In The Division, the weekly status report has just gone live. The MMO shooter will have to change.
Massive is back. A detailed livestream recently aired featuring community developers Hamish Bode and Yannick Banchereau. In the State of the Game, they discussed the current state of The Division and how it needs to proceed.
“The Division has significant problems. It’s not fun. Major fixes are required.” These are not the words of a disgruntled user, but rather those of Massive themselves. With surprisingly open and honest words, the developers address what has been said in the community for quite some time after three weeks of absence.
In the stream, they then listed several bugs and “game-breaking” issues that currently severely affect the gaming experience. NPCs are far too strong, agents feel too weak, scaling in the endgame is not fun, the jump from Hard to Challenging is too big, skills and gear sets are problematic, named weapons are useless, and numerous “minor” annoyances are being investigated.
Overall, many adjustments still need to be made to steer the balance, especially in the endgame, in the right direction. Currently, there are so many significant issues that all require major fixes. There is a lot to be done – but it will also take a while – to enable an enjoyable experience, which The Division is not at the moment.
The Trouble with Loot
The loot, in particular, must be revised in the future. Rewards should feel rewarding again, allowing for real character improvement. Many agents, for example, do not play Underground because the drops simply do not provide upgrades for them.
Another serious problem with loot is: To master activities in Challenge Mode, one essentially needs loot from Challenge Mode. The gear that drops in Hard Mode does not improve one adequately. Therefore, many adopt the tactic of being carried through by others. This should not be the case as it is not fun.
What Comes Next?
According to Massive, the next few weeks will be critical for them. They want to improve the game to meet the expectations of the agents. For this purpose, the developers plan to maintain communication with the player base. Many announcements can be expected in the coming weeks.
Currently, they are not yet talking about Survival and Update 1.4, as they do not want to distract from the old problems with new content. Massive does not want to overshadow the issues of the game in this way. However, Bode briefly stated that the Survival expansion would be really good.
They also briefly addressed the video by Skill Up, in which he summarized the biggest problems of The Division. We presented this. Massive agrees unequivocally with everything that is said in the video. And they encourage people to continue to highlight the annoyances. Only by doing so can they be addressed in a timely manner. A rocky road still lies ahead for Massive.
What do you think of these statements?
