Year 2 of The Division delivers three major innovations. But is that it?
On March 8, 2017, during the one-year anniversary of The Division, Ubisoft and Massive spoke in detail about the plans for Year 2 for the first time. There will be two free expansions for all agents, with the first planned for the summer. Throughout the year, bug fixes and balancing patches will also be provided.
In the reveal stream, three major innovations were discussed:
- Seasons: These are time-limited events where you play playlists of PvE activities with modifiers. There are leaderboards and special rewards.
- Loadouts: Starting in the summer, you can save your builds and switch between them at will.
- Feats: These are achievements that allow you to show in-game what great accomplishments you have already achieved. With these, you can customize your character’s appearance.
The agents are skeptical about these “big innovations”: Loadouts are a long-awaited feature, yes, but the rest sounds like cosmetic stuff and old activities with a new coat of paint. There are doubts that this can entertain for an entire year. Is there more to come?
Not all details have been revealed yet
In the Division forums, players express disappointment, stating that they expected more from Year 2. The Division is likely to be remembered as one of the “biggest missed opportunities” in gaming history, say frustrated agents.
In a current “State of the Game” article, Massive addresses these concerns. They emphasize that only some “Year 2” plans have been announced. Not all details of the two expansions have been revealed. However, they are very interested in reading your ideas and suggestions on the “Suggestions and Feedback” page in the Division forum.
We know that there will be no paid DLCs in Year 2. There will also be no level cap increase. The map will not be expanded either. When asked about more story missions, the response was that the second expansion of this year will focus on “story” and narrative elements. Additionally, the developers mentioned a fantastic new vanity slot (for cosmetic items) that they can only talk about in detail in the future. It seems that not much more is to come.
Ttime says:
This “Year 2” reveal sounds less like “Hey, we are going all out in Year 2” and more like “We need some sort of activity for the players now!” while behind the scenes, they are working on something bigger – possibly a sequel, “The Division 2”.
In an interview with GameSpot, the Creative Director Julian Gerighty was asked directly how a sequel looks in the future. He replied that he can only say at the moment that the entire team is committed to working on The Division and will be busy for a long time. Furthermore, he stated that they are working on exciting plans for the future of the “The Division” brand.
It remains to be seen how motivating and varied the events will be. Perhaps there are still one or two nice surprises in the yet-to-be-announced “details” for Year 2. However, I wouldn’t recommend setting the expectations for Year 2 too high.
Currently, the “Year 1” celebration is taking place in The Division. What you can expect in the game can be found in the provided link.
