With one week to go until The Division launches on March 8 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Ubisoft brought out the official launch trailer today, which helps set up the story.
Here’s The Division’s description:
Tom Clancy’s The Division takes place weeks after a devastating pandemic sweeps through New York City on Black Friday. One by one, basic services fail and in only days, without food or water, society collapses into chaos. The Division, an autonomous unit of tactical agents leading seemingly ordinary lives among us, is activated to save society. Team up with other players to investigate the source of the virus, protect civilians from dangerous factions, and reclaim the city from the overwhelming turmoil.
Answering fan questions on IGN, Game Director Petter Mannerfelt addressed changes from the beta, saying, “Player feedback is important to us. Based on the closed and open beta feedback, we did, for example, make some adjustments in the Dark Zone.”
Sticking with the Dark Zone, Mannerfelt said they “have landmarks that indicate locations with challenging encounters,” when he was asked if there were any objectives. As for why there’s no stash in the Dark Zone, he replied, “When you extract a contaminated item in the Darkzone the helicopter takes it to your Base of Operations where it gets decontaminated. The stash isn’t only available in the base, you can also find your stash in safe houses that you unlock in the world.”
Discussing features that won’t be in The Division, Mannerfelt explained that there isn’t a reputation system because Ubisoft Massive feels “the excitement of the Darkzone is created by the fact that you don’t really know if other players are good or bad.” Looking at melee weapons/takedowns, Ubisoft Massive experimented with them, but “being an RPG with a focus on stats, this wouldn’t gel with players expectations that a takedown would be a guaranteed kill.” There also won’t be a way to inspect the stats and gear of other players.
Mannerfelt also said you’ll have access to full face customization in the game, and you’ll be able to customize your appearance with different pieces of clothing. Your character won’t speak though, with Creative Director Magnus Jansen saying, “We actually went back and forth on this early on during development. At the end of the day we found that when you’re in a group of players speaking over VoIP and playing the game, it becomes really weird to have several player characters talking and speaking in various situations.”
Are you getting The Division next week?
[Source: IGN]
