The Division 2 announced the next chapter of the loot shooter with a big trailer. With “Warlords of New York” the game gets its first paid expansion and shows that it is far from dead. The start is on March 3rd.
What’s new? Almost out of nowhere, The Division 2 announces the biggest expansion the game has seen to date and starts its year 2 with a bombastic announcement.
The main Twitter account announced a world premiere on February 10th for February 11th. In the almost 30-minute video, not only was the release date of episode 3 published, but also the first major paid-for expansion of the game “Warlords of New York”.
The release dates were also surprising: Episode 3 starts on February 12th and “Warlords of New York” starts on March 3rd. Here you will find the most important information summarized.
Warlords of New York starts on March 3rd
–
–
When does it start? The expansion starts on March 3rd. So there are not even 3 weeks between the announcement and the release.
What does the extension cost? If you already own The Division 2, you can buy the new “Warlords of New York” expansion for € 30.
Where does “Warlords of New York” come from all of a sudden? It was to be expected that the developers would work on something big. That it should come in a few weeks, play in New York and immediately change the whole game so much, probably not.
–
–
Gear 2.0, new level cap and completely new open world area
What can we expect from the Warlord expansion? “Warlords of New York” leads the agents back to Manhattan. Aaron Keener, first Roque agent and traitor of the division, rules over a large area in the former cosmopolitan city and the division tries to stop him.
It goes to “Lower Manhattan”. Keener has 4 “warlords” who control certain areas of the new area in New York for him. Before we can catch the renegade of the “First Wave”, we have to pass his 4 guard dogs.
Who exactly Keener is and why he is so important, you can find out here: The Division 2: Gameplay gives a foretaste of the hunt for Aaron Keener
–
–
What changes are there in gameplay? The Division 2 is changing in these important points:
- Completely new open world in New York with its own campaign
- Introduction of regular seasons
- The maximum level rises to 40 – all agents have to run again and work their way up to the max level.
- Infinite Progress System – With resources we can then improve even further, apparently even infinitely.
- Level 30 characters can be created – If you are new to the game or start with a new character, you can start right away at level 30 in New York.
- New equipment, weapons and skills – More information on Gear 2.0 here.
- UI and core system revision – Here is the summary of the UI and recalibration changes.
- Revision of the dark zones
- Legendary difficulty is introduced
- The directives
- Overall difficulty is being revised
- Hunter-Mechanik in New York
Not everything is clear yet, the changes are too extensive. Even the 30-minute video was not enough. What is clear, however, is that the game will be different after the adjustments.
–
–
What new equipment do we get? Due to the revision of the complete gear, we can count on many new pieces of equipment. Even the old stuff becomes interesting again as everything gets new values and a new direction. Most of your equipment becomes worthless at first.
In the big show, the developers already showed at least 3 exotic weapons that will probably come with or in the course of the expansion. A new brand set was also on display, Groupo Sombra SA, with a focus on damage.
–
–
Are there any new skills? The 4 warlords who support Keener in New York each come with their own skill that you can learn by taking down the nasty bandits.
- Explosive Sticky Bomb – A launcher that fires a sticky bomb at enemies that explodes if necessary.
- Fire-Spreading Stick Bomb – Another stick bomb that doesn’t explode, but spreads fire around it.
- Hologram Decoys – A decoy skill that can distract opponents with a holographic agent.
- Shock Traps – A throwable trap that stuns nearby enemies with electric shocks.
The sticky bomb should look familiar to Division veterans from the first part. With the return to New York, you can now play with the common sticky bombs again.
–
–
Aaron Keener, Seasons and Dark-Zone – The new division
How is the story developing? With Episode 3 starts a new chapter of The Division 2. The developers use the end of the first year to relocate the story with the start of year 2 on March 3rd to New York.
Here you have to kill the 4 warlords from Keener, in order to then face the end boss yourself. New York was created as a separate campaign. As long as it’s running, you can’t go back to Washington. A clear indication that the story is going its own way and is more or less independent of the situation in Washington.
The residents of New York could be of greater help here than they were in the former capital. The New Yorkers have been fighting the bandits for months and know exactly how to defend their settlements and how to handle heavy military equipment.
–
–
How do the Seasons Division work? In order to stay interesting even after the conclusion of the new “New York” campaign, Division 2 is introducing new seasons.
- Contents of the seasons
- New targets to hunt
- Story-Kontext
- Global Events
- Season-Ligen
- Weapons and equipment to unlock
How long a season lasts has not yet been revealed. But every season should bring the agents new content and rewards and bind players to the shooter longer. In this context, the “hunters” who are supposed to make life difficult for the agents in New York were also mentioned.
–
–
What happens to the dark zone? Here, too, the developers promised changes, but didn’t go into great detail.
It should be more rewarding for players to help each other and the game reverts to a simpler “renegade status” mechanic. However, it will first have to be shown how the changes in gear and skills will affect the game in the dark zone.
What do you think of the announcements? Can the “new Division 2” bring you back or are you still skeptical?
The Division 2: New Equipment System Coming Soon – So you can prepare
–
–
