Yesterday, the fourth clothing event of the post-apocalyptic shooter The Division 2 was launched. The “Explorer Event” comes with nearly 30 fresh cosmetics and also changes the future distribution of clothing.

What kind of event is this? Yesterday, on September 24th, the Explorers clothing event started in The Division 2. The new outfits have already been released, and you can take a closer look at them below.

At the end of the “Explorer Event”, the developers will introduce a modified mechanic for obtaining clothing.

Duration of the Explorer Event

This is how long the event lasts: From September 24th to October 15th, you can earn the new cosmetic items during the event.

What can you get at the event? With the event boxes, it is possible to collect three complete outfits. Massive promises that there will be no duplicates of already existing parts in the event boxes.

Agents who collect all three outfits completely will also receive the “Flight Readiness Mask” – visible on the upper right of the event image. The outfits are thematically centered around the Washington Museum:

• High-End: Pilot – with flight cap and leather jacket

• Superior: Paratrooper – military attire in soldier style

• Specialized: Camouflage clothing – hat with raccoon tail

In addition to the outfits, emotes and weapon skins are coming into play. Included is a new funny wiggle dance (spin dance), as well as the well-known and popular golf swing from other games with emotes.

The weapon skins make a better impression than in the last event, as these were partly bright and colorful, which did not appeal to all agents. Colors such as “Granite” or “Rock Drawing” are much more subdued and go well with the outfit even without flip-flops.

In total, there are about 30 new cosmetics coming into the game, and anyone who manages to collect all of them will receive the complete outfit of the “Space Explorers”:

How do I get the stuff now? Since yesterday, agents can receive keys for “Explorer Boxes”. The keys can be unlocked in various ways:

• 3 pieces from Weekly Clothing Projects
• Chance for a key when reaching Field Expertise from level 30
• Chance for a key when reaching Dark Zone Expertise
• Purchase with Premium Credits

Additionally, all agents receive a key at the start of the event, and all Year One Pass holders immediately get three keys at the start. The keys can be earned until October 8th, and “Explorer Boxes” can be opened until October 15th.

Clothing should become more valuable

How does Massive want to make the clothing system more rewarding? Currently, there is a large pool of obtainable clothing. Over time, agents will continually receive clothing container vouchers through Field Expertise, which can be exchanged for specialized or superior boxes.

New cosmetics that come into the game through events such as the current “Explorer Event” will be added to the large pool of cosmetic items after the event ends and can then also be obtained from regular boxes.

The developers want to change two things with the end of the “Explorer Event”:

1. Event clothing should become something special
2. Specifically make certain cosmetics available

Thus, the event cosmetics will not be integrated into the loot pool immediately after the event ends as usual, but will only be available again after a certain time. This is intended to give diligent collectors a unique selling point and simultaneously increase the value of the event items.

Loot pool will shrink

The regular loot pool of cosmetics will also be revised. To obtain items more specifically, a periodic rotation will be introduced, and specific cosmetics will be available for a certain period.

This means that agents will have to wait for a chance to get the desired item, but once it is in rotation, the chances of obtaining it increase.

However, even then, one still needs a generous amount of luck, as the standard rotation pool will still consist of around 100 items at the same time and will likely allow duplicates.

What is there to say about the next Title Update 6? In addition to the new clothing system, many new or changed mechanics will come into play in the future. Massive is currently tweaking every screw and paying close attention to community feedback.

The testing server phase is still running until October 1st, and many agents on the PC are using this time to thoroughly test and evaluate the new features. The update is expected to be released in October.

In addition to the weekly community live stream “State of the Game”, the developers use preliminary patch notes to communicate their planned changes. Even though they do not disclose everything there:

• Previously unknown exotic kneepads found on the PTS
• Things on the PTS that are not listed in the patch notes

What do you think of the new event mechanics?

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The upcoming major Title Update 6 for The Division 2 is slowly taking shape. Many changes can already be tested and evaluated by agents on the PC test servers (PTS). The Exotics are also being revised. We have compiled the possible winners and losers of the upcoming update for you.

New content for The Division 2: The developers announced the next major Title Update 6 for The Division 2 some time ago, set to arrive in October. Testing servers will run until October 1st on PC, allowing agents to provide feedback on the planned changes.

Massive has already published two posts in the Ubisoft forum with preliminary patch notes and emphasized that the current changes on the PTS or in the patch notes are not yet finalized. What ultimately makes it into the game remains to be seen.

Currently, there are several planned changes for the Exotics. The information comes from the preliminary patch notes, and the values may still change.

What criteria will be used to balance the Exotics? The developers want a greater build diversity with the next update. The Exotics play a significant role in these considerations, as many current builds rely on strong exotic primary weapons or the bolstered talents, which then enhance a high-end primary weapon.

Thus, talents or weapons that are excessively used come into focus for the developers. The Eagle Bearer nerf is a good example of Massive’s strategy.

We will list the talents of the Exotics and highlight which changes are made to some bonuses.

These are the winners of the update

Sweet Dreams

• Sweet Dreams: A melee hit after switching to this weapon grants 60% (previously 35%) bonus armor and activates the Sandman debuff on the hit enemy.
  • PvP bonus armor remains at 35%
  • Killing an enemy with the Sandman debuff reactivates the bonus armor.
• Sandman: Debuff preventing enemies from using armor kits and being healed.
• Dodge: When this weapon is equipped, a dodge roll fills 25% of the current magazine.
  • New: When the weapon is drawn, a dodge roll increases weapon damage by 50% for 2 seconds.

The exotic shotgun “Sweet Dreams” can be obtained from the Outcasts and offers nice talents for close combat. With one hit on the enemy followed by a shotgun kill, the armor can be fully replenished again. With the new talent, the additional damage in tough situations can make a difference.

Pestilence

• The Plague of the Outcasts: After hitting the same enemy 10 times (down from initially 20), that enemy becomes afflicted by the “Plague of the Outcast.” When a infected enemy is killed, the victim leaves a poison cloud for 10 seconds that deals 1,200% (up from initially 200%) weapon damage per second to any enemy in the cloud and applies the debuff Pestilence.
• Pestilence: This debuff reduces incoming healing by 50% for 10 seconds. An enemy afflicted with the Pestilence debuff is immediately killed when incapacitated. An enemy can remove pestilence by fully restoring its armor.
• Outcast Resilience: While the weapon is holstered, you receive 20% bonus armor for 5 seconds if you are blinded, on fire, or have a bleeding wound.

The “Pestilence” is an exotic LMG available from enemies with a yellow health bar in the Dark Zone. The weapon has many toxic bullets and can infect enemies in no time. The resulting poison cloud when one of these infected is killed deals significantly more damage. This helps to infect more unsuspecting enemies.

Merciless

• Shots per minute 400 (previously 260)
• Binary Trigger: This weapon is equipped with a binary trigger, firing both when the trigger is pressed or released.
• Guerilla Warfare: Pressing the trigger fires detonators that stick into the enemy. Releasing the trigger launches rounds that cause the detonators to explode. For each exploding detonator, 100% (previously 75) damage is added to the other detonators. Only one enemy can be affected by detonators, and a maximum of 5 detonators can be stuck in one enemy.
• Brutality: While the weapon is holstered, hitting an enemy has a 5% chance to add 100% (previously 20) additional damage as explosive damage.

The Explosive Sniper Rifle “Merciless” can be dropped by Hyena bosses. To use the detonators efficiently, some practice is necessary; however, the damage to enemies with a lot of health can skyrocket. With the possible enhancements, stacking the detonators is much quicker, and the explosive bodies deal even more damage.

Diamondback

• Painful Bite: The Diamondback randomly marks an enemy. If this enemy is hit, the mark is removed and guarantees a critical hit with +20% total damage. Subsequently, or after each reload, another random enemy is marked.
• Long Fangs: After hitting 5 marked enemies, +50% reload speed and +20% total damage are granted, and all shots fired are counted as critical hits for 10 seconds.
• Skin Shedding: While the weapon is drawn, reloading a round grants +20% (previously 15%) additional armor for 3 seconds. When the weapon is holstered, +8% bonus armor is granted for 2 seconds every time you reload or switch weapons.
• New PvP Functions
  • Headshots against players are now guaranteed critical hits and grant a stack of the “Long Fangs” talent.
  • NPC targets are also randomly selected through the talent in PvP and grant a stack of “Long Fangs” on hits.

The exotic rifle “Diamondback” was the reward from the expeditions that were briefly available after Title Update 5. The rifle distributes critical hits randomly among the enemies and helps in the holstered state with an armor bonus while reloading. The new PvP functionality rewards accurate agents with planned critical hits against other players.

There are a few losers as well

Eagle Bearer

• Base damage is reduced by 15%
• Eagle’s Attack: Precision increases with sustained fire up to 100%.
  • Headshot kills increase reload speed by +100%, weapon damage by +50% (previously 35), and grant the “Toughness” buff for 10 seconds.
  • In PvP, the damage boost remains at +35%.
  • “Toughness” is strengthened by body shots (+1%) and headshots (+5%).
• Toughness: When “Toughness” is activated, 40 – 80% (previously 20 – 80%) of the damage taken is delayed as long as the buff is active.
  • The delayed damage is reduced with each enemy taken down, to 100% with 3 (previously 5) enemies taken down.
• Protected Fire: While holstered, the weapon provides 10% bonus armor when another weapon is fired.

There is much discussion in the community about the adjustments to the “Eagle Bearer” assault rifle, which is exclusively available in the raid. The reduced base damage is somewhat compensated by the strengthened talents, and delayed damage can now be prevented even better.

Quacking Duck

• Swelling Quack: Hits with this weapon increase fire rate by 1% each, up to a maximum of 60%. Reloading resets the buff.
• Duck Magazine: Kills with this weapon refill the magazine by 75% (previously 20) and grant a buff for 10 seconds. While the buff is active, each hit increases the magazine capacity by 1, up to a maximum of 60 additional rounds in the magazine. The next kill consumes the buff and completely refills the magazine.
• Chatterbox: While the weapon is holstered, reloading 5 seconds after a kill grants a +15% (previously 20) buff to fire rate for 10 seconds.

The exotic submachine gun “Quacking Duck” is obtainable through a parts hunt in the Hyena area and comes with seemingly unlimited bullets. After the update, kills could refill the magazine even further. However, the popular holstered talent is nerfed and provides slightly less fire rate.

Nemesis

The Nemesis is a powerful sniper rifle that can be unlocked through a parts hunt in the invasion missions. This sneaky rifle enhances the damage of the next shot when the trigger is held down for a long time. Additionally, a targeted enemy can be tracked for some time behind walls or objects.

Alongside these already really great talents, the weapon increases headshot damage by 25% while holstered when aiming with the equipped weapon – which the developers find too much now and will reduce this value to 15%. For PvP, the value remains at 10%.

Are there any further known additions to The Division 2? The next update promises a lot, and besides the preliminary patch notes, whose implementation is not yet secure, the developers have already concretely announced other content:

• New PvP mode: Team Elimination
• New loot targeting feature
• Better crafting

What do you think about the possible exotic changes in the next update?

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