Ubisoft Massive has been hard at work improving Division 2 over time, from a rocky launch to a steady game in many looter shooter fans’ rotations, and with their latest offering, they are encouraging even more people to return a corner of the map long forgotten: The Dark Zone
For quite a while, The Dark Zones in the game have gotten far less love over the course of major seasons, but now it’s the DZ’s time to shine with ‘Into the Dark,’ a season almost entirely focusing the gameplay loop on a revamped Dark Zone and the inclusion of scaling difficulty in the newly adjusted PvE Dark Zone.
What’s New
Toxic Dark Zone: Every week one of the three dark zones will become a PvE experience, focusing on the new mechanics such as Sample Collection, Toxicity Buffs and Debuffs for the enemies as well as yourself. The Toxic DZ is where you’ll focus most of your gameplay loop, as the story has you gathering samples to convert to a new global buff on your ammo with scaling improvements.
Into the Dark Modifiers; Collect Sample Canisters from the Toxic Dark Zone to convert to powerful buffs for your weapons that scales based on how many samples you turn in for research; after all, why should the Hyenas get all the fun with this mutated strain of DC-62?
Seasonal Buffs and Mods: Most seasons introduce powerful buffs and mechanics, and this is no different, the standout being Invincible, which can give many builds a huge boost to survivability, allowing for more dangerous combinations of builds to shine.
Gear Sets and Exotics: Healers get a new gear set in the form of Ortiz Reficere that focuses on Hazard Protection and burst heals along with a brand set to supplement existing healer build. The new Exotic Nurse’s Kneepads offer even more Hazard Protection and the Caduceus Assault Rifle gets you heals on critical hits
What’s Changed
PvP Rebalancing; For many Division 2 Players the Dark Zone has been a place of contention, as builds determined fights across much of the PvP experience, forgoing the traditional skill based combat of many shooters but this update changes that. Year 8 Season 2 begins the balance passes Ubisoft has planned and starts with normalizing the other two Dark Zones during the weekly rotation by removing additional stats and bringing everyone to as level a playing field as could be ensuring your skill is what will keep you alive when encountering rogues. Talent and Power Spikes are getting addressed for Conflict as well, not just the DZ.
Classified Assignments: The side missions dotted throughout the map are getting a few new entries now and later on in the season for those who like to collect more lore and trophies for their backpacks.
