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State of the Game - April 22nd, 2020
Title Update 9 launched for The Division 2 this week, and the State of the Game livestream – featuring Game Designer Bruce Kelly and Community Developer Chris Gansler – took a look at what’s changed, and what still needs changing (including a planned readjustment for the M1A Classic Rifle).
Priority Alerts
Title Update 9 - Priority List
We wanted to give you an update on the top priorities we are currently working on regarding bugs that have been introduced with Title Update 9.
- Kenly College Technology Laboratory being blocked.
- Coney Island, several progression blockers.
- Firefly Skill not launching or sticking to the agent’s hand.
- Turret Skills not placing properly and immediately going on cooldown.
- SHD-Levels not showing in group UI.
- Shield Skills and Assault Rifles not working together properly.
- Not being able to start or finish the Angel of Mercy Contaminated area.
- Being unable to link items in the chat.
- Being unable to deactivate/hide the Recommended Activity UI element.
We have resolved the following issues yesterday:
- Stadia users receiving Delta-01 when logging in.
- Striker Gear Set Kneepads being replaced with a level 1 item.
We have seen confusion around the Exotic reconfiguration and mods in them:
- When reconfiguring an item, you are creating a new item which means all mods that have not been taken out of the previous item will be lost. While there is a warning in the UI to inform players about this behavior, we will look into improving the flow to make this clearer.
We will update the status of the issues as we get more information from the team on the progress.
Of course, we are also working on other bugs that have been in the game since before TU9, like the DZ FPS issues.
=> Source
Maintenance - April 21st, 2020 - TU9 Release
=> Patch Notes.
[UNSCHEDULED] Maintenance - April 21st, 2020
- Resolving the issue with missing Striker Kneepads
Known Issues
=> you can check out the Known Issues here: Link
Summary
TU9 Patch Notes not Complete
The first topic was a short explanation of why the M1A nerf was not in the patch notes and how they plan to avoid that in the future:
- The Community Team is responsible for the Patch Notes
- It was also their mistake that the M1A nerf was not included in the Patch Notes
- This was not done on purpose because it does not make sense to try to hide a nerf of such a popular weapon and they also did not believe that they would “get away” with nerfing the M1A.
- To avoid such mistakes in the future, they will improve their internal processes.
M1A Situation and Nerf
They saw the general reaction to the M1A nerf itself, the amount of the nerf and this is how this came about:
- In 2019 the M1A was buffed for Title Update 6/7 because the meta at the time was Berserk, Clutch and Eagle Bearer builds
- While the M1A was already overtuned at the time, it was overshadowed by the Eagle Bearer.
- When Warlords of New York was released, that balance remained and the M1A became the new meta because the Eagle Bearer was changed.
- Then a pandemic happened, they are working from home and try to do their best to maintain a live game while also producing new content that will come in the future (including the next raid)
- They were, of course, aware that the M1A was an issue and they made a change that was meant to be a first balance pass for that weapon.
- Because of the pandemic circumstances the validation process of that first balance pass fell through the cracks.
- This was not the result of bad intentions, it was the result of bad processes and – like with the patch notes – this is something they intend to address.
- The Bottom line is, the 40% nerf in Title Update 9 was not meant to be final, but the shift to working from home disrupted the developers’ ability to more thoroughly rebalance it.
- The intention was to revisit the M1a post TU9 while also looking at all of the weapons and all of the talents and Gear Sets to make a better overall balance pass.
- But as players saw on Tuesday, the M1A got a 40% nerf and that was not intended.
Next immediate Steps
- As a first step they will revert the nerf of the M1A and the Bakers Dozen in PVE. After that, the damage of these weapons will be the same as before the patch in PVE content.
- In PVP the M1A will get a 20% nerf because that was well-received of the PVP community.
- The goal is to implement the reversion as soon as possible, it might be this week or the next – the exact details will follow.
- The change may cause a UI issue for Stadia users, showing the Title Update 9 values until a client update can be deployed.
Future Balance passes
- In the long term, they will address the M1A to bring that weapon more in line with the other guns.
- The change will be a nerf because it is more practical to nerf 1 overtuned weapon than to buff all the others.
- Other guns, Exotics, Gear Sets and Named Items that are underperforming will be buffed
- The NPCs are also part of that equation. Since TU8 armor, health and damage were adjusted and TU8.5 and TU9 deployed additional tweaks to address the difficulty.
- Now they will be looking more into specific NPC behavior and outliers
- But the general discussion is still the overall experience – casual vs challenging/difficult. The goal is to find a middle ground where gear progression is there but there should also be challenges for players that like difficult content and challenge themselves.
- The Raid will also be a big part in that difficulty discussion and the balance changes also impact the Raid.
- But these changes take time and it should be ready in June.
- Loot Overhaul (especially purple drops) will also be part of the June update
Send-Off Clarification
- Holstered talents were removed from all weapons, and this was initially missed for the Send-Off shotgun.
- It was never intended to keep a holstered talent for a weapon like the Send-Off, which needed to first be crafted before players could find out it had a holstered talent.
Skill Build Intentions
- Skill Builds are a bit underrepresented right now
- They don’t have as many Gear Sets, Talents or Weapon Talent options
- The next Title Update will add Gear Sets that are specifically designed for Skill Builds and Hybrid Skill Builds where you can be a little bit of Weapon and Skill.
- That means burst DPS and AOE DPS Skill Builds will be addressed
The Raid 2
- The release date of Raid 2 – The Foundry – is still in spring
- It will be free for everyone that owns The Division 2
FAQs
If exotics are not to be best in slot, why are they still underperforming after the change
Exotics are meant to feel like best in slot items, they just require you to engage with the Exotic Talent and to make a build around them. Not all Exotics are about doing damage and some have more niche roles. Some Exotics are also underperforming and TU9 addressed some of them.
Bottom line is – Exotics are meant to be powerful items that you want to collect and make builds around.
True Patriot Change
- The True Patriot was not changed because of PVP
- The healing of the True Patriot was just overtuned and when you really stack into it, it was more effective than a dedicated healer build and that was not the intention.
- The True Patriot is intended as an NPC Debuff Set and not the set with the most healing.
- With the TU9 changes, some bugs have also been addressed and the set is now working, also in terms of numbers.
- You can still stack incoming repairs and have a lot of self-sustain, it is just not as powerful as before.
Fox's Prayer / The Hollow Man / Contractor's Gloves Clarification
- Those are multiplier effects and are more powerful than the normal Crit Chance / Crit Damage
- Those values were overtuned and a lot higher than they should have been.
- Basically, they were overtuned and best in slot and that is why they were adjusted, because there should be options to use other items.
New Free Backpack Trophy
- Available for free to celebrate Title Update 9’s release
- Log in between April 21 and May 5 to claim
- Three Apparel Keys
- Soda Backpack Trophy
=> Tweet
Free Trial
- Playable for eight hours, up to Level 8
- No Dark Zones or PvP
- Clan functionality disabled
- Store functionality disabled
- Referral system functionality disabled
- Character progression will carry over to the full game if trial players decide to purchase it.
=> Tweet
Season Update
New Manhunt Target: Saturn
- Third Target is now live
- Targets are available until the end of the Season.
- Players will need to take down all four Targets to get access to the Prime Target.
- Double XP Event is also live, giving players the chance to gain double XP for their next 15 levels until April 28.
Urban Jungle Apparel Event closes this week.
- Players can still purchase and gift keys, as well as spend earned keys.
- After April 28, the Urban Jungle Apparel Cache will no longer be live, but event items will be available for direct purchase on the in-game store.
The Home League
The Home League, a new two-week event offering new challenges and rewards, will begin next week.
Roadmap
- You can check out The Division 2 Roadmap here: Link
- The Division 1 Event Schedule 2020
Community Resources
The community has provided many guides, tools, and lists: Link