarter LMB enemies that use more advanced tactics against you and your team. They’ll react to your skills and status effects, will be hard to hit since they keep a low profile, will constantly try to flank you, and you really don’t want to get into melee range of them. If you’ve fought the Hunter in Survival, you have had a brief taste of what is coming.

There’s a wide range of different enemy types, practically covering most of the enemy archetypes in the game, which will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through the missions. There’s also Named enemies thrown into the mix, complete with their own set of behaviors, roles and skills. While Legendary difficulty does scale to the amount of players present, scaling enemy damage and health similar to Challenge mode, and couldtheoretically be soloed, it’s very much intended for organized group play with dedicated roles.

The enemies you’ll face will be a mix of normal, veteran and elite enemies. The main challenge in Legendary is not from the amount of health the enemies have, it is about learning how to deal with their tactics and strategies.

Legendary difficulty comes with its own, exclusive vanity items that you can’t get anywhere else in the game and will of course reward you for your heroic deeds with a ton of rewards. In the future, we plan to expand this new difficulty mode to additional missions.

Summary of Legendary difficulty

• Legendary difficulty mode has been added to Times Square, WarrenGate Power Plant and Napalm Production Site and features new, powerful and smart enemies.
• Legendary difficulty is the most challenging content in the game and is intended for organized groups.
• Legendary difficulty rewards you with unique vanity items not available elsewhere in the game, on top of the regular rewards.

EXOTIC ITEMS AND NEW GEAR SET
In Update 1.6, Named weapons and gear have been given their very own type – they are now called Exotics. Parts of that change are cosmetic, as they now have their own color coding to make them stand apart from regular High End items both in your inventory and when they drop from enemies. Each of the items have also received flavor and lore text on their item descriptions.

Each Exotic weapon has been given its own unique talent, if it didn’t already have one (the other two talents will be rolled as usual). The Hungry Hog, for example, will now come with the Glutton talent (“Killing a target increases your damage dealt by 20% until you stop firing”) while the Tenebrae will have Lights Out (“Destroying an enemy weak point resets skill cooldowns for you and nearby group members”). This should give the Exotic weapons their own individual personality and hopefully they will all be a lot of fun to use. Note that these talents will not work with the Alphabridge 4-piece bonus. We’re also introducing Exotic weapon sets, where you need to have two specific Exotic weapons equipped to unlock their talent. For example, the Valkyria is actually being split in two – the Hildr and the Eir, whose talents become active and synergize when you have both equipped.

Some stats on these weapons have been changed as a part of their balancing; see the upcoming patch notes for more details on exactly which weapons have been affected and how. All these changes will be retroactive to prevent legacy weapons remaining in the game.

Exotic Caches, that will guarantee an Exotic item, will be available as a weekly reward from Legendary difficulty missions.

Summary of Exotic weapons and new Gear Set

• Named gear pieces and weapons are now called Exotics and have been given their own color in your inventory.
• Exotic weapons all have their own unique talent. This change is retroactive.
• Exotic weapon sets have been introduced.
• Exotic Caches are available as a weekly reward from Legendary difficulty missions.

GEAR SET CHANGES
As part of the overall balance of the game, we’ve made a pass on the Gear Sets. One Gear Set that has seen some passionate discussions, and use, in the community since Update 1.5 is Alphabridge. We’re changing aspects of it since it’s currently mathematically superior to other Gear Sets; instead of the 4-piece bonus sharing all talents when you use two weapons of the same category, it will now share the free talents from both weapons (except from Exotic weapon talents, as mentioned above). We’ll keep a close look at Alphabridge during the PTS and see if there’s any other changes we want to make.

The Frontline set has become really popular since it was introduced in Update 1.5, which we are really happy about since it’s so much fun to play with. In Update 1.6, we’re making some tweaks to it to balance it more. The 4-piece bonus will no longer remove your critical hit chance, as it was found to be quite confusing since it didn’t apply to all critical hit chance bonuses. Instead it will remove the effects of any mod (Reactive Targeting, Assault Shield, Kinetic Breaker) you have applied to the Ballistic shield.

We’re also making changes to the Reclaimer gear set, turning it into more of a support set. When wearing four pieces, the set will activate all the Support Station mods (Life Support, Immunizer, Ammo Cache) simultaneously. The 2- and 3-piece bonuses will also focus on the Support Station, increasing its range and duration respectively. It will no longer have an effect on consumables. Tactician’s Authority will be slightly changed as well; its buff will no longer run out after 10 seconds, instead it will disappear after you use a skill.

We’re introducing a new Gear Set, called SEEKR, which will have body shots as its specialty. Its 4-piece bonus will give you a guaranteed critical hit after landing two consecutive shots to the body (which can be spread out across different enemies). We hope that you guys will come up with some creative uses for the set, using different kinds of weapons.

Make sure to check out the patch notes for any other numerical tweaks and balance changes to the Gear Sets.

Summary of Gear Set Changes

• Alphabridge 4-piece bonus now shares the free talent from your weapons instead of all three.
• Frontline’s 4-piece no longer removes the critical hit chance, instead it removes the effect of any mods you have applied to the shield.
• The Reclaimer set focuses on the Support Station. Its 4-piece bonus activates all Support Station mods simultaneously. It no longer has an effect on consumables.
• Tactician’s Authority’s buff only disappears after you use a skill.
• A new Gear Set, SEEKR, has been added to the game.

ARMOR AND RESISTANCES
As it stands right now, Armor is the perceived best in slot bonus for gear. If you can roll Armor on something, you will, and you can do a lot of DPS and be tanky at the same time as a result. That’s not fun, it quickly becomes stale and the meta suffers as a result. Before Update 1.5, we experimented with a potential fix for this issue on the PTS, but we – and you, our community - weren’t happy with the results so we went back to the drawing board. In Update 1.6, we’re finally ready to implement a much bigger change that should get to the heart of the problem.

In Update 1.6, gear items will come with their base armor as usual, but Armor will be removed as a major bonus and replaced with Health. It means that raw health and stamina will be the main source of toughness, instead of armor mitigation. This change is a major one, as it will also have an impact on healing, skills, Skill Power, damage and the overall meta. Health also scales more linearly than armor, which makes it easier for us to balance in the long run. There are still talents that will give you bonus armor, but since you won’t have as much armor they won’t have as much of an impact as before.

Since so much of your current effective health in Update 1.5 comes from armor mitigation, Skill Power and healing become trivialized. Why bother investing a lot in Skill Power when your First Aid can fill up almost all of your health bar anyway? In this new system, that will no longer happen. In order to get a similar percentage of your health bar filled, you will need the Skill Power to make that possible. That means there’s suddenly room in the meta for players who invest into Skill Power, lowering their health to get more effect out of their skills.

Same goes for damage dealing skills, such as Sticky Bomb or Seeker Mine, that have always dealt damage to raw health. At their base level, they will not take off as big of a chunk of your enemies’ health anymore. Invest in Skill Power, and you’ll see your damage skills improve accordingly.

In other words, you will have to make more choices when building your characters, which should make for a more fun experience and create a more dynamic meta.

To prevent double bonus Health rolls on legacy pieces of gear, all current Health rolls will be turned into the new stat Resist All. Currently resistance bonuses mean you have a percentage chance to completely resist the effect of the given status effect. That’s changed in 1.6. Now resistances are analogue instead of binary, which means that they lower the effect of the status effect by its percentage instead of just cancelling it out – 40% burn resist means 40% less burn damage and duration, for example. If you do manage to build up a 100% resist to a specific status effect, it will no longer have an effect on you and anyone trying to apply it to you will see a “Resisted” message in the scrolling combat text.

We’re also adding diminishing returns to status effects. Whenever a status effect is applied to you, you build up a certain amount of temporary resistance to it for a short while.

As we’re not introducing a new World Tier in Update 1.6, these changes will also retroactively affect your current gear to avoid legacy gear. If you’ve already rolled a lot of Armor on your gear, you will find yourself with a lot of bonus Health when you log in after Update 1.6, so the changes shouldn’t come as too much of a shock.

All of this means that we’re also rebalancing parts of the game, like NPC damage and major and minor damage bonuses on gear, to make sure that Time to Kill and Time to be Killed – two things that’ve been constantly on our minds since Update 1.4 – don’t become too long again and stay balanced.

Remember, all of this will be available on the PTS! We know this is a big change, so we want all the feedback we can possibly get.

Summary of Armor and Resistances

• Armor has been removed as a major bonus and replaced with Health. Gear still comes with base armor and some talents will still give bonus armor.
• Health and stamina are your primary means of toughness.
• Current Health rolls have been turned into the new stat Resist All.
• Resistances have become analogue instead of binary.
• Diminishing returns have been added to status effects.
• Other parts of the game have been rebalanced as a result, to make sure Time to Kill and Time to be Killed stay balanced.
• All changes are retroactive.

CHANGES TO SKILL POWER AND SKILLS
In Update 1.4, we wanted to create a more varied meta and greater build diversity. Due to the way Armor and Skill Power worked, we didn’t make it all the way. With this new system, we hope to shake things up a bit. The choice between the different stats – Firearms, Stamina, Electronics – will become even more important. To help this happen, we’ve also made some changes to how Skill Power works in The Division, since Electronics aren’t currently seen as a valid spec, which means less build variety.

With Update 1.6, we’re moving Skill Power to a system similar to armor, where its effectiveness scales according to which World Tier you are in. In other words, every time you move up a tier, you will need more Skill Power in order to reach the same relative effectiveness of your skills – compare that to Update 1.5, where your skills’ effectiveness would increase enough on its own without any actual investment, since higher Gear Score items kept giving you a higher Skill Power. The scales have been changed as well, creating a bigger difference between low and high Skill Power builds. There are still diminishing returns, but they won’t kick in until around 450k Skill Power, which means you will have to put in a lot of work to reach those levels.

This all means that if you have a build with more or less no extra Skill Power, you will see your skills becoming less effective after Update 1.6 is released. If you have a balanced build, you won’t see much difference from now, but if you’ve invested in Skill Power, your skills will become more efficient than they currently are. In order to reach these higher levels, you will have to make choices and make sacrifices in other areas.

We’re also making direct changes to a couple of skills to balance them and make their mods more viable and interesting. Sticky Bomb, for example, will see some big changes. First of all, it will get a delayed detonation with a red area warning and beeping sound before it explodes. Its mods will be BFB (damage), Flashbang (crowd control, no damage, no longer cause the Disrupt status effect) and an EMP that works against skills and skill proxies (such as Turrets and Seeker Mines). This should make the Sticky Bomb more interesting to use, and more manageable to fight against, in both PvE and PvP.

First Aid has been given a longer cooldown, making both Skill Power and Skill Haste more important. The First Aid Defibrillator mod will now heal in two steps; one initial burst followed by a heal over time. The Shock Turret has also seen a small change, and will no longer do any damage on its own.

We’re also tweaking Signature Skills. The immunity has been increased to 60 seconds after Signature Skill use, but we’ll now prevent you from being able to trigger the same skill when you already have the immunity debuff from another player’s skill. No more wasted Signature Skills! Skill Haste will have an effect on Signature Skills as well as regular skills and Tactical Link will give you less weapon stability compared to what it currently does, balancing it so it can be countered by Survivor Link. Its damage bonus has been lowered in PvP, but will stay the same in PvE.

Summary of changes to Skill Power and skills

• Skill Power has been moved to a system similar to armor, where each new World Tier you reach will demand more Skill Power to reach the same effectiveness of your skills.
• There’s a bigger difference in skill efficiency between low and high Skill Power builds.
• Changes have been made to Sticky Bomb, First Aid and Shock Turret.
• We’ve rebalanced Signature Skills and made it impossible to trigger a Signature Skill when you’re already suffering from its immunity debuff. Tactical link’s damage bonus has been lowered in PvP.

PVP BALANCING
A lot of what we’re doing will have a direct impact on PvP in The Division, but we’re also making explicit balance changes to make sure PvP becomes more rewarding and fun to play. All of these changes were debated heavily during the ETF workshops, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on how things work out on the PTS.

We’re taking a look at hip fire, decreasing its stability when moving and adding a separate camera setting for it so that it will take more skill to use. The damage gap between body damage and headshots has been lowered, but that’s something that will be tweaked based on PTS feedback. We’re adding a one second delay after a combat roll before you can roll again, as it’s currently too easy to just spam rolls. Also, you’re no longer able to reload your weapon while sprinting.

As it stands, skills that cause status effects are often seen as must-picks in PvP compared to other options and there’s no real effective counter. After Update 1.6, medkits will be usable when at full health and will remove all status effects that still allow for player input (such as fire, bleed and disorient). The Rejuvenated gear talent, which used to grant this effect, has been changed to give additional resistance to status effects instead. Bleed will no longer prevent you from sprinting or moving from cover to cover, instead it will slow you down in general.

Medkits can also prolong encounters between players much more than intended. Because of this, the Adrenaline talent will no longer provide an overheal, to distinguish medkits from the First Aid skill; instead it will provide a heal over time. We’re also increasing the medkit cooldown to 15 seconds, up from 12 seconds, and you’ll see your enemy health bar flash whenever they use one to make it easier to identify what is going on during a fight. We’re also aware of multiple talents that together increases survivability too much, again helping to prolong encounters, so we’ll be balancing the effects of talents like On the Move, Battle Buddy and Critical Save.

Summary of PvP balancing

• Hip fire stability while moving has been decreased and a new hip fire camera has been added.
• The damage gap between body damage and headshots has been lowered.
• When combat rolling, there’s now a one second delay before you can roll again.
• You can no longer reload your weapon while sprinting.
• Medkits can now be used at full health and remove certain status effects.
• The Rejuvenated talent has been changed to give additional resistance to status effects.
• Adrenaline no longer gives an overheal from medkits, instead it will give a heal over time.
• Your enemy’s health bar will flash whenever they use a medkit.
• Survivability talents like On the Move, Battle Buddy and Critical Save have seen some balancing changes.

ECONOMY CHANGES
One thing we’re adding in Update 1.6, that’s been requested by our players for a long time, is unlimited recalibration to items. In other words, you’ll be able to recalibrate a given item as many times as you like from now on. It will get more expensive every time, but that price will cap out after five recalibrations. The prices have been tweaked, so check the patch notes for more information. Only one stat per item can be recalibrated, as before.

From now on, helping a civilian will always reward you with Intel, High End pistols in Survival won’t cost Division Tech and the Scavenger box now actually scales with World Tier. Some prices, like for Gear Sets and Exotic Weapons, have been tweaked.

Summary of economy changes

• Unlimited recalibration has been introduced. The price increases each time, capping out at five recalibrations.
• Helping civilians reward Intel.
• High End pistols in Survival no longer costs Division Tech.
• Scavenger Box now scales with World Tier.
• Some item prices have been tweaked.

THE IN-GAME STORE
With 1.6, we’ll also be revamping the in-game store, adding a new currency and extending the range of items available for purchase at a special vendor – including new emotes, weapon skins and other vanity items.

Read more about the in-game store in our Premium Credits FAQ.

OTHER CHANGES
From now on, all activities – open world, Underground, Survival and Last Stand – will reward their own separate experience points, awarding their own caches every time you fill your experience bar after reaching max rank. This means there will no longer be any overlap of experience points in Underground, which from now on will only reward Underground XP and caches.

We’re also making a few changes to Survival. Solo players will no longer end up in games together with players queuing as a group and grouping up while in a Survival game will be completely disabled in solo PvP Survival. In both PvE and PvP Survival, reviving a downed player will always cost a medkit (grouped or not).

Remember to always check the patch notes to find out more!

Summary of other changes

• All activities now reward their own separate experience points and award their own caches.
• In Survival, solo players can no longer end up in games with players queuing as a group.
• Grouping up while in a PvP Survival game has been disabled.
• Reviving a downed player in Survival always costs a medkit.

CONCLUSIONS
Update 1.6 will be a major update to The Division and brings a lot of new stuff to the game. We hope the changes to Armor, Skill Power and Resistances will make creating new builds more interesting and varied, and that the PvP changes we’re implementing will make player combat more balanced and fun in both the Dark Zone and in Last Stand. We’re also looking forward to see what you get up to in the new Dark Zone areas, see you face down Legendary difficulty and the new Contamination events, and what the leaderboards will look like once you’ve had some time with the update.

Remember, Update 1.6 and Expansion III: Last Stand are not the end of The Division, and we’ll keep bringing you updates moving forward. We will have more information about those soon.
To reiterate – Update 1.6 will arrive on all platforms, free to all players, in the near future and will be available for testing on the upcoming PTS. See you in the new Dark Zone!

/The Division Dev Team




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[Chiring]

I got one after ages.
No armor roll, rolled in electronics. Been in my stash ever since

With the drop of armor as a talent, I may be able to make some use of this though

You're lucky you got one mate...I'm still grinding Lexington out...with the release of 1.6 coming up, I heard in one of the streams mentioning that all of the names gear and weapons are gonna get a buff...

 

[ravi2]

Still playing this game everyday and loving it.


High End weapons and gear drop like rain now . I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't played it in a while give it a go.... The latest patch makes the experience very enjoyable

 

[Chiring]

Still playing this game everyday and loving it.


High End weapons and gear drop like rain now . I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't played it in a while give it a go.... The latest patch makes the experience very enjoyable

I've only experienced post patch 1.4 and on...heard that the game was pretty bugged out before the patch...must say that the game is immensely enjoyable and recommended unless you're grinding out missions trying to score a named gear...what build are you running?

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Still playing this game everyday and loving it.


High End weapons and gear drop like rain now . I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't played it in a while give it a go.... The latest patch makes the experience very enjoyable

I know it's not going to happen... ever

But I preferred when the loot was given out by bosses only. Looking back, I also wish that legendary items where back to being rare (Not as hard to get as they used to be, but not every drop)

Going from a low build to a near max can happen within a week. It's just too easy.
It makes game modes like Incursions and Survival quite pointless as it's easier and quicker to run Lexington over and over at 10-12m per completion.

That said. Survival is great fun for what it is

 

[swooshboy]

Any of you guys who're still playing manage to score the Barrett's chest piece ? Been farming Lex for the past few days and haven't scored anything noteworthy

I got one from a field proficiency cache (gained from Lex). Rolled with Stamina, armour, health and I recalibrated one to ammo capacity

V happy with it

 

[ravi2]

I've only experienced post patch 1.4 and on...heard that the game was pretty bugged out before the patch...must say that the game is immensely enjoyable and recommended unless you're grinding out missions trying to score a named gear...what build are you running?

I'm running 4 strikers and 2 lone star....straight dps build. I get around 400k.
What are you running?