'The Division' Gets Better After You Beat It

We’re a few weeks into the new Ubisoft game Tom Clancy’s The Divison, which, in typical Ubisoft form, got off to a rough start. Players were forming lines behind NPCs just to get quests, and the game’s systems were a total mess. Now, players are coming across the end game for the main storyline, and finding that — like Destiny before it — The Division might become something better around the time you thought it was going to end. Personally, I was furious when people told me Destiny only got good after Level 20, but now, I’m fine with The Division telling me the real game opens up even further down the road, at Level 30. Fine, video games. You’ve beaten me down.

The Dark Zone is a mix of PVE and PVP in a new area, with its own leveling system and its own system of credits, called Phoenix credits, but the game does a terrible job of introducing any of these new systems. Let’s break them down together.

The new systems within the Dark Zone actually feature new vendors and new gear for both level 30 and level 50 players, which you can find at border checkpoints. There are also safe houses within the Dark Zone, but they offer fewer amenities than what you might find in the story mode sections: that means no access to your supplies, and (thankfully) multiple exits to prevent camping players from picking off your soldiers as they exit.

We also have the Rogues. The PVP system focuses on players who turn on other players for fun and profit, but the system is broken (although fixing up quickly) but the real danger is that Rogue-spirit lives in the heart of every player in the Dark Zone, so it should be expected that everyone you know might turn on you at a moment’s notice. Also, please don’t go Rogue if you aren’t ready.

The aforementioned Phoenix Credits drop from Daily Challenges and from Dark Zone missions, but most of the bigger earning challenges will be nearly impossible for level 30s to take on right away.

You’ll also have the option to focus on a number of talent-builds at this point. There’s going to be a great deal of personal choice available to you, but you’ll also want to finish your base to 100% and (unfortunately) do a lot of grinding. Again.

There’s a lot of crazy powers and systems to explore here, and it’s about to get a lot bigger.

Today on a livestream, which is archived here, you could see the announcement of new Incursions, hourly supply drops, and a checkpoint system which is more varied. Most importantly (for less hardcore players like myself) the livestream announced a series of challenges in “bite-sized” increments, for soldiers who don’t have the time to setup big groups and sink hours into the enterprise. Again, borrowing from the Destiny model, there are raids and some equipment trading in bound, so while you’ve already saved the city, you have no idea what this will take to save yourself in the coming weeks from the betrayal of The Dark Zone.

I can’t wait.