Ubisoft rolls out a major update to the game – But Is it too late?

Earlier this year Ubisoft released The Division with their post-release plans. The premise was to expand with on-going content that would enhance the gaming experience. Ubisoft generated over $ 330 million in revenue in its first week of release. And over the course of year one, expansions would include new incursions, gear sets and loot trading. Yet the game struggled with developer glitches and consistent loss of connection to servers. This is not the first time that Ubisoft was over-hyping their games for preorders and releasing them in a broken state.

The Division‘s first free Incursion update dropped April 12 for PC, Xbox One and PS4. The first enhancement was the introduction of four new Gear Sets.  The skills and talents of the gear sets named Striker’s BattleGear, a Path of the Nomad, the Tactician’s Authority and Sentry’s Call displayed below.

Since the first update, Ubisoft is live streaming a program called State of the Game. With its propaganda spokesperson Hamish Bode,  The Division community developer discusses various topics. But what seems to be a consistent drive for Hamish Bode and the developers is over promising and under delivering. I know that you might think Ubisoft might have a handle on what they’re doing, but with the loss of eighty percent of the PC player base it is truly doubtful.

Then came update 1.2, with the introduction of more new Gear Sets. These being the Hunter’s Faith, Lone Star, Final Measure and Predator’s Mark.

The only PvP PvE element in The Division is the Dark Zone. This is inside the game’s Manhattan map where players share the terrain with others. In the Dark Zone players fight NPC’s, Bosses and other players when they turn Rogue. Rogue Division agents can be identified by a red skull next to their name. Anyone who goes rogue makes themselves a target. And other players will receive greater reward for killing them. Yet for the solo player such as myself, NPC’s have insane high damage health levels, it’s futile.

After the Underground Expanse, with the update 1.3, fans of the Striker Battlegear and Sentry’s Call gear sets found bonuses, talents and capabilities nerfed. It was polite of Ubisoft for keeping four pieces of the set Talent to remain unchanged.

•      Sentry’s Call bonuses were:
                 2 Set: +30% Headshot Damage
                 3 Set: +20% Damage to Elites 
•      Sentry’s Call bonuses are now:
                 Sentry’s Call 2 Set: +10% Headshot Damage
                 Sentry’s Call 3 Set: +10% Damage to Elites
                 Sentry’s Call 5 Set: +20% Headshot Damage and +10% Damage to Elites 
•      Striker’s Battlegear bonuses were:
                 2 Set: +20% Enemy Armor Damage
                 3 Set: +50% Critical Hit Damage 
•      Striker’s Battlegear bonuses are now
                 Striker’s Battlegear 2 Set: +10% Enemy Armor Damage
                 Striker’s Battlegear 3 Set: +20% Critical Hit Damage
                 Striker’s Battlegear 5 Set: +10% Enemy Armor Damage and +30% Critical Hit Damage

With the deployment of Expansion One, in The Underground players will experience randomly generated levels with all new environmental hazards and traps. An entirely new ranking system Ubisoft developed for the Underground. Players are required to gain experience to unlock new Directives, Operation types, and allegedly exclusive vanity Items. While playing in the Underground with the overstrength NPC regime, an alleged fifteen minute activity was literally hours. Yes, each Challenging evolution took hours with a four person “tank” gear set team. But the release did bring exciting new Gear Sets which are extremely diverse and efficient.

At the end of August, Ubisoft Twitch program State of the Game for the Division stated: “With update 1.4 in the works, it has become clear with your feedback and our own observations that our priority should now be on improving the core game play experience.”

In Update 1.4, all gear will lose their skill bonuses, while backpacks, holsters and knee pads gain new performance mod slots. This means that you’ll have more choices, which mods you want to use and no longer have to be annoyed that the God roll gear piece you got came with a modifier you didn’t want in the first place. This limits the current RNG and makes it easier for you to customize your gear to fit your build. These new slots won’t replace any of the current ones. Current performance mods will lose their major bonus, and their skill bonus will be rebalanced and rerolled.

One of the biggest changes is the a new ‘World Tier’ system. When it is engaged, each Tier changes difficulty scaling at level 30 based on your gear score. It has four tiers of difficulty, affecting the level of the enemies you fight everywhere. If limiting gear and weapons was going to be improving the game experience, I would not have bothered wasting the time playing by gaining that same gear and weapons. This is without a doubt despicable. This harsh act deserves the contempt not just for the programmers, but for Ubisoft itself.

The question is Ubisoft sabotaging the last six months of playing a character with The Division? The programmers seem to be repeating themselves with each update. Now, Players again deal with huge dramatic changes with playability. All gear sets, weapons, attachments and mods have been downgraded, altered and overhauled. This action is detestable, deserving intense emotions from any player who has strived for the best gear possible. And even now, I do not believe for one single second that this game is entirely fixed. The augmented gear sets with talent perks percentage revisions are inconsistent and it still isn’t worth playing.

I think in many ways this game was doomed from the start. Obviously, like many other players, I am feed up. The agreements, such as terms of service or other legal material regarding video game purchases should change. It is a fundamental truth that once the companies like Ubisoft have your money, it is unlikely that they will give it back. In any case, new and better games have come out and like other players, I have moved on. Sell your copy of The Division now before it’s worthless.

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