The Division 2
When Diablo 4 came out, I got a lot of flack from Diablo veterans for saying that I wished characters from the Eternal Realm could somehow participate in seasons, instead of being left behind. “That’s not how it works!” everyone said. And while I’ve come to realize that now, I introduced that concept into a game that not having it for years is a problem. Enter The Division 2.
A month ago, Ubisoft announced that future seasons of The Division 2 would switch to a seasonal character model, meaning you’d start over, level up, upgrade your gear, and take part in season-specific activities. There’s never been anything like this in the history of The Division 1 and 2, and it didn’t sound great. Now it’s being rolled back.
The Division 2
Ubisoft responded to the backlash immediately and attempted to write a lengthy FAQ addressing the concerns. Among other things, it included the following explanation:
“The main idea behind Seasons 2.0 is to break away from the current repetitive seasonal model by transforming the entire experience. With your main characters, we have to consider different progressions and power levels, which makes it nearly impossible to create a well-balanced experience that is fun for everyone. By starting all players at level 1, we ensure that we have a clear picture of where they are in their progression when they are faced with specific challenges. Simply put, to create challenges with precision, we need a fresh start.”
They said that progression will be accelerated and that your main character will also be able to join in the last two weeks of a given season to farm stuff. You also won’t have to complete the entire campaign again. My favorite question they ask themselves in the FAQ is “What’s the point of keeping your main character if you can’t use them for 90% of the future content coming to the game?” The answer to that was that both types of characters will have “meaningful roles,” with main characters still being the highest priority. Okay.
But after a month, no one bit and now the idea has been scrapped altogether. They posted an “apologies/game delay” style text image on Twitter to convey this:
“We hear you, and we want to assure you that we have carefully considered your feedback following the announcement of Season 2.0. After careful review and discussions with the team, we have decided to reevaluate Season 2.0 with a specific focus on seasonal characters, with the goal of moving forward without them. This change does not impact our previously announced plans for Year 6, but does require us to evaluate the necessary changes to the new seasonal experience that will integrate with Season 2 of Year 6 this fall. As soon as we have the details, we will provide more information, a livestream, and a PTS.”
This will undoubtedly delay the plans, as the original reason for this was that they said the game was impossible to balance and that it would be difficult to maintain progress, but… they’re going to try somehow.
It’s pretty obvious what the problem is here, and you can’t just change an existing system like this. Division 2 players have likely been using the same roster of characters since the game came out in 2019, through thick and thin, through substantial seasons and sparse seasons. This is very different from Diablo, which had eons of the seasonal character system for Diablo 3, so no one was shocked when it was still in place for Diablo 4 with little change (my brief protest aside). Even if the explanation for The Division was that main characters would still be able to some progress, it’s pretty easy to see why players would rebel against the idea. But I certainly wonder how exactly this changes the plans.
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