The Division: Before The Launch

The Division: Before The Launch

If you’re a nerd like me who’s only social life includes talking with people through a microphone from the comfort of your own room, you’ve probably heard of The Division, which will be released on the 8th of March on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

THE BULLETPOINTS:

- Open world, third person shooter.

- Character customisability.

- Supports both single and multiplayer gameplay.

- Loot-based system.

- PvP and PvE.

- Realtime weather affects gameplay.

- No Microtransactions

Plot

A smallpox pandemic spreads on Black Friday across the United States, plunging the country into chaos. As the player, you assume the role of a Strategic Homeland Division (SHD) agent as you rebuild and battle through a torn Manhattan and the gangs that inhabit and pillage the city.

World

The world is essentially divided (pun intended) into several sections or districts that vary according Base of Operations, Safe House and the PvP arenas known as the Dark Zone.

The Base of Operations is the only place in the game that belongs personally to the player. This is the place you go to upgrade your character, access your stash box, restock your ammunition, and barter with your vendors.

The Safe Houses are like a scaled-down version of the Base of Operations found in the Dark Zone, that’s a lot of Italics. Here you have access to premium vendors which sell higher level loot and armour. Although, getting to these areas would mean having to go through the Dark Zone which can be a little tricky when six-year old Timmy is in a trolling mood.

The Dark Zone represents a PvP area complete with NPCs, enemies, and other players who want to shoot your well-groomed, moisturised face. There is a completely different rank system in the Dark Zone as compared to the other portions of the map. For starters, they have a different form of experience points and currency known quite aptly as DZ XP and DZ Currency respectively. The loot in the Dark Zone is also said to be of a higher rarity and value compare to what you’d normally find in the normal map.

It is important to note that Ubisoft Massive’s creative director, Magnus Jansen, has mentioned that while the map scales by difficulty from South to North, the Dark Zone will entirely re-populate upon the player hitting level 30 with new challenges and enemies suited to that level.

Rank System and Classes

There are no fixed classes per se in The Division. The player is given the freedom to upgrade their character as they see fit according to their style of play. For example, someone who predominantly plays with a clan would see fit to assume role-oriented skills that compliment your team like a medic having the First Aid skill which heals your squad within the small area it is deployed in. Alternatively, if you’re more of a lone wolf, you would prefer to make your character more well-rounded, employing skills from different roles into a package that suits your play style.

The upgrades are separated into three skill trees; Medical, Tech, and Security which are upgradeable from your Base of Operations.

Loot

The loot system is similar to what you would find in a game like Borderlands or Destiny. Basically, an undisclosed variety of weapons with infinite possible combination of attributes. As I touched on earlier, the loot found in the normal map and in the Dark Zone vary in terms of value. You would have a better chance of getting a more kick-ass weapon in the Dark Zone as compared to the normal map.

Crafting

In the Base of Operations, you’ll also be able to craft new weapons, mods, and armour. When you find a blueprint in the map and the right combination of materials, you can come back to the Base of Operations to build up or strip down gear.

Character Customisation

From my understanding, the usual character customisation rules apply. Choose a gender, a face, and a body type and off you go. What I found particularly interesting is in The Division armour is separated into two categories, namely cosmetic gear, and armour. The cosmetic gear adds no value to your overall gear whereas armour would have certain attributes added to them to buff up your character. This, to me, is a really nifty feature to truly make your character stand out so by end-game, not everyone will look the same.

PvP

Personally, I’m not the biggest purveyor of PvP. I normally like keeping to myself and not messing with other players but I’m polite like that. However, if you find that your trigger finger’s just a little too itchy, you can shoot another player and attain a Rogue Agent status. This basically means that you will be visible to every other player on the map who will hunt you down for the sweet bounty on your head. As you survive wave after wave of players and take their loot, the higher the bounty on your head becomes. This isn’t ideal, especially when you have to call for extraction at specific points in the map to keep your loot. So you kill the other players, steal their loot, and somehow survive the waves of bloodthirsty players while waiting for your chopper at the extraction point, good news, you get to keep the bounty on your head for yourself and the loot as well.

Final Thoughts

I haven’t had a chance to play any of the BETA for The Division but I’m generally hearing very positive things about it. I’ve pre-ordered it at my local game store and I look forward to diving into a snowy, miserable, dangerous New York City on the eighth of March.

My only hope is that it lives up to the hype and doesn’t fall short like how Destiny did.