The Division Adds Three Dark Zone Areas With Surprises
By Derek Nichols 20 January 2017
In a new blog post, Ubisoft details the many major changes coming to Tom Clancy’s The Division in update 1.6 including brand new Dark Zone content and events.
After suffering through a rocky summer, Tom Clancy’s The Division has been on the upswing thanks to a number of major updates, bug fixes, and content releases. Due to the needed extra development time to essentially revitalize the game, the downloadable content schedule was pushed back as well. While Update 1.5 and Survival has provided a resurgence in player numbers, Ubisoft is looking to continue that momentum with the upcoming Last Stand expansion and another massive update which aims to bring changes to many areas including the Dark Zone.
According to a new blog post on the official Division website, the Dark Zone, a large PvP enabled area on the map, is opening three new areas known as DZ07, DZ08, and DZ09. While Massive is hesitant to reveal the background on these three zones, the developer confirms that things are particularly bad in there. The zones contain a lot of verticality thanks to both underground sections and buildings to climb, and players will also find some of the best gear the game has to offer. All in all, the new Midtown East district doubles the total space of the Dark Zone.
In addition, the Dark Zone is getting special events which randomly appear each hour. According to the post, body bags have piled up in various locations, causing an unsafe spike in virus contamination. While player virus filters won’t be able to fully resist the virus, the Cleaners enemy faction will also show up as well forcing players to quickly adapt to the situation.
Finally, leaderboards are being added to track a wide range of PvP and PvE activities on a weekly and monthly basis. The activities , like killing rogue agents or items extracted, are then turned into total score and divided into three tiers. Rewards are handed out to players based on where they are on the leaderboard after it resets.
The Dark Zone enhancements are only one part of what looks to be another significant update to The Division. Already, the developer has mentioned that a brand new difficulty is being added to select missions, but what may have a bigger impact are the upcoming changes being made to weapons, gear, and skills. For many players, the Alphabridge gear set has been the cream of the crop thanks to its powerful 4 set perk which lets players essentially stack 6 weapon talents on one gun and making them over powered for PvE play. Now instead of sharing all active talents, the set will only combine non-exotic free talents.
What do you make of these Dark Zone changes? If you’re not someone who frequents this area, are you enticed to check it out? Sound off in the comments below.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Update 1.6 currently does not have a release date but is coming in the near future.
