New release estimate for the second raid is early summer 2020 | Forums

[LubzinNJ]

Ubi is a joke. This game is a joke. You cant release a game defining content and it keeps getting delayed....your the biggest joke ever

[Ubi-RealDude]

One of the biggest and most frequent pieces of feedback we got relating to the content of the Raid was that it encouraged - even required - one particular type of build among every player. This was back in May of 2019. Since then, The Division 2 has been through a substantial number of changes, both balance and otherwise. Plus even more changes on the horizon as we've been alluding to for a while now.

This development time for the Raid is being used to better follow that feedback and actively lean into those future changes. Though we understand the long wait can be annoying and frustrating, especially when eager to see that content - we appreciate your patience as we share more info.

[SuspiciousPixel]

You could brute force DPS every encounter once the mechanics and subtle exploits were understood and people started speedrunning. Only then the Raid didn't encourage any roles but this IS only with an organized team. Attempting this with LFG never worked and only then would you see a variety of playstyles, roles and approaches to each boss encounter.

[Ubi-RealDude]

You could brute force DPS every encounter once the mechanics and subtle exploits were understood and people started speedrunning. Only then the Raid didn't encourage any roles but this IS only with an organized team. Attempting this with LFG never worked and only then would you see a variety of playstyles, roles and approaches to each boss encounter.

So I think it's safe to say that a lot of players can take 'roles' to mean two separate things.

Yes, on the one hand you can have a role to hold a specific location, or cover a flank as the group moves, or be a designated 'button pushers,' etc.

On the other hand, roles can mean things from a more meta-gameplay side too, if a section requires constant healing, you'll want a designated healer with an optimized healer build. If someone needs to strike out alone into a room of snipers, you don't necessarily want a DPS glass-cannon, you want a designated tank role player.

The first Raid, as you mention, only really accomplished the first type of role - and barely. The second Raid aims to correct that error.

[xcel30]

So I think it's safe to say that a lot of players can take 'roles' to mean two separate things.

Yes, on the one hand you can have a role to hold a specific location, or cover a flank as the group moves, or be a designated 'button pushers,' etc.

On the other hand, roles can mean things from a more meta-gameplay side too, if a section requires constant healing, you'll want a designated healer with an optimized healer build. If someone needs to strike out alone into a room of snipers, you don't necessarily want a DPS glass-cannon, you want a designated tank role player.

The first Raid, as you mention, only really accomplished the first type of role - and barely. The second Raid aims to correct that error.

Things is, will people playstyle actually fit the design. i mean how is that going to represented to the players in the sense of that Lost signal incursions relied completely on groups having a shield tank for the final part, Dragon's nest relied on reclaimer. Those designs are so completely different from the base we have currently that it would not work.

Best way to describe is that they are creating a need for certain builds that nowhere else in the game has a need to or reason to. I understand that i am saying this before the gear rework, but i remember when they first announced they were delaying the raid on state of the game more than 6 months ago, they just said some stuff like "we probably are going to make skill builds relevant to it, by making ti so you can only damage something with skills or something", so honestly my expectations are that they just make entirely flat mechanics that are "anything other X is completely useless in this part, go kill some adds while you wait your turn" by having you need to stand in an open spot for 15s straight so only a tank build can damage a boss, then having a weird reinforced barrier that only explosive skills can do damage and the rest of the team is just sucking up their thumbs in ther corner.

I just don't think the team can actually pull something off that requires people WANTING to play a different style as well they balancing all roles working together.

[YodaMan 3D]

So I think it's safe to say that a lot of players can take 'roles' to mean two separate things.

Yes, on the one hand you can have a role to hold a specific location, or cover a flank as the group moves, or be a designated 'button pushers,' etc.

On the other hand, roles can mean things from a more meta-gameplay side too, if a section requires constant healing, you'll want a designated healer with an optimized healer build. If someone needs to strike out alone into a room of snipers, you don't necessarily want a DPS glass-cannon, you want a designated tank role player.

The first Raid, as you mention, only really accomplished the first type of role - and barely. The second Raid aims to correct that error.

So you're telling us that all these delays come down to the fact that the 2nd Raid was another OP Gun Build Dream Come True and realized that you needed to spend over a year to rebuild it so other players with different builds could enjoy it and that isn't the fact that it now got moved to Year 2 content, so you could now charge us for a New DLC that contains the 2nd Raid? Asking for a friend.

[xcel30]

So you're telling us that all these delays come down to the fact that the 2nd Raid was another OP Gun Build Dream Come True and realized that you needed to spend over a year to rebuild it so other players with different builds could enjoy it and that isn't the fact that it now got moved to Year 2 content, so you could now charge us for a New DLC that contains the 2nd Raid? Asking for a friend.

They already confirmed multiple times that the raid is free and not tied to any DLC purchase, the part of being bad is another story

[Ubi-RealDude]

Things is, will people playstyle actually fit the design. i mean how is that going to represented to the players in the sense of that Lost signal incursions relied completely on groups having a shield tank for the final part, Dragon's nest relied on reclaimer. Those designs are so completely different from the base we have currently that it would not work.

[...]

I just don't think the team can actually pull something off that requires people WANTING to play a different style as well they balancing all roles working together.

(Comment clipped for space)

That's definitely a fair critique - and in part is in the hands of those upcoming changes. One could easily say they prefer the feeling of using the Sticky Bomb from TD rather than the Firestarter of TD2, even if they hypothetically did the same damage. How the team not only builds the content around varied builds, but also encourages those builds remains to be seen.

We've got around a year of player feedback and discussions talking about what players look for in these types of builds... 6+ months since we first really talked about the second Raid, as you mention. It will take a certain confidence in the dev team that I acknowledge some here may not have, but I think the coming changes will be hugely beneficial for the game, community, and lead nicely into the Raid... even if they come with some growing pains.

[SuspiciousPixel]

Currently the Raid Gearsets are:

ND
Tips
Aces

Each which provide a support, buff, damage role to the current Raid and teams use.

Currently the Raid lacks a healer, tank, immunization, elemental damage/protection etc "role" because the simplistic mechanics don't require it. So will we see more Raid Gearsets in the future? Will Specialization weapons be reworked because they are slow to use, "some" are not powerful and most of the time considered an after thought.

[Ubi-RealDude]

Currently the Raid lacks a healer, tank, immunization, elemental damage/protection etc "role" because the simplistic mechanics don't require it. So will we see more Raid Gearsets in the future?

I've not got any details to share on the specifics of Raid content at the moment, but we'll have more info as we get closer to release.