‘The Division’ DPS Exploit Adds To Player Frustration With Ubisoft’s Hit Shooter

"The Division" has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons since the release of its first big update earlier in April. A new exploit was discovered by players that dramatically overpowered their weapons. This glitch lets players take down the most difficult bosses in just a few shots, but it also has important implications for the competitive balance of the game. Following another defect that gave players who exploited the bug some of the best armor in the game, many players are frustrated to the point where they believe the only option is to quit.

The latest exploit involves any weapon with the Competent talent, which increases weapon damage by 13 percent for 10 seconds after a skill — such as deploying a turret, seeker mine or ballistic shield — is used. By quickly switching between weapons, players can stack the damage per second of their gun. In one video, the DPS was doubled using this exploit. In a single-player game, this exploit would be a minor inconvenience or be seen as a cheat that some players could take advantage of if they wanted to make the game slightly easier.

With "The Division," the exploit affects the competitive balance of the game. In the multiplayer Dark Zone, some players could use the DPS exploit to gain an unfair advantage over others. Even with the best gear, up to hundreds of hours of gameplay may be eliminated by a player spending a few seconds to activate the glitch.

Last week, players discovered a way to not trigger the Falcon Lost incursion. Instead of fighting waves of enemies and an armored vehicle, players could glitch through the wall without activating the sequence and blow up the vehicle, which would drop Gear Set items. If three players exited the game, they would also receive another piece of Gear Set armor. Normally, acquiring this high-end armor would take hours of dedication.

On the subReddit for "The Division," and on the game's official forum, many players are threatening to quit due to the recent bugs. "The shame of it is that Massive created a really special game here, but it's technically broken on many levels allowing it to be exploited, glitched and cheated with great ease," one player wrote on Reddit.

When it was released in March, "The Division" was widely praised as a contender to "Destiny" as the best multiplayer shooter currently available. On Metacritic, the game has a score of 81 based on 49 positive reviews, nine mixed reviews and one negative review. "The Division" was a massive commercial success, breaking records for single-day sales for Ubisoft; it generated $330 million worldwide in its first week of release. After just a month, fans may be disappointed by the current state of the game, but there's enough time to fix those errors and maintain the passionate user base.