Update 1.4 For The Division Revealed

I have a very love hate relationship with Ubisoft’s The Division. When the game first released, there was so much potential. However as time went on, The Division’s player base shrunk, with cheating and bugs being the norm. Much to the credit of Massive, the developers have not abandoned the project. New updates have been rolled out consistently with hopes of rejuvenating the project. Now, The Division is receiving what could be the most important update of the games life. The Division update 1.4 has been announced and the changes are big.

In a recent State of the Game, Massive outlined their plan for update 1.4. Now we have a more concrete idea of what is to be expected, thanks to a new blog post. Some important highlights can be found below:

• A new world tier system will allow for players to choose the level of NPCs in the world. Gear found within World Tier 2 or higher will feature all three stats (Stamina, Firearms, Electronics) , with one being higher then the others.
• Both Crit Chance and Headshot damage are being reworked in order to fit into the new game changes. This change comes in the form of scaling both stats down.
• Gear will lose their skill bonuses. Instead, backpacks, holsters and knee pads will gain new performance mod slots. This is aimed at allowing the player more flexibility in builds.
• Gear Sets will get their Gear Score adjusted to be equal to those of High End gear.
• High End gear talents are being reworked.
• Scavenging is being removed from the game. (The most useless stat in the game is gone.)

Massive is hoping the changes made in update 1.4 will create less disparity between those with optimized builds and those without. The hope is that these changes will help curb the Gear Score prejudism that has plagued the game. Alongside these changes is also the tweaking of the games gunplay.

Update 1.4: Weapon Changes

• Various buffs and nerfs to the damage and roles of certain weapons.
• Weapon mods will now come with one major bonus. There will also be smaller bonuses based on the quality of the mod.
• Damage bonuses will no longer be multiplicative, but rather additive. This will help in dealing with the strange damage spikes occurring in game.
• Weapon talents are getting retooled. Some have been buffed, while others nerfed.
• Firearms will play a more important role in damage output.

As a player who has dumped countless hours into The Division, I am excited to see how update 1.4 shakes out. One thing is for certain, Massive has shown they care about this game and the community around it. The Player Test Sever will allow for the developers to work on any issues that may arise.

The Division PTS goes live on September 26, while update 1.4 is slated for sometime in October.

Does update 1.4 excite you? Will it bring you back to the game? Let me know in the Pit below.