The Division is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, and in recent months, the player count has been on the rise. However, new players may feel overwhelmed by the size of the game. We give you 5 tips for getting started.
With the release of Patch 1.8, the popularity of The Division has increased again since December 2017, and the player numbers have climbed. The next boost was provided by E3 2018 and recent store offers, such as the Steam Summer Sale.
Newcomers will encounter a vast game with some complex elements, which can quickly overwhelm new players. We have compiled five tips to help ease your entry.
1. Take your time leveling up
Many veterans consider the time up to level 30 one of the best parts of The Division. Enjoy the game! The atmosphere and setting are especially impressive at the beginning.
Play the story campaign at your own pace: The Division has a story that is quite good. The campaign may have narrative weaknesses but offers cool missions that you will play sooner or later anyway. You will definitely spend some exciting hours with it.
Explore Manhattan: Take your time, play the story extensively, explore Manhattan, collect audio logs and other collectibles. These tell additional tragic stories that occurred during and after the virus outbreak.
Learn the game and its mechanics properly. It will pay off towards the end.
2. After completing the campaign – Upgrade the Base of Operations
An important mechanic of The Division is upgrading the different wings of the Base of Operations. During the campaign, you will find that the missions are divided into three different types that correspond to the respective wings of the base:
- The Medical Wing,
- The Tech Wing, and
- The Security Wing
These give you various skills, talents, and passive bonuses that can help you in the game.
This is how you upgrade the base to 100%: Play the individual story missions. Additionally, there are side missions corresponding to each wing. Tech missions are marked by a yellow color, medical by green, and security by blue. These missions are short and not particularly exciting. So it’s best to grab friends and farm the missions together.
Upon full upgrade, you will receive the Signature Skills: You unlock these skills when the respective wing is fully upgraded. The Signature Skills are particularly powerful abilities that can significantly influence the course of a battle and are therefore subject to a corresponding high cooldown. Depending on the wing, these skills have different effects.
Recovery Link – The most important Signature Skill: You receive the Recovery Link after upgrading the Medical Wing. The link can revive your entire team within a fairly generous radius and heals over time. It also rescues you if you are playing solo and should happen to die. This skill is crucial for newcomers.
Even in the endgame, the Recovery Link is indispensable. There is hardly anything more frustrating for experienced players than newcomers who want to start a legendary mission or raid without Signature Skills. In critical situations, this can mean certain failure.
3. Equipment from level 30 – Step by step upward
The Division offers a very large selection of weapons and equipment. For newcomers, it can be rather difficult to determine which gear is good and useful upon reaching level 30. High-End? Gear Sets? And why does everyone only talk about Classified Gear? And is a high Gear Score important?
The Gear Score has limited significance: Many players who start in the endgame mistakenly believe they need to have as high a Gear Score as possible. However, what’s more important are coordinated sets and weapons. What good is a high GS if you combine parts haphazardly without benefiting from any set bonuses or weapon talents?
Classified Gear is not essential! Another misconception that newcomers often fall for. While the secret gear sets (rightly or wrongly) are viewed as the cream of the crop in The Division, it doesn’t make sense to strive for this equipment immediately upon reaching level 30. There are several reasons for this:
- Classified Gear is strong, but not necessary to master the endgame activities of The Division. Many agents who started after the introduction of these sets mistakenly believe so. However, legendary missions existed before the secret sets and were already mastered back then.
- It is easier to farm secret sets when you already have solid equipment. Regular gear sets, high-end equipment, and if you’re lucky, certain exotic parts are absolutely sufficient.
You will find equipment everywhere and during every activity. So if you simply play, you will gradually accumulate some gear. Don’t waste Division Tech on optimizing non-Classified equipment. Save it until you have appropriate sets together.
Reactivation Containers until July 19!
As a starting aid for returning agents, these containers contain all sorts of useful items. The prerequisite is max level 30. These containers will be available at the rewards vendor for three weeks starting from the release of the update.
The contents of the Reactivation Container:
- Three complete normal gear sets (four parts of the Striker, D3 FNC, and FireCrest sets)
- Containers with high-end mods
- A container with five weapon mods
- Containers with random weapons (pistol, submachine gun, assault rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle)
- “Currency” containers with three Cipher keys, 2000 Phoenix Credits, and 500 Div-Tech.
The container is available to all players and can only be opened once per account.
4. Set the difficulty yourself – with World Ranks
The World Ranks serve to adjust the difficulty level of the game world, similar to the Qual Ranks of Diablo 3. They influence enemy levels and the gear score of the equipment you can obtain. In addition, vendor items are adjusted.
Automatic progression: The downgrade of the equipment you can receive is structured so that you gradually collect better equipment to eventually advance to the next rank. This generally happens very quickly as the loot system is very generous.
At the respective ranks, you will receive gear with the following Gear Scores:
- Rank 1 = 0 – 181
- Rank 2 = 182 – 203
- Rank 3 = 204 – 228
- Rank 4 = 229 – 255
- Rank 5 = 256 – 286
So take your time getting used to the higher ranks – sooner or later you will be active in World Rank 5.
5. Experiment with weapons and equipment!
Every loot-heavy game invites players to hunt for the “ultimate” equipment. This is also true for The Division.
If you ask agents who have been around longer, the answer is clear. There is a top category for sets and weapons that is favored by a large part of the community. It’s not wrong to use these.
We recommend: Play what suits you best! You should try as many sets and different weapons as possible. It’s simply fun to play with a weapon that feels just right in your hands. Or with a set whose strengths and special features fit your play style perfectly. Why play a sniper set if you have no interest in sniper rifles and don’t use them?
In absolute numbers, for example, another assault rifle may be stronger, but that is effectively meaningless if you can’t handle it and use it effectively because it simply doesn’t feel right for you.
Combine and experiment: The wide variety of gear sets offers many possibilities to combine them and create interesting builds.
Related to the topic: Our endgame guide for The Division. In this article, we discuss the various endgame activities and show who they are suitable for.
