The Division 2 Patch Update

Developer Massive Entertainment has outlined a number of changes coming to The Division 2 in the game's next update. Dropping at the same time as the title's new world tier and stronghold, the incoming patch aims to make positive changes to skills, skill mods, and weapon mods. It'll also include some weapon balancing.

For starters, some skills are being rejigged to make them more effective. Massive talked about a couple of these alterations during its latest developer livestream, but we'll need to wait for the patch notes to get the full picture. Said notes should be available later this week, before the update hits on Friday 5th April.

Next up, Massive is dropping skill power across the board, but this also applies to skill mods. Right now, skill mods are often unusable because they require such a high skill power stat, but this change should ensure that you can actually equip a lot more of them.

As for weapon mods, the system is being altered on a fundamental level. Currently, weapon mods provide both a positive stat and a negative stat, but this has meant that a lot of players haven't even bothered using them. With the update, more basic weapon mods will only boast a positive stat. Meanwhile, more powerful weapon mods will be balanced by still having a negative effect, but their positive stat will be heightened.

And finally, in terms of weapon balancing, a couple of choice rifles will receive a damage nerf. The popular Mk17 and M700 rifles will have their damage scaled back so that they fall in line better with other guns in the same category. Naturally, news of this change has already caused a bit of an uproar since single-shot or burst fire rifles are already considered weak when compared to their automatic counterparts.

Again, though, we're going to have to wait on the full patch notes for all the details.