The new Warlords expansion of The Division 2 turned several features upside down. You can tell that the developers had a thought process behind it, especially when using the Attribute Library for the first time. Our author Maik Schneider says: This feature is so brilliant that other games should take note.
Which feature is being referred to? With the major expansion “Warlords of New York“, important components of the gear game changed in The Division 2. The first major paid addon of the loot shooter changes the entire gear and introduced a function that is as simple as it is genius: The Attribute Library.
In this value storage, you can save the good “rolls” of your gear and transfer them to other pieces as often as you like. This saves inventory space and creates a new overview that significantly improves recalibration.
The function is so good that other games could take a page from it.
The Attribute Library in The Division is:
- simple
- logical
- and rewards diligent players for grinding.
No wonder that the new expansion is celebrated, despite certain initial difficulties
Attribute Library takes recalibration to a new level
How does it work exactly? In the Attribute Library, you will find categories for all weapon and armor pieces. When you select one of these pieces, you will see the possible core attributes, secondary attributes, and talents of the piece.
If you own a piece that improves a value of the Attribute Bank or possesses a talent that you have not yet scanned, you will be notified, and you can then specifically “deposit” it. The piece will be destroyed, but the value will remain with you forever.
In Division 2, you can only change one attribute or talent on the equipment. However, all values of the library are then available to you.
What is so brilliant about it? The library not only provides us with a better overview and much more space in the inventory because we no longer have to keep items that are only sitting in the box because of a certain value that we might “still need at some point”.
It also adds a new collecting feature to the loot shooter that rewards diligent agents. If we gather long enough, we can bring all the values of the library up to the “God-Roll”. This gives the gear game a whole new depth. Together with the “infinite progress system” and the loot targeting, min-maxing builds becomes significantly more interesting.
This feature is a very simple innovation but is so sensible, especially for Division 2. However, other games with loot could also take some inspiration from it: like Destiny 2 or Anthem.
Value Storage could enrich loot games
How could other loot games benefit from this? Collecting the God-Rolls is a game within the game and expands gameplay in a brilliant way.
There is already something similar with cosmetic functions, like the “Transmogrifying” in Diablo 3 or the “crafting styles” in Elder Scrolls Online. However, saving values and reusing them as often as desired creates a whole new quality in God-Roll collecting.
Loot games with this system would reward their most diligent players and increase build diversity, as certain parts could gain a value that was not necessarily intended for it but makes sense.
What speaks against it? The system is quite specifically tailored to Division 2 and requires a few prerequisites.
The game would need to allow targeted changes to values on existing equipment and do so almost at will. The sets you can craft in ESO, for example, are quite rigid, and certain values are rarer than others. Just forging “magic damage” onto any set would cause quite a stir.
For Division 2, the library perfectly rounds off the crafting experience. Which MMOs or MMORPGs could still benefit from such a function? What do you think? Here are our favorites for March:
