Just over two years ago Ubisoft made a splash with The Division, though at launch it was an imperfect game. For many gamers, lives were put on pause as we completed side and story missions, hit the grind for loot and hunted each other in the Dark Zone. The game had many bugs at first, but nothing that I found to be game breaking and certainly nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a series of patches. The Division now has nearly double the content and probably almost five times as much content for season pass owners. Any remaining bugs are minimal inconveniences at best and aren’t worth fussing over, and the amount of content has brought back many of the original players and more.
Now Ubisoft has announced the sequel, simply called “The Division 2”. No one is sure of what to expect from it since nothing has yet been hinted. They have however put a strong emphasis on listening to social media, test servers and surveys for player feedback. They want us to know they heard both our constructive and destructive feedback previously, so with that in mind, what are the things myself and other players I’ve rubbed shoulders with wanting out of The Division 2.
1) Something I think we can all agree on is to not make the same mistake as Destiny 2. Though Destiny 2 did a great job of making the gameplay smooth and an overall great experience, it didn’t bring anything new to the table. We don’t want The Division 2 to simply be the same as The Division but with better graphics and gameplay tweaks, nor do we want the same old content that we will all grind through in the first month and then get bored.
2) The story for the Division has opened many doors and conspiracies which could lead down many different paths. As an MMORPG there is lots of room to explore more characters and the mystery behind the villains and the green poison. This pandemic has left not only New York in havok, but the rest of the world as well, at least according to radio broadcasts and character dialog throughout the game. I know I’m not alone when I say more story driven and side missions would be appreciated.
3) I’m going to take a page out of Ghost Recon Wildlands’ book and stack it on to The Division. In The Division as you first play the game and complete story missions you gather resources to upgrade your “Base of Operations”, which then grants you upgrades and abilities. The Division also had the “JTF” (Joint Task Force) bringing NPCs who you would help out every now and again. In Ghost Recon there were rebels who you could help out and any side mission that relates to helping the rebels would upgrade a certain ability, such as getting reinforcements from the rebels or a mortar strike.
How about we add something similar to The Division 2? I’d like to be able to complete certain tasks which grant me the ability to call for reinforcements or some other form of help from my JTF allies. How about the option to upgrade the JTF, which would actually make the a more useful ally who I could fight alongside, instead of worrying about the useless NPCs?
4) Wider variety of enemies. Currently there are 4 factions in The Division (Not counting the new Hunters) – the Rioters, Cleaners, Rikers and the Last Man Battalion (or LMB for short). Each one has their own style and I think it works really well. At one end we have Rioters who are just guys in hoodies with pistols or baseball bats trying to be tough. Meanwhile the factions only get more intimidating and organized with the LMB being a very rich private military company trying to start a dictatorship in NYC. I think this is great however each faction has pretty much the same type of enemies. There is one enemy who rushes you whether it’s with a baseball bat or a shotgun. There’s an enemy that suppresses you with an machine gun, the usual grunts, heavily armored enemies, specialists and snipers. There are bosses, but they are just like the other enemy types but with higher damage output and more health.
When the Division added drones, it turned things a bit sci-fi for a modern post apocalyptic setting, it was very much different from what we had fought against so far. I am hoping for a wider enemy variety, and I don’t see why we can’t have enemies with Riot shields, mini guns, attack dogs and more. I would like to say that Hunters have been added, and these act more like players and are extremely deadly and make for good boss fights. This is the sort of boss I was hoping for and they do a great job of adding the variety we want.
5) A change in scenery. The first game takes place around Christmas time so of course it’s going to be snowing and have a cold winter vibe all the time. After a couple hundred hours of that though, I was left craving a new season, leaving me hoping they were going to release a big update that would make it subtly change between season throughout the year to help keep it feeling fresh. Sadly my dream did not come true. However The Division 2 may have changing seasons or at least it won’t be winter anymore. You see I’m Canadian and I’m writing this in April and it’s still snowing outside. I’m sorry if I get a little depressed when I see snow.
6) The Dark Zone has come a long way with many tweaks here and there thanks to community feedback. I’m confident that it will return in The Division 2, and whilst I rarely went in to the Dark Zone, when I did I avoided players and just minded my own business. Just being the peaceful Canadian that I am, I never went rogue on anyone no matter how great of an opportunity I may have gotten.
You see, I found that for a long time the Dark Zone was unfair. Whether it’s running into a group of 4 players who just run you over and take your hard earned loot or just one guy who hasn’t seen daylight in weeks using his maxed out DPS build to cut down anyone and everyone in his sight. It simply wasn’t enjoyable. I did find the idea of the Dark Zone’s PvPvE setup very cool though and hopefully there will be a way to make it even better.
7) There is lots of speculation regarding where The Division 2 will be set. Some are hoping for London, England. Others would prefer a trip to Berlin. However I personally hope that it takes place on the other side of NYC. If you look at a real map or the map from the game you’ll see Central Park to the North East along with the rest of the City on the island, which is about the same size as the current playable area. I would like to see us play as agents that are in that side of the city facing similar enemies. After all, the LMB’s final base was near the edge of the map in that direction and we are yet to fight in Central Park – something some players were hoping to have unlocked in DLC. Just maybe it’ll be in the sequel. Not only could there be another faction of enemies over there, but what if we played as the first wave who went rogue? Okay now I’m just making up my own ideas but seriously that would be awesome.
8) The last thing I want to see in The Division 2 is to simply build on what the first game started. How about removing enemy grenade spam, adding to the Underground DLC and other game modes that were later added to the game? I would love to see everything that the first game has at launch in the sequel. That would not only be amazing but it would blow the minds of gamers and frankly make anything that hopes to compete in the genre look second rate.
So folks what would you like to see in The Division 2? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to read your thoughts.
