The Division Update 1.4 Releases October 25th
Oct. 20, 2016The Division Update 1.4 Releases October 25th
Ubisoft has announced thatThe Division’slong in progress Update 1.4 will release for players on October 25th on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Read on for more and tab over for the detailed notes.
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Save the date! Update 1.4 will be available on October 25th for all platforms!
APublic Test Serverwas recently launched on PC to test updates before deployment to ensure compatibility and Update 1.4 has been in a series of tests over several weeks. It seems the results are satisfactory and the rest of the player base will now be able to see the revisions for themselves.
New Feature: World Tiers
UI Improvements
Gameplay Changes
Activities, Loots, & Rewards
Global changes
Open World
Main Missions
Updated Rewards for all main missions:
Search & Destroy and High Value Targets
Updated Rewards for all High Value and High Risk contracts:
Underground
Updated Rewards for all Underground Operations:
Incursions
Updated Rewards for all Incursions:
Dark Zone
Updated Rewards for boss drops and Supply Drops in the Dark Zone:
Gear Stats
Character Talents
Skills
Global changes
(Reference only values, for level 1 character)
First Aid
Pulse
Turret
Support Station
Sticky Bomb
Mobile Cover
Seeker Mine
Ballistic Shield
Smart Cover
Signature Skills
Recovery Link Signature Skill
Tactical Link Signature Skill
Survivor Link Signature Skill
Weapons
Global changes
Global balance pass on weapons:
Assault Rifles
LMG
SMG
Shotguns
Marksman Rifles
Pistols
Gear Sets
Global changes
Striker’s Battlegear
Tactician’s Authority
Path of the Nomad
Sentry’s Call
Lone Star
Predator’s Mark
Final Measure
Hunter’s Faith
DeadEYE
B.L.I.N.D. becomes Banshee
FireCrest
AlphaBridge
Reclaimer
Bug Fixing
Gameplay
Underground
Skills
Talents
Controls
Gear Sets
UI
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Editor at Fextralife. I look for the substantial in gaming and I try to connect video games to the emotions and stories they elicit. I love all things culture and history and have an odd fondness for the planet Jupiter. I think my dogs are pretty awesome too.
The devs have said before that 1.4 was going to bring the shooter element back into the division. Because prior to that it felt like a very non user friendly game where it was all about stats. The gameplay itself was suffering. The update didn’t take anything away either. It’s still about stats. You still have to grind. There is an obvious difference between an unoptimized build versus an optimized one. The gap is just smaller.
So players who are at end game can participate in end game activities now. However. Unlike destiny you will still be much better off if you run with a group and coordinate builds and ability usage. Even in destiny’s raids the only thing that actually comes anywhere close to that is super use. So i’d say while the division does target the kind of players destiny has it still isn’t the same. Aside from what I already listed the only other major thing they did was make the loot system (in all aspects) more friendly.
I think the game was designed specifically for the grinding RPG crowd, dedicated FPS enthusiasts who were looking for another shared world MMO experience to compliment Destiny. I know that’s how most of us here at the wiki went into it, going off of our Destiny experience and what we liked from there. Most of us just went right back to Destiny after a couple of weeks. If anything the biggest complaint was that it didn’t have enough of those end game activities, and daily/weeklies/playlists to keep people engaged long term, as we’d expect from MMOs and their offshoots. In their case, their biggest missteps in development were trying to have feet in both doors instead of just going full bore one way or the other. Unfortunately a lot of players on both sides just moved on, not sure how well this update will work to save it. I know one thing is for sure, there is going to be a TON of skepticism following the development of the sequel.
Going to have to disagree with you on that last point. The game was HEAVILY marketed as an RPG shooter, emphasis on the RPG part. There are countless interviews with Ryan Barnard (Game Director for The Division before leaving MASSIVE) where he stresses the RPG element of the game. There were huge forum discussions before the game released about how a Tom Clancy game had enemies with Health Bars and Damage Numbers coming off of them. Besides all of that, all you have to do is look at all the updates before 1.4 to see that MASSIVE clearly wanted people to have builds and classes. The teams that did were the ones that were successful. It was only AFTER they realized that a majority of the playerbase were shooter focused gamers that they made the changes they did in 1.4. But the shooter crowd was never the intended demographic.
As far as the update goes, there were a lot of good changes, but I’m already bored with it. I was able to put together 2 overpowered builds right from the get go with equipment I already had lying around. The same as before, none of it being “god rolled.” The content is easier than it has ever been. I won’t complain too much because I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of the game, but as of right now, there’s no reason for me to play. Due to the way they’ve normalized the gear, finding “god rolled” gear really won’t net me enough additional power to justify the grind and it doesn’t matter anyway because the content is so easy, there is really no need for it.
The entire idea of having the tutorial and story missions up to lvl 30 play as a cover-based game and then forcing you to switch playstyles from the way you were taught to play (From tactically using cover, to maxing your gear and either melting enemies without any need for cover or getting obliterated because your gear was slightly less optimized than theirs) is fundamentally flawed. This update makes the entire game a coherent experience and gives the majority of the player base what they were asking for.
And Daos, you have to remember that the target demographic for The Division is not MMO players who enjoy a long grind and hours of optimizing builds, it’s the FPS/Third Person Shooter crowd who enjoy skill based combat with slight advantage/disadvantages.
Actually, I have been actively following along with the PTS very closely so I guess I do have something to say.
LIke I said above, I’ve already completed the most challenging content in the game with less than optimized gear. Not only that, but I’ve helped many players through the same content in random PUGs who had even worse gear than I. Does this content require some specific builds? Yes, but that’s not different than any team based RPG whether its preceded by MMO, Action, Turn-based, or any other adjective you can think of. Do those builds have to be optimized? I guess that’s open for interpretation and what we’re going to define as “optimized,” but I can tell you that I had ZERO god-rolled gear; not weapons, nor equipment, nor mods.
So if I’ve done all this challenging content with un-“optimized” gear, how exactly do you think 1.4 is going to offer me a challenge? There is already video PROOF from the PTS that the hardest content can be soloed using only Superior rated (purple) gear. According to your claim that “very specific optimized gear” is required to complete the most challenging content in 1.3, this is a basically the polar opposite. Now if we compound that with the fact that the loot drops and quality have been increased, you end up with a very easy game. Sure you won’t get perfect gear every time, but it doesn’t matter because the content can be completed with gear not even approaching “the best.” RNG no longer matters.
The “work” you put in for the gear will be easy, and the “time” you put in will be boring.
Sorry but no. If you were not running an optimized gear set in 1.3 with a very specific build you could absolutely NOT complete the hardest content unless you were carried. Secondly just because things are easier compared to 1.3 doesn’t mean things are going to be a cake walk. I’m sorry but unless you’ve been actively following along with what they’ve been doing or playing the PTS yourself then you’ve got nothing to say. There is still challenging content. And just because gear drops more often doesn’t mean its the best gear will be easily gotten.
You’ll still have to work for it. and you’ll still need to put time in for it. RNG is still a factor.
This is probably the worst thing they could have done from my standpoint. I have about 500 hours in the game. That’s a far cry away from the 800-1200 hour “no lifers and 1%’ers.” I rarely farmed for gear; often settling with “good enough.” I never ran a max gear score build or had the best weapon/gear mods. Why does any of that matter? Because I was able to complete all of the hardest content in the game. It was fun and challenging at times, and boring at others. But even with my “good enough” gear, I was still able to get through the content. Now MASSIVE is going to rain down loot while simultaneously lowering the “Time To Kill” and raising the “Time To Be Killed.” What this means is that even the mediocre gear will be able to breeze through content, but it doesn’t matter anyway because now everyone will have the best gear. The game will be TOO EASY and since the loot grind has been reduced to basically nothing, no one will continue playing this game in a month’s time. The only thing that can save The Division now would be the introduction of Normalized PVP modes, which they might as well do since they’ve removed all incentive to go into the Dark Zone by changing gear drop rates outside the DZ to match those inside. Everyone thinks patch 1.4 will save the game, but I’m positive this will be the one that kills it.
