Massive responds to the fierce criticism of the “Year 2” plans for The Division .
Recently, the State of the Game aired on March 16. High expectations were set for this livestream, as the special report last week raised numerous questions: For the first time, the developers talked about Year 2. However, the community did not respond with joy and optimism, but with doubt and criticism: “Was that all?”, “What do the plans look like exactly?”.
Today, community developers Hamish Bode and Yannick Banchereau spoke about this stream and its “Year 2” announcement – and tried to reassure.
The Year 2 reveal is yet to come
The special report last week was never meant to be a “Year 2” reveal, according to the developers. Instead, they wanted to celebrate the anniversary of The Division, present the “Year 1” events and gifts, and then take a look into the future. Communicating to the community: Yes, it continues. We are also working on The Division in 2017. Here are a few new things you can already look forward to.
However, they admit that they were a bit too naive. They should have expected that the agents would primarily be interested in the “Year 2” plans rather than a birthday celebration. Therefore, the expectations of the agents regarding this stream were too high. The actual “Year 2” reveal is still pending.
But they wanted to be honest: One should not expect major story expansions. However, new items and new features will definitely come – and everything in between is also possible.
They briefly touched on loadouts: They mentioned it as a highlight last week, as loadouts are a feature that players have long wished for. They wanted to say: “Hey, loadouts are coming!”, and not “Loadouts are the main content that can be expected”.
Information on the two expansions in Year 2
Year 2 will deliver two expansions:
- The first expansion will come in summer and bring the mentioned features: loadouts, feats, and events. More details about the events will be discussed later. Furthermore, one can expect more from this update: new items, new weapons, and armor pieces are conceivable.
- The second expansion will bring content that has not been discussed so far. However, they listen to the community and try to realize some wishes with this update. Last week, it was said that this would bring narrative elements.
- Furthermore, there will be a client patch between now and the first update in summer that will address major issues. Massive emphasized today multiple times that they will continue to work on all the bugs and errors.
More information from the State of the Game:
- In the coming weeks and months, there will be much to discuss about what else is in store for Year 2. The arrival of new weapons, new gear sets, and new items is certainly not off the table. An increase in gear score is also conceivable if it makes sense. Nothing is excluded.
- For the summer update, new PTS are definitely coming – they are also working on an implementation for consoles. A new ETF will also be available.
- Currently, they are investigating issues with stagger, seeker mines, talents, and medkits. They are also working on choosing better spawn points in “Last Stand” to prevent spawn camping. The agile talent is currently too powerful, and Massive is looking into it more closely. Furthermore, the fight against lags and server issues continues.
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