The Division 2 launched its Warlords of New York expansion, which includes new content that brings Agents from Washington D.C. all the way back to New York. Along the way, veteran players will meet back up with a familiar face. The latest expansion arrived with Title Update 8. In addition to the wide range of new content, Warlords of New York makes some rather substantial changes when it comes to the Dark Zone. Today we look into this to see what has changed.
In the game, Dark Zones are PvP areas with some PvE elements tied in. Within these zones are higher-level AI enemies that have a tendency to be hostile. However, there are also high-level rare loot drops which are difficult to find in the game's main world.
So what changes have arrived in the new update? Well first, it's going to be easier to recognize the quality of contaminated loot. This is because the game now makes rolls and stats visible before players extract the loot. Contaminated loot is also going to be more frequent since every item that's found in the Dark Zone now needs to be extracted in order for it to be acquired. As a way of keeping things in balance, there's going to be an extra extraction site in each of the Washington D.C. Dark Zones.
In terms of levels and XP in the Dark Zone, players now acquire both through interactions with others along with completing certain objectives like successfully extracting gear. Meanwhile, confrontations between players, which are through kills or stealing loot, now rewards a new currency for the Dark Zone. The latest update also removed the non-confrontational "Grey Rogue" status so this should make disavowing the Division easier and faster and also be able to go Rogue on a whim.
Another change coming to the Dark Zone is that as a default, it's going to be set to open mic VOIP. Don't worry, as there is the option to disable this setting or put it to Team Only. In addition, players are now going to be able to see other agents within 100 meters of them in their current Dark Zone through the social menu.
The update also removes signature weapons, along with their individual ammo, from the Dark Zone. Not to worry, since the different bonuses and skills that are from the Specializations remain in effect. Specialization weapons in particular still appear as a visual shorthand to other players to show them what your build might entail. However, the weapon itself isn't accessible and ammunition for it is not going to drop.
Finally, all Agents can now play together in the Dark Zone, with Level 30 Agents scaling up in order to match with the Level 40 Agents in the area.
According to a post from The Division 2 team, all of the changes were made in order to make the Dark Zone feel more rewarding. The team added that the Dark Zone has always been a place for "hectic and tense PvEvP fights where a presumed ally or NPC alike might get the drop on you and turn a standard firefight into a fight for your life."
What do you think? Do these changes make the Dark Zone better? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
