The Division Reveals Changes Coming with Update 1.4

The Division Reveals Changes Coming with Update 1.4

• All gear in World Tier 2 and higher will have all three base stats – Firearms, Stamina, Electronics – on them, one of these stats will be higher than the others.
• Other bonuses, like crit chance and headshot damage, will be scaled down to fit the new game balance.
• Gear will lose their skill bonuses, but backpacks, holsters and knee pads will gain new performance mod slots, making them easier to customize to fit your build.
• Gear Sets will have their Gear Score adjusted to the same levels as High End gear.
• Stat overlaps between Gear Scores have been removed.
• High End gear talents have been rebalanced.
• Scavenging has been removed from the game.
• We want to return The Division to feel more like a shooter, similar to the experience during the 1-30 game.
• New DPS formula on weapons has been introduced, but is a work in progress and will change over the course of the PTS.
• The damage and roles of certain weapons have been changed. Some weapons have seen a damage increase; others have had their damage lowered.
• Named weapons will not be changed in this update.
• Weapon mods will now come with one major bonus and an amount of smaller bonuses, depending on the quality of the mod.
• Damage bonuses are now additive instead of multiplicative, reducing the current spikes in damage which made the game hard to balance.
• The Firearms stat will become a much more significant source of damage output, leading to more decision making when building your character.
• Weapon talents have been rebalanced; some have been buffed, others have seen their numbers reduced.
• The identity of your gear will remain the same, even if the scale of stats and bonuses might change.
• Stamina will be the main source of toughness.
• Armor value will have different results of damage mitigation depending on the World Tier you are in.
• The four-piece bonuses of Gear Sets have been rebalanced.
• Two-piece bonuses will focus more on utility instead of stat bonuses.
• Five-piece bonuses have been removed from the game.
• Reclaimer and BLIND have their four-piece bonuses inactive on the initial PTS version while they are being worked on.
• Electronics will be the main source of Skill Power.
• Skill Power will not scale linearly anymore, instead it will follow a curve of diminishing returns.
• Certain skills are currently much more popular than others. Some skills are overpowered, others underpowered or bugged.
• Skills have been rebalanced to fit the new game balance or to bring them up to par, in the hopes of creating a more varied meta.
• First Aid no longer allows for multiple heals, since those happened due to a bug. First Aid’s healing has been increased to make up for this fix. It will now heal instantly.
• Smart Cover and Pulse have been reworked. Smart Cover is now more defensive and Pulse’s high damage boost has been lowered to make it balanced with the new enemy health.
• Ballistic Shield and Support Station have been given more health. Support Station’s healing has been increased.
• Many bugs associated with skills have been fixed.