Hey, guys and welcome to my The division 1.4 review.

I want to start off by saying, that I bought and played "The Division" at release and then pretty much dropped it until now because it just wasn't fun for me to play. I found it bland and boring with no real end game motivation. So, keep that in mind.

Patch 1.4 introduced a lot of changes to how the game works and we will go through all or most of them and see, how that changed the game, for better or for worse;

Enemies aren't bullet sponges anymore!

Yes, one of the most important points that people usually remember about "The Division", is the number of shots it took to take down enemies. It sometimes took thousands upon thousands of bullets to take down bosses or even elite enemies. It was simply NOT fun, and it sure did its job alienizing people from the game. Remember, that "The Division" is an FPS RPG hybrid and in this case, it was way too much on the rpg/MMO side.

At the same time, it took an enemy with shotgun only one blast to your head to kill you, which made the whole experience lacking.

Add to that that the enemies were missing any real A.I., and that's why it simply bored the hell out of most people. All you did, was to point at the enemy and empty clip after clip after clip and hope that no shotgun enemy would creep up on you from behind and whistle out your candle.

Now I am glad to say, that this is gone!

They moved the slider way more to the FPS side and made enemies go down a lot faster, but at the same time, made them a lot smarter, too.
They now try to take appropriate cover and also will try to outflank you more.

Now, of course, don't expect any magic here, it is still a game, and so the A.I. is still very limited, BUT in contrast to before, it is like night and day.

On the same note, you can now survive a lot more and, if you are geared appropriately for the content you're facing, shouldn't die from one hit anymore.

Of course, if you are under geared for what you are facing, the enemy will make short work of you and send you the abyss rather quickly.

So, to recap;

Time to kill has been significantly reduced, while time to live has been increased appropriately, which makes the game a lot more fun.

So let's give this an up.

Next, we come to the content.

With the introduction of world tiers, they finally reopened the entirety of the playable area to people instead of limiting where you could go to a tiny portion.

Now, upon reaching level 30, all of Manhatten will have enemies appropriate to your level and most importantly, your gear score.

And even better, depending on the world tier level you are in, you'll get loot that will increase your gear score towards the next tier.

So in level 3 you can already get the top gear, keep that in mind.

Of course to farm the best gear in the game, it is better to play in tier 4, the highest one.

So, now you can go everywhere, but how does that matter to you, you ask? Well, it matters in the way that, you can go anywhere and do any content you want or like, and you will always get the same quality loot.

There is no place, to get better loot, but only the quantity.

For example, every single red enemy you encounter may drop a piece of a gear set you need, just like an end boss in an Encounter could. The difference is, that the boss guarantees you drops, while random mobs don't.

That being said, random trash mobs are so rare in this game, in free roam, that it is not a viable alternative to farm, be assured of that.

There simply aren't enough enemies that walk the streets. And I think Ubisoft should consider upping that a bit.

The only thing that is farmable now in free roam are the eleven open world bosses, which are more or less easy to find with the help of a map and also are rather easy to kill and each of which guaranteed 1 or 2 high-end items.

They do however have a 4 hour respawn time, and you can finish 1 round in like 10 to 15 minutes, so they aren't very viable to farm either.

Which means you are still stuck with Search and destroy missions, which means running to point A, kill some trash, run to point B, kill some more trash and then run to point C and kill some bigger trash and return to base.

Doing that then gives you intel, which you can use to get High-Value Targets from the main base, which is like world bosses that spawn just for you.

There are of course still missions, which you can do alone or with other people and which also can drop a lot of items or incursions, which are you and your team killing a LOT of enemies, for basically no loot, all things considered, but with a reward that makes it worthwhile.

Of course, for those with the underground DLC, there's still also the option of running Underground phases solo or in groups, but I find them to be rather dull.

You noticed I didn't mention the Dark Zone and there is a reason for it;
I haven't been there yet, since the patch.

I will try it shortly and maybe write about it as well, but I am more of a "Solo PvE guy", so the dark zone isn't my primary goal in this game, and so I can't be very objective about it.

Now you may wonder, is it fun now?

Well, the answer is yes and now.

When you first come back and you start getting all that loot you'll be almost a bit overwhelmed and be all happy and what not, but as you progress, you'll quickly find yourself in my position, where you realise, that you get everything you want or need extremely quickly and easy.

I played for a couple of days now, and I never played more than an hour or two a piece, and my inventory is full of level 229 gear sets and weapons.

I am relatively strong and can face anything the game has to offer, with more or less difficulty.

And I am not saying, that I am immortal or do insane DPS or whatever, no, I am not even saying that I tried to min max anything yet.

But the way the game throws loot at you, you become rather strong rather quickly.

And again, I am not saying, that everything is too easy, no, I still die sometimes, of course, but usually because of my carelessness more than anything else.

I just think the game throws way too much loot at you and it becomes way too easy to outfit your character without ever doing any actual hard work for it.

I think that's the biggest problem here, the lack of motivation to run end game content because there isn't anything you can't get before already. You don't run an incursion in heroic or whatever, to get better items, no, you do then so you can get the same items you already got before if that makes any sense.

Like I said, I've now played several days and hours, and the only thing that is left for me right now is switching between my different sets to find the one that suits me best.

After that, all that remains is farming for the same gear over and over to get the gear with the best RNG stats.

So let's recap this quickly;

The gameplay itself and the mechanics, i.e. how enemies move and fight and die, has improved dramatically.

But this is meaningless if it doesn't give you an actual motivation to face them.

People need something to keep playing a game. Now for those who are into random PVP in the dark zone, good, they have that motivation to keep looking for better gear.

But for people like me, who are more into PVE, there isn't much motivation to keep going.

Once you found your gear, that allows you to tackle anything the game has to offer basically, what is the motivation to keep on playing?

If the same items drop from random trash mobs, than what I can find from an elite end boss, what's the point ?

I think they overdid it a bit with the loot and hoped they'll rework that. Loot really should be a compensation for your work and not just be thrown at you.

I mean, I am ok, if now and then, rarely, I get a good piece of gear from some random mob, but right now, that chance is about a thousand times too high.

Also, I think that Set Items should mainly drop from bosses, period.
And I am not saying, that they should only drop from the end bosses or whatever, but the chances for that should be at least aligned with it. If I kill an end boss with a group after a challenging mission, I want there to be loot galore! I want that recompensation. Or even better, why not give static end bosses the chance to drop a "unique" item only they can drop? Heck, even if it was only a cosmetic item. But something that lets you stand out.

So, to finish this up.
I've said that all in all, considering it is a free update and all that, they did improve the game a lot and for the better and if they tweak what I mention a bit in the future, then I can see myself sink a lot more hours into the game.

So, if you own the game and haven't played for some time, it is your chance now, to give the game another chance, I think, all things considered, it is worth it.

Just don't expect any MMO-like long term endgame out of it and you'll be okay.

Cheers.

Survival DLC (Part of Season Pass)
Story of Survival
New York is preparing for the most brutal snow storm ever
You get the information that there are antivirals in the Dark Zone that we can use for the cure
Division dispatches a group of agents to retrieve these antivirals
As you are flying to the DZ you crash with the helicopter
You lose your group and gear and are in a bad shape
You need to continue the mission from there on, fight your way to the Dark Zone, get the antivirals and then extract yourself and the antivirals to safety.

Survival Game Mode
24 Players in a Session
The session is 2h long after that you die when you have not extracted in the Dark Zone
The goal is to get to the DZ, get the antivirals and extract yourself with a helicopter
The whole map is available, so 24 players are on the whole open world map - including the Dark Zone
You can select a PVP or PVE mode, so for players that don't want to play against other players there is a special mode for that.
There are not enough resources for all players, so even in PVE mode, it is competitive
You can matchmake as a group, but you can also matchmake as solo player
You can also group up with other players in the Session - not more than 4 players
You will be dropped off at the edge of the map and you have to work yourself through the city to the Dark Zone to get the antiviral
Other Players will also drop on designated locations, so you can group up there.
The closer you go to the center of the map, the harder the enemies are - but even those at the border can be very tough.
So as you progress through the streets, you need to get better gear, gather supplies and unlock your skills. (Pulse and med-packs for example)
When you die the session is over - unless you are revived by another player / group member
You can revive yourself with a med-pack but those are very rare in Survival
There are roaming enemies that are patrolling the Survival-Zone and those are very tough (Flashlight)
The Survival Map is the same as the current open world- but everything is covered in snow
There is also a snow storm, so there is a low visibility
The Survival Zone is disconnected from the World Tiers, so everybody can play together - level 30 player can play with level 10 player
You get XP for doing activities in Survival, so you can level up your character there
Everybody has the same gear, so it is a fair start.
You can play the Survival mode as soon as you have unlocked the Base of Operations

New Mechanics of the Survival Mode
Your Agent is hungry, dehydrated and sick from something that you have contracted when you crashed (not Green Poison)
You need to extract yourself to be treated, but the progression of the sickness can be slowed than with medicine and painkillers
Hunger impacts your health regeneration
Thirst affects your vision
You start with bad gear, so you need to get better cloths that protect you from the cold
Trash barrels can be lit to give warmth
Apartments give protection against the cold
Skills can be crafted in the hideouts
No Rogue mechanics - but there will be a notification when a player is killed so you can help or get his loot

Final Extraction
When you call an extraction in the Survival Dark Zone the Chopper will land and you can board it to get to safety
But the flair will attract "stuff" that will try to stop you from leaving => big final fight

Your start equipment
Hazmat Suit and a Pistol
All green equipment
No Skills
No First Aid

Vanity Items in Survival
The cloths you find in the apartments have now a protection value against the cold
So when you find a jacket that looks warm, it will also protect you against the snow storm.

Scavenging
You can find food, water, cloths in apartments that will help you survive
There are apparently helicopter crashes all over the Survival Zone and you find equipment there

Crafting
You will be able to find a lot of crafting materials / you can also deconstruct items you find
You can craft items on the Crafting Tables in the Hideouts
Skills can also be crafted in Hideouts

Hideouts
Are new safe places that are scattered all over the Survival Zone
You can find Crafting Benches there
Not like Safe Houses but they will protect you against the cold

UI changes in Survival Mode
No Minimap Pulse is king
Less notifications

Loot / Rewards
When you finish the session you get a summary based on how you did, how many NPCs you killed - this will give you a score. Based on that you will get a reward - so even when you failed to do the objective, you will get rewards.
You can also find and extract sealed caches that will then appear in the main game and give you equipment

Update 1.5
Will be available for all players for free

So far confirmed content
New World Tier 5,
New Gear Score,
New named weapons,
New named gear pieces with a unique talents
General balancing changes

Update 1.5 PTS

Update 1.5 PTS is live today
PTS Update needs to be downloaded => Only Uplay => Steam has no ETA at the moment
PTS has no end-time at the moment, they wait for the first reactions
You don't need Season Pass to play PTS, but you can only play survival content with Season Pass
Update 1.5 patch notes will be in the PTS forum that will open later today
It will be a 5-7 gigs patch
For those that have not joined the PTS in Update 1.4, you need to download the full client again
Only for PC, not for consoles
You will play again with your live character

Feedback
A new PTS Forum will open later today with polls and a Agent brief