In The Division 2, big changes are coming with Title Update 5. Those who enjoy using skills will likely have reason to be happy. Shotguns are also facing a change. It will become clear what does not drop in the “matchmaking” mode of the raid.
This week’s State of the Game featured numerous updates about the Title Update 5, which is currently on the PTS. It will be tested until July 10 and will come to the live servers sooner or later.
Why should anyone still raid normally?
What about the “Easy Raid?” The raid at Washington National Airport was previously only available for pre-made groups and so difficult that only a few made it through. Players on PS4 and Xbox One, in particular, had trouble enjoying a pleasant and successful time in the raid.
On the PTS, agents discovered a new difficulty level, the “Raid Discovery Mode,” which also brings automated matchmaking.
The big question was: If there is an “Easy Mode”, why should anyone still raid normally?
The answer is: There will be no full rewards in Discovery Mode. Neither gear sets will drop, nor the raid-specific weapon “Eagle Bearer”, as revealed by Massive.
At the moment, the Discovery Mode is still restricted to the test server, and the loot for this “LFR” mode in The Division 2 is yet to be finalized.
What happens to shotguns: Shotguns are in a difficult situation in The Division 2:
- In PvP they are rather too strong
- In PvE they are rather too weak
Here, Massive plans a change that specifically strengthens shotguns in PvE and weakens them in PvP. Details are not yet revealed.
Cooldown for skills partially reduced to one-sixth
This is how Massive changes skills: The skills will receive a massive upgrade overall, especially regarding cooldown times:
- Brand sets and gear sets will receive stronger bonuses, allowing agents to achieve higher values in skill haste, meaning they can use skills even faster.
- Additionally, many cooldowns for the skills will be reduced, in some cases significantly. The cooldown of some skills will be halved or reduced to one-fourth, while for shields, the cooldown will even be reduced from 240 seconds to 40 seconds, which is a sixfold reduction.
- Skill mods are also expected to provide more, as “skill haste” bonuses in The Division 2 will be doubled on mods, and three ammunition bonuses for the turret will be quintupled.
Only the skill “Firefly” was apparently a bit too strong by now; here, Massive is reducing damage for “Burster” and “Demolisher” by 25%.
Many of the skill changes are still not playable on the PTS.
What it’s all about: The stated goal of Massive is to make skill builds usable to increase build diversity. So far, pure weapon DPS builds (red stats on items) dominated the daily life of The Division 2.
With Title Update 5, Massive apparently aims to ensure that at least DPS and combat mechanics (skills) are viable and useful options that agents can freely choose between.
While the Title Update 5 also buffs the shields, whether this will make “tanks” reasonably playable remains to be seen.
With Update 5, Episode 1 will come with new free content for The Division 2:
