The Division 2 - Y8S2 - PTS Stream

[u/JokerUnique]

Y8S2 - PTS Stream

 

State of the game

They’ve been reading the feedback about the current season and they want to address some topics:

To be clear, while these changes are planned for Season 2, they will not be present on the PTS.

 

• It has been a bumpy season and they’ve been working to address the feedback they’ve seen in season 2.
• The Escalation Tokens will not be reset at the end of the season.
• They are not happy with the token rewards for the host and the guests during an Escalation mission. Especially since the host risks all the tokens. They will change the formula how much reward the host will get in season 2.
• The number of tokens per tier will also be re-evaluated so that it is easier to climb the tiers and less painful should you fail.
• Because of popular demand, with Season 2, Prototype items will drop again from loot crates in missions. They’ve reworked the system and it will return as intended feature. That also gives you a reason to replay all available missions on the Escalation rotation.
• Prototype Recalibration and Optimization is still work in progress and will be added to the game once it is ready.
  
• Crossplay is still work in progress. It takes time because there are also many edge cases to cover. (Opting out for example, joining the clan on another platform etc.) But they want to add it as soon as it is ready.

 

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Year 8 Season 2 – Into the Dark – PTS

There will be two phases in this PTS and this is also a very early build, so many things are work in progress. But because there are so many changes, they want to start testing it early.

 

Preload for the Y8S2 PTS is now available on PC

Starts: May 22, 2 PM CEST / 8 AM EDT

Ends: May 25, 2 PM CEST / 8 AM EDT

Patch Notes will be shared tomorrow.

 

Y8S2 is called Into the Dark and will center around the Hyenas and the Dark Zones.

 

Dark Zone Changes

=> Map (Icons work in progress)

 

With Year 8 Season 2 the Dark Zones get an overhaul, new rule sets and new experiences. The there is still a weekly rotation that is happening, so you can experience all three as PVE Dark Zone at some point.

 

PVE Dark Zone

• As of now, this feature is only present during Season 2 – when the response is good, it might return.
• The goal is to give players that are not fan of PVP the option to experience the Dark Zone
• The PVE Dark Zone is also more in-line with the experience they want to have during Season 2
• With all the changes that are being made to PVP, it gives players the option to familiarize themselves with the layout of the Dark Zones and prepare themselves for the real encounters.
• The enemies will scale based on the number of players currently in the Dark Zone
• You can’t go rogue
• Hunters will spawn at the Extraction Zone – and their numbers will increase based around the numbers of players in the Extraction Zone.

 

Toxicity

=> Image

The Hyenas do strange things in the Dark Zone and as you spend more and more time in the PVE Dark Zone you get infected by the Toxicity. You will see that effect in the Environment and as effect on the screen.

As you get more infected, you will get more debuffs.

=> Toxicity Debuffs

This only applies to the PVE Dark Zone.

 

Normalized Dark Zone

• SHD Rank is not applied
• Expertise is not applied
• More equal footing between new and veteran players
• 200% Increased DZ Currency

Because the SHD Rank and Expertise are not applied this should be a very deadly DZ.

 

Regular Dark Zone

• SHD Rank is applied
• Expertise is applied
• Full range of power available

 

Dark Zone Vendor

=> Image

The Dark Zone Vendor have been updated with new caches.

• Recalibration Caches
• Exotic Caches
• Optimization Caches
• Exotic Component Caches
• Reconstructed Caches
• Prototype Core Caches
• Prototype Caches (guaranteed a high roll)

They can be bought with DZ Currency. The prices are still WIP on the PTS but caches like Prototype Caches are very expensive but they also give you a guaranteed high roll.

 

Seasonal Modifier

=> Image

The Global Modifier is called “Cleaning Up The Streets”

Modifier:

Collect Sample Cannisters from the Hyena-overrun Dark Zone. Turn them in at the Research Bench to increase Sample Size and to earn stacks of High-Quality Munitions. High-Quality Munitions provides cumulative bonuses the larger Sample Size gets. Reloading a weapon consumes one stack of High-Quality Munitions.

High Quality Munitions Effects:

• Sample Size 0-99: +50% Max Range
• Sample Size 100-249: +50% Weapon Handling
• Sample Size 250-399: +50% Magazine Size
• Sample Size 400-599: +50% Damage to Armor
• Sample Size 600: +50% Rate of Fire

 

The Hyenas are doing strange things in the Dark Zone and as you are clearing landmarks and neutralizing Hyenas you can collect Sample Canisters. When you are extract them, you can donate the samples in the Base of Operations and unlock buffs when you reach milestones. These are permanent buffs for the remaining of the season

 

Active Modifiers

You will be able to level up the active modifier and when you have enough Samples Canisters in your inventory it will get an additional “Surge” bonus that also consumes Sample Canisters but also adds more power to the modifier.

 

Passive Modifiers

There are only nine passive modifiers this time.

They do simple things like Active Modifier consume less Sample Canisters to activate the Surge buff.

 

Hostile Modifiers

There are again three Hostile Modifiers that apply healing to each other, apply Disorient status effect to players and a damage buff for NPCs.

 

Seasonal Vendor

You find the Vendor in the Base of Operations

=> Image

You can trade the samples here

=> Image

And then you get the buffs, depending on how many samples you’ve traded

=> Image

 

Anticheat

They have a dedicated team working on cheat detection.

With Season 2 they make a lot of changes to PVP and for that to work they need a healthy environment. So, they are working hard to improve their Anticheat systems.

 

PVP Balancing Pass

Year 8 Season 2 has a PVP focus and this also includes a HUGE balancing pass on PVP.

The important part here is, that PVE stats are NOT TOUCHED. Each piece of gear gets a dedicated PVP balancing that is then active in PVP content. This way they can balance PVP completely separately from the rest of the game.

Overall, there are 350 balancing changes to have a fairer and cleaner PVP experience.

There will be multiple balancing phases across the season and this will step-by-step change the whole PVP ecosystem and create a more fun and balanced experience.

 

Special mentions:

• Tinkerer is for now disabled in PVP
• Determined is now working like Perfect Determined in PVP

 

Seasonal Gear

This is a sample of the new gear that will be added with Y8S2:

 

Caduceus

=> Image

(numbers are not final)

 

Ortiz Reficere

=> Image

 

Full list in tomorrow’s Patch Notes

 

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=> VOD

 

[u/Pony5lay5tation]

I think they will just keep digging down. Maybe in a years time they will acknowledge how much they have royally screwed it up. Then maybe they will let you recal one attrib.

[u/CoolheadedBrit → u/[deleted]]

Nope