The Division's 1.2 update will bring more "generous" loot drops

Ubisoft says the upcoming 1.2 update to The Division will make some important changes to the game, including the addition of a new Dark Zone Bracket and more “generous” loot drops, in terms of both quality and quantity.

Looting is meant to be the primary source of equipment in the game, but right now there's an inordinate focus on crafting, because quality loot drops are so rare, especially in the Dark Zone. After the update, there will be fewer gear mod drops, and more and better weapon drops; Hard Mode, Challenge Missions, Incursions, and all Dark Zone Brackets will all drop better loot as well, giving players more incentive to spend time on them. 

More immediately, measures to identify chat spammers have been put into place, “so there should be an improvement soon.” An irritating bug that was causing Daily Missions to go missing was actually fixed today in a server-side patch, and Ubisoft said that all players who were affected by the “Backpack or Missing Character issue” have now been compensated.   

Ubisoft talked about the changes coming in the update in its weekly State of the Game stream on Twitch, but if you'd rather get right to the point, The Division subreddit has a good summary of the important bits. A launch date for the 1.2 update hasn't been announced, but Ubisoft said more information about what it will contain (and, presumably, when it will arrive) will be revealed “in the next weeks.” 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.