When The Big Apple turned rotten after the pandemic attack of 2016, we were among the first-responders. Our elite Strategic Homeland Division training kicked in and we switched from carefree civilians into ice-cold spec ops professionals. We grabbed our go-bag, stepped into the breach and pulled on a beanie. Because nothing says “I can’t be headshot” like a soldier rocking a pom pom.
Thousands of less trendy, (literal) social justice warriors like us then cleansed NYC’s infection of opportunistic looters, militant clean-freaks with flamethrowers and …well, our fellow agents, too. Doubtless, we can expect to do all of these things again when we drain the swamp in Washington D.C., but what’s going to change the most in The Division 2?
MASSIVE BY NAME, MASSIVE BY NATURE
We received our new mission briefing direct from the source, during a recent sit down in Ubisoft Massive’s Swedish headquarters. Julian Gerighty, Creative Director, and his team were in the final stretch of development. We were able to snatch an hour or so of his time before the development crunch swallowed him whole again.
For starters, we’re offered a summary of the new backdrop and what’s at stake. This is 7 months after the virus of The Division spread all across America and the world as well. Our area of operations will be a Washington D.C. that’s been completely transformed due to almost total government collapse. The mission: pull this city back up onto its feet by aiding civvies who have banded together in makeshift settlements.
“Looking back at the first game, the thing that I was most proud of was its hybrid nature,” explains Gerighty. “If you wanted to play it solo as a story-focused campaign, you could. Co-op was also there, too — all of the main quest, side quests, and more were playable in a fire-team of four. Then there was that wonderful atypical PvP in the Dark Zone, too. With this sequel we’re taking all of the learnings of three years of operation and we’re applying it to a new buffet of activities in The Division 2.”
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE RELOAD THE CHECKPOINT
The team at Massive are staying true to what they see as the three core pillars of a Division game: open-world, online, and RPG. Gerighty says the open-world here is important as it’s once again a contiguous playground – you can go anywhere, once more, but tougher hombres will be waiting in certain zones. Furthermore, the stats Ubisoft received from the original game have made the team invest much more heavily in the campaign content this time around.
“The Division offered a 40-hour campaign and, in terms of player completion, it was one of the most finished stories in Ubisoft’s library,” mentions Gerighty. “So we went into this knowing that people wanted powerful tales. We plan to deliver that in this new story about saving the soul of America and taking down The True Sons, a paramilitary group who has capitalised on the chaos to seize power for themselves.”
Speaking of evolution driven by feedback, co-op teams will no longer be forced to disband when entering the base of operations – The White House (which is looking kind of grey and charred if we’re being accurate on colours here). Also, rolling deep as a group in TD2‘s Dark Zone will reveal more subtle layers of etiquette and punishment, too. Gerighty goes so far as to call the DZ 2.0 as the jewel of TD2, a “player vs player vs event” where going “rogue” against other players is now a button assigned choice, rather than a stray (or deliberate) bullet fired on your behalf.
LIGHTER AND VERY MUCH DARKER ZONES
Furthermore, no longer will the Dark Zone (or rather Dark “Zones” – there are three of them now) be a nightmare for newbies. Each of these arenas will have story-driven introduction missions that will effectively let you be a tourist in the shallow end for a time. With no players out to maul you, you can wrap your head around the location of landmarks and identify the safe houses without getting your head turned into a canoe.
The DZs will also be more approachable this time around due to a new weapon-normalisation formula that balances out the damage players give and receive. No matter your preferred method of death-dealing – AR, shotgun, SMG or sniper rifle – its stats will be squashed in an effort to reward players who can shoot well, rather than the person who’s grinded for hundreds of hours for uber-gear.
Interestingly, those training wheels come right off when the end-game kicks in and “occupied DZs” start appearing. Think: tougher AI enemies, sweeter rewards and tricked out players who are super keen to steal your loot and lunch money. Oh, and they’ll probably be clanned up, too (TD2 offers this much-requested feature for the first time, plus special collaborative progression rewards and leaderboards).
AIMING FOR THE BEANIES
“A few months into The Division we noticed something pretty incredible happening,” says Gerighty when the conversation naturally turns to dedicated PvP shenanigans.”People were organising fight clubs. Finding locations, lining up their squads fairly, and facing off. We knew the interest was there, so we included our official PvP in version 1.6 of the first game. The good news in The Division 2? We’ll have this feature [called Conflict] available on day one.”
We’re given a chance to mix it up in two dedicated Conflict modes where two teams of four have to lock, load, and cover-hop ’til the other guys drop. For the moment, what we have is a toe-dip — deathmatch (Skirmish) and capture the flag (Domination). Massive have plans to expand the modes, maps and…if PvP really takes off, maybe the max player count, too.
Better yet, Ubisoft is delivering all of the above content with a better plan on how the long-term entertainment will go, post-credits. You’ll not just hit the end credits X hours in and then have to twiddle your thumbs until the next DLC drops. Sure, the team also promises a year of free updates, but you’ll have to be quite the content-slayer to be finished with the vanilla game before those cherries and nuts layer in on top for nada dollars. “Throughout the development process [of TD2] we’ve worked to an end-game-first philosophy,” Gerighty assures us.
LIFE BEYOND THE CREDITS
When “the end” does come, and it looks like Washington D.C. is shrugging off the nightmare, a new threat will rise. Forget rioters and semi-organised packs of garden variety gun-nuts – The Black Tusk, a highly-trained domestic military organisation will move in and ante-up every piece of content on the map. The gun battles get tougher, the AI smarter and the foes will grow more legs (think: robodogs)
You’ll have the opportunity to super-size as well, thanks to bonus end-game progression paths called Specialisations. Put the effort in and you can augment your tactical options by studying Demolitions (free Grenade launcher), Sharpshooting (scoped .50 cal goodness) or Survivalism (crossbow skillz for silent killz).
No matter how you choose to get your killing on – or if you intend to do it solo or with a pack – The Division 2 looks like it’s got every taste covered. At the risk of sounding like a mathematician, the team at Massive has done the sums on this. The Division 2 is taking what you loved about the first title and is multiplying it exponentially.
