Just a few days ago, Title Update 6 and the Episode 2 DLC brought the biggest expansion yet for the loot shooter The Division 2 – with fresh content, a lot of balancing, and new builds. But what has really changed? Is it worth returning after three months?
What’s new in The Division 2? At the beginning of the week, the new Title Update 6 for The Division 2 was released, bringing many innovations. Part of TU6 is the content DLC “Episode 2”, where agents push into the Pentagon to prevent the “Black Tusk” from stealing important research.
New content in the first year completely free
Buyers of The Division 2 receive the content of the first year completely free and can continually benefit from new content. However, many players are looking for variety and tend to leave service games unattended for a few months during a content drought.
We take a look at what Division 2 has done in the 3 months since the last update and whether it’s worth checking out the new Title Update 6.
Quality of loot is increased
Targeted and better loot: One of the biggest criticisms of the game was the excessive distribution of useless loot. In the later stages of the game, hundreds of equipment items can drop without finding the desired combinations or high attribute values that one wishes for. To alleviate this situation, the developers are addressing the problem from two sides.
On one side, the number of items and builds that are interesting for players is increased through balancing, adjustments, and new items. A lot of new “Named Items” have been introduced into the game, which now deliver improved talents. Additionally, the talents of some exotic weapons have been revised, and overly strong build combinations have been weakened.
On the other side, there are better ways to specifically search for certain types of items. For this, the vendors have been significantly upgraded and a “Targeted Loot” system has been introduced, which provides activities with increased chances for specific items.
To further improve build crafting, almost all brand sets now receive parts for the previously missing armor slots. For instance, Sokolov gloves, which were previously unavailable, can now be found.
The developers want to further increase build diversity and are ready to take uncomfortable steps to do so, as evidenced by the base damage nerf of the raid weapon “Eagle Bearer”. Also, the adjustments to the “Passive Talents”, which are now stronger but can no longer be stacked, share the same theme.
Skills hit hard
Skills are becoming relevant in the meta: Over the past three months, some skills have become increasingly important in agents’ builds, and this trend continues with TU6. A good skill build in the arsenal promises fun, a lot of damage, and is a real alternative to the previously common equipment combinations, be it in PvE or PvP.
With the skills trend, TU6 also brings the right specialization – The Technician. It comes with a multi-target rocket launcher and many abilities that enhance teammates’ devices and disrupt enemy skill helpers.
Few new missions
How does the new content look? With “Episode 2”, the Pentagon comes into play and provides agents with two new main missions. The assignments are very well done, and the corridors of the Pentagon invite exploration. Year-1 Pass owners additionally have access to two secret missions.
However, a core element of the DLC has been postponed to next year – the highly anticipated second raid. Thus, the content expansion is quite meager and barely sufficient after an almost three-month drought.
A small silver lining is the return of expeditions. This rotating PvE mode will be regularly available and now includes a “master level” system, including gameplay modifiers and extra rewards for enhanced replay value.
What could bring me back to playing after three months? With TU6, some core features of talents have been revised, so some builds may come with changes. If you enjoy creating new builds and using skills, you will find your satisfaction now.
The “master level” system of the expeditions is also very well done and encourages agents to achieve excellence with time challenges.
What could still bother me? With TU6, several functions have already been introduced to improve inventory management. However, the large amount of loot, combined with the relatively poor overview in the equipment screens, remains a core problem of the engaging service game. Even increasing the stash to 300 can only temporarily alleviate this.
Without the raid, TU6 ultimately falls short of expectations in content and brings only two missions. While they are very well done, they are hardly enough to bridge the gap until the next content boost (likely not until early 2020 with DLC 3).
Community reacts to raid postponement
What’s the mood among Division agents? It remains to be seen how Massive will keep players engaged in the coming months. The recent announcement that the next raid will not be released until next year raised concerns among some agents.
A topic by the very active player on reddit, “-The_Soldier-“, received much support among agents. He is disappointed that the developers postponed this important content so close to the update.
It’s disappointing. Exactly the part of the update I was most looking forward to is now not coming, not even this year. When I heard about it, I think a part of me died.
-The_Soldier- on reddit
Another thread on reddit received similar support but goes in a completely different direction. “confusing_dream” wants to personally thank the developers and is happy about the high-quality new content.
Let’s take a moment to thank the people who have made these great missions and moments possible with their tireless work. Regardless of whether the game is now “perfect” or not, we are once again getting a significant update that shows (me) how committed the developers are to improving the game.
confusing_dream on reddit
For many agents, it’s time for the developers to prove themselves. However, the current developments are also part of a long-term project that has more or less just begun.
The Division 2 will be supported for a long time
What’s next for Division 2? The developers have repeatedly emphasized how important community feedback is to them and communicate many of their decisions on social media, in patch notes, or the weekly community stream “State of the Game”.
With the help of the community, The Division 2 has become a significantly better game over the last three months, but still has a few major issues: Poor visibility when crafting builds and too low content density.
The next content expansion is “Episode 3”, which sends agents back to New York – perhaps to settle an open score?
Conclusion: The Division 2 receives some nice Pentagon missions with the update that can be recommended to every player. Otherwise, however, there is hardly any substantial content that can entertain in the long run. Especially the postponement of the raid hurts here. At least a reasonable solution for the expeditions from Title Update 5 has finally been found.
TU6 continues to build on the game. While it does not eliminate all deficiencies, it does many things right. Players who previously enjoyed creating builds in Division 2 and could live with the usual shortcomings now have a more extensive kit of good weapons, talents, and skills, and will have fun tinkering and trying out new builds.
Everyone else can use the time until the next raid to refine their builds. Otherwise, The Division 2 doesn’t really offer them much new that can keep them engaged in the long run.
What do you think? Is a trip back to the streets of Washington worth it in your eyes? Or were you disappointed by the latest update?
