The Division kicks ass. All of it. I would say, purely in the interest of bet-hedging, that the second game sorta failed on the narrative aspects up front but then began to deliver on the back as content continued to arrive. So, let's go back to the first part. It kicks ass.
You can say that you aren't interested in cargo pants as an incentive, but cargo pants are definitely not the game's marquee rewards. I got pretty cranked up off the highest level content the game had to offer, and pulling interesting traits out of gear to jam into another piece of gear made the loot chase valid and operational even when I was fresh to death, dressed to impress the rest because there was always an edge somewhere in the build I could sharpen.
Now, along with a roadmap that describes not just the future of The Division 2, The Division Mobile, a novel and a Netflix movie, there is also tucked in there something called The Division: Heartland. Set aside for the moment that The Heartland has concerns as a gameplay space. What is it?
We don't know yet, other than the fact that it's freemium, which… even by itself I don't hate. My usage pattern involved buying mad crates already when I was super into it, for a game I purchased at retail price! So, yeah. That would slot nicely. Plus, maybe if the game didn't cost anything, more people would have an opportunity to figure out how rad it is.
I think a lot of people are looking at the Call of Duty X: Annual Release slash Warzone model, and saying… I would like what they're having, which requires a level of development throughput most publishers can't match. Ubisoft can. Paul Tassi at Forbes (who I think is quite good just generally) is fantasizing about Heartland as an F2P imagining of The Division's old Survival mode, a brilliant take on the Battle Royale thing that is closer to Tarkov than the more traditional versions. It was ridiculously smart. I'd love this as a direction, especially if it's acting as a the free gateway to the core game and recognizes that I want to be a fan of both.
Shit! It's almost time for our Motorsport Manager stream! After a shocking First Place in this season's Test Track, the team was blown out of the water in the new single round Qualifying. I have no idea what these two pieces of strangely discordant information mean for today's race. Maybe you can tell us - it starts, essentially, now.
(CW)TB out.
