The Division 2 took strong action and banned glitchers. Many players complained afterwards on social media that they were unfairly punished. The developers clarified.
The major loot shooter The Division 2 pulled the emergency brake and punished glitchers who exploited a bug to obtain incredible damage values. The cheaters received a one-week ban and also lost two weeks of their progress. The accounts of the affected players were reset to March 17.
In the weekly “State of the Game” community stream on April 1, the creators from the developer studio Massive addressed accusations that players were unfairly punished. According to Chris Gansler, the community developer of Division 2, many players claimed they were just in a group with those who exploited the bug. They themselves were innocent.
Developers say: Those who were banned were cheating
What do the developers have to say about this? The German community developer contradicted the accusations and clarified: Those who were banned were also glitching. He further stated that one should not only look at social media, where opponents of the ban wave were apparently in overwhelming numbers.
He directly contradicts statements such as: “If you ban everyone who used the glitch now, then 50% of the players are gone!” While he doesn’t disclose exact numbers, it seems that not even close to that many players exist. The exact wording: “Absolute nonsense”. Here is the complete stream as a video on YouTube:
How did the developers find the glitchers? Gansler here does not go into detail. The developers want to prevent that inventive agents find a way to circumvent this tracking.
He hinted that it has something to do with their data. They can thus see certain values of our accounts and react accordingly.
Could there still be false bans? In such a large action, mistakes can also happen. It’s quite possible that a few innocent players were caught here. But not to the extent that the reactions to the ban wave might suggest.
Gansler said that if you feel treated unfairly or something else is wrong with your account, then report it. Tag him on Twitter, open a thread on Reddit, or contact Ubisoft support.
TU 8.5 likely next week
What other info was shared in the SotG? Since the major Warlords expansion at the beginning of March, the developers have been working hard on annoying bugs, balance issues, and the DPS glitch.
Accordingly, the SotGs have been packed in recent weeks. This time they revealed quite a bit about the future of the title in the stream:
- Title Update 8.5 is set to launch next week.
- Due to the current work-from-home situation, it is likely difficult for them to provide an exact date. However, TU 8.5 should come during the next week.
- Items that affect build diversity will be adjusted.
- These include the 3 best-in-slot items for damage builds. In return, other values are expected to be increased, such as “health damage” from assault rifles.
- Complete raid sets available without a raid.
- This was actually planned as an announcement for next week, but game designer Bruce Kelly has now announced: The vests and backpacks will also soon be available without a raid.
What else is going on in Division 2? Currently, the first season of the loot shooter is underway, bringing new events or some fresh content into the game every week.
Currently, we can collect special cosmetic items until April 21 as part of the clothing event “Urban Jungle”. However, apparently not all agents are interested in the season’s content – Some are already glitching again despite the ban wave.
