The Division patch 1.7 is out tomorrow, Survival expansion free to play this weekend

There's a lot happening in the world of The Division this week.

Starting off, patch 1.7, which has been in testing for a while, will finally hit live servers tomorrow on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. In addition to the patch, the game' Survival expansion will be available as part of a free trial beginning Friday, August 18 and until Sunday August 20. The trial kicks off at 6am PT, 9am ET, 2pm BST, 3pm CEST. It wraps up at 12pm PT, 3pm ET, 8pm BST, 9pm CEST.

Patch 1.7 is one of the game's biggest, and it introduces a number of new features alongside the usual batch of fixes and balance changes. One of the biggest new features is Global Events.

Before we get into it, the update will go live after a three-hour maintenance. The downtime begins at 12:30am PDT, 3:30am EDT, 8:30am BST, 9:30am CEST.

Global Events are time-limited events that add modifiers to missions and other PvE encounters. Taking part awards you Tokens, which you can use to buy Classified Gear caches. Global Events also support Commendations (previously Feats) that push the difficulty even further.

The ability to wear face masks is among the new feature, and there's now a dedicated room in the base where players can change their appearance. On the subject of cosmetic changes, the update also brings Encrypted Caches. These are loot boxes obtained from the Premium Vendor that include emotes, skins, and other appearance-changing items.

You need Cipher Keys to unlock them. In order to get a key, you must first find 10 fragments through playing the game.

The Classified Caches mentioned above will include Classified Gear Sets. Every Global Event will have three of those. Each set includes unique gear set pieces that feature five-six bonuses. You're only guaranteed to earn those during a Global Event, but they'll be added to the loot table of regular play once an event has concluded.

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Speaking of which, the first Global Event goes live tomorrow at 10am PT, 1pm ET, 6pm BST, 7pm CEST. Find the rest of the patch notes below:

Gameplay changes

• Blueprints are now shared across all characters on a same account.
• Currencies are now shared across all characters on a same account.
• Crafting materials are now shared across all characters on a same account.
• After a Medkit cleanses a Status Effect, it will grant a temporary, three-second invulnerability to the cleansed Effect.
• 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 receiving a burn status effect right after throwing a grenade or throwable skill would disable the grenade or skill.
• Fixed a bug where players could run faster than they should by spamming the sprint button.
• Fixed gamepad maximum scope sensitivity being lower than intended. Maximum sensitivity is now the same as it was in 1.6.
• Fixed a bug where a player would skip downed state and jump directly to dead state if killed after having pressed “give up” briefly during a previous revive attempt.

Weapon balance

• All weapons - Added a hard cap on RPM for all weapons. It will no longer be possible to overcome the RPM limitation of a weapon, no matter what shooting method is used.
• SVD - SVD recoil and spread have been retuned to be in line with the M1A.
• Adjusted the RPM value shown in Burst Fire weapons’ UI to reflect their actual RPM instead of the RPM of the Burst alone. This change also results in an updated DPS value for said weapons. Note that this is a UI change only to better reflect the behavior of these weapons; their actual fire rate and damage have not changed.

Gear sets

• Ballistic Shield: 3-Piece bonus changed from 30% Ballistic Shield Health to +10% Damage to Elite.
• Fixed a bug with Banshee where ammo would not refill correctly after going Rogue.

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.
• Pakhan - Pahkan weapon talent will now only apply the bonus mag size on reload. This means that refills from Leticulous and Lone Star 6 piece will only fill the magazine to the base unbuffed amount.
• Fixed a bug where Pakhan’s talent could be staked if the reload animation was interrupted.
• Historian - Kills with the Historian explosion will now trigger the Disciplined Talent.

Talents

• Stable talent will now increase stability by 10% instead of 35%. (this change is retroactive)
• The Coolheaded & Determined talents will now have an effect on cooldowns for all skills, including Signature Skills.
• Fixed a bug where Triage would be applied multiple times.
• Fixed a bug with Battle Buddy where the buff would apply twice if the player revived himself with a Support Station.
• Fixed a bug where Talented would proc when killing an enemy with a skill or grenade instead of the weapon itself. Fixed a bug where Strike Back would also reduce Medkits cooldown.

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

-Ballistic Shield

• Added a PvP modifier to damage applied to the shield. Player damage to other players’ shields will now be increased by 20% in PvP.
• 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.

-Pulse

• Fixed an issue where the Pulse icon would overlap other UI elements.

-Seeker Mine

• Explosion damage has been reduced from 900 to 600.
• Airbust Mod damage has been reduced from 300 to 120.
• 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.

-Sticky Bomb:

• Fixed an issue where Sticky Bomb explosion would sometime only apply in a plane instead of a sphere, leading to no damage being applied to enemies at various height.
• EMP Sticky Bomb no longer staggers the enemy.

-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.
• Fixed a bug where the Support Station Master Mod heal would still apply if the player canceled his station right after it was destroyed.

-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.
• Fixed a bug with First Aid Defibrillator where a player equipped with a Vigorous chest rolling into the area would only receive the instant heal and not the heal over time.

-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.

-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.
• Fixed a location where the player could throw a Seeker Mine through a wall and kill all the enemies on the other side.
• Fixed a location in General Assembly where a glass panel could get in the way in the fight against Raptor.

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.
• Fixed an issue where enemies were unable to detect the player after going through a weird fire door.

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.
• Fixed a bug where Mods could not be equipped on items in Survival.

Last Stand

• You can now see recent/nearby players from the opposing team as well as from your own team.
• 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.
• Fixed a bug where the Base of Operation would become unusable after visiting the Premium Vendor.

World

• ixed 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.
• Fixed a bug where enemies would stop engaging the player if they hid behind certain objects in the Q Building Landmark.
• Fixed an issue where the player can teleport outside of the map in Dark Zone 2.

UI

• 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.
• Players now get a warning if their wallet of is full of a given currency and they open a Cache containing that currency.
• Fixed a bug where a dead group member would still appear as unconscious in the group UI.
• Fixed a bug in the Group Management menu where the Agent Details could overlap with the server warning “Poor connection to host server”.

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.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s FPS would still be capped despite turning off the Frame Rate limiter.
• Fixed several instances of skills being locked when aiming too fast after another skill was deployed.

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.
• Fixed instances of incorrect NPC animations.
• 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.
• Several improvements made to texture loading speed after a fast travel.
• Agents no longer blink and move their eyes once killed. Say no to zombies.