The Division 2 released its newest episode of the Intelligence Annex initiative. These are actually blog posts released by the development team that covers all aspects of the game. For this one, it’s going to focus on Specializations.
Before we get into the details, it was last week when the development team revealed the delay of the upcoming major update to February 2022. However, the team did say that each month until the update arrives, they’re giving everyone a chance to see what they’re working on.
In a post, Expert Game Designer Trick Dempsey shared that over the last few years, they’ve been looking into the builds done by players for both PvE and PvP. One of the things they found out is that Specializations haven't reached their full potential. According to Dempsey, the goal with this feature is to have players create Agents that match their playstyles.
To address this issue, the upcoming update will make changes to Specializations to offer build diversity and player choice. To make this happen, the specialization progression is going to be split into a linear level and a specialization tree.
Linear level
Under the current format, the Specialization can be best described as “mandatory.” That means players need to use their points to improve the signature weapon damage and ammo acquisition.
Dempsey revealed that to give a more customized experience, the elements of the Specialization will be placed in a linear level system. In this one, players can unlock different features like Skill variants or Signature weapon power. Once unlocked, the benefits are permanent as long as they have the Specialization active.
Also, the linear level progression rewards players with Specialization Points that can be used in the new Specialization Tree.
Specialization Tree
With the linear progression system, Dempsey said that they’ll be reviewing the Specialization Tree to offer a stronger focus when it comes to customization. The thing is, there won’t be enough Specialization Points available to get each perk on the tree. So, players must select what fits their playstyle the best.
Dempsey went on to say that the Specialization Tree is set to focus on three elements, which are signature weapons, armor kits, and grenades.
So what do you think? Is this a good change for the game?
The Division 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia.
