The Division 2’s first raid may have been delayed, but that doesn’t mean Ubisoft is sitting on idle hands. The studio recently outlined upcoming PvP and Dark Zone changes coming in Title Update 3. One change in particular already has potential for controversy: Dark Zone items will scale up to 515 gear score.
The Division 2 Boosted Dark Zone Drops
Ubisoft confirmed the upcoming Dark Zone gear boost in this State of the Game blog post. Once Title Update 3 is live, players will be able to push beyond the current gear score cap of 500. However, the Dark Zone will be the only method for doing so, and that’s understandably ruffling some fan feathers.
Now, technically, Ubisoft hasn’t explicitly said that the Dark Zone will be the only means of obtaining 515 gear. The specific wording Ubisoft uses in its post, though, leaves little room for creative interpretation:
“Perhaps the largest addition to the Dark Zone is that items can drop up to gear score 515. This creates an opportunity for players to play the Dark Zone to slowly increase their gear score.”
The Division 2 has a broad range of PvE and PvP activities, and the Dark Zone is technically both. Of course, history has shown that players don’t enjoy being forced into PvP activities for the best gear. Dark Zone players aren’t guaranteed to encounter PvP combat, but the risk is always high.
Moreover, most gear drops in the Dark Zone have to be extracted before they can be used. This means that just because a gear piece drops doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to get it. Other players can ambush you and steal your contaminated drops during an extraction, leading to wasted effort and frustration.
The good news is that the planned Dark Zone changes are only in their testing phase. PC players can try out the changes for themselves on the recently launched PTS and voice their concerns (if any). There is a possibility that such changes could be tweaked before Title Update 3 goes live next month.