The Division 2 Update: How Gear And Loot Have Changed With Warlords Of New York Update

The Division 2 has introduced some big changes in the Warlords of New York expansion (which is live now--see the full patch notes). Returning to New York City, the expansion will have players face off against series big-bad Aaron Keener and his squad of rogue agents, in order to stop another biological attack on the city. In addition to revisiting the city where the franchise started, the expansion will also introduce a suite of changes to the game's familiar loot and shoot dynamic to make the power grind a bit more accessible for all players. Let's take a deeper look.

During our pre-release hands-on with the game's expansion, we had the chance to listen to the developers talk about how the first year went for The Division 2, and why the gear and power-growth systems were in need of a change. In addition to improving general RNG for new loot across the world tiers, the overall gear system has been revised to do a better job of conveying changes to power-growth for players.

The developers explained they were satisfied with the game's original power grind from levels 1 to 30, but they addressed that the end-game grind was where most players hit a wall on account of how cumbersome the gear menus and inventory UI was. This will be streamlined and made more presentable when Warlords of New York releases.

Along with new exotics and legendary weapons, The Division 2 will now include "god-roll" items, which will let you hunt down a particular weapon with a set of stats that are a cut above the rest. The developers at Massive Entertainment stated that it was important to convey weapon power to players, while also including more of a reason to want to go on the hunt for particular weapons.

Another big change coming are adjustments to the various character builds, such as DPS, tank, and skill-builds. Over the course of the year, Ubisoft noticed that players tend to stick with DPS builds in order to maximize the effectiveness during fights, which left other viable builds like tank and skill underutilized. Along with gear calibration being more streamlined, which will now negate the need to save different gear pieces to presets, the various skill mods in particular have been simplified to address the changes to character builds. The revised systems coming to the game are intended to present a more flexible approach to letting players grow their characters in the ways they want, which will make end-game less of an exhausting and repetitive grind.

In GameSpot's review of The Division 2, senior editor and producer Edmond Tran awarded the game a 9 and stated: "The Division 2 as a game are compelling enough to keep you captivated for dozens more. The range of enemy types continues to keep combat encounters challenging, the equipment I earn and pick up continues to feel different, valuable, and asks me to consider new ways of play. The ravaged environments continue to intrigue, and sometimes they're so stunning I find myself needing to take screenshots before I move on. It might not have much to say, but The Division 2 is a perpetual cycle of tension, relief, and reward that's difficult to stay away from.