In the upcoming MMO shooter The Division , Ubisoft has now introduced the progression systems. Thanks to these abilities and talents, agents become stronger and specialize.
Reverse Leveling in the Dark Zone
In The Division, players “get stronger” in PvE: It relies on a classic leveling system. The more experience you gain, the higher your level, the stronger the player becomes. However, this does not apply to the game’s PvP areas, “the Dark Zones.” Here, The Division maintains a rank system, and players can lose ranks if they die too often in the Dark Zone.
If you attack other players as a “Rogue Agent”, you take a higher risk of losing ranks. With a higher rank in the Dark Zone, you can purchase superior gear and crafting plans from a vendor.
Higher Level Means Greater Skills
The “bread and butter” of agents will be the skills. They define the player’s role, with a wider selection available at higher levels.
The “skills” can be modified by modifiers. Traditionally, this can increase the damage of a skill or give a scanner a higher range. Other modifications change the function of the skill.
The video shows how a turret that fires projectiles is modified into a flamethrower:
The skills also affect the agent’s appearance. You can see what skills they have chosen. Ubisoft asks: What do you prioritize? Effectiveness or Coolness?
Talents Seem to be the Passive Abilities
In addition to the skills, which can be modified, “talents” seem to be the second major progression path. It looks like they will be typical “passive abilities.” They enhance a character without the player needing to activate the talent consciously.
Talents might increase the number of items carried or provide more crafting materials. They can be swapped out at any time.
Mein MMO says: The progression systems are nothing surprising. A mix of passive and active abilities is a common progression system. Tying PvP to a dynamic rank system and introducing a PvP vendor is standard. Therefore, players who have never played an MMO should also be able to handle it. Because nowadays, almost every single-player game also relies on such elements.
The probably most interesting idea is that you can tell how agents in The Division specialize by looking at them. That could be a new impulse for the genre. This emphasizes how important aesthetics and visual appeal are for a AAA project that is meant to work on consoles like Xbox One and Playstation 4.
Otherwise, it sounds like Ubisoft does not want to overwhelm players and approaches with a beginner-friendly system. Extravagances like those found in MMORPGs such as The Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars 2, WildStar, or The Secret World are not taken into account. No one expected innovations in this aspect from The Division. Ubisoft does not want to scare off its shooter-oriented target audience.
