Tom Clancy’s The Division was supposed to be one of Ubisoft's box office draws. This online multiplayer-focused third-person shooter did start off well enough, but it did not have the staying power that was expected originally. It was not all downhill in an instant, but rather, issues such as gameplay problems, performance niggles and technical aspects left players with a bitter taste in their mouths.
It is no surprise to hear that The Division has not had that much of fanfare surrounding it in recent months, but thankfully publisher Ubisoft and developer Massive have stepped forward with this bit of news, hoping for gamers to return to their previous love.
One of the major issues surrounding The Division was a question of balance. Balance in any game is a difficult aspect to achieve, but you can say that Blizzard perfected it with their years of experience in titles such as Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. For The Division, however, that is not the case. A huge power difference exists between optimized and non-optimized builds, which could prove to be difficult to bridge.
Ubisoft hopes to address this issue with the upcoming Update 1.4 that is slated for an October release. In fact, Update 1.4 for The Division is said to "bring back the shooter feeling" according to Ubisoft, and it will also include more decision-making and hard choices to make when you are building up your character, as well as to introduce more variety to the viable builds out there.
The 1.4 update will also see every single piece of equipment that has been dropped in World Tier 2 and higher with have all three stats (Firearms, Stamina and Electronics) on them. The reasoning behind this move is to ensure a balanced baseline is created. This will in turn, allow you to survive better out there, and neither do you have to take the risk of accidentally entering a game with all of the added difficulties. Beginners will certainly love such a balancing act introduced.
Ubisoft intends to adjust the gear score of gear sets as well in the 1.4 update. At the moment, you can easily be removed from certain simply because your gear score has not been inflated with 268 GS Gear Set pieces. Ubisoft would want to ensure high end gear is more viable to the masses, and it paves the way for additional builds that do not solely rely on gear sets. Ubisoft shared, "We want to make sure you're not automatically punished just because your gear score doesn't look high enough."
Gear sets were not created to be the benchmark of measuring actual power or end up as "must have" items, but rather, to represent "fun and specialised gameplay styles". Unfortunately, gamers do not see this to be the case, and maybe update 1.4 might turn things around.
Other items that will be rebalanced include weapons, armour, skills and consumables. Do expect the old guard to raise a ruckus as they have to adapt and learn all over again with update 1.4 for The Division arriving next month. Those who left the fold, are you tempted to return?
