In recent years, every major games-as-a-service title has faced the same criticism at launch: a lack of endgame content. The Division 2 aims to do this differently, focusing from the start on the gameplay after reaching max level, on the endgame.
This is the big goal of the developers: Since the announcement of The Division 2, developer Massive has always emphasized that they place great importance on the endgame.
Right from the start on March 15th, the shared-world shooter should have enough content to keep players motivated for a long time.
Why is this so important? To understand this, one must look at the history of The Division 1. At release, there was hardly anything to do in the endgame after completing the story. This drew much criticism, and Massive had to make significant improvements.
Similar criticism was directed at other shooters like Anthem and Destiny 2. This is a general problem with such games-as-a-service titles:
- Destiny 2, at release, focused heavily on the beginning but less on the endgame, which frustrated fans.
- Also, Anthem is currently being critiqued for the low number of strongholds.
Can Massive avoid the problem? In fact, it looks like The Division 2 could be successful in its aim to offer a diverse and rewarding endgame right from the start.
With the extensive campaign, which also continues into the endgame, a complex build system, and PvP and PvE activities such as Conflict and the Dark Zone, there is plenty to do in The Division 2.
We show you what awaits you in the endgame if Massive’s plans succeed.
After the story, it continues
Like its predecessor, The Division 2 has a large story campaign that can be completed solo or in a group. However, there are some differences compared to the campaign in part 1.
What was it like in The Division 1? Even in the predecessor, the campaign was relatively long with an average playing time of 20 hours.
But once you were through, you could only replay all missions. The story was over, there was no real continuation. Even in the expansions, there were hardly any new story elements apart from a few audio logs.
This is how it will be in The Division 2: According to the developers, the campaign in The Division 2 will last around 40 hours, making it longer than in part 1. Moreover, the end is far from being the end.
Once you’ve completed it and reached the endgame, a twist comes into play in the form of a new faction, which expands the campaign.
With this faction called Black Tusk, the story should also continue. However, what these further story contents look like is not yet known. At least it is clear that the story is not yet finished after the campaign.
Black Tusk stirs up the endgame
The endgame faction Black Tusk is superior to the other hostile groups in The Division 2. They appear as soon as you reach max level 30 and complete the story. Their goal is to take control of Washington D.C.
This is Black Tusk: Not much is known about this faction yet. It is only certain that they are significantly superior to the other factions in terms of technology, weaponry, and strategy.
Black Tusk appears in almost all areas of The Division 2. In the open world, they capture control points, fight you, civilians, and other hostile factions like the True Sons or Hyenas.
Additionally, there are new variations of story missions called Invaded missions.
What are Invaded missions? The Invaded missions can be seen as alternative versions of the standard story missions that can be repeated.
Instead of the normal factions, you only encounter Black Tusk in the Invaded missions. And that changes these missions in multiple ways:
- Black Tusk uses technologies such as robo-dogs, bomb drones, and other dangerous gadgets
- The AI behaves smarter and acts more tactically
- The number of enemies is significantly increased
- Spawn points are random, so missions do not always follow the exact same pattern
What do these missions bring me? They are ideal for farming better loot. Additionally, the challenge increases, so those who want demanding battles can play the Invaded missions directly at the highest difficulty settings.
You can freely switch between these and develop each to the maximum. Furthermore, additional Specializations are planned for the future.
Dark Zones for the hunt for gear and players
This is the story of the Dark Zone: One of the flagship features of part 1 is the Dark Zone. In the world of The Division 2, a deadly virus has plunged the great nations worldwide into chaos.
The Dark Zones exist, as far as we know, in New York and Washington D.C. Here, the contamination from the virus is particularly strong. Following this, the government has sealed off these neighborhoods, leaving everyone inside to fend for themselves.
This is the Dark Zone in the game: In these isolated areas of the open world, PvP and PvE are mixed. Players can hunt for loot while also taking out other players.
In doing so, they can either go rogue and steal loot from killed players or hunt down rogues themselves. Good gear is often contaminated and must first be extracted via helicopter. This takes some time.
During this time, players are vulnerable as everyone on the map can see when someone calls a helicopter. This makes the Dark Zone exciting; you never know how an encounter will turn out.
Overall, there are even 3 different Dark Zones in The Division 2, located in the west, south, and east of Washington D.C.
PvP fans will be pleased
The Division 2 not only focuses on story and gear. PvP is also an important part for the developers. Therefore, there will be a dedicated PvP area called Conflict at launch.
These PvP modes are included in Conflict: At the launch of The Division 2, PvP enthusiasts can look forward to two modes:
- Skirmish: This is a classic team deathmatch, where 4 compete against 4
- Domination: Here, the goal is to capture and hold 3 points on the map against an opposing 4-man team.
The maps for these PvP modes have been custom made for this purpose.
The Division 2 presents its endgame content in a trailer:
Will the endgame be as good as promised here? Currently, it’s difficult to say. Ultimately, we only know the plans so far.
The Division 2 will have to convince in practical tests.
What do you think? Can The Division 2 finally break the endgame curse of looter games?
We have summarized 9 of the endgame contents for you in more detail:
Our author Tarek has already played one of these missions:
Massive PvE content
Once you’re done with the story, you have not only Black Tusk to fight against. Other factions are also eager to take on you and the civilians in their settlements. This fight continues even after the main mission.
There’s always something happening in D.C.
This is what you can expect in the game world: Civilians constantly need your support in securing Washington D.C., which is why it’s always about holding or freeing control points.
The game world functions dynamically; there is always something to kill or someone to help. You can also just roam the world, gather resources, and assist civilian settlements in their projects.
In doing so, you can provide them with food and materials that you find in the world. In exchange, there are rewards such as blueprints.
Story missions can be repeated
Another activity you can engage in is the repetition of story missions. With higher difficulty settings, you can also earn better loot and put your upgraded gear to the test.
What difficulty levels are available? So far, these difficulty levels are confirmed:
- Easy
- Normal
- Hard
Will there be more levels? Nothing is confirmed yet. However, it is very likely that there will be higher difficulty levels as well. In the endgame of the predecessor, there were also the difficulty levels Challenging, Heroic, and Legendary.
There are extensive side missions and smaller tasks
Apart from the main story, The Division 2 offers a variety of side missions that you can complete.
While these were rather uninteresting and repetitive in part 1, they are “handmade” in The Division 2, and each mission is unique. Some even rival the main missions of part 1 in scope.
Additionally, there are regular bounty missions where you can hunt down important targets.
1st raid after release
It has been known for some time that multiple raids are planned for The Division 2. The first is called “Dark Hours” and is set to be released shortly after The Division 2.
This is what is known about the raid so far: Up to 8 players can participate in the raid activity together. The setting is the Washington Ronald Reagan Airport and is expected to be quite large.
So far, no further details have been released. It is only known that the raid will challenge the players and its scope can be compared with raids from MMORPGs like WoW.
A paradise for build crafters
The Division 2 builds on the systems of its predecessor and revamps much of it. The result seems to be a complex loot and gear system that allows for many freedoms.
This is also one of the core points from which lessons were learned from part 1. At release, the situation there was rather dismal.
This is how it was in The Division 1: At release, part 1 only had 5 rarity levels:
- Gray (common)
- Green (uncommon)
- Blue (rare)
- Purple (epic)
- Yellow (HighEnd)
However, there were hardly any differences between the levels. The values increase with increasing rarity, and HighEnd parts have more values than a green item. Nevertheless, there was hardly any variation; builds hardly felt different.
It took several months before this changed with the introduction of gear sets.
This is how it will be in The Division 2: Massive does not want to repeat this mistake with The Division 2. Thus, while gear is based on the same principle, there are several innovations. For example, the Brand sets, which categorize your gear into different brands.
This is how Brand sets work: Depending on the brand, there are different bonuses. If you wear multiple set pieces from the same brand, further bonuses are unlocked.
These bonuses can, for example, increase your damage with SMGs or make you more resilient. With Brand sets, you can thus adapt and refine your playstyle.
Brands can also be combined with gear sets, which make their comeback in The Division 2. Completing them will be part of the endgame this time; you won’t have to wait until after release to start.
Gear sets are back – one is now known
Until now, there was little information about gear sets. They have been confirmed for a while, and now the first was officially presented by Gamespot.com. It is called “The True Patriot” and is different from what was known from the gear sets of the predecessor.
This is how gear sets worked in The Division 1: Gear sets were introduced only after release. These are named sets that could unlock bonuses if you equipped multiple parts of the same set.
Initially, there were only sets with up to 4 bonuses available, later followed by Classified sets with up to 6. The first bonus is unlocked as soon as you equip two parts from the same set.
This is perhaps the biggest change: Unlike the gear sets in The Division 1, you must wear the complete set to utilize the gear set’s abilities.
Source: YouTube
Collect exotic gear
Besides the gear sets, exotic gear also returns. These are unique weapons and armor pieces that come with special designs and bonuses.
This is what is known about Exotics so far: Although there were already some Exotics in the predecessor, for The Division 2 it is promised that no exotic item will be recycled. Each Exotic will be unique and new.
Similar to Destiny, you can only carry one weapon and one piece of exotic gear. How powerful they are is currently unknown. However, those who love collecting will already have a lot to do.
The specializations expand the variety
While the Brands and Gear sets build on the systems of the predecessor, Specializations are a new feature in The Division 2. These are only available from level 30 and are meant to give you even more options in determining your playstyle.
What are Specializations? These are primarily additional skill trees that offer you various advantages and a unique weapon. A total of 3 different Specializations are available at launch:
- Destruction Expert: Grenade Launcher
- Sharpshooter: .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle
- Survival Specialist: Crossbow
If you play with one of these Specializations, you can unlock passive bonuses and unique skill mods in the respective skill tree.
In our listing, you can find all known bonuses of the Specializations.
You can freely switch between these and develop each to the maximum. Furthermore, additional Specializations are planned for the future.
Dark Zones for the hunt for gear and players
This is the story of the Dark Zone: One of the flagship features of part 1 is the Dark Zone. In the world of The Division 2, a deadly virus has plunged the great nations worldwide into chaos.
The Dark Zones exist, as far as we know, in New York and Washington D.C. Here, the contamination from the virus is particularly strong. Following this, the government has sealed off these neighborhoods, leaving everyone inside to fend for themselves.
This is the Dark Zone in the game: In these isolated areas of the open world, PvP and PvE are mixed. Players can hunt for loot while also taking out other players.
In doing so, they can either go rogue and steal loot from killed players or hunt down rogues themselves. Good gear is often contaminated and must first be extracted via helicopter. This takes some time.
During this time, players are vulnerable as everyone on the map can see when someone calls a helicopter. This makes the Dark Zone exciting; you never know how an encounter will turn out.
Overall, there are even 3 different Dark Zones in The Division 2, located in the west, south, and east of Washington D.C.
PvP fans will be pleased
The Division 2 not only focuses on story and gear. PvP is also an important part for the developers. Therefore, there will be a dedicated PvP area called Conflict at launch.
These PvP modes are included in Conflict: At the launch of The Division 2, PvP enthusiasts can look forward to two modes:
- Skirmish: This is a classic team deathmatch, where 4 compete against 4
- Domination: Here, the goal is to capture and hold 3 points on the map against an opposing 4-man team.
The maps for these PvP modes have been custom made for this purpose.
The Division 2 presents its endgame content in a trailer:
Will the endgame be as good as promised here? Currently, it’s difficult to say. Ultimately, we only know the plans so far.
The Division 2 will have to convince in practical tests.
What do you think? Can The Division 2 finally break the endgame curse of looter games?
We have summarized 9 of the endgame contents for you in more detail:
