This post has been updated with more recent information from Ubisoft.
Original Story:
The Division 2’s debut Raid experience, Operation Dark Hours, wound up being much tougher than players anticipated. In fact, it was so tough that players initially worried it was unbeatable on consoles. That worry was eventually debunked, but it did prompt a response from Ubisoft itself. Ubisoft says it will investigate Raid performance on consoles and potentially make tweaks as needed.
The Division 2 Operation Dark Hours Console Performance
On PC, it took dedicated raiders roughly five hours to conquer The Division 2’s Operation Dark Hours Raid. However, console players struggled for much longer than that, dedicating roughly 36 hours before the raid was finally toppled. PC players have since whittled the raid’s completion time down to a mere 20 minutes with optimal gear and strategies. Console players, meanwhile, are still struggling to get optimal completions in under three hours.
The disparity in completion times stems from two key issues. The PC version of The Division 2 can go up to 60 frames per second (or fps). The console versions, meanwhile, are capped at 30 fps. PC players also have the luxury of playing with more precise mouse-and-keyboard controls. This allows them to execute strategies that console players simply couldn’t. The difference in fps (and thus lag and reaction time) combined with the raid’s inherent difficulty is clearly worth noting.
Ubisoft apparently agrees as a representative directly responded to this recent Reddit thread with the following response:
“The raid is very much designed to be the toughest challenge yet in the history of the franchise. It is built around the idea of a well-coordinated team with good communications.
That said, raid difficulty is certainly feedback that we have been looking at since the release of Dark Hours, and it is not outside the realm of possibility that tweaks will be made moving forward.”
Raid Difficulty
Some fans are understandably worried that Ubisoft will simply lower Operation Dark Hours’ difficulty. Judging from its response, it sounds like Ubisoft is more interested in focusing on the technical limitations of console performance. If there’s a way to ease up on The Division 2 console raiders without compromising the raid’s difficulty, hopefully Ubisoft will find it.
Update: Ubisoft recently confirmed in a State of the Game livestream that it won’t be changing the Operation Dark Hours Raid. The raid is objectively harder on consoles, but it’s still technically beatable, and thus Ubisoft feels there’s nothing to address.