In The Division 2 the skill strength system works oddly or not at all. Now Massive wants to present a solution with the next patch.
This is how skill strength usually works: In most games, a value like “skill strength” or intelligence works quite simply:
- The higher this value is, the more damage skills deal or the better a player can heal
But that is not the case in The Division 2.
Value strengthens skills in The Division 2 indirectly
This is how skill strength works in The Division 2:
- In The Division, the value “skill strength” (a yellow stat) only determines which mods you can equip for your skills in order to enhance them
The higher the value, the stronger the mods an agent can use.
Otherwise, the base strength of the skills adjusts to the level and world rank so that they always remain relevant. If you want to do more with your skills, for example, greater range, longer duration, or damage, you have to use skill mods.
Large parts of the loot cannot be used
This is the problem: The “highest” mods in The Division 2 have such high requirements for skill strength that they can only be used with certain builds.
You would have to align your gear largely or entirely towards skill strength in order to use the mods that you find at max level.
However, hardly anyone does that. Players feel that they do not get enough performance back for their investment in the value.
These high item-level mods with high requirements drop exclusively for the players.
This means: Players find vast amounts of gear that they cannot use.
If agents want to use a mod to strengthen their skills at all, they need “low-level” skill mods that they found while leveling up.
Some even farm such “small mods” in The Division 2.
This is how Massive wanted to solve the problem: In a first balance patch, Massive apparently recognized the error in the system and wanted to counteract it by lowering the requirements for the mods. However, they weakened the strength of the mods, particularly for the chem launcher.
The update didn’t really bring much. The change turned out to be more of a nerf for the mods and the way to play an agent with high skill strength.
Because the requirements for high mods are still so enormous that hardly any agent can use them. Players have to specifically focus on skill strength to use the mods they find in their daily gameplay.
Blue mods and the workbench are supposed to fix it
This is the new solution: In a blog post, Massive has now explained how they want to solve the problem.
In the next patch, there should be the ability to craft “blue mods” that players can use who are not focusing on skill strength.
Additionally, Massive plans to rework the skills in The Division 2 so that the “most powerful mods” will provide such strong benefits that it is worthwhile to fully focus on skill strength.
At the moment, the problem is that in The Division 2 almost only a DPS build (the red stats) is worthwhile, as both technicians (the yellow stats) and tanks (the blue stats) are too weak.
It will be interesting to see how the change will have an impact in the next patch. The patch is expected this week.
