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  1. #1
    Merphee's Avatar Volunteer Moderator
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    The Division 2 - 2021 & 2022 (Updated)

    Added a table - CTRL + F "Updated"

    With the recent news about more Division 2 content coming in 2021 and 2022, we could say that this is a surprise. The death of Faye Lou and various other signs were signaling Division 2’s end. So, although new Division 2 content have been stated to be in the early stages, let’s take advantage of that. A lot of this stuff won’t really be new, but I think it’s best to reintroduce the ideas.




    Incursions

    “Fresh content” are some of the words within the recent statement, however, the first suggestion, and likely a lot of this OP, for new Division 2 content isn’t fresh per say, but more so the return of staple features, and the first are incursions.

    Nothing was wrong with adding raids to Division 2. It was a new pinnacle endgame activity that was a step up from incursions. If anything, one more raid is in order.

    However, the problem with raids was that incursions were completely removed in favor of them. For a long time, a gap existed in the PVE endgame, in my opinion..

    Open world (Including bounties, etc) > heroic missions > ____ > Raids

    Players went straight to raids from heroic missions, since heroic was the highest PVE difficulty at one point in time. This was a huge spike in difficulty, in my opinion. It wasn’t until TU8 / WONY that Legendary difficulty returned, filling the gap. Some may opt to have every main missions offer legendary, but despite what I have said previously, incursions would be a lot more “fresh” in Division 2 compared to more legendary missions.

    Four man heroic or legendary only matchmake-able Raid-lite, pinnacle endgame activity. That was a mouthful, but it is the only way that I could describe it. Having that existing as a destination before an actual raid only gives new and returning players a smooth transition into the more difficult activity, or at least an activity with a different kind of difficulty. They can act as an introduction into the eight man (split into two groups of four) mechanics found in raids.

    Here is where the first Incursion in Division 2 could take place: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial.





    The latter two were taken long ago


    And even with that, incursions do not need to be located on different maps, like Summit or National Zoo, or the proposed Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Much like Dragon’s Nest, locations that are already in the game can be repurposed for incursions. Location doesn’t matter in the end, the activity itself is what matters. Here are a couple examples and they’re right next door to the white house:






    Point is that incursions have the opportunity to return in 2021 / 2022. They were staple Division 1 activities that brought a perfect balance between challenge and fun.



    Classified-like gear

    With the optimization station being in the game now, you gotta raise the endgame ceiling. You gotta give the hardcore players something to grind for. Some sort of 2-3% drop that aren't just exotics. Things like:

    • Classified weapons / exotics with bonuses that only work with certain gear sets / brand sets
    • Reworked classified gear / brand sets that makes them strong, but not meta, like additional effects to something like skills
    • Stronger version of existing exotics / perfected exotics

    There needs to be something that will satiate the players who have nothing else to grind for at the moment. Give them something that will keep them busy for a while. These classified items would be a way to raise the ceiling for hardcore players without actually raising the level cap for those who do not wish to regrind their builds over.

    At the moment, I’d say we’re doing just fine with the gear we have, so these classified items won’t really be a necessity like they were in Division 1 to force players to regrind builds if they don’t want to. They’d be for those who just need something to grind for.

    These new pieces of gear can be possible Summit key room rewards, Global Event cache rewards much like in Division 1, incursion rewards, DZ landmark rewards, etc.



    Bring Back Removed Holstered Talents *Updated*

    We are in a new gear atmosphere (gear 2.0), and what would also be fresh within this new gear atmosphere would be those removed holstered talents being brought back into fray. Have them appear on new named items, improvised gear, or incorporated into specializations. Most of them were utility rather than build defining, so with some slight rework, they can be incorporated into gear 2.0.

    And, despite being old, they would become new things to grind for and improve build diversity even further, especially if they appear on non backpack and chest items. This would give builds another talent slot to think about, but in a good way. This will also bring back some remnants of gear 1.0 / Division 1, with talents appearing in other gear slots, but without those talents being build defining.

    Imperial Dynasty could have been mitigated earlier in PVP if Stop Drop and Roll existed on holsters, for example.

    *Update*

    I have made this section a bit more clearer of what I meant. I did not mean something like Berserk or Critical to return, but holstered gun talents and some other utility talents. Here is a table depicting where those talents can be placed:

    Talent Description Gear Slot
    Dialed In While aiming, weapon stability is increased by x% of your weapon accuracy High-End Mask
    Fill'er Up Reloading from empty reloads all weapons High-End Gloves
    Cannon Throwing distance is increased by x% High-End Gloves
    In Rhythm Enemy kills have a 5% chance to refresh active skill cooldowns. Can occur once every 60s. High-End Gloves
    Recharged Skills deployed at full armor have +x% duration, charges, and ammo High-End Mask
    Stop, Drop and Roll Rolling removes burn, bleed, and poisoned status effects. Can occur once every 60s. High-End Holster or Knee Pads
    Wascally You are able to resist 5 ensnare attempts. Can occur once every 60s. High-End Holster
    Transmission Shock / Any status applied to the Agent transfers to an enemy within 10m. Can occur once every 60s. High-End Kneepads
    Greased Weapon swap / reload speed is increased by 10%. High-End Gloves
    Cloaked When your armor is depleted, nearby enemy skills are disrupted for 10s. Can occur once every 30s High-End Kneepads
    Knee Cap Shooting an enemy in the legs has a 10% chance to apply bleed High-End Gloves
    Everlasting While in cover, regenerate 2 ammo every 5s. High-End Holster
    Destructive 5% Explosive Damage High-End Mask
    Hard Hitting 5% Damage To Elites High-End Mask
    Braced While in cover weapon handling is increased by x% High-End Knee Pads

    These talents will not be build defining, but make builds perform more efficiently. Hard hitting and Destructive are risks, however, the other talents will not provide any flat damage increase like a chest or backpack talent would do otherwise. Braced is a talent that currently exists on chests, but I highly doubt anyone is using Braced over any other damaging chest talent. So, having that return to knee pads, even at a significantly lower percentage, would instantly make it a viable option.

    The same goes for talents with "x" percentages. These would need to find a new balance within gear 2.0.

    Bringing back these talents, as mentioned, will only improve build diversity.



    Settlement Upgrades

    I would like to take the opportunity to bring this up, again. Settlement upgrades should serve some purpose in the end game. I believe that purpose should be Trinket exchanging.

    As a Division agent, I have no need for trinkets. What am I to do with a toy car? A child would need that more than I do.



    What am I to do with a screwdriver or a hammer? Woodworking at the Campus needs these more than I do.



    So why not allow us to trade trinkets for goodies? For example:



    Hammer, tape measure, tape, screwdriver in exchange for field recon data, outcast recon data, SHD calibration, and outcast keys. The gear reward could be any sort of general loot reward. Maybe even a random piece of curated loot or a possible classified piece. This could be a biweekly thing so that we aren’t just sitting in the menu constantly exchanging the trinkets we’ve collected and saved up over the years in one sitting.

    Another example:





    A pencil, antibiotics, insulin, and pain killers in exchange for Alps crafting components, a random or curated gear mod (preferably healing related), backpack and chest weave.

    The point of the exchange is to bring both trinkets and settlement upgrades into the endgame loop and reward things that are relatively related. This leans into the worldbuilding aspect of Division 2, with civilization requiring resources to operate, much like control points. Because the idea is to have multiple settlement upgrades allow for trinket exchange, biweekly rewards seemed like a good way to balance it, as well as give players time to recollect trinkets.

    Additionally, as mentioned, it prevents players from simply standing in one spot and exchanging what they’ve saved up. The rewards should also incorporate new items, i.e possibility of new exotics and classified-like items. And let’s not forget about commendations tied to this exchange feature.

    Course, I'm not a game economy balancer, so any requirement number seen above is simply a mockup. We would finally have reason to get rid of trinkets from our inventory in a more meaningful way.



    Daily and Weekly Project Rewards Need Improvement

    Here is a more consolidated version of a thread posted a while back about daily and weekly projects. tl;dr: daily and weekly projects should reward curated loot. Consider the spoiler for more comprehensive look.

    Spoiler:  Show
    Originally Posted by Merphee Go to original post
    [...]

    Division 2 is a game that gives you a lot of freedom to choose what you want to play for gear. The light zone is full of activities, bounties, and there's no shortage of main missions to play. But, in my opinion, along side freedom should exist guidance. We have targeted loot that helps, however this concept can be further extended to a part of the game that I think is supposed to be a guide, but is in a poor state - projects. Let's take a look at projects tab. Specifically, let's take a look at the weekly project:


    In it, you will find a list of objectives to complete. You will notice that you are being asked to complete eighteen random activities across specific areas in the game world. This request further emphasizes the freedom that the game gives you. As long as you play within these specific areas, you can complete any activity and have it count towards the project. Now, take a look at the rewards, because this is where the gameplay aspect begins to crumble - two random pieces of gear, a bounty, and some experience. If you think about it, you are being rewarded with less gear and less experience in the end than what you will gain by simply doing only one of the objectives.

    If I were to complete just one level 4 control point, I've effectively nullified the need to further complete the weekly project. I've just gotten more loot and, through accolades and directives, more experience in less time. Simply doing one heroic mission with three directives that has one named enemy at the end nets me the same amount of XP and the same amount of loot as the weekly project, but in LESS time.


    So why would a player have a need to complete the weekly project if there are faster ways of achieving the same amount of loot and experience? If one is short on heroic bounties, simply doing public executions on a heroic global difficulty will fill you up, given the changes that have occurred in TU10.

    The same goes for the daily project:


    Doing one heroic bounty with the same number of named outcasts asked to be killed in the first objective of the daily project will net me more loot and experience than the final rewards I will get from completing the entire project. So, why would I waste time doing the daily project?


    [...]

    If I haven't made it clear enough, the daily and weekly projects are currently not worth doing. There are faster, more efficient ways to gain the exact same random rewards, and then some, without ever completing the projects. But, changing the loot from random to curated would make those projects worth doing.

    Imagine completing a project and gaining a Golan piece with skill haste and status effects. Or a Providence with headshot damage and crit chance. Those are examples of curated gear - stats you'd obviously want on those pieces. Even if stats combinations aren't obvious, that's what data is for, no?

    Because that loot would be curated, you will have a reason to do the daily and weekly. A reason to log on and play. They would have meaning because you would be rewarded with something you know wouldn't be rainbow and come with fixed with stats that make sense for the brand set. The brand set drop itself could still be random, and the quality could be determined based on global difficulty, but at least you would be getting something you know would have a good combination of stats no matter what it is.

    Curated loot could further become apart a more engaging weekly Legendary project. For example:

    Complete Legendary [mission of the week] with 10 shotgun kills
    Complete Legendary [mission of the week] with 10 sticky bomb kills
    Complete Legendary [mission of the week] without using an armor kit

    Having additional, but optional challenges like these behind the toughest difficulty can reward +1 additional curated piece per challenge completed. Kenly college could also gain curated loot, given how often it is available to play. One or two per mission. Having that as an additional source of curated loot also sparks replayability in arguably the deadest activity Division 2 has.

    [...]

    This same curated loot concept can be applied to the DZ / PVP projects.


    I don't think there is anything wrong with the objectives of the daily DZ / PVP project. It's pretty standard stuff. However, take a look at the weekly rogue project.


    That is asking for a lot with little for the player to gain. Why would a player go through the trouble of hyper focusing on completing a hefty PVP project, but be rewarded with the same random loot, two pieces I might add, that can be gained from a bounty, or a couple of territory controls? The weekly DZ project could reward two pieces of curated gear, including Yaahl, one DZ only named item, and DZ credits. DZ credits not being apart of the rewards of these projects never made sense to me.

    Rebooting the daily and weekly projects with curated loot will kick start Division's, in my opinion, poor gameplay loop. I will say that the biggest argument against curated gear is the "gearing up too fast" argument, or more or less the "being handed God rolls" argument.

    Legitimate concerns, but remember, these will be rewards. Something that is given after completing various tasks and not dropping from a boss you could farm over and over in a short amount of time. It would be possible for a player to gain a God rolled build by simply doing the dailies and weeklies. The question is: will anyone have a problem with that? Because at the end of the day, you're still playing the game. The journey would still consist of RNG, but the destination will reward you with something curated.

    The objectives of the projects could stay the same. I don't think there is anything wrong there. The problem are the rewards offered for the time asked to spend, and based on those rewards, these projects are asking players to waste their time.




    Conflict / Dedicated PVP

    This should definitely be a top priority area to bring content to. Twitch chat is often begging for PVP content because the area has been so starved of it for so long.

    New conflict maps are always welcomed, but conflict really needs new game modes. Simple team deathmatch and free-for-all. Two basic PVP game modes to get things started.

    Additionally, what has plagued conflict for so long has been full groups being matchmade against solos. This has to change. Group playlists, solo playlists, and a quick play playlist that doesn’t separate them, much like we have now, must be made.

    For last stand to return would require locations. For that, consider the spoiler, as I have spoke about it before:

    Last Stand

    Spoiler:  Show
    In Division 1, Last Stand had its moments. What caused it to suffer has been laid out in a simple phrase even echoed by Terry: "too much runnin', not enough gunnin'." Last Stand also occurred within the dark zones, but given the size of the dark zones in Division 2, I don't know, maybe it could work there again. But, I think that where Last Stand could return is within the Light Zone. Take Constitutional Hall for example:



    Imagine a 6 vs 6 fight over the three control points. Since Conflict is more of a game mode than something that is canon, Last Stand occurring in the LZ seems plausible No need to make dedicated maps.




    Quality of Life

    The first quality of life suggestion I’d like to propose about sharing items. Sharing items without picking them up and placing them in our backpacks would save so much time. If I inspect an item drop from a boss or crate, please allow me to share it on the spot within that HUD.

    Barber 2.0 is the second quality of life suggestion. Getting more options for hair, possibly faces, scars, tattoos and even gender change would be refreshing without having to create a new agent.



    There is a lot more that could have been said in this post, but I am not the only player who plays. If one believes in Massive, I encourage you all to let your voice be heard.
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  2. #2
    wow you put a lot of work and effort into this. great job!
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  3. #3
    Metal_Greg's Avatar Member
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    all great suggestions, i hope they do all of this and survival.
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  4. #4
    xcel30's Avatar Senior Member
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    God i wish we could have Gear set tied weapons, those would be very interesting
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  5. #5
    Merphee's Avatar Volunteer Moderator
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    Originally Posted by SoulBrotherNr3 Go to original post
    wow you put a lot of work and effort into this. great job!
    Thanks!

    Originally Posted by Metal_Greg Go to original post
    all great suggestions, i hope they do all of this and survival.
    Closest thing we can get to survival is a revamped hardcore mode. There's already a temperature mechanic is Iron Horse.

    Though, I left hardcore revamps out of this post because that could get an entire dedicated post.

    Originally Posted by xcel30 Go to original post
    God i wish we could have Gear set tied weapons, those would be very interesting
    Indeed. It's one of the many Division 1 suggestions. It would give the hardcore players something new to grind for without having to force players to refarm their entire builds. I think this is the sort of space where Division 2 should be exploring now.
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  6. #6
    xcel30's Avatar Senior Member
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    Well gear set weapons were a concept before, but doubt anyone remembers that BLIND gear set even existed

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    Merphee's Avatar Volunteer Moderator
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    Originally Posted by xcel30 Go to original post
    Well gear set weapons were a concept before, but doubt anyone remembers that BLIND gear set even existed


    What did the gear set do again before it was changed? I don't remember.

    With the rifle, though, Distracted doesn't really specify it must be used with the gear set. The proposal would emphasis more communication between the two: you must being wearing this [4 piece] gear set in order to activate this weapon's talent.
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    xcel30's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally Posted by Merphee Go to original post
    What did the gear set do again before it was changed? I don't remember.

    With the rifle, though, Distracted doesn't really specify it must be used with the gear set. The proposal would emphasis more communication between the two: you must being wearing this [4 piece] gear set in order to activate this weapon's talent.
    BLIND gear set was meant to be the main baller gear set from the underground update, that's why the cosmedic rewards are still named BLIND and stealth, while the BLIND rifle (later Urban MDR) didn't force the plaeyr to use the gear set it was obviously related to it. The gear set was something like this:

    Set bonus (2): +20% Pulse Critical Hit Damage
    Set bonus (3): +100% Blind/Deaf Resistance
    Set bonus (4): Talent: B.L.I.N.D. System - Killing a target creates a flashbang effect at the targets position.

    It instantly became a trash gear set because flashbangs had the same radius as melee pretty much, making so the 4 piece talent was useless since you never blinded enemies, the Urban MDR got bugged and only got released after the set was reworked into that atrocious banshee DZ set.

    But yeah i'm not against having gear set weaposn, a gun that can print Hollow points and has double the capacity for special ammo would be perfect for OD, A burst fire extremely accurate sniper could be interesting for A&8, an SMG that heals the team like cadeceus for negotiator and so on.
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  9. #9
    Really good concepts about expanding the game, Merphee.

    Maybe you should put it in the Official Div2 Reddit sticky post here too:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision...es_and_dreams/

    Your ideas deserve much more attention!
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  10. #10
    Year 3 content needs to included rebuilding The Castle Settlement.
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