In The Division, we take a look at what we can expect from the MMO shooter in the near and medium term future.
In the last situation report, Massive let the cat out of the bag. The Division is being completely overhauled. The overall player experience is set to improve in many ways. However: This process takes time. The update 1.4 will be released in October, which is supposed to bring significant changes.
Some agents say: “That’s too late for me!” After all, new shooters are coming out in September and October, like Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, or the fall expansion of Destiny “Rise of Iron”. The Division, which will not even provide new content but merely bug fixes and adjustments, cannot keep up.
But that’s not what this overhaul is about. The Division does not aim to compete with the upcoming shooters. Rather, it should create a solid foundation on which future content can be built. Currently, The Division is not competitive, but with the upcoming updates, the conditions are to be created for it to shine again in a few months.
After Year 1 content, there’s still a long way to go.
The Year 1 content is being thrown out
Since the last State of the Game, some information has come to light about what Massive has planned for the future. The YouTuber Skill Up summarized this in a graphic, which we want to present compactly:
There are some core goals that the developers want to address. Some of them are to be realized in update 1.4:
- Bug fixes and resolving known issues.
- The loot drops are to become more relevant.
- The difficulty of opponents will be adjusted.
- Gear sets and weapons will be rebalanced.
- The solo player experience will be improved.
- The balance of the Dark Zone and PvP will be adjusted.
- Numerous innovations that improve the player experience and are based on community suggestions.
A survey is already available in which agents are to create a top-ten list of the most annoying bugs, in their opinion. Additionally, further surveys and discussion rounds in the Ubi Forum will take place in the near future, through which Massive wants to hear the community’s direct opinion. Moreover, one can already expect smaller bug fixes during the weekly maintenance work.
September: In September, Massive is inviting community members to Sweden, who can currently apply via a form. They want to discuss current problems and possible solutions directly with the agents.
October: In October, update 1.4 will be released. This will revise and improve some gameplay mechanics and core systems. You can read about update 1.4 here. A precise release date is still pending.
Unknown: Skill Up suspects that another update will be released between update 1.4 and the Survival expansion. He has heard that 1.4 will mainly focus on PvE. For example, the NPCs are to be weakened, which will contribute to the enjoyment of the game. Therefore, he expects that another update will come that will focus entirely on the PvP area.
Survival: The Survival expansion will be released after update 1.4. According to Massive, it will go live this calendar year. Survival will have a month of exclusivity for PC and Xbox One. The PS4 agents will have to wait about 30 days longer. If the DLC is to be released on PS4 within this calendar year, a release in November for PC and Xbox One can be expected.
Last Stand: The “Last Stand” expansion, which will conclude the Year 1 content, will be released on all platforms simultaneously. The release has been postponed to early 2017.
By the way: With update 1.4, not all problems will be solved yet. Massive has already announced that they will continuously improve The Division in a never-ending process.
Therefore, one should not expect that agents will swarm back into the post-apocalyptic New York in October. Only the subsequent new content will determine whether players will take notice and want to give the game another chance. But to even make this scenario possible, the major issues must first be resolved.
Looking at the MMO shooter Destiny, you can see: Bungie hasn’t done much differently. The “Taken King” expansion, which ushered in year 2, brought numerous improvements and fixed severe bugs that afflicted year 1. TTK changed the player experience enormously – in a positive way. “Rise of Iron”, the next expansion, builds on that now. Massive wants to do something similar now. Because they have great plans for The Division.
Here we present 10 things that The Division can learn from Destiny.
