The State of the Game from 16.8. just aired for The Division and Massive announced a release date for Patch 1.8.3. The update will be released next week. Learn here everything you need to know.
There is new information about Patch 1.8.3! The new update for The Division is coming next week and brings some balance changes and bug fixes.
When is Patch 1.8.3 being released? It will be next week, on 23.8.
What changes are coming with the update? The patch focuses primarily on two main issues:
- one being the Classified Striker set, which many players consider to be too strong
- and the “Running in Place” bug, which has been causing problems for months
These are the details about the upcoming patch.
These are the changes to the Classified Striker
The most controversial change of the patch will be the overhaul of the Classified Striker. This set is currently considered, especially after the changes to the Classified Nomad and Predator sets, to be the strongest in the game.
What is the problem with the Striker? The 6-piece bonus of the Classified Striker allowed players with good aiming skills to deal extremely high damage while also regenerating a good amount of health.
In total, many players felt it was too strong when a DPS set also exhibits characteristics of a tank set, thereby inevitably overshadowing others. The set has now been revised to ensure balance.
What changes are being made now: Several adjustments have been made to the Striker, including
- the healing per second has been reduced,
- the number of stacks per shot has been decreased from 2 to 1,
- shotguns now only increase the stacks by 1 for each projectile hit from a salvo. A direct hit now brings 8 stacks, instead of 16 previously
- if you are under an EMP effect, your stacks now decrease and are not just temporarily blocked
The catch is: These changes only apply to the Dark Zone and the PvP modes Last Stand and Skirmish (excluding shotguns). In PvE, the Striker will continue to work as it has before. PvE players can breathe a sigh of relief.
Why is there a distinction between PvE and PvP? Fans have been demanding different treatment for PvP and PvE for some time now.
Based on this change, future decisions will also be made, so this feedback could certainly influence The Division 2.
Showstopper will also be adjusted
The Showstopper has been a constant topic in recent months. This exotic weapon is the only fully automatic shotgun in The Division.
What is the problem with the Showstopper? Apparently, with the right timing, the regular fire rate of this shotgun could be bypassed, allowing it to shoot significantly faster.
Combined with the Striker set, this created a pretty strong combination that drove some players to despair in PvP.
What is changing now: The patch should prevent this trick from working anymore. According to Massive, it should “feel” as though one can still shoot incredibly fast, but that will not be the case.
Master Mod of the Aid Station will be changed
Players using the Aid Station can manually destroy it. If you have the Master Mod active, the Aid Station will heal every player in the vicinity by 25% of their health upon destruction. This excludes enemy players.
What is the problem with the Aid Station? It was felt that the mod was too strong. After all, the healing effect is stronger than the First Aid skill when not fully investing in Electronics.
Nearly every player is thus equipped with an Aid Station instead of the First Aid ability. The developers did not intend this.
What is changing now: Upon destruction, the Aid Station will still heal you – it just has to be active longer to achieve the full healing effect. This is meant to prevent the “place-and-instant-destruct” tactic.
What about the bug fixes?
Somewhat surprisingly, there was no information about the planned bug fixes. There was no clear statement regarding the “Running in Place” bug, although it was supposed to be addressed in this patch.
However, we assume that it will be fixed. In the live stream, Massive admitted self-critically that this should have been addressed much earlier. They apologize for that.
Massive is likely to release detailed patch notes soon, and we should get more concrete information then.
Shield Phoenix is active today – Survival is free to play for a week
The new Shield Phoenix is now available and focuses mainly on The Division’s Survival mode.
You need to do the following for the new Shield:
- Extract five items, survive five hours, and kill five Hunters in Survival.
You don’t own the DLC? If you do not own the Survival DLC, you now have the opportunity to play it for free for a week.
This is how it was handled with the last Shield and players had the chance to venture into the Underground for free for a week.
All information from the State of the Game:
- Patch 1.8.3 will be released next week on 23.8.
- Changes to Striker, Showstopper, and Aid Station
- No info on bug fixes yet, but they should be coming
- Shield Phoenix is online, and Survival is free to play for a week.
What do you think of the patch? Will you take a look at Survival?
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