In The Division there are several ideas on how to improve the Dark Zone in the future.
This morning, community developer Hamish Bode held a relaxed livestream. He played a bit of the in-house MMO shooter and answered questions that reached him live via Twitch. We tuned in for a few minutes and picked up some vague information.
The Dark Zone needs changes
The stream started off very “community-focused”: While Bode enjoyed his breakfast on camera, he watched a current YouTube video showcasing a possible Dark Zone redesign. Bode agreed with most points but referenced difficulties with others and commented cheerfully to himself. He demonstrated live how he explores and listens to community ideas.
One idea that received wide approval is PvE events in the Dark Zone. This refers to time-limited events where players must fight together against many NPCs, and at the end, good loot awaits. And the special thing about it: You cannot harm other agents. You cannot go rogue.
A pure PvE Dark Zone is among the requests that frequently arise on Reddit. The idea of a large area to explore, defeat enemies, and obtain good loot is well-received by many. However, some are bothered by other agents who only aim for PvP. With PvE events, these players could at least be accommodated to some extent.
Whether this proposal will ever be implemented is uncertain. Bode at least showed interest. However, one idea that sounds more likely to be implemented is PvP arenas. An arena mode was mentioned by Bode today and also in last Thursday’s stream. This seems to be an idea that Massive is currently playtesting, for which there might already be concrete plans.
These arenas could be designated areas solely for PvP, where agents can freely shoot each other and have fun. In today’s stream, the idea of “normalized PvP” also came up, where all agents would start with similar conditions. The advantages from the gear sets, which are unbalanced anyway, would not be taken into account here.
However, all these ideas are still not finalized – or official. Bode announced numerous details and patches in the upcoming weeks. What exactly will change, he could not discuss today. But one thing is clear: Changes are coming.
What do you think about these ideas?
In this article, we discuss the statements from the latest State of Game.
