The Division 2 Episode 3 is out now for Year 1 Pass owners, and the Warlords of New York expansion has been unveiled for a March 3 launch. This week is obviously a big one for the State of the Game livestream, as Associate Creative Director Yannick Banchereau and Associate Game Director Drew Rechner joined to take a look at some of Episode 3’s new additions before pivoting to a deep dive into Warlords of New York and what it’s bringing to the table on March 3. Some highlights:
- Episode 3 is out now, giving Agents a chance to battle Cleaners in Coney Island, unlock the Firewall Specialization, and fight fire with fire.
- Warlords of New York is bringing a new endgame to The Division 2, with infinite SHD Level progression and post-launch Seasons.
- Warlords of New York will also introduce a new range of difficulty options, including Legendary difficulty, Heroic difficulty for factions other than the Black Tusk, and new global difficulty settings.
State of the Game streams on Twitch, Mixer and YouTube. (To find out what was covered in the last episode, make sure to check out the previous State of the Game Recap.)
PRIORITY ALERTS
- Episode 3, Title Update 7 is out now.
- The developers are monitoring bug reports and feedback.
LEVEL-30 BOOST CLARIFICATION
- An unlimited-use level-30 boost is included in the Warlords of New York expansion, available on March 3.
- A single-use level-30 boost is available in the in-game store now.
- The single-use can still be purchased by players who have already pre-ordered the expansion. This is not intentional, and players who purchased both products accidentally can contact support for a refund.
EPISODE 3
Episode 3 is out now, giving players a narrative prologue to Warlords of New York that features the following:
- Takes players to Coney Island
- The return of the Cleaners
- Two main missions are available now for Year 1 Pass holders
- Two new Classified Assignments exclusively for Year 1 Pass holders
- The new missions will be available for all players starting Feburary 19
FIREWALL SPECIALIZATION
- Carries a Flamethrower as its signature weapon
- CQB specialist
- Instantly unlocked for Year 1 Pass holders
WARLORDS OF NEW YORK
SEASONS
- The Division 2’s developers are creating an all-new endgame experience that is highly replayable.
- Seasons, a key part of the new endgame, will have a dedicated State of the Game stream prior to launch.
- Every Season is a three-month-long narrative campaign with a new hunt for a new target, and a number of activities that lead up to it.
- Everything you do during a Season contributes to your progression, with each Season featuring a battle pass-like path to new rewards.
- There is a premium progression track, the Season Pass. Any gameplay-affecting rewards offered during Seasonal progression are available through both the free and premium tracks.
SHD LEVELS
A new infinite progression system unlocks points to improve your agent on a regular basis. SHD Levels replace the Field Proficiency system at level 40, allowing players to invest points into four Core Attribute categories (finite), and one Scavenging category (infinite).
Core Attribute categories are:
Offense:
- Weapon Damage
- Headshot Damage
- Critical Hit Chance
- Critical Hit Damage
Defense:
- Armor
- Health
- Explosive Resistance
- Hazard Protection
Utility:
- Skill Damage
- Skill Haste
- Skill Duration
- Skill Repair
Miscellaneous:
- Accuracy
- Stability
- Reload Speed
- Ammo Capacity
The Scavenging category gives players resources, including:
- Credits
- Steel
- Ceramics
- Polycarbonate
- Carbon Fiber
- Electronics
- Titanium
- Printer Filament
The look of your Agent’s wristwatch, representing SHD Level, will become increasingly impressive over time, signifying players’ reached milestones to other Agents.
NEW MISSION DIFFICULTY, OPEN-WORLD DIFFICULTY, AND MODIFIERS
LEGENDARY DIFFICULTY
- Legendary is The Division 2’s pinnacle difficulty setting, designed to test how good players are at every aspect of combat.
- Legendary difficulty scales depending on whether Agents play solo or with a team.
- Players who feel Heroic difficulty isn’t challenging enough can try Legendary difficulty in the three original Strongholds, featuring the toughest AI yet.
- The Black Tusk get a visual makeover in Legendary missions, trading all-black outfits for all-white ones.
- Enemy AI has been toughened, and cooldowns and wind-up times have been shortened.
- Difficulty will come not from enemy health or damage, but from their AI and tactics.
- Difficulty will affect the quality of the gear you earn on a mission.
HEROIC DIFFICULTY FOR DIFFERENT FACTIONS
- Heroic difficulty missions will no longer be exclusive to Black Tusk, and all factions will be available in Heroic difficulty.
DIRECTIVES
- Directives are optional, player-selected difficulty modifiers for main missions that grant more XP.
- These include conditions like turning off armor regeneration or putting one Skill on a cooldown when you activate the other, and can be stacked for greater challenge and rewards.
GLOBAL DIFFICULTY
- Players can adjust the open-world difficulty up to Heroic
- Changing global difficulty resets the map (including control points) once it’s fully cleared.
- Directives can also be applied globally.
- Global difficulty settings will apply both to New York and Washington, DC.
Some surprises will be injected into the game to ensure that every time you replay something, there will be something to make it a little different.
DARK ZONE
- A return to the Dark Zone’s roots
- Focus on player-to-player interactions
- The Dark Zone is for PvP-ready players
- Grey rogue status is removed
- No longer features different rule sets between the occupied and normal Dark Zone.
- All items are contaminated
- Players can see rolls on items
- Social menu – see players in a 100-meter radius
- VOIP on by default, with an option to turn it off
- No signature weapon ammo
The Division 2 is available now on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and is included in a UPLAY+ subscription. For more The Division 2, check out our previous coverage.
