After community kickback, The Division 2 announced it'll be re-evaluating its plans to introduce "seasonal characters," recently launched as part of a new seasons model. Announced last month, the system will still take place during the current season, Year 6: Season 2, that began this week on July 11, but the announcement gives the impression that an overhaul is in consideration for future updates.
“After thorough examination and discussions with the team, we have decided to re-evaluate Seasons 2.0 with particular attention to Seasonal Characters with the goal of progressing without them,” the official announcement reads. “This change will not impact the previously announced Year 6 plans, but will require us to assess the changes necessary to the new Seasonal Experience, which will be integrated with Year 6 Season 2 this fall.”
A message from #TheDivision2 team. pic.twitter.com/BcLNITdqew
— Tom Clancy's The Division (@TheDivisionGame) July 12, 2024
The new system encourages players to roll new characters each season. These new characters are exclusively to allowed to grind for the limited-time challenges and rewards, with a perk of quicker leveling and progression to match the limited-time nature of “seasons.”
The “seasonal” model of characters and rewards is most well-utilized in “action RPG” games such as Diablo 4 and Path of Exile. Such games already have this model baked in, which works out often given the genre’s lean towards rapid progression of characters and number-climbing, and it makes it more even for players who may not have spent so much time grinding.
However, while this model in The Divison 2 proposed progression acceleration, the post-apocalyptic shooter RPG has slower progression in general than ARPGs given it’s a “looter shooter” at heart—and has slower gameplay in general.
More details about the readjusted changes are yet to come via Ubisoft's existing channels for the game, such as social media, livestreams, and a Public Test Server.