There’s no stopping The Division 2 as it’s set to start Phase 3 of Title Update 10 on the PTS. This is the game’s first update to undergo the PTS treatment and it’s focused mainly on game health and generosity. Phase 1 started back in May 22 and you can read more about it here. Phase 2 then immediately followed after Phase 1 ended, which you learn here.
So what’s going to happen in Phase 3? Well for one, the rifle base ammo capacity is going to be increased by 50%. This means the capacity is upped from 280 to 420. Meanwhile, the Gunner specialization’s Emplacement talent Weapon Handling bonus has been lowered to +10% from +15%.
NPC Balance Changes
Another feature being tested under PTS is in relation to NPCs. The increases to base NPC status effect resistances in heroic and legendary difficulties have been reverted to what it was during Phase 2. However, some of the Legendary bosses and specific archetypes did not have their resistances reverted in Phase 3.
In a post, the development team admitted that while they knew this change was going to be controversial, they still “wanted to try it anyway in order to see how it would affect the end-game meta.” However, when that happened they failed to see “just how much a blanket resistance buff to NPCs would affect the viability of non-crowd-control status effect builds." The team said further that they have no plans to release Title Update 10 with any nerf as significant as that.
Exotics
Title Update 10 is going to put some significant buffs to weapon handling. However, this means that certain exotic weapon mods no longer made sense or result in over-tuned performance that appears to no longer fit with the original design profile. Most of these have their optics mod bonus scores changed or increased.
One of these is Merciless/Ruthless. Changes to this exotic include:
- Binary Trigger
- Reduced the amplified weapon damage at seven stacks to 500%
- Lowered explosion damage to 500%
- Muzzle mod bonus reduced to +10% Stability
- Underbarrel mode bonus reduced to +10% Weapon Handling
- Magazine mod bonus reduced to +10% Reload Speed
According to the developers, the Merciless was previously balanced due mainly to the unwieldy handling and balanced with very high burst damage. With access to much higher weapon handling, this exotic is being toned down dramatically.
To learn more about what’s coming in Phase 3, you can read more here.
