The Division Day 1 patch: here's what's changed since beta

News by Brenna Hillier Contributor

Published on March 7, 2016

The Division will be updated at launch with a ton of changes based on beta feedback.

The Division betas apparently inspired Ubisoft to make some interesting changes and improvements to its shared worlds RPG, many of which will be delivered in a day one patch.

"After the success of the Closed and Open Betas, and the overwhelming feedback we received from all of you, our team has been hard at work to fix a lot of issues and implement more improvements based on your suggestions," the publisher said.

"Please keep giving us your feedback and suggestions as we will continue improving the game. After all, launch is just the beginning."

Some of the quality of life changes are very much appreciated, like a grid view for the appearance menu, Outfit Sets option and Mission Overview on the Mega Map screen.

There have also been multiple visual improvements and bug fixes, and in some cases all-new features have been added, as with the Inspect tool.

I'm very pleased to see subtitles have been added for Field Data (which play automatically upon collection) and that tutorials and tips can be accessed later on if you skip through something important.

The full patch noes are reproduced below. I feel obliged to tell you that in their original form they were signed "with love".

Appearance menu has been updated:

Now displays as a grid making it much easier to browse items
"Outfit Sets" option added to quickly equip all the items in a set
"Inspect" feature added

Visual Improvements:

Fixed several lights that did not cast global illumination
Fixed missing volumetric lights on traffic lights
Illuminated signs now cast actual light
Improved atmospheric haze in several time and weather combinations
Improved night time lighting and contrast
Adjusted exaggerated rim light shader on characters
Improved car window reflections
Improved Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) to be more pronounced

Mega Map and Open World updates:

New "Mission Overview" has been added to the Mega Map
Contaminated zones will now display the required filter level on the Mega Map
Field data with audio will automatically play when you pick them up
If you start listening to field data with audio from the menu, you can keep listening outside the menu
Subtitles added for all Field Data that play audio
Mission entrance menu usability has been improved
Significantly increased the number of crafting materials obtained from loot crates
The icon for landmarks in the Dark Zone has been changed and now indicates if non-player enemies are present or not

Gameplay Improvements:

New "Help" menu is now available in the Settings menu. It stores all the loading screen and context sensitive tips
New tutorials added for certain gameplay features and mechanics (these can be switched off in the Options menu)
Added information to the in-game loot pickup UI that displays why an item can't be picked up
The deployable turret no longer targets non-rogue players and doesn't damage neutral players caught in the line of fire
Skill modifiers have been added directly to gear (previously only available on gear mods)

Fixes and general improvements:

Fixed glitches that could be exploited by players to gain an unfair advantage in the game (such as invisibility, shooting through walls, etc).
Extended server-side checks to detect any illegal actions from the game client, limit their impact in the game and track down the perpetrators.
Fixed an issue on character select screen that resulted in getting stuck with a specific combination of inputs
Fixed a progression blocking issue caused by accepting a group invite at a specific moment during the Base of Operations unlock sequence
Players will no longer return all the way back to start screen after creating or logging in to their Ubisoft Club account
Fixed remaining bugs that prevented log-in attempts when non-essential services were offline
Overall stability increased
Further backend improvements and optimizations
Localization adjustments and bug fixes
Additional minor bug fixes and polish