In The Division, the official release date is known, although Massive is not allowed to announce it yet.
Recently, the State of the Game aired on November 30. This contained the information that agents have been waiting for weeks and months: Update 1.8 finally has a release date – at least almost.
- Community developer Yannick Banchereau confirms that Update 1.8 will be released next week.
The curious thing is: He cannot specify the exact release date yet. Officially, it is supposed to be announced next Monday. Apparently, there are instructions “from above” that one can only announce the release date shortly before the release.
When will Update 1.8 be released?
Although the developers are being vague with their statements, there is no doubt: Update 1.8 will be released on December 5, 2017. That’s a Tuesday.
The reason is: All major updates are released for The Division on a Tuesday, always around noon. Banchereau “spoiled” in the stream that you should simply look at the days when Division updates have been released so far. This way, you can calculate the release date yourself. Afterwards, he joked that he probably just lost his job with that statement.
At the end of the stream, he revealed that the update will arrive early in the week. He then said: “So, now I need a lawyer!”
In short: Update 1.8 will definitely be released on December 5.
What can agents expect in Update 1.8?
Update 1.8 will be the largest update ever for The Division. It expands the PvE map, introduces two new modes, brings the next two global events, adds new exotics and new secret gear sets, increases the gear score, overhauls a few systems, renews the underground, and turns the rogue system upside down with “Rogue 2.0”.
All the information is here:
On Monday, the complete patch notes will be released.
During the livestream, the developers talked a bit about “Rogue 2.0”. This new rogue mechanic has been controversially discussed during the PTS. Today, they emphasized that The Division is a live game. And a live game without changes is not a live game, which is why the Dark Zone will be changed with Update 1.8.
They also released this graphic: Here you can see 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 have died by rogues,
- the green area indicates how many rogues have died by non-rogues
- and the orange area indicates how many agents died by NPCs.
The graphic illustrates two things:
- Significantly more players die through PvP than through PvE
- And significantly more players die by rogues than rogues by non-rogues.
The latter is supposed to be balanced out with Rogue 2.0. From now on, you must first show your intention to become rogue before you can attack. This gives the other agents a moment to prepare. Previously, peaceful agents could only react once fire had already been opened on them. Hence, they usually ended up on the losing side.
More information from the State of the Game:
- The Global Event 3 will start a week after the release of 1.8, probably on December 12.
- The exotics will be enhanced, so you will be able to play more with exotic weapons again.
- An “Xbox One X” support is still planned, but it will not come with 1.8. Instead, it will come later.
Now quickly: The Division: 5 tips on how to prepare for Update 1.8
