Posted by The Division
Agents,
With update 1.2: Conflict on the horizon we have some exciting information regarding loot drops we would like to share with you.
Our previous efforts were aimed at shifting the focus of acquiring loot away from crafting and towards loot drops. While we were able to shift the best loot away from crafting, update 1.1 was only the first step. Update 1.2 is the continuation of our plans that will place an even stronger emphasis on loot drops.
Looting: The End Game Challenge
Gearing up when you reach end game at level 30 is a challenging task as the current progression path is unclear and specific rewards are limited to activities you may not be interested in. This overall generates a less rewarding and enjoyable experience. Players are then forced to turn to crafting as a main source of end game gear, which as we explained in our previous article, is something we want to move away from. With update 1.2, we want to add a layer of consistency between activities so you can obtain stronger gear from the content that you enjoy the most.
To achieve this, we have looked into the following:
Adding and Improving Activities
With update 1.2 we want to make loot more fun! To do this we will be more generous overall, provide clear progression steps, allow more diverse gameplay options to obtain the best loot, and make the Dark Zone more consistent to the Gear Score of the player.
Open World
Let’s kick it off by talking about the Open World. In our last Intelligence Annex we introduced Search and Destroy and High Value Targets missions that offer a new way for players to acquire good gear. If you want more information about these features check out the full article! Each High Value Target will provide a reward, but the main focus is the loot that drops from the named NPCs:
These missions will follow a similar line of progression and their reward will coincide directly with the rank of the mission. They will not only provide an additional stepping stone for gearing up that will allow you to take on tougher challenges, but the most difficult ones will reward you with the best quality gear in the game.
Main Missions
We are making significant changes to the loot that drops from Hard Mode and Challenge Mode main missions. Every time you complete them you will receive:
This change allows for players to have a more concrete source of gear to prepare for the higher brackets in the Dark Zone and Hard Mode Incursions.
Incursions
We have also made some significant changes to the way you receive loot from Incursions. Every time you clear it, you will now receive an item relevant to the difficultly you complete it on. In update 1.2 you will receive:
The weekly reward allows you to obtain a guaranteed weapon once a week per character as well as additional loot drops. These changes allow players to more effectively farm the Incursion to either obtain more gear to beat it on Challenge mode, or hunt for those really min-maxed Gear Sets with the perfect attribute combination.
Dark Zone
Adding rewarding Open World activities and changing the Incursion loot drops aren’t the only things we are doing. The Dark Zone is a huge part of the overall experience and it’s crucial that it receives the same generous loot philosophy we are applying elsewhere.
The loot you pick up should feel more rewarding and assist your progression through the Dark Zone. As you collect better loot you will move to higher named zones in the Dark Zone as well as eventually progressing into a new Gear Score bracket. To help this, we have made the following changes to loot drops in both the 0-161 Gear Score and 162-200 Gear score brackets:
Additionally, with the introduction of a 201+ Gear Score Dark Zone bracket comes better loot opportunities. Encounters will be extremely difficult so it’s very important that the rewards reflect this. Players in this bracket already have exceptional gear, making it difficult to find upgrades. Finding those rare upgrades will be made easier in this bracket. The quality of equipment you find is directly related to the enemy level for named NPCs and Dark Zone named zone for Supply drops. The loot drops in 1.2 for the 201+ Gear Score bracket are as follows:
Supply drops are getting a similar treatment in terms of rewards. They should provide rewards that scale with the difficulty of the NPC’s guarding them and the limited number of them that drop down. The Supply Drops will scale with Dark Zone Gear Score bracket and named zone. The Supply Drop rewards are as follows for the Gear Score 0-161 and 162-200 bracket:
Similarly, the Supply drops in the Gear Score 201+ bracket are:
Conclusion
Let’s recap what we’ve discussed:
These changes will create a more clear line of progression and make loot drops feel more rewarding.
Making adjustments in an online game like this one is no easy task but we are committed to improving the overall experience with every step we take. Your discussions are extremely valuable to us so make sure to keep them coming, we are always reading!
-The Division Dev Team
