In The Division, we are looking at a scaling issue. The firearms value is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
With the equipment in The Division, you can influence numerous values, including the three main attributes “Firearms”, “Stamina”, and “Electronics”. The Redditor spydr101 has taken a closer look at these three values and was able to demonstrate what some agents are increasingly concerned about: The scaling of the firearms attribute is causing problems.
The problem can be briefly explained as follows:
The higher the gear score, the less impact firearms have on damage. In higher score ranges, it becomes increasingly less worthwhile to rely on this value. This graphic illustrates this:
You can see the effectiveness of firearms at various gear scores. The percentage increase applies to all weapon types. For example: A weapon with 163 GS benefits almost twice as much from 4000 firearms as a weapon with 256 GS.
The higher the gear score, the more important the stamina?
Even agents without advanced math noticed in-game that at 256, the firearms value loses significance. Therefore, many prefer stamina over firearms.
Here is another comparison from the Redditor that shows the drastic loss of significance for firearms. A green weapon at level 10 benefits tremendously from firearms:
The agents fully agree with these findings. There is only one reason to boost firearms at 256 GS: to unlock weapon talents.
What does this mean now?
Currently, the scaling leads agents to primarily focus on stamina rather than firearms. The fun becomes even more problematic when Massive raises the gear score further with future updates. Then, increasing firearms will have almost no relevant impact on damage – and will become insignificant.
One user emphasizes that this greatly affects build diversity. If there are to be tanks and damage dealers, firearms must regain value.
A Redditor suggests completely revamping the formula for calculating damage. In his Reddit post, you can see his ideas and formulas.
You can find the maximum stats on the gear here – keep an eye out for items with such values!
