In The Division, the developers talk about the public test servers that will be used for Update 1.4.
The State of the Game, the weekly report from Massive, just took place. While last week big announcements about the future of The Division were made, today’s insights are comparatively modest. We summarize them.
PTS only on PC – for now
The “Public Test Servers”, or PTS, were announced just last night. They will be set up so that a large player base can test the changes of Update 1.4 before it officially releases. In past patches, annoying bugs have always been introduced into the game. The risk that 1.4 will also bring major problems is supposed to be minimized.
The live team is responsible for the PTS. They usually manage the servers, maintain the data collected in-game, and ensure that community concerns are addressed promptly. The live team also works closely with community developers Hamish Bode and Yannick Banchereau.
An environment will be created on the PTS where the new build, that is, the new patch, can be tested. PTS for Update 1.4 are only available on PC. You play, Massive collects the data from it, and ideally receives constructive feedback from you.
You can either create a new agent or use your existing one. However, any progress you make on the test servers will not be transferred to the main game.
The reason the PTS will only be available on PC is as follows: One is simply more flexible on PC. Such matters are more complicated on consoles.
However: If these public test servers are a great success, they will continue in the future. Then it will be investigated whether PTS can also be implemented for PS4 and Xbox One. However, this will not be the case for Update 1.4.
During the stream, the community question arose whether console agents could simply be given free access to the PC test servers – without having to buy the PC version of The Division. The answer was that this will be investigated.
Further details about the PTS will follow next week. A date for the launch of the test servers will also be provided then.
By the way: Today, the news also goes out, inviting agents to Sweden, to talk about the game.
