It’s impressive to see The Division 2, the 2019 RPG looter-shooter from Ubisoft Massive, has been doing well this recent years. It did so well recently that they decided it’s still worth adding more content than initially planned.
As such, this sounds like a good time to try out The Division 2, right? After spending more than 60 hours recently, in the base game as well as in the Warlords Of New York expansion, I have lots to say about the game.
And if you’re here from looking up the title: the short answer is a definite yes with caveats. The Division 2 as a looter-shooter is in a really good state, but only if you are in the endgame.
The Initial Grind Is Boring
Let me get this out of the way first: I am only praising and loving The Division 2 only after I’ve passed the big hump that is the grind to level 30 and completing the main mission thread.
When you start a fresh new character, The Division 2 suffers from what I dub the Ubisoft open-world syndrome. There’s so much content to do but most of it is either boring or dragged on for too long. There are a handful of missions scattered around Washington D.C. that moves the plot forward, but it’s also easy to get sidetracked in doing activities randomly found while you are prowling the streets. Like saving hostages, or the usual clearing the outpost missions.
Ubisoft Massive makes immaculate worlds to traverse and explore. And looking at this alternate world where a pandemic rips the US into shambles of lawlessness, while in the middle of a pandemic ourselves, makes me see the many details that the devs got right if one should happen right now. Not in the way how society collapses into factions of enemies, but how the government would respond during such a crisis. Looking at those posters about washing your hands hit different these days.
That’s all great. But the activities you do feel stagnant and repetitive. It’s just going through the motions over and over, with shinier loot as your carrot on a stick that keeps you motivated (and at this stage, that’s not even guaranteed). Outside of the cool set-piece main missions, The Division 2 is a slog.
I bought the game last year, and after reach the level cap (and 33 hours in), I just immediately called it in. I got burned out. It got stale and I stopped. And I do not intend to revisit it, ever.
The Endgame is Where The Fun Begins
It was a shame I stopped before the fun really begins. As cliche as a lot of this might sound like for an online RPG, it’s at the endgame where The Division 2 really clicks. For one, you are introduced to a whole new faction and wipes all of the outpost clearing progress you’ve done. For good reason.
Now the world is properly dynamic. Factions, both the friendly and the enemy factions will be dynamically fighting for territory. Those random encounters where the AI factions face off each other is not just a fun little accident, it’s how the system is supposed to work. And it makes for a, oddly enough, more lively feel. The world is more believable, with all the shootings and murder happening on the streets and it’s not your doing.
The other cool bit in the endgame is that now you really start to care more about what loot you get. Gears and weapons now come in loot scores (think Destiny’s power level) and the threshold increases as you increase your world tier.
Now, clearing a few groups of the same (but remixed) missions will increase the gear threshold and open up new systems. This includes a way to make those outpost clearing missions deliberately harder (for better loot drops), by engaging in those side activities. Those used to be time-wasters before, now it’s part of a system you want to engage in.
The cadence of increasing the world tier, and hence opening up a few more systems and the bumping up of enemy strengths, is much faster and more noticeable than the slow burn climb to level 30. And for that, it kept me hooked, rather slowly made me taper off.
Also, making builds, or perfecting your builds, is really, really encouraged in The Division 2. At this point, you should be using the recalibration system. Each weapon and gear has a random set of attributes- and these attributes can be kept permanently so you can attach them to a different weapon or gear. Say, you found a god-roll of body armour, but that one optional stat is has attached is not suited for your build. You can recalibrate it into something else from your stored collection of stats and attributes.
It’s a nice system that makes you not totally dependent on the RNG, giving you control over how you want to customise your gear. And also not overly too powerful- you can only recalibrate one stat- once you’ve picked a slot to recalibrate that gear can only change the stat of that particular slot.
Plus, The Division 2 also has a targeted loot system. For those who want to actively grind for a particular gear or weapon, at this point different activities will guarantee a more likely drop of said targeted loot.
The combination of a much faster-paced progression, and a really engaging loot system that encourages you to experiment in builds, as well as not hogging all the inventory space with loot you think it’s good but won’t use, makes The Division 2 something I like to come back for more once every few days. Once I reached World Tier 5, it’s still worth checking in, just do a level 3 control point clearing run to get that new unlock and call it a day.
Also, the extra free content you can access after completing World Tier 5 is also worth your time. These set-piece missions, from exploring the zoo to thrashing a Coney Island amusement park, is just amazing to see and fun to play through. Again, Massive is great at making believable worlds, and these levels are just them flexing their level design prowess.
Endgame 2.0
But that’s not the end of it. Oh, that’s not all. If you have Warlords Of New York, you get treated to a whole new campaign. The map may be a condensed version of what was seen in The Division 1. But really, the expansion is better off with a denser map. The campaign doesn’t drag on too long, the mission set-pieces are even wilder and adventurous in design and most remarkable of all, there’s a different set of endgame when you have the expansion.
In Warlords Of New York’s endgame, there’s no need for loot scores. All loot will have the same base armour and damage stat of their class. What sets them apart is the attributes that you can keep in the recalibration station. When you reach level 40 in this expansion, you will need to start the recalibration stat hunting all over again. But now you don’t need to care if it’s the right loot score or not- a good loot hinges entirely on what random attribute they are attached to.
But there’s more. Now you can also choose to optimise your gear. Using really hard-to-find resources, you can give a bump to any of the stats attached to your gear, no questions asked. Grind hard enough and you can not only keep that gear you are fond of but also max out all of their stats, not just re-roll one of them like the calibration system can do.
You also get an infinite level in this endgame. The Watch level will slowly add a passive buff of your choice- up to a point. But that point is in the thousands of levels so even the dedicated The Division players will still get some progress as they continue to sink hundreds of hours in.
There’s also seasonal content. At this point it’s just re-runs of Seasons 1-4, but with a twist- Ubisoft are not charging for the premium tier of rewards in the battle pass-equivalent. So now’s a good time to pick up on all those cosmetics and rewards.
And if that’s not enough for you, there’s also the challenge tower to climb: The Summit. It’s a semi-procedural challenge of 100 floors, split into three-floor checkpoints with one boss floor at each multiple of 10 floor.
The layout is repetitive- but will remain consistent if you die and respawn from the checkpoint. Just that the enemy and challenge you face in each room will be random.
At one time, you’ll be playing King Of The Hill holding position while a laptop hacks its way into something. In another, an ambush of killer drones attempt to overwhelm you. And let’s not forget the peskiest of enemies: rogue agents. They’re you but evil. And they can recover their health back, just like you. That makes them more evil.
I have less to say in the other modes available in The Division 2. I don’t think the Dark Zone, initially the selling-point of the whole franchise when it debuted, is worth your time because of how hard it is to take down normal enemy mobs and how terrible the gear drops can be if you don’t know what you’re doing. I didn’t bother trying the PVP mode and its two raids, but it’s there if you have friends to play with.
I’ve been mostly playing The Division 2 solo. After quitting the game thanks to the first 30-hour slog, I went back in to find a very different game at the end(game). And has since sunk in a good 60 hours more.
Is The Division Worth Playing in 2021?
The Division 2 as a looter-shooter is more fun than ever these days, but the catch is that the opening hours of the game remains a slog.
I won’t be surprised if more folks jumped into the game and found it boring or it gets too dull. And I’m not surprised that I can spot the hardcore few with watch levels in the hundreds (and even thousands) still logging in the lobby while playing it.
If The Division 2 goes on sale (the version including the Warlords Of New York expansion can go down to less than RM60), and you want a timesink of a looter-shooter, go get it. Though be warned of its slow start.
If you find what I explained about it pre-endgame to be not worth it, the Warlords Of New York expansion lets you skip to level 30 (which also skips the world tier endgame of the base game). I recommend doing that- don’t mind about the story, you don’t really need to invest in it to really enjoy the game.
New content drop may be slowing down, but with the whole package The Division 2 as it stands right now, it’s great time to catch up and play it.