Will submachine guns (SMGs) return to former glory in The Division? The latest PTS patch gives hope.
I still have it in my stash: my AUG. It was never one of my absolute favorite weapons – I always preferred the AK-74 black market version or the Vector – but it was a deadly beast.
In the early weeks and months, submachine guns dominated the scene in The Division. Leading the charge were the AUG and the Vector. Alongside the M1A sniper, they were the dominant weapon category in PvE and PvP. They were devastating at close range, devastating at medium range, and devastating “from the hip.” For long-range, one would pack an M1A sniper in the secondary slot and be ready for any danger.
The Decline of Submachine Guns
It is the same in The Division: What is powerful gets nerfed sooner or later. Submachine guns were hit particularly hard. Update 1.3 introduced a weapon balancing mechanism that granted new bonuses to weapon categories.
Previously, SMGs had the powerful bonus of increasing critical hit chance by several percentage points. With 1.3, the increased chance of crits was removed, instead, higher crit damage was introduced. A change that proved to be a significant weakening of SMGs in practice.
On top of that, the Vector and AUG were reduced in base damage by 10%. Massive made sure that submachine guns were dethroned.
With updates 1.4 and 1.5, they further stomped on the SMGs. The hip fire, once a major advantage of SMGs, was reworked so that the submachine guns exhibited extreme scatter. Assault rifles have since been superior to SMGs in almost all areas, which is why we already came to the conclusion: SMGs are currently “complete trash.”
SMGs Regain Former Strength
Since yesterday, the PTS Phase 4 is live, and it brought a surprising innovation: SMGs are getting their old bonus back! The developers had not talked about this at all, which makes this step quite surprising.
- In short: Submachine guns are receiving the bonus for increased critical hit chance back. The maximum roll is expected to be around 22%.
Massive claims that during normalization testing in “Last Stand,” they observed old SMGs that still had the old bonus. They actually wanted to remove these weapons completely, but they performed excellently, and people enjoyed playing with them. Therefore, SMGs with critical hit chance will not be removed – instead, all SMGs in 1.6 will receive this bonus back.
On Reddit, agents are already writing: “Welcome back, SMGs!” How powerful they will ultimately be in the live version of 1.6 is yet to be seen. But one thing is certain: Along with the new Valkyria set, the eyes will once again be on the SMGs.
