The Division has been in a state of limbo of sorts for the past couple of months. Before the release of the open world shooter, Ubisoft and developer Massive Entertainment had already set out their post-release plans with a set of DLC expansions prior to the release of the base game, but things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
Following the launch of the first expansion – Underground – and extensive amounts of player feedback, Massive decided to delay the following two add-ons in order to focus on the core Division experience.
Patch 1.4, which has been available to those on PC for quite some time by way of public test servers (PTS), will release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC’s non-test servers on October 25, bringing with it huge changes to almost every facet of gameplay.
The full list of patch notes is monstrously-long so we’re not going to put them all here, but you can see below for some of the major talking points.
New Feature: World Tiers
- Upon reaching level 30, players are now able to select a World Level Tier that controls the level of enemy NPCs encountered and the quality of the loot they drop
- There are a total of 4 World Level tiers:
- Tier 1: enemy lvl30, gear score rewards 163
- Tier 2: enemy lvl31, gear score rewards 182, unlocks Challenge difficulty, unlocks Incursions
- Tier 3: enemy lvl32, gear score rewards 204
- Tier 4: enemy lvl33, gear score rewards 229
UI Improvements
- Added a player reporting interface for PC users.
- Players now have the “mark as junk” option when equipping mods.
- Players can now mark weapon and gear items as “favorites” which locks them in their inventory. Locked items cannot be sold, shared or dismantled.
- Added a buyback option to vendor’s inventory. Players can now recover items they have accidentally sold.
- Added Quick Nav option to vendors and menus allowing players to quickly select item types they want to display.
- Weapon skins no longer take inventory space.
- Equipped items are now always displayed at the top of the inventory list.
- Recalibrated items now have an icon displayed next to their recalibrated stat/talent.
- Crafting materials can now be converted in bulk at the Crafting Station.
Gameplay Changes
- Time-to-kill enemy NPCs has been lowered.
- Many improvements were made to enemy AI.
- Player ammo capacity has been increased by 50% after level 30.
- The crafting material drops from the Base of Operations will now reward High-End quality after level 30.
- Removed scavenging from the game. Scavenging is removed as a secondary stat on all gear pieces. New gear pieces can no longer roll scavenging.
The Division‘s Patch 1.4. goes live October 25 for all platforms. Ubisoft says that the game’s servers will be taken offline for three hours prior to the launch of the update, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t log in on the big day.
If everything goes smoothly, expect a very different game awaiting you on the other side.
