The Division 2 open beta is live: end time, content, gameplay, trailers and more

Guide by Lauren Aitken Former Guides Writer

Published on March 1, 2019

Don your best tactical wear and get ready to shoot some numbers out of people, the Division 2 open beta is live! As a handy guide on everything you can expect over the weekend, we've rounded up info on the Division 2 open beta end time, what content you can play through, as well as tidbits on the full game.

Up 'til now only preorder customers - along with a few competition winners - have gotten a taste of Ubisoft's latest 3rd-person looter-shooter, but the server gates are now open to all new would-be Division recruits.

The Division 2: open beta end time

The Division 2 open beta takes place on March 1-4 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. For the most part, the content in the open beta will be near identical to that of the private beta, with some exceptions. If the timings are the same as the Private beta, then here's when you can start playing:

Starts: March 1 – 2am PT/ 5am ET/ 10am UK/ 11am CET
Ends: March 4 -1am PT/ 4am ET/ 9am UK/ 10am CET

The Division 2 open beta pre-load times

You can already pre-load the beta client on each platform by searching for "The Division 2 Open beta" on your storefront of choice. The game is a pretty sizable download, so you'll want to give it plenty of time - especially since you don't have that long to play the beta.

The good news is that players who still have the private beta installed will be able to download an update and be ready for Friday. Unfortunately, none of the progress made during the private beta is going to carry over, so you’ll have to start all over if you want to see the new content.

The Division 2 open beta download size

You'll need roughly 50 GB of space to download The Division 2 beta, so you might need to clear some room if you're playing on a vanilla PS4 or Xbox One.

The Division 2 open beta content

Three main missions, available in Story, Normal and Hard Mode
Five side missions and additional activities in the open world
PvPvE gameplay in one of the three new Dark Zones
Organized PvP gameplay in one Conflict mode, Skirmish

Ubisoft expanded the beta’s already hefty chunk of content even further in the open beta. Players will have access to three main missions compared to two, but all other activities are unchanged. You’ll still be able to play five side missions, access the Dark Zone, as well as Skirmish PvP. The endgame Invaded mission seen in the private beta, too, will return.

That’s not all, though. The developer upped the level cap to eight, and unlocked a new skill – the Chem Launcher – for players to use alongside the three existing private beta skills. The Chem Launcher has two variants to choose from. Further, PvP players will be happy to find a new map in Skirmish, and PvE players will be able to unlock two additional Settlement Projects at the Theater.

Everyone will also get their first look at endgame content when it goes live on Friday too.

It includes one Invaded mission, gameplay at the level cap of 30, and the ability to unlock new Survivalist, Sharpshooter or Demolitionist specializations.

The Division 2 open beta collectables guides

The Division 2 beta features a smattering of collectables in the explorable area of the map, so if you fancy gathering up as many of them as you can, check out our guides for the different pieces of intel left lying around Washington D.C.

The Division 2 beta patch notes and balance changes

Beta tests for popular games are often derided as glorified demos, but Ubisoft has circulated the patch notes with everything that's been changed since the private beta, and it's a big one.

Below is the full list of balance changes that are incoming with the Division 2 open beta:

Weapons

The drop rate of signature weapon ammo have been increased.
Adjusted weapon mods to make sure drawbacks are generally lower than the positive bonuses.
Recoil and accuracy statistics tweaked on several weapons.
The RPM of semi-automatic weapons have been reduced overall.
Fixed Lucky shot talent to make sure it doesn't proc on every pellet of a shotgun.
Fixed Extra talent to give percentage based ammo increase instead of a fixed number.
Made several adjustments to the power level and handling of Specialization weapons.

Enemy health and armour

Decreased Jefferson Trade Center boss' armor and damage.
Decreased enemy health/armor in co-op while also slightly increasing enemy lethality.
Decreased Veteran/Elite Rushers' Armor by half.
Decreased armor plating "health" of the Grand Washington Hotel boss on Story mode only.
Decreased health of early game Hyena NPCs.
Decreased armor plating "health" for the Underground Tank.
Decreased the lethality and health/armor of enemy NPCs in the world tiers.

Enemy attacks

Removed the Bleed status effect from RPG explosions.
Decreased damage of the Black Tusk Rusher's weapon.
Enemy NPCs will now hit the player slightly more often when the player uses Cover-to-Cover.
Decreased accuracy of early game Hyena NPCs.
Decreased accuracy and duration of early game Hyenas Thrower's tear gas grenades.
Increased visibility and fuse of tear gas grenades.
Improved accuracy of the Outcast Tank's melee attack so that hitting a backpedaling target is easier.
Increased the team-wide cooldown for enemy NPC grenades, RC Cars, and Suicide Drones.
Slightly decreased accuracy of the Hyenas Thrower's grenade launcher.
Decreased speed of enemy NPC Airburst grenades slightly.
Increased wind-up time for enemy NPC grenade launchers.
Greatly decreased the Elite version of the Hyenas Rusher's stun baton Shock status effect and added a cooldown on when it could be applied again.

Enemy behaviour

Despite the meme potential (sorry, Reddit), Rushers do not curse as much while rushing the player anymore.
NPCs will now stop reacting to a Seeker Mine if it is retargeted.
Decreased the maximum distance enemy NPC Medics will travel to revive their allies.
Removed erroneous light flare from the True Sons' Turret.
Enemy NPC flying drones will now explode mid-air when their owner dies.
Black Tusk Mini Tanks will no longer erroneously climb ladders, use drop-downs, do leap overs, and other types of special navigation.
Veteran, Elite, and Named NPCs are now easier to stagger.
Increased the mobility of the Big Dog during combat slightly. Good dog.
Enemy NPCs interacting with an object will now be easier to interrupt.
Decreased movement speed of the Elite version of the Hyenas' RC Car.
NPCs will now switch targets a bit more frequently and naturally during combat in co-op situations.
Elite NPCs will no longer stagger when afflicted with the Disrupt status effect.
Increased size of Black Tusk Suicide Drone hitbox.
Decreased speed of Elite Suicide Drone.
Increased wind-up time for NPCs using a Mounted Weapon and added more signaling to their use.
Decreased likelihood of early game Hyena NPCs from flanking the player.
Decreased the Black Tusk War Hound's self-destruct wind-up time slightly.
Enemy NPCs are now able to hear nearby bullet impacts.
Decreased the range at which enemy NPCs hear player gunfire.
Enemy NPC Throwers and Controllers now attempt to avoid targeting the same player in co-op situations.
Improved appearance of NPCs using LMGs if they briefly lose line of sight to the player.
NPCs reaction radiuses now correctly match those of grenades thrown by player.
Fixed some inconsistences with NPCs reacting to player grenades and skills.
Black Tusk Revive Drones now correctly shock those around them when their weak point is destroyed.

Combat

Decreased time required to automatically "mark" a target.
Decreased time required to transition out of the combat state for the player.
Reduced cooldown on combat roll to 0.5 seconds.

Skills

Decreased Airburst Grenade and Incendiary Airburst Grenade damage.
Improved player skill drones' follow behaviour when player is vertically navigating.
Sniper Turret now does extra damage with headshots.
Sniper Turret aim improvements to more closely match input.
Assault Turret aiming improvements to be more snappy and accurate.
Improved path finding of Seeker Mines so they prefer a more direct path to their target if available.
Increased movement speed of Airburst Seeker Mine and also reduced enemy NPC detection of the skill.

Mission

Greatly reduced difficulty of Grand Washington Hotel mission on replay.
Improved the combat behavior for Agent Kelso.

Crafting

Adjusted material acquisition and blueprint costs for Crafting.

Bug fixes and improvements

Technical

FIXED - Fixed an issue where having V-sync off would cap the framerate to 60.
FIXED – Fixed a bug where changing display mode from Windowed to Full screen would give a DELTA-03 error message.
FIXED – Fixed a bug where the player would get a DELTA error message if rapidly navigating through the skill menu at the Quartermaster right after logging in to the Base of Operation or fast traveling there.
FIXED – Fixed a bug where the game would temporarily freeze before disconnecting the player with a DELTA error message.
FIXED – Fixed a crash that would happen when a bird plays a damage animation near a player.
IMPROVED – Further optimizations to the Living World simulation system.

Gameplay

FIXED - Fixed an issue with Airburst Grenades sometimes damaging the player on the server before the client grenade reached its destination.
FIXED - Fixed an issue with Airburst Grenades sometimes damaging the player through cover.
FIXED – Supply Drops can no longer be looted indefinitely.
FIXED - Fixed an issue where On Call status did not persist across sessions.
FIXED – You no longer need to tap Examine twice in order to examine loot drops.
FIXED – Players will no longer get stuck in Odessa's room if they join a session with a player who is watching a cut scene with Odessa.
FIXED – Fixed a bug where the Revive button would reset indefinitely when two players tried to revive someone at the same time.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a player reviving a plot-important NPC would get stuck in the revive animation.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a character would shoot with an invisible weapon right after being pushed off a mounted weapon.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where sliding down a long ladder could teleport the player back to the top.
IMPROVED - Updated Call for Backup notifications to trigger less frequently (no more than once every 15 minutes).
IMPROVED - Added option to turn off On Call status in settings.
IMPROVED – The animation when turning a mounted weapon has been tuned.
IMPROVED – A cooldown has been added to Aim Assist, preventing snapping on the same target repeatedly within a short time.

Dark Zone

FIXED – Fixed a bug where a player could repeatedly pick up loot from the same Dark Zone crate.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a player could hack the same SHD Terminal repeatedly.
FIXED – Fixed a bug where the Dark Zone intro mission would appear locked if a player who hadn't recruited a certain NPC yet would play with someone who had.
FIXED – The Rogue Group Sync timer won't instantly go to 100% when exiting a Check Point for the second time.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the player couldn't leave a Rogue party via the "Leave to cancel Rogue status" button.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the Armor Regeneration countdown would begin the moment a player broke Line of Sight with their attackers.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where players couldn't clear their Manhunt status if they would increase their Manhunt notoriety separately from the last two Manhunt stations.
FIXED – The Weapon Crates have all been turned the right way.
IMPROVED – Dark Zones no longer have placeholder descriptions on the map.

Skills

FIXED - Killing wildlife will no longer trigger skills. You monsters.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the player would hear a gunshot when a skill is thrown from outside of their view.
FIXED – The Chem Launcher no longer displays two cooldowns.
IMPROVED – Skills with a quick deploy feature can no longer be deployed while aiming down sights with a weapon.

Crafting

FIXED – Fixed an issue where the Crafting Station would return to its initial status when relogging.

Missions

FIXED – Experiencing a crash or disconnect during the first fight in the game will no longer lock you out of the Base of Operation.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the "check on the community members" prompt during the MLK Library mission would not appear after killing all the enemies and opening the door. We love our community and we would never abandon them.
FIXED – Fixed an issue in Department of Justice where the player would not be able to open the garage if enemy NPCs were killed while outside the mission area.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where Kelso would not enter a certain room and trigger an important voice over.
FIXED – Fixed various places where the player could be stuck, like behind one of the EMP Jammers.
FIXED – Fixed certain props in the first story mission that would distort and show artifacts.
IMPROVED – If playing the Invaded mission, there is now a respawn available in case you die outside the actual mission area.

World

FIXED – Fixed an issue where a player would spawn outside of the Beta playable area if leaving an endgame group outside of the Invaded mission area.
FIXED – Fixed certain locations where the NPCs would rubber band.
FIXED – Fixed weird doors.
FIXED – Fixed an issue in the Empire Autumn Hotel where the GPS tracker would lead the player the wrong way.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the Demolition Site Control Point would not complete after opening the locked door.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where some NPCs would vanish temporarily during the "Defend the Control Point" objective at a Control Point.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the "Coming up on the Theater" voice over would play repeatedly.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck in a wall when climbing down a corner near Alexander Hamilton PI NW.
FIXED – Fixed an issue with some Base of Operations and Settlement staff missing barks and voice overs.
IMPROVED – Fixed several places where props would get in the way of the player, like blocking a door.
IMPROVED – Fixed the texture on several props.
IMPROVED – Fixed an issue where certain props in the Base of Operations were colliding.
IMPROVED – Resource nodes now show up on the map when you zoom in on it.

NPC

FIXED – Fixed an issue where a Rusher NPC would remain stuck in a closet during the "Reach the Roof" objective during the Grand Washington Hotel mission.
FIXED - Fixed various issues with enemy NPC flying drones not displaying the correct effects when the Disrupted status effect was active.
FIXED - Fixed an issue with Black Tusk Revive drones not facing the correct direction when moving.
FIXED - Fixed an issue with enemy NPCs not reacting to a non-active target damaging them in co-op.
FIXED - Fixed a rare issue where NPCs would not target the player correctly in high cover.
FIXED - Fixed issue with the Black Tusk Rusher's targeting laser not appearing at certain distances away from the player.
FIXED - Fixed an issue where Named Tank NPCs would sometimes not shoot the player if they were too far away.
FIXED - Fixed issue where the Black Tusk Controller would sometimes face the wrong direction when repairing his Mini Tank.
FIXED - Fixed an issue which was causing the Hyenas Sniper's Laser Dazzler effects from not being visible to the player.
FIXED - Fixed an issue where enemy NPC RPGs would deal double damage if directly hitting the player.
FIXED - Fixed an issue with the Outcast Flamer's weak point not displaying properly after being destroyed.
FIXED - Fixed an issue with enemy NPC Heavy Weapons and Snipers sometimes interrupting combat to react to a recently killed ally.
FIXED - Fixed an issue with enemy NPC Engineers sometimes not setting up their Turrets quickly enough.
FIXED - Fixed an issue where enemy NPC Throwers would not receive a proper grenade cooldown in certain situations.
FIXED - Fixed an issue that sometimes caused an interrupted enemy NPC Thrower to drop multiple grenades.
FIXED - Fixed issue with Tanks' Destructible Armor not scaling properly with the number of players in co-op.
FIXED – Fixed various issues where NPCs would become invisible. We found them!
FIXED – The player will no longer get attacked by NPCs spawned from outside the Beta area at the start of the Beta.
FIXED – A voice over pointing the player towards a side mission not available in the Private or Open Beta have been removed.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where Enemy NPCs would not attack a player standing next to them, even when their current target isn't reachable.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the Quartermaster in the Base of Operations would mysteriously disappear after the player completed the first story mission.
IMPROVED – Improved several NPC animation issues, such as legs snapping, offset weapons, sliding across the ground and missing facial animations.

Audio

FIXED – Fixed an issue where the player would lose all sound except ambient sounds after having been idle for five minutes.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where players would lose sound for 10 seconds while in a party if they switched to their secondary weapon and started to shoot.
IMPROVED – Improved an issue where the game would lose sound during normal gameplay. The final fix is planned for launch.
IMPROVED – Improved an issue where the guns would no longer make sounds.

Character

FIXED – An Agent will not perform an odd animation when interacting with certain crates.
FIXED – Other Agents will not float around when you enter a Safe House.
IMPROVED – Fixed certain clipping issues for gear and visible seams and tears in the character models.

Skirmish

FIXED – Fixed an issue where several pieces of strange foliage would cause players to walk on top of them instead of passing through them.
FIXED – Fixed an issue in the Stadium map where a player could be stuck behind a trash bag pile.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a voice over line wouldn't play during the start of a Skirmish match.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the camera would be placed behind the player when transitioning from the loading screen to the map select screen.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the "Rogue Agent nearby" line would play during the Map Voting Screen.
FIXED - Wildcard cache remains locked after an agent disconnects while interacting with it.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a player would get stuck on a white screen indefinitely if they were disconnected from the game while interacting with a Supply Drop.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a player would not be able to interact with a capture point.

FIXED – Enabling and disabling the On Call option with a controller now works properly.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the map could become corrupted after switching the map to the options menu and back again.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the "Missing Texture" icon would be present for certain rewards.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the Specialization pop-up has an error in the button input text when using a keyboard.
FIXED – Certain wording in the settings menus was incorrect and has been changed.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where the inventory could be tilted and shifted to the left.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where certain button prompts could be translucent and hardly visible.
FIXED – Fixed a typo in the Base of Operations tutorial.
FIXED – Tutorials that the player has already seen at the start of the game will no longer appear the first time they log in with the endgame, level 30 characters.
IMPROVED - Loading screens have been made slightly darker.

Photomode

FIXED – Fixed an issue were saved images would appear washed out.

Localisation

FIXED – Fixed an issue where the voice overs in the game would be permanently set to French on Windows 10 if the French regional settings were selected during installation.
FIXED – Fixed an issue in the Japanese localization where the text would appear not centered in the menus.
FIXED – When changing subtitles, the line "subtitle line missing" will no longer appear.
FIXED – In the German and Italian versions, three additional zeroes would be added to the Weapon Damage and Gear Armor stats if those stats exceeded 1000.

Misc

FIXED – The OSCAR 01 error will no longer occur if your My Documents folder has been redirected on your computer while playing the game.
FIXED – Fixed an issue where a player could be locked out of the game and get an ECHO-01 error message after having been away from the keyboard for too long.
FIXED – You will no longer be sent to a solo session with no notification if you try to join a group with a level 30 character while you are level 1-8.

The Division 2 Release date and DLC updates

The Division 2 is due on March 15, 2019, providing there aren’t any delays, and is available for pre-order. The Division 2 is getting a full year worth of DLC completely free for all players, with new areas and story missions available every three months.

You can check out the minimum PC specs required to play The Division 2 here.

The Division 2 Pre-order and Season Pass

There are five variations of The Division 2 available to pre-order and each guarantees entry into the beta. PC players will be able to access The Division 2 through Uplay and the Epic Games Store.

The Year One Pass hasn't been given a separate price yet, though it does come with versions of the game except for the standard game. The pass simply allows holders access to the game's free Year One Content seven days early.

See below for a breakdown of the contents of each of The Division 2's editions.

Standard edition

The Division 2 base game

Gold Edition (Physical)

The Division 2 Steelbook Gold Edition
Three-day early access to the game starting March 12, 2019
The Year One Pass, which includes seven-day early access to all free Year One Episodes, exclusive customisation items, additional activities, and more.

Gold Edition (Digital)

The Division 2 base game
Three-day early access to the game starting March 12, 2019
The Year One Pass, which includes seven-day early access to all free Year One Episodes, exclusive customisation items, additional activities, and more.

Digital Ultimate Edition

The Division 2 base game
Three-day early access to the game starting March 12, 2019
The Year One Pass, which includes seven-day early access to all free Year One Episodes, exclusive customization items, additional activities, and more.
Three additional digital packs (Elite Agent Pack, Battleworn Secret Service Pack, First Responder Pack).

The Dark Zone Definitive Collector's Edition

The Division 2 Steelbook Gold Edition
Three-day early access to the game starting March 12, 2019
A 30cm-high Ubicollectibles figurine of Heather Ward, The Division 2 Specialized Agent.
Other high-end physical items, including a book of lithographs, the game soundtrack, and a Washington, DC map packed together in a premium box.

The Phoenix Shield Collector's Edition (Ubisoft Store exclusive)

The Division 2 base game
Three-day early access to the game starting March 12, 2019
The Year One Pass and three additional digital packs (Elite Agent Pack, Battleworn Secret Service Pack, First Responder Pack).
An Ubicollectibles high-end one-sixth scale articulated figurine of Brian Johnson with equipment and gear.
Other high-end physical items including a Steelbook metal case (Ubisoft Store exclusive), a Book of Lithographs, the selected Game Soundtrack and a Washington, DC map.

The Division 2 Gameplay, endgame and settlements

Ubisoft has added new Shield Challenges to The Division over the summer which, once unlocked, will provide you with some interesting in-game content once The Division 2 is released. It would be fair to say the company is doing all it can to keep our intrigue as we wait out the next six months.

The Division 2 is set in Washington DC this time around, though Ubisoft is keen to stress that The Division 2 is strictly apolitical.

Given that it isn’t out yet, you might think it a bit odd that we’re discussing the endgame this early on. Ubisoft is keen to stress that there will be a wealth of post-campaign events and challenges to complete, including eight-player raids for the first time.

You’ll also be able to experience the campaign and endgame events completely solo or as a regular co-op experience. Unless you invite other players into your sessions, you won’t see other players on your screen like you would in Destiny.

NPCs will play a bigger role in The Division 2. Safe houses will return; however, settlements are the interesting new addition.

Upon liberating an area of the map, a settlement will be built as NPCs move in to claim the area. A trader will spawn in the area, meaning even more side quests will become available, so you’re encouraged to explore the entire map.

There will be a big focus on helping locals which contributes to the open world feel of The Division 2. Whether you’re playing solo or co-op, you’ll be able to see the impact your choices have on the world around you.

The Division 2 changes to the mod system

Weapons have also been given an overhaul in The Division 2. The main change that’s coming is that mods won’t be available as random drops. Instead, they will be unlocked through gameplay, such as by completing challenges, taking part in raids and traditional story progression.

Arekkz breaks down the changes in his video and highlights several key features.

It’s also worth noting that once you have unlocked a mod it will be available permanently across all weapons, rather than juggling a limited inventory list filled with mods.

There will be a limited number of mods available to allow players to focus on experiencing a specific playstyle as opposed to constantly grinding for the best gear (we’re looking at you, Bungie).

The Division 2 weapons

Weapon damage will also be more appropriate this time around. Human enemies in The Division were notoriously difficult to take down, so the damage system has been revamped in The Division 2 so that weaker enemies will go down much faster.

When you shoot enemies with armour you should be able to see it physically break off, revealing weak points, which should make the action a little more interesting.

Levelling up and specialisations

After playing the demo at E3, we discovered that upon reaching the level cap, you’ll have access to three new progression trees as part of the games new Specialisation system, with Survivalist, Sharpshooter and Demolitionist being your options. Each has its own signature weapon, unique mods and skills. You also have the option to swap between each one and max them out.

Seven different skill categories were outlined recently: Pulse, Chem Launcher, Drone, Hive, Seeker Mine,Turret and Firefly. Each skill category features variants with different gameplay and effects, so you can tailor your skills to meet your play style.

Skills give you particular advantages in combat that can directly affect the outcome of your engagements. You can choose to focus on offensive abilities or utility roles.

The Division 2 changes to gear and Brand

There will be better build diversity and gear customization in The Division 2. Brands will be introduced to the game and will be different from the gear sets previously available in the first game. Players will have access to Brands right from the start and the feature is prominent in every area of The Division 2.

Each piece of a certain Brand will provide a bonus and wearing a full set of one particular Brand will grant an even bigger bonus. If you have three sets of gear that are also all the same Brand, you’ll get further bonuses again.

Some of the Brand pieces are tied to specific talents, so depending on the talent you’re after you might find yourself becoming an ambassador for that specific Brand.

The Division 2 will be taking a leaf out of Destiny’s book, with exotic weapons that each have their own lore to make them more unique, and will be a lot more powerful.

We'll be updating this page regularly as we learn more about The Division 2, so watch this space.