With the update 1.8, the new Rogue system “Rogue 2.0” comes to The Division – despite criticism.
Since the launch of The Division, the Dark Zone has followed the same pattern: Some players run through a designated area, defeat NPCs, and collect loot. When encountering other players, you can team up with them, ignore them – or shoot them down and steal their loot.
This is intended to make the Dark Zone the most exciting place in the game, where everyone represents a potential, unpredictable danger.
Over the last year and a half, little has changed in this PvE-PvP area. There was a feature added that allowed cutting the helicopter rope, and at the beginning of 2017, the DZ was expanded to the north – but the Rogue mechanics have not changed so far.
This “Rogue / Non-Rogue” system is the basis for Rogue 2.0 with the update 1.8.
What is Rogue 2.0 actually?
The probably most important change of Rogue 2.0: There is no more friendly fire. You can no longer accidentally become rogue.
So far it was the case: Whoever fired first became rogue. Since it is rewarded when you eliminate rogues, many players intentionally ran into the line of fire of other players so that they would unintentionally become rogue and could be eliminated.
Rogue 2.0 abolishes this sneaky method. From now on, you must show your intention to become rogue in advance. Then the other agents have a short time to prepare for the upcoming fight. Because with the previous rogue system, you only realized another agent was going rogue when they had already shot at you. This meant you could only react to the attack after you had already lost many health points. And this usually led to inevitable defeat.
Your ISAC system will inform you about rogue intentions. It is important: If a player from your squad becomes rogue, you can decide whether you want to become rogue as well. You will not automatically be “pulled in”.
Moreover, the manhunt status will be revised with Rogue 2.0. If you want to get rid of the “manhunt”, you must run to a random location in the Dark Zone that is displayed on the map. There you can deactivate your status. Then you will receive rewards. This objective is intended to bring more action to the manhunts.
The maximum manhunt rank is 5. Depending on the rank, there are reward crates that can contain exotics and “secret gear sets”.
Overall, it should be more rewarding to become rogue, but also to hunt rogues.
Why is Rogue 2.0 coming?
Rogue 2.0 has already been tested on the PTS, where it was controversially discussed:
- Some praised this new system, especially the abolition of friendly fire, which prevents anyone from intentionally throwing themselves in front of bullets to gain advantages.
- However, some criticized it, as it takes away the tension and unpredictability from the Dark Zone. “Hey you, please be careful, I’m going to attack you soon.”
Massive has now commented on Rogue 2.0. It is intended to ensure better balance in the Dark Zone. The goal is to have a 50/50 distribution between PvE and PvP activities in the DZ. Currently, we are far from that.
Over 75% of all kills occur in PvP, and most of them come from rogues who eliminate “peaceful agents”. Additionally, this graphic was released: It shows the deaths in the Dark Zone over the past months and how the percentages changed with the updates:
- The red area indicates how many players died from rogues,
- the green area indicates how many rogues died from non-rogues,
- and the orange area indicates how many agents die from NPCs.
Rogue 2.0 is intended to balance this. Non-rogue players should have better chances to defend themselves. This should make PvP in the Dark Zone fairer.
Massive emphasizes that The Division is a live game. This includes changes. Regarding the Rogue 2.0 critics from the PTS, the developers directly say: Agents play on the live servers with different intentions than on the PTS. This is a new situation. They will keep a close eye on Rogue 2.0 once it is released with update 1.8 and may make further adjustments.
The update 1.8 is expected to be released on December 5, 2017. What do you think of Rogue 2.0?
Now quickly: 5 tips on how to prepare for update 1.8
