‘The Division’ Update 1.2 Will Feature Massive Changes To Dark Zone Bracket Levels And Loot Drops

Don't call it a comeback, but "The Division" is becoming a great game again. After weeks of bug exploits, cheating and other glitches that hindered the experience for players, the game is back in the news for mostly positive reasons. Ubisoft detailed "The Division" update 1.2 Wednesday, which will further address gameplay issues by introducing a new Dark Zone level bracket, along with several changes to the loot system.

The big news from the State of the Game live stream was the introduction of a Dark Zone 200+ Bracket. Previously, there were only two brackets based on Gear Score. Players were separated into under-160 and over 160-brackets. The 160+ Dark Zone bracket was the most problematic following the release of the Incursions downloadable content.

The Falcon Lost challenge rewarded players with a high-end Gear Set, but there was a way to prevent a sequence from being triggered. Instead of surviving 15 waves of enemies and destroying an armored vehicle, players would just have to destroy the defenseless vehicle. Considering this was supposed to be the most difficult challenge yet in "The Division" — with Falcon Lost only being accessible to players who have reached the level 30 limit and completed "General Assembly," the final storyline mission — that was a lot of reward for little effort.

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Anyone who exploited this bug would have an advantage against other players within the multiplayer Dark Zone area, especially since the range went from a Gear Score of 160 to 240. There are also the dedicated players who acquired the armor by spending many hours playing "The Division." A 200+ bracket will restore some of the competitive balance in the game. The 200+ bracket will include tougher enemies, but the loot acquired in the Dark Zone will be even better.

"The Division" Update 1.1 restructured the crafting system to the point where some gamers believed the only way to obtain high-end weapons or armor was through many hours of fighting enemies in the Dark Zone in the hopes that a quality item was dropped. Ubisoft stated the next update will include increased loot drops featuring high-end gear and weapons. Instead of making strong gear weaker, Ubisoft plans to make weaker gear stronger as a way to create balance.

Ubisoft is continuing to crack down on spammers and cheating. After posting the new guidelines for exploiting bugs or cheating, Ubisoft stated it launched a ban wave that helped restore order in the Dark Zone. No date was announced for the next update, but Ubisoft said it will be launching soon.