Phase 1 of the Season 10 update for The Division 2 is now available on the game’s public test server. This patch brings some interesting changes and additions, most notably the new difficulty modes in Countdown, as well as new exotic weapons.
Countdown in The Division 2 is an eight-player game mode where players have to fight enemies back and secure the power plant, after which they’ll extract from the area before the timer runs out.
That said, four new difficulty levels have been added for Countdown in the latest beta update. The Normal difficulty allows players to finish Countdown solo. The Hard difficulty level is made for a group of eight casual players who want a fun yet somewhat challenging experience. Eight hardcore players can band together and choose to finish Countdown in the Heroic difficulty. And lastly, the Challenging difficulty is designed for a group of eight players, though this can be completed by a squad of two to four hardcore players.
New weapons have also been introduced. Doctor Home is an exotic variant of the M1A QCB Rifle. Shooting enemies with this weapon applies a mark. The marked target drops a 15% armor repair kit when killed, but only the player who has Doctor Home will be able to see it. When the said player picks the armor repair kit up, the entire squad will benefit from the heal.
The Busy Little Bee is an exotic pistol that players need to get their hands on. That’s because each shot from this gun increases its weapon damage by 10%, up to a maximum of 200%, so long as players shoot a different target every time. Players will have five seconds to shoot between each target until they lose stacks.
Here are the other highlights of this beta patch:
- Skill Suppression
- Once the enemy is dead, an EMP will be deployed (Disruption Effect) that can affect Agents and their skills in 15 meters radius.
- Deactivation Benefit: Enemies no longer deploy an EMP after they die. Players reduce a +25% preliminary Skill Cooldown if they kill an enemy within 15 meters radius.
- Reload Speed
- Agents' total Speed Weapon Reload decreased to 75%.
- Deactivation Benefit: Agents no longer have total Speed Weapon Reload decreased to 75%. Agents gain +25% Speed Weapon Reload.
- To prevent the players from being kicked out of the group by the Group Leader before and during the extraction, the feature is now disabled.
- Bloody Knuckles (Exotic Gloves)
- Talent Over the top: Throwing a grenade or striking an enemy with a melee attack activates the Seeing Red buff. Seeing Red grants +25% weapon damage and +100% melee damage. Seeing Red lasts 20 seconds and has a 60-second cooldown. While in cooldown, striking an enemy with a melee attack or hitting an enemy with the effect of a grenade will complete the cooldown instantly.
The full patch notes can be found here.
