Just like it promised, Ubisoft Massive is holding a console Public Test Server for update 1.7 of Tom Clancy’s The Division. Invites have already begun to go out and as per users on Reddit, you should receive an email regarding your selection. More invites will be going out today for North America, South America and Central America as per this tweet.

The console PTS differs from the PC version by only allowing 10,000 players per platform. Xbox One and PS4 players must meet certain criteria in order to be considered for selection, namely playing the game for a fairly long time, having played it in the past 30 days and being level 30.

Massive has stated that this will be the second iteration of the PC version’s PTS 1.7, thus incorporating much of the feedback and changes already live for PC. What are your thoughts on the console PTS and if you’re on PC, how do you feel about where the update is heading? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Ubisoft Massive’s public test server for Tom Clancy’s The Division on PC is now live, allowing players to test out update 1.7 before it launches. This week sees several things disabled including the upcoming Global Events but you can try out the new Classified Gear Sets and offer feedback.

Classified Gear Sets are higher rolled versions of current gear sets and enable 5 to 6 bonuses. Currently, there are six sets available to test though some of them – like LoneStar and DeadEye – have their share of issues. These will be corrected in a future patch for update 1.7’s PTS.

You can test out the character customization feature which allows modification of one’s face; earn Commendations for different patches that can be worn on one’s sleeve (though again, not all content is available); and also test out the new Encrypted Caches which give Premium Vendor items (but require keys to open. These can be discovered in the open world).

Check out the full patch notes below and let us know what you think of these changes in the comments.

New feature: Global Events (not initially available on the PTS)

• Global Events (previously known as Seasons) are time-limited events that add special modifiers to the PvE parts of The Division.
• Taking part in a Global Event will award you Tokens that you can use to purchase Classified Gear caches (detailed below) and unique vanity items (that are currently not included on the PTS).

New feature: Commendations & Patches

• Commendations introduce a series of 500+ challenges across several categories for agents to accomplish. Commendations cover all aspects and areas of the game, both for PvE and PvP.
• Unlocking achievements reward the player with Commendation Score. Your tallied score is displayed to other agents.
• Some special Commendations award a Patch, a brand new vanity item. These Patches are displayed on the agent’s arm, replacing the default Phoenix patch.
• Not all patches are available on the PTS, with more being added once Update 1.7 goes live.
• The requirements for certain Commendations have been altered on the PTS for testing purposes.

New feature: Face customization

• The Base of Operations now include a room with an interactive mirror that you can use to change your agent’s appearance. You can find the room by turning right straight after you have entered the Terminal from the Base of Operation stairs.

New feature: Encrypted Cache

• An Encrypted Cache is a loot container obtained from the Premium Vendor in the terminal. It requires a key to open.
  • Encrypted Caches contain unique appearance items, emotes and skins.
  • Cipher Keys are needed to open Encrypted Caches. These keys are created by collecting key fragments, which are available from normal gameplay. 10 key fragments are needed to create one Cipher Key. Keys can also be purchased from the Premium Vendor.
• Unique appearance items from the Encrypted Caches are organized in Collections that can be found in the Vanity tab. Once a Collection has been completed, the agent will receive a reward.
• Please note that the contents of the Encrypted Caches on the PTS are not 100% representative of what will be in the final product.
• There is currently an issue with the Premium Vendor and the Encrypted Caches, which makes them impossible to use. This will be fixed and testable on the PTS in a future update.

New feature: Classified Gear Sets (available from the Advanced Weapons vendor on the PTS)

• Classified Gear Set pieces are unique gear set pieces for pre-existing gear sets and will feature 5 and 6-piece bonuses.
• Classified Gear Set pieces can initially only be received from participating in Global Events.
  • After a Global Event has concluded, the Classified Gear pieces can be found during normal gameplay, but with lower drop rates than during Global Events.
• Six Classified Gear Sets will be included on the PTS for testing purposes, but once Update 1.7 goes live, three Classified Gear sets will be introduced for every Global Event.
• The Classified Caches are available on the Advanced Weapons vendor on the PTS for testing purposes, but will be tied to Global Events once Update 1.7 goes live.

Primary Stat Ranges:

• Classified Gear Set Primary Stat Range
  • 1274-1401

Final Measure

• 5 Piece:
  • +15% Exotic Damage Resilience
  • +15% Protection from Elites
• 6 Piece:
  • Talent: Improved Final Measure
    • When a grenade is defused the player and all group members within 30 meters gain a buff based on the grenade type that was defused.
    • -EMP/Shock: Skill power increased by 15% for 8 seconds.
    • -HE/Incendiary: Weapon damage increased by 15% for 8 seconds
    • -Flashbang/Tear Gas: Armor increased by 15% for 8 seconds

Sentry

• 5 Piece:
  • +15% Accuracy
  • +15% Headshot Damage
• 6 Piece:
  • Talent: Improved Sentry’s Call
    • NPC targets can now receive up to six marks. After three marks, every headshot on the target has a 25% chance to spread a single mark to additional targets within 10 meters. At six marks, your headshot damage on the target is increased by 100%.

Striker

• 5 Piece:
  • +10% Stability
  • +5% Enemy Armor Damage
• 6 Piece:
  • Talent: Striker’s Persistence
    • Every hit adds a self-healing bonus for .1% of max health per second. This bonus is further increased by .01% for every 1000 stamina. Stacks up to 100 hits. Bonus is reduced by .1% every second. Bonus can be removed by EMP.

Reclaimer

• 5 Piece:
  • +15% Support Station range
  • +25% Support Station duration
• 6 Piece:
  • +50% Support Station revive time
  • +100% Support Station healing speed
  • +100% Support Station health
  • Talent: Improved Reclaimer
    • Support station gains a 25% chance to have no cooldown triggered when it is destroyed by an enemy. This chance is increased by 2% for every 1000 Electronics.

Exotics

• NinjaBike messenger bag
  • Talent: NinjaBike messenger bag
    • Slots in with any equipped Gear Set item to fulfill a requirement towards unlocking a Gear Sets bonus. Can unlock bonuses from multiple sets simultaneously. Cannot unlock Classified Gear Set bonuses.

Known Issues with the Classified Gear sets on PTS1:

• Classified Sentry 6 Piece Talent
  • Sentry 6 piece is not spreading marks to nearby enemies. This will be testable on the 1.7 PTS in a future update.
• Deadeye
  • There are known issues with the WIP Deadeye Classified set that keep the 4 and 6 piece bonuses from working properly. Please refrain from using Deadeye in PTS 1. Deadeye reworked 4 piece and Classified sets will be fixed and testable on the 1.7 PTS in a future update.
• Classified Lonestar:
  • There are known issues with the Lonestar 6-piece bonus. Please refrain from using Lonestar on PTS1. The set will be fixed and testable on the 1.7 PTS in a future update.
• Classified Recalibration:
  • 2 Stat recalibration is not yet activated for Classified sets.
  • Recalibrating the Primary stat on a classified gear piece is not working properly.
  • We are working on 2 stat recalibration and extended primary stat range recalibration to be testable on the 1.7 PTS in a future update.

Game changes
Weapon Balance

• SVD
  • SVD recoil and spread have been retuned to be in line with the M1A.
• Seeker Mine explosion damage has been reduced from 900 to 600. Airbust Mod damage has been reduced from 300 to 120.

Gameplay

• Fixed a bug where players could get the On Fire status effect even though they had 100% burn resistance. Note that players can still take damage from certain fire attacks, such as Cleaner flamethrowers.
• Fixed a bug where players could run faster than they should by spamming the sprint button.

Talents

• The Coolheaded & Determined talents will now have an effect on cooldowns for all skills, including Signature Skills.

Loadouts

• Minor color tweaks has been made to make the Loadout UI more consistent.
• Fixed an issue where switching mods on a Loadout while having a full inventory could override the backpack capacity.
• Fixed an issue where a player cannot switch between two identical Loadouts using different mods while having a full backpack.
• Fixed a bug where certain audio clips would loop

Skills

• Seeker Mine:
  • Fixed a bug where the Seeker Mine with Cluster mod would sometimes be unable to detonate on a target if the target was on top of a cover.
• Support Station:
  • Fixed a bug where if an agent revived by another skill while in a Support Station’s area of effect would cause the Support Station to despawn.
  • Fixed a bug where an agent could not be revived by First Aid if they were being revived by a Support Station that was destroyed before the revive finished.
  • Fixed a bug where the Support Station would remain in the agent’s hand after deploying it.
  • Fixed a bug where an agent would sometimes not get revived if a group member used First Aid with the Defibrillator mod.
  • Fixed a bug where an agent would get revived if the agent was in the process of self-reviving from a friendly Support Station but tried to cancel the action.
• First Aid:
  • Fixed a bug where the First Aid Defibrillator revive would not be prioritized over other slower revives while they were in progress.
  • Fixed a bug where the First Aid’s effect would be delayed while the projectile slowly descended to the ground.
• Mobile Cover:
  • Fixed a bug where the Mobile Cover could be knocked down by other agents and enemy NPCs even though they were under immobilizing status effects.
  • Fixed a bug with Mobile Cover where an agent could be lifted above ground.
  • Fixed the description of the Mobile Cover Countermeasures mod so that it now clearly states that shooting a target while being in cover on it will pulse the target for 5 seconds.
  • Fixed an issue with the Mobile Cover Countermeasures mod where group members would not get the concealment when taking cover behind it.
• Ballistic Shield:
  • Fixed a bug where the Ballistic Shield would not take damage from your own grenade or Sticky Bomb.
  • Fixed an issue with Ballistic Shield Riot Shield buff, where the agent could get multiple buffs by performing certain actions.
• Other:
  • Fixed a bug where group member’s skill cooldowns would not be decreased when taking cover in an area affected by Smart Cover with the Recharger mod.
  • Fixed a bug where attempting to use a skill immediately after entering the Dark Zone would result in the skill going into cooldown.
  • Recovery Link can no longer be used while firing your weapon, similar to Survivor and Tactical Link.
  • Fixed an issue with the Turret’s target prioritization.

Missions

• Fixed a bug in Napalm Production Site where an agent could defeat Joe Ferro inside his room before defeating his guards.
• Fixed a bug in Grand Central Station where the turrets were reactivated after player death.
• Fixed an issue where Hudson Refugee Camp became impossible to complete if the bosses are killed too quickly on Challenge Mode.
• Fixed an issue in WarrenGate Power Plant where a door would refuse to open if the player dies before completing a certain objective.
• Fixed several instances in different missions, including Russian Consulate and Napalm Production Site, where the player could get stuck or shoot through walls and floors.
• Fixed a weird door in the General Assembly parking lot.

Underground

• Fixed a bug where Underground Directives would not continue across Underground phases.
• Fixed an issue with the Mad Skills Directive where the second skill would go on cooldown when the player aimed his first one.
• Fixed a bug where the agent could fast travel to the Underground while carrying contaminated items.
• Fixed some big weird doors in the Underground.

Survival

• The rewards you get from Survival have been increased.
  • Reaching Tier 1 will rewards you with a Survival Cache instead of a Gear Cache.
  • Reaching Tier 2 will rewards you with one Survival Cache and one Weapons Cache.
• Fixed a bug where the Punisher accolade on the end screen would always have a checkbox next to it even if it wasn’t completed.
• Fixed several issues in the environment, where players could get stuck.
• Fixed instances of the game freezing when leaving Survival.

Last Stand

• Fixed instances of the game freezing when leaving a Last Stand match.
• Fixed an issue with the positioning of a prop which could cause players to get stuck in tactical point A1.

Base of Operations

• Stopped an evil Christmas tree by the Premium Vendor from trapping players.

World

• Fixed a number of issues throughout the world such as:
  • Being unable to vault over certain objects.
  • Being shot by NPC’s through a wall by the entrance of the The Ward safe house.
  • Being blocked by invisible objects.
  • Getting stuck between objects.
  • Objects clipping through other objects.
  • Being able to glitch through various walls.
  • Floating flags and misplaces textures.
• Fixed an issue where agents were able to jump off a roof in Turtle Bay.
• We’ve stopped NPCs from following you into an elevator in Turtle Bay.
• Fixed several places where hiding behind certain objects would stop enemies from engaging the agent.

Dark Zone

• Fixed several issues in the DarkZone such as:
  • Agents sometimes receiving the Outside Playable Area message when in the The Armory landmark.
  • A lootable object in DZ7 being in an unreachable place.
  • Being able to glitch through a wall in the The Mall landmark.
  • Being unable to drop down from certain objects once the agent has climbed them.
  • Minor graphical issues in The Armory.
  • Moved several trashbags around so players wouldn’t get stuck behind them anymore.
  • Moved a rogue lamp.
  • NPCs being able to shoot through certain walls.
• Fixed an issue where a Named NPC was missing from the The Basement landmark in DZ09.
• Stopped NPCs from sneaking through a gap between a pair of doors and a rooftop in DZ09.
• Fixed an issue where cleared Landmarks would not give out rewards.
• The Named NPC “Beans” now belong to the correct faction.

UI

• Blueprints are now shared across all characters on an account.
• Consumables Caches are now available at the Dark Zone vendors.
• Moved the position of the Loadout icon on items you have marked as a favorite to make it easier to identify them.
• Added backpack capacity to the loot preview.
• Fixed a bug where after dying and placing the cursor over a respawn location the highlighting of the option would appear on the bottom of the screen.
• Fixed a bug where pressing back while having the option to disable sharing for an item would cause the item to be unshareable.
• Fixed a bug where buying back items quickly could result in exceeding the inventory limit.
• Fixed a bug where the “Sell” button at a vendor would be active even though there was nothing to sell.
• Fixed a bug where you would get the wrong message when buying an item from any vendor.
• When buying every item from the Appearance Vendor, you will now be able to see all your available currencies.
• Fixed a bug where the Ubisoft Club Action Completed pop-up would show up every time the game was started.

PC Specific

• Fixed an issue where an agent would right-click on an item and the text describing the options presented would flicker rapidly.
• Fixed UI overlap which could occur when an agent was comparing items and then dragging an item over to share or dismantle.
• Fixed an issue where agents could still use the scroll wheel while the Not Enough Space prompt was present.
• Fixed a bug where the mouse cursor would sometimes not be present on the loading screen.
• Fixed an issue where the Group Management menu would begin flickering when an agent hovered the cursor over a friend’s name.

Other

• Fixed an issue where the NPC beating a dead body scene had no sound effects.
• Fixed an issue with Tattoo saturation not changing between 0 – 30% during Character Creation.
• Fixed a visual bug where an agent would continuously bleed if revived by a group member’s Recovery Link while another revive was in progress.
• Added sound effects to the JTF officer knocking on bars in the Brooklyn Precinct. Maybe someone will actually hear him and help him out now.
• The Blueprints Vendor in the Terminal should now speak again.
• Agents no longer blink and move their eyes once killed. Say no to zombies

Tom Clancy’s The Division will be undergoing its fourth and final stage of testing for update 1.6. Patch notes have gone live for the Public Test Server, indicating the changes that will be coming with Last Stand (the final paid expansion) and the latest update.

Along with balance changes to the Last Stand PvP mode, PTS 4 sees a number of bugs being quashed including a particularly nasty one that would cause your Turret and Seeker Mine would attack your Support Station if you went Rogue.

In an interesting move, Massive has decided to return Critical Hit Chance to SMGs which had been removed long ago in favour of Critical Hit Damage. The Historian has also received buffs with its original base damage returning and explosive damage equivalent to 700 percent of a player’s Firearms stat.

You can check out the full patch notes here but it seems that widespread changes won’t be made in PTS 4. What are your thoughts on how update 1.6 is shaping up? Let us know below.

Ubisoft Massive is currently conducting a Public Test Server for update 1.6 of Tom Clancy’s The Division. The update will re-introduce Named Weapons and Gear as Exotic items, Legendary difficulty for missions and much more.

For now, Massive is concerned with balancing everything out and the first week of the PTS has seen its fair share of issues. The developer outlined some of the changes that would be coming in PTS 2 and this includes Last Stand, the 8v8 PvP mode coming in the next paid DLC, being available to play. Gear will be normalized in this mode in the name of competitiveness but the developer will also try the mode without normalization to see how things shape out.

It also confirmed that weapons like Hildr and Eir (formerly the Valkyria) would be nerfed while Hungry Hog would have its signature perk re-balanced to make it work properly.

The SEEKR set will also be adjusted to allow 200 percent headshot damage when landing two consecutive body shots for its four piece bonus. If that weren’t enough, weapons like the Urban MDR and Showstopper would be receiving damage buffs.

The PTS 2 currently doesn’t have a start date but it shouldn’t be long now so stay tuned.

Ubisoft Massive has released a crapton of patch notes for the PTS version of update 1.6 in Tom Clancy’s The Division. It also announced that the Public Test Server would be going live later today.

The patch notes (which you can check out in full here) cover many changes that we already learned about last week including the replacement of armour rolls with health, changes to skills and movement (like no reloading while sprinting), changes to AlphaBridge and so on.

However, we also got a look at a bunch of the perks for Exotic (formerly Named) Weapons. The FAMAS now has Uncomplicated as its Exotic perk and will not work with AlphaBridge.

Other content includes a new Legendary difficulty for three missions, re-balancing for supplies and rewards in Survival and the introduction of a new Incursion called Lost Signal. It should be noted that Last Stand, the new 8v8 PvP mode, will become available for testing later on the PTS.

What are your thoughts on the changes? Let us know in the comments below.

Ubisoft Massive didn’t have a State of the Game broadcast for Tom Clancy’s The Division but it still offered an update on the status of the Elite Task Force and Public Test Server.

The Elite Task Force, comprised of content creators and other community members, will meet at Red Storm on January 11th to 13th to discuss the upcoming patch 1.6. This is the update that will make changes to the Dark Zone and introduce new features like leaderboards.

Massive also revealed that the Public Test Server would go live after the ETF’s conclusion. “We are keen to hear what the Elite Task Force has to say and then spend some time processing their feedback first. We will have more news in the coming weeks so be on the lookout!”

In the meantime, it also addressed issues with Survival not being installed on PS4 and PS4 players being stuck on connecting. If you’ve faced these issues, then it’s worth checking out the post for a solution.

After maintenance on the public test server for The Division, Ubisoft Massive has released patch notes on some of the changes made to the test build of the game.

Survival, for instance, has had enemy health buffed. Level 28 NPCs now have 25 percent more health, level 29 NPCs have 16 percent more and level 30 NPCs have 8 percent more health. In terms of damage, level 28 NPCs now deal 12.5 percent more damage, level 29 NPCs deal 8 percent more and level 30 enemies deal 4 percent more damage.

The Dark Zone has also been adjusted slightly in terms of crafting material drops. Material drop rates have been reduced and crafting High-End weapons now requires Division Tech. Weapon mods that increase magazine size has also been reduced in order to balance players against the Hunters.

Other gameplay changes include the weekly assignment reward’s 30 Phoenix Credits being moved to the weekly assignment’s cache and adding an extra High-End mod to the cache’s reward. Check out the patch notes for more information.

The Division will be going down for maintenance on October 13th, both for the live version and Public Test Server.

Maintenance starts at 9:30 AM CEST/12:30 AM PDT/3:30 AM EDT. Downtime will be one hour for the live server and three hours for PTS. The PTS will receive another week of changes and adjustments with testing lasting until Monday, October 17th for update 1.4.

You can check out some of the changes that will be coming after maintenance here. Essentially, enemy health and damage has been slightly buffed. While this will be higher than week 3 of the PTS, expect it to be lower than week 2. Some aspects like Health on Kill, viewed to be too powerful when stacked continuously across various gear pieces, also saw a slight nerf.

There will be no State of the Game today but a blog post outlining the various changes is in-bound. Maybe information about a release date will come as well? Stay tuned for more information and let us know what you think in the comments.

Tom Clancy’s The Division has been in an incubation period of sorts with Ubisoft Massive taking severe steps to fix the game’s overall balance and end-game with update 1.4. Rather than releasing it into the wild immediately, Massive opened a Public Test Server (PTS) on PC to test out the update before its deployment.

Three weeks and several changes later, it seems work on update 1.4 could be winding down. As per the official Ubisoft forums, “The PTS for Update 1.4 will wrap up after Week 3, a few of you have been wondering about the future of the PTS. We’ve seen overwhelming success with it so far thanks to the community involvement and will definitely be utilizing this for future Updates.”

The PTS won’t be gone forever, which is a good sign – it shows that Massive is willing to put future updates through the paces before deploying them and dealing with any bugs thereafter. Update 1.4 is still scheduled to release this month so stay tuned for more details.

Tom Clancy’s The Division on PC will see the release of its Public Test Server on September 22nd for the Elite Task Force. This is the team that helped provide feedback to developer Ubisoft Massive on balancing the game and overhauling its balance.

The date was confirmed on Twitter by a mod for The Division’s daily stream who noted that it would be live at 9 AM CEST. It was a Reddit thread

that further noted the ETF receiving early access. All other players will be able to access the PTS on September 26th.

The main purpose of the PTS is to try out update 1.4 which will overhaul enemy health and damage, introduce World Tiers for better loot rewards, offer more generous amounts of loot and so on. It’s currently scheduled to go live in October so stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks, especially with regards to its exact feature set.