The next Shield on the list is finally here, introducing a challenge for both solo and team compositions in The Division. Shield #9: Fang is live!

To earn Fang, players are required to complete every available Legendary mission in The Division. These missions are some of the most challenging PVE content in the game and are best completed in groups. Enemies are scaled up to the highest difficulty and appear in greater quantities on this setting. The following missions have Legendary variants that can be selected before beginning the activity:

• Legendary Time Square Power Relay
  
• Legendary WarrenGate Power Plant
  
• Legendary Napalm Production Site
  
• Legendary Amherst's Apartment
  
• Legendary Grand Central Station
  
• Legendary Madison Field Hospital
  
• Legendary General Assembly

Buckle up for this one, Agents!

MORE ON SHIELDS
Found in the first tab of the Dossier, Division Shields are a group of unique commendations that reward both long term and new players for completing very specific challenges across The Division. Remember to check back in, since an additional Shield will become available every month for you to unlock.

CURRENT SHIELDS

• New! Fang - Complete every available mission on Legendary difficulty
  
• Rebel - Get to wave 15 in Resistance
  
• Talon - Attain a Commendation score of 3,000
  
• Phoenix - Extract 5 items, survive for 5 hours, and kill 5 Hunters in Survival
  
• Sacred - Complete 10 phases, get to level 10 and kill 10 Hunters in the Underground
  
• Shepherd - Unlock the Base of Operations
  
• Avenger - Eliminate 10 Named bosses in Manhattan, 10 in the Dark Zone, and 10 in West Side Piers
  
• Deadeye - Complete all weekly High Value Targets
  
• Hazard - Clear 25 landmarks in the Dark Zone

THE DIVISION REWARDS
With every Shield unlocked, you will receive the following rewards:

• One Audio Log
  
• One Patch with the relevant Shield Icon
  
• One Shield Cache
  
• One Exotic Weapon
  
• Two Classified Gear Set pieces
  
• 2,000 Phoenix Credits
  
• 500 D-Tech
  
• Three Cypher Keys

THE DIVISION 2 REWARDS
As Agents collect Shields, you will be placed in a tiered system. The more Shields earned in The Division, the higher the tier you reach, the more rewards you will receive in The Division 2. A higher tier grants players more rewards:

• Tier 1 - Weapon Skin
  
• Tier 2 - Outfit and Patch
  
• Tier 3 - Emote and Gear Dye
  
• Tier 4 - Taunting Emote and Backpack Trophy

/The Division Dev Team

Greetings Agents,

Your Agent Highlights article is here! Many conventions took place in October, which gave us the opportunity to view your amazing creations and meet many of you in person at PAX Australia, Paris Games Week, IgroMir and UbiDay!

You probably know how it works by now: all featured Agents will receive an in-game gift of 1000 Phoenix Credits.



As it was convention season last month, it's safe to assume that cosplays had a big presence. Let's start with Tri_San who returns with his iconic cosplays straight from UbiDay.



Spot on Agent!


It wouldn't be Agent Highlights without a piece by Area The Fox! As always, taking cosplay to further levels, we just love how real this shot feels!



Flawless! It reignites the fight for NYC!


Next we have Beebsteen, who stopped by the Base of Operations for a quick mission briefing to find it being decontaminated.



You'll have to wait for a while before seeing Fay Lau, Agent.


From the land down under, we have our Agents: AussieKrispy and DB The Division.



Nice work securing the area. We never had any doubt in our Aussie Agents!


Our infamous Hunter, Moonlight1907, does not seem happy with the progress that our Agents have been making.



Agents, hostiles are approaching!


Lastly, we have the duo Goose and Kenga. We are always inspired by the level of creativity that our community possesses. These two Agents just keep surprising us with every new piece they create.



Well done Agents, and keep them coming!



Moving on to our Fan Art section, we have an interesting piece by Vectorek. Looking at The Division world through the eyes of different community members is always fascinating. These detailed Anime-style illustrations are one-of-a-kind.



Check out more of Vectorek's work here!


Next we have the "Global Aftermath Fan Project" by Reynaldo Siqueira. We would absolutely love to see how this project unravels; examining how the world might be portrayed after such a disaster. For now, we leave you with Reynaldo's piece.



We can't wait to see more of this!


Our Hunter expert, Helary Mael, is back with another epic Hunter masterpiece!



Bring it on!



We will be kicking off the Fan Creation section with a collaboration between The0Pro (cosplay) and Nadya Marchenko (photographer).

Beautiful shot with an amazing pose!



We are all familiar with how the next 90 seconds feels.


Max's artistic side is on the rise, as we get another The Division inspired song! We'll leave you with it while you enjoy the rest of this month's Agent Highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCyLItuPoWo

Area The Fox don't seem very pleased with the emotes in-game, so they have decided to add one of their own!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpdHYdnvksc

Nice balancing skills!


Meanwhile, one of our Agents is very deep in rogue status, and teamed up with Larae Barrett!



M88Gaming, we want to see you back on our side... SOON!



As per usual, it's never an easy task picking out our favourite piece of the month. However, we might just have the perfect one for this article!

We have an amazing short clip by, Gura (Agent), Grar_18tac (Agent) and ChihiroMist (movie). This one comes with a surreal emotion, yet it is very realistic.



Those are some professional moves. Give us more Agents!


With that, we conclude our Agent Highlights for this month. Remember Agents, if you would like to be featured in next month's Agent Highlights article, don't forget to tweet your creations with the hashtag #AgentHighlights.

ATTENTION: Agents, please follow @TheDivisionGame on Twitter so we can get in touch with you for the rewards.

Thank you from all of us!

Until next time,

The Division Community Team

Agents,

Check out November's calendar of activities in The Division!

/ The Division Team

Agents,

This weekend there will be an in-game event where players will receive twice the normal amount of rewards for High Value Targets.

Starts at: November 2nd, 08:00 AM UTC
Ends at: November 5th, 08:00 AM UTC

As a reminder, High Value Target contracts are acquired from the Daily and Weekly HVT Officers in the Terminal. Each contract requires Target Intel to get started, which players can earn through Search and Destroy missions obtained at Safe Houses. The greater the Intel cost for the contract, the deadlier the operation.

Eliminate those targets!

/ The Division Team

Agents!

We're back with our series of deep-diving development blogs about The Division 2 – Intelligence Annex. This time we're digging into the lore of the game by revealing the story and background of one of our iconic factions – True Sons.


A former JTF unit turned paramilitary group - True Sons are a group of radical mutineers and trained criminals determined to eliminate all enemies and rivals in their pursuit of domination. Known for their brutal discipline and complete apathy, they are a highly coordinated and dangerous faction. According to them, America was founded through bloodshed, and through bloodshed, a new society will rise. Whatever it takes, True Sons will be at the top of the food chain.

THERE IS NO ROOM FOR WEAKNESS. COWARDS DIE ON THEIR KNEES. IT'S GONNA BE GREAT.
- ANTWON RIDGEWAY

When the pandemic broke out, chaos and panic spread across Washington D.C. In an attempt to control the spreading of the virus, the JTF established a quarantine on Roosevelt Island. Colonel Antwon Ridgeway was given the responsibility to administer the quarantine and ensure that everything ran smoothly. Seeing all the tragedy and despair caused by the virus, Ridgeway started to lose faith in the JTF's ability to save Washington D.C. He quickly came to the conclusion that there was no way they were all going to survive.

As a strong believer in the need for authority and discipline, Ridgeway decided to take matters into his own hands. In frustration and fear for the city's future, he deployed guards around the quarantine with the order to not let anyone out. He started to redirect resources coming into the quarantine, letting people starve to death and withholding medicine. In his eyes, the sick and the weak were already dead, so his number one priority became to secure the future of his own men.

Ridgeway's actions were tainted by his willingness to do whatever it took for the wellbeing of his soldiers and his repulsion of the sick. Due to the chaotic state of the city, he was able to abuse his authority for a long time before the commander of the JTF found out and he was imprisoned. However, it did not take long until loyal members of his unit freed him.

In Ridgeway's eyes, he had done nothing wrong. According to him, he was the only one with a realistic and viable solution to the situation. Therefore, the betrayal of his fellow officers filled him with rage and hate towards the JTF and the federal government. As soon as he got out, he gathered men from his former unit and the stockade where he was held prisoner. Together they captured the JTF officers that had imprisoned him and held a symbolic tribunal for them, only to execute them all moments later – and so True Sons were born.


According to True Sons, survival of the fittest is the only way to survive in Washington D.C. Due to their access to weapons, equipment, and expertise, True Sons are now the top dogs in Washington D.C. This newfound power has made them into vicious and arrogant bullies. Intimidation, cruelty, and violence have become the key factors in the True Sons' paramilitary dictatorship.

True Sons do not think twice about making examples out of people to further ensure obedience. Either you join them, or you die. Whoever and whatever stands in-between True Sons and General Ridgeway's position as absolute rulers of Washington D.C. will be eliminated.

https://youtu.be/e7P5m9DPtZo
This trailer features some of the True Sons archetypes that you will encounter in The Division 2.


True Sons are very combat competent. Training and discipline is important to them, which becomes apparent with their strategic approach. When you engage in battle with the Sons, they will spread out and come for you from every angle. This means that you will have to keep moving and look over your shoulder at all times.

When you start picking them off and they become fewer in numbers, their behavior will change. They will get more desperate and erratic, which will lead them to eventually give up on their strategy and charge at you to take you down at all costs.

The ten different archetypes within the faction will have their own unique behavior and mechanisms. Depending on which special ability the archetype has, that will also act as their weak point. For example, the Medic archetype's special ability is his shock pads. With them, he can revive allies and shock enemies. If you shoot these shock pads, they will get destroyed, everyone around him will get shocked, and he will lose his abilities.



Be sure to join us over on the Official Forums or on the community Reddit to discuss today's article; we'd love to hear your thoughts!

We will be releasing these articles regularly, so remember to keep an eye out!

/The Division Dev Team

The fifth Global Event, Blackout, is returning to The Division!

• Start: October 22nd, 08:00 AM UTC
  
• End: October 29th, 08:00 AM UTC

The following modifiers will be live during Blackout:

• Blackout—Always active. Agents are equipped with Shock Ammo that stuns enemies. Shooting or running builds your Charge meter. The more Charge, the more damage you inflict.
  
• Extreme Blackout—Blackout behavior, plus you can instantly kill enemies with Overcharged melee attacks, but if you miss you will stun yourself and your allies.
  
• Total Blackout—Extreme Blackout behavior, plus your Charge meter will cool down faster when close to other group members.

Agents will have an opportunity to earn the following Classified gear-sets:

• Classified DeadEye
  
• Classified D3-FNC
  
• Classified Striker's Battlegear
  
• Classified Tactician's Authority

The event works the same way Blackout has in the past. The Rictus, Vulcan, and Tao masks will be available alongside weapon skins. Please note if you have already earned Blackout's weapon skins, leaderboard caches will not yield new rewards.

Agents,

Starting October 19th, there will be an in-game event where agents will receive twice the normal amount of field proficiency caches.

• Twice the normal amount of field proficiency caches will be rewarded to the players.

Starts at: October 19th, 08:00 UTC
Ends at: October 22nd, 08:00 UTC

Enjoy and see you in New York!

/ The Division Team

The latest addition to the Shields feature in The Division is Rebel, available now!

Rebel directs Agents to Resistance, the newest PVE mode in The Division. Players fight against waves of allied-enemy factions while collecting SHD-Tech to build fortifications, unlock doors, and open caches. The goal is to withstand the incoming attacks, and reaching wave 15 unlocks the Shield. To get started, head over to any of the three Resistance arenas in West Side Piers—Powerhouse, Pier 93, or Carrier.

Push forward, Agents!


Found in the first tab of the Dossier, Division Shields are a group of unique commendations that reward both long term and new players for completing very specific challenges across The Division. Remember to check back in, since an additional Shield will become available every month for you to unlock.

• New! Rebel - Get to wave 15 in Resistance
  
• Talon - Attain a Commendation score of 3,000
  
• Phoenix - Extract 5 items, survive for 5 hours, and kill 5 Hunters in Survival
  
• Sacred - Complete 10 phases, get to level 10 and kill 10 Hunters in the Underground
  
• Shepherd - Unlock the Base of Operations
  
• Avenger - Eliminate 10 Named bosses in Manhattan, 10 in the Dark Zone, and 10 in West Side Piers
  
• Deadeye - Complete all weekly High Value Targets
  
• Hazard - Clear 25 landmarks in the Dark Zone

With every Shield unlocked, you will receive the following rewards:

• One Audio Log
  
• One Patch with the relevant Shield Icon
  
• One Shield Cache
  
• One Exotic Weapon
  
• Two Classified Gear Set pieces
  
• 2,000 Phoenix Credits
  
• 500 D-Tech
  
• Three Cypher Keys

As Agents collect Shields, you will be placed in a tiered system. The more Shields earned in The Division, the higher the tier you reach, the more rewards you will receive in The Division 2. A higher tier grants players more rewards:

• Tier 1 - Weapon Skin
  
• Tier 2 - Outfit and Patch
  
• Tier 3- Emote and Gear Dye
  
• Tier 4 - Taunting Emote and Backpack Trophy

/The Division Dev Team

Greetings Agents,

We are back with a new Agent Highlights! September was full of lovely creations, and as always, it has been a delight going through what the community has created for this month. So let us head straight to it!

You probably know how it works by now: all featured Agents will receive an in-game gift of 1000 Phoenix Credits.



For the second time in a row we will start with our cosplay section. We have amazing shots that we can't wait to share with you. Straight from EGX, we have our Agents, Dayle Henley, LondonGamer94 and ImaginaryCos, who dominated the show!



This beautiful shot was taken by the talented 2ndlawphotography, check out more of his amazing work here.


Next, we have a front row seat to an inevitable confrontation! Frostie and Skumy6661 are facing each other, Agent to Hunter. We can feel the tension!





Who do you think won this, Agents?


We all like a challenge. Especially when the stakes are high. However, it seems our two heroes, Goose and Kenga, had some hard times with their latest challenge.



We have been monitoring this one since it was merely a sketch. Agent 3.x cosplay by Keelan is finally here, and we get a sneak preview!



Last but not least, we have Nickolas Phoenix with his new loadout, "Capitol Defender" set. Nicely put together Agent.





Agent Mab is known for her unique The Division inspired scenarios, you might remember the Rogue Beer post from last year. Now, she is back with another one!





Next up we have an absolutely mesmerising piece of work. We can't stop admiring it. We love the cosplay, the editing and everything about it.



This collaboration between Area The Fox (cosplay) and Akunohako (photographer) has led to the creation of something beautiful. We can't wait to see more similar collaborations between our community members.


We have another item to share with you in our Fan Creation section. This was created by EveyOnline, and we advise you to view it here.

Finally, we have an update on the #MissingAgents project by Mab, 6Golf3Bravo and Max. We are still looking forward to see what will be coming next!





We will kick off this section with a beautifully executed art piece by Athr94. This one caught our eyes instantly, not only by the amount of details, but because it's in fact drawn on black paper!



We love it, and can't wait to see more from you!


Next we have our superstars, Area The Fox, who are featured in this amazing piece of art. The art itself is the work of MarianaSmano, and inspired by Area The Fox.



We always love seeing this type of art, and great job on getting all those details in black and white.

For our last Fan Art piece, we have got a cool GIF created by Purplewurkz.



We love how the animation progression brings the Agent to life!



For this month's Team Favourite, we went with something different. It did not take us long to realise how much in love we are with this one. We present to you the newest and toughest Division Agent to exist so far! SHD Rabbid!



"Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

We would like to thank Agent Mab for this lovely creation!


And that concludes our Agent Highlights for this month. Remember Agents, if you would like to be featured in next month's Agent Highlights article, don't forget to tweet your creations with the hashtag #AgentHighlights.

ATTENTION: Agents, please follow @TheDivisionGame on Twitter so we can get in touch with you for the rewards.

Thank you from all of us!

Until next time,

The Division Community Team

Agents!

This is the first article in a series of development blogs that we will be releasing up until the launch of The Division 2. In this series, we will be diving into different aspects of game to give you detailed insights and information. In this article we will go through all things weapons, including weapon types, exotics, grenades, talents, and mods.

MAIN WEAPONS AND SIDEARMS

In The Division 2, we have reworked weapon handling from scratch to deliver a more realistic experience and more interesting gameplay. The recoil system is all new and every weapon will feel unique and behave in its own way.

Secondly, we have added another weapon category - Rifles. This means that, in The Division 2, we will have:

• Assault Rifles
  
• Marksman Rifles
  
• Submachine Guns
  
• Shotguns
  
• Light Machine Guns
  
• Pistols
  
• Rifles

Rifles will be an all new category and will include all semi-automatic and burst-fire rifles. There are several reasons that we decided to introduce this category, the main one being the balancing perks.

In The Division, the many different rifles are grouped into two categories - the Assault Rifle or Marksman Rifle category. In The Division 2, we have decided to add a third category for these weapons. This will allow us to create specific and relevant bonuses for semi-auto and burst-fire rifles, as well as all other weapons. Our ambition with these changes is to have a great variety of equally viable weapons in the game, so that you will have a wider range of weapons.

EXOTICS

For The Division 2, we knew we wanted exotic weapons to be even more exciting and we have put a lot of effort into each and every exotic weapon for The Division 2.

From an art perspective, the exotic weapons will stand out a lot more in the sequel. Each weapon will have its own unique look and be clearly distinguishable. Every visual element of the weapons will tell a bit about the story and theme of the weapon - all connected to the lore. Each exotic weapon will have its place in the world.

GRENADES

In The Division, there are six different kinds of grenades available and everyone can use them. For The Division 2 we have decided to go in a different direction regarding grenades.

This time around, your grenades will be connected to your specialization, which aren't unlocked until level 30. During level 1-29, the Concussion grenade, will be the only one available to you.

At level 30, there will be three additional types of grenades, each tied to a specialization:

• Flashbang grenade - Sharpshooter
  
• Incendiary grenade - Demolitionist
  
• Frag grenade - Survivalist

Whenever you switch specialization, you will also switch grenade type. This means that you will never have, for example, a Flashbang and an Incendiary grenade at the same time. However, the Concussion grenade will always be available, no matter what specialization you use.

This makes sure that the grenades can be powerful and useful, without being such a large part of your arsenal, thereby invalidating a lot of other sources of damage. It also means that you will have a much clearer idea of the capabilities of each player in PVP and PVE, depending on how they've chosen their specialization. Not only will it help when facing enemies, it will also add more depth to the assembly of your own squad. Based on what activity you will be engaging with, be it raids, missions, or PVP – different grenade types might be more viable than others.

MODS

In the sequel, mods will be unlocked and not looted. The reason for this change is that some mods were seen as must-have upgrades on all weapons, which lead to the modding experience becoming less interesting. It also made reloading less important due to inflated magazine sizes, and weapon handling less dynamic because of the high handling numbers on the mods. For The Division 2, we will change the mod system so that modding the weapon will be about customizing its feel and use to fit your playstyle, rather than about mandatory upgrades.

Once a mod is unlocked, it will always be unlocked, and it can be used on as many weapons as you want simultaneously. However, not every mod will fit every weapon. Different weapons have different caliber, and of course, the same goes for muzzle attachments and magazines.



Unlike in The Division, mods will have set stats, and they will be the same for everyone. However, in addition to positive stats, there will also be negative ones. For example, an extended magazine will give you more rounds, but it will also give you lower reload speed because it's bigger and heavier. The purpose of this is to be able to have an unlock system where you choose mods based on personal preference, while still keeping it balanced.

Since all the mods have negative effects, you will have to evaluate whether a certain stat is valuable enough to trade off with the negative stat. For example, if you have a weapon that you like but it kicks a bit too much for your taste, perhaps you can sacrifice a little bit of accuracy or range to make the handling more comfortable for you.

In line with the rest of the game, we have pushed the realism of the mod system quite a lot. The positive/negative stats system will bring realism by itself, but other aspects of the mods have been considered as well. For example, instead of getting bigger mags in percentage, you will get the exact number of extra rounds relevant for that weapon type in real life. This means that there won't be any +121% magazines in the sequel. This will make the reload speed and magazine size of a weapon much more relevant, as well as making reloading a more dynamic and common part of the combat rhythm for both PVE and PVP.

WEAPON TALENTS

In The Division 2, the talent system will be completely reworked and you will have all new talents. In the first game, weapon talents have two types of requirements – a minimum amount of main stats and some kind of action to activate the talent. For the sequel, we have reworked the requirements system to make the creation of builds more interesting and creative.

For The Division 2, we want talents to play a bigger role in your builds, and make the assemblage of a build more fun. Therefore, the requirements for a talent will be able to be pretty much anything. For example, having a gear piece with a particular brand, a certain attribute, or having a specific weapon type equipped. The only restriction is that each talent will have a gameplay theme and the weapon's requirements will be connected to that theme. This will give you a greater understanding of how the talent can be used, and whether it fits your playstyle or not.

Another new feature is the augmented reality tracker that will sit on the side of your guns when you scope in. It is a real-time tracker for you weapon's talent that will show different things depending on what talent you have equipped. For example, it can light up when the talent is activated or help you keep count of shots left until the talent activates, etc. The purpose of this is to make it easier for you to understand your talents and use them in the most efficient way.

Even though talents as a feature is confirmed, any talents, bonuses, or stats shown before the game's release are subject to change.

Be sure to join us over on the Official Forumsor on the community Reddit to discuss today's article; we'd love to hear your thoughts!

We will be releasing these articles regularly, so remember to keep an eye out!

/The Division Dev Team