Just a few weeks ago, Ubisoft Massive revealed the PTS (Private Test Server) patch notes for The Division 2’s Year 5 Season 1 (also known as Title Update 18). Today, we have the second part of that with The Division 2 Title Update 18 PTS Phase 2 patch notes.

Same as with other PTS patch notes, while there is no guarantee that everything listed below will be implemented into the retail version of the game once Title Update 18 releases in June. However, if past PTS changes are anything to go by, the majority, these should be close to what the final patch notes should be.

The Division 2 Title Update 18 PTS Phase 2 Patch Notes:

DESCENT

Many of you dove straight into Descent to explore the new 1-to-4 player PvE mode and were quick to share your thoughts. We wanted to acknowledge some of the key changes:

DIFFICULTY

• POST-NEMESIS LEVELS DIFFICULTY
  • Based on the feedback we received during the PTS Phase 1, post-Nemesis difficulty was dramatically increased up to 39% compared to the previous version
• DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SINGLE AND CO-OP EXPERIENCE
  • Better balance between Health, Damage and Armor
  • Increased difference between Veteran, Elite and Boss-level enemies
  • Adjusted the Rational Level Design system used for balancing and difficulty scaling

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HAZARDS

• Changed the placement and affected areas for some of the hazards, making them more intrusive/visible during gameplay
• Removed the option to bypass Hazards from the shop
• Increased the frequency of occurrence

XP & REWARDS

Starting with the PTS Phase 2 the new reward system will be in place.

• XP earned for completing Descent levels will be split into 3 categories:
  • XP awarded to players that have not yet reached level 40
  • XP awarded to players that have reached level 40 and moved on to the SHD level progression path
  • Seasonal XP to help level 40 players progress though the Seasonal Rewards track

Rewards are based on the maximum Descent loops reached and comprise of sealed caches that will be sent to the player’s inventory upon completing the Descent run and returning to their main character. Please note that the LEVEL mentions refer to the main game character outside Descent:

• 1-29 LVL: Field Proficiency Cache containing Standard, Specialized and Superior quality items
• Crafting Material Cache containing crafting materials of all sorts
  • 11-29 LVL: Weapon Crafting Cache
  • 11-29 LVL: Gear Crafting Cache
  • 11-39 LVL: Recalibration Crafting Cache
  • 30-40 LVL: Crafting Material Cache
• 11-40 LVL: Exotic cache excluding Raid Exotics
• NEW! Simulation Cache
  • 30-39 LVL: Simulation Cache containing Superior and High-End quality items
  • 40 LVL: Simulation Cache containing High-End quality items with a 15% chance of dropping Gearsets and Named gear & weapons
• 40+ LVL: NEW! Reconstructed cache containing Named weapons and gear from S1, S2, S3 and S4

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STABILITY IMPROVEMENTS AND OTHER CHANGES

• Improved stability to prevent crashes
• Updated Talents descriptions
• Items are no longer shuffled in the NSA store
• Added NSA store tutorial
• Added a pop-up message when pressing “Depart” button in SP – now a confirmation is required for exiting to DC
• Added missing sounds & various sound design improvements
• Fixed the NPC spawn
• Fixed the wave counter starting from 1 instead of 0
• Fixed the Revive Token UI in the shop
• Added Missing “Start simulation” and “Matchmake” buttons from the AR panel of Descent near the White House for Xbox
• Added departure timer

YEAR 5 SEASON 1 BROKEN WINGS

TALENTS

• The Perfect Companion Talent is used on the Named Chest Henri
  • Was not a mistake and we intend to keep it
• Revamped the damage reduction from skills to damage reduction from all sources so the Charging Talent won’t affect other damage-dealing talents and grenades
• Updated the Defibrillator Talent description
• Updated the Overcharging and Safe Charging Talents descriptions
• Fixed the issue with the Defibrillator Talent not activating on a newly equipped item with the same Talent – equipping, unequipping or swapping items will no longer cause the Talent to stop working
• Added Thunder-Strike Talent to the Recalibration Library
• Fixed the issue with the Thunder Strike Talent and its perfect version amplifying damage from all sources, including skills, grenades, status effects with DOT and any damaging Talents like Toxic Delivery from the Vile Exotic Mask. Now Agents can only deal extra damage to shocked targets with the Named weapons or any other regular weapon that has the normal version of the talent
• Fixed the issue with the Charged Talent speed boosting agents in co-op when near other agents

GEAR & WEAPONS

• Changed the “incoming skill damage” to “incoming damage” and lowered the value for “The Cavalier” Gear Set
  • Talent “Charging” – For each second spent out of cover during combat Agents will get 5% reduced incoming damage. Max 40%
    • Reduced from 50% to 40%
  • Talent “Charged” – While fully charged, gain immunity to any movement speed debuff and share hazard protection and the damage reduction with all allies for 10 seconds.
    • Removed skill damage reduction
  • Chest Bonus – Talent “Overcharging” – Increases Charger max incoming damage protection to 50%
    • Reduced from 70% to 50%
• Cavalier Gear Set has the correct name
• Removed a dye slot from the St. Elmo’s Engine Exotic AR
• Fixed the mod slots for the Cavalier Gear Set Holster are placed outside the screen
• Fixed the issue with the St. Elmo’s Engine Exotic AR obtained from the PTS Crafting Cache having no Attributes and Core Attributes
• The Shocker Punch Exotic Holster no longer has maxed Core Attribute
• Fixed the Cavalier Holster and Mask mod slots placement
• Named weapons from the PTS Crafting Cache no longer have the base gear rarity (grey)
• Added missing visual representation Mod icons for the St. Elmo’s Engine Exotic AR in the Inventory

QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

• Conflict XP rebalance
  • Added SHD XP progression
• The living world activities XP gains revamp
• Added the Grants Tab to make the compensations process more streamlined and items easy to obtain
  • Grants Tab can be found in the Store
• Added an option to allow players to change mission difficulty regardless of the world difficulty setting
• Added quick grenade selection menu
  • Hold G for PC
  • Hold D-pad Left for the consoles
• Added an option to mark Apparel Items as favorite
• Added Directives selection for Raids
• Added the option to Show selected mission Directives on the Mega Map
• Added the possibility to hold ESC/SPACE to skip videos and epilepsy warnings
  • Equivalent of Space button is X (PS) and A (XB)
  • Equivalent of Escape button is Options (PS) and Map/Hide Map (XB)
• Added a new In Loadouts section at the bottom of the Item Details window in the Inventory (under a gear piece’s talent and mod slots) to display the current loadouts where the selected item is present
• Added the Hide/Show Mask’ and ‘Hide/Show Signature Weapon’ buttons in the Inventory when hovering over the specific tiles/tabs
  • Currently present in the cross Options layout
• Added a notification widget for modding Primary, Secondary and Sidearm weapons’ skin slot, which appears if the player has any custom skin available for that weapon in the Store. The notification also has a quick button that redirects to the Weapon Skins Store tab
• Added visual feedback for locked Grenades
  • When browsing through the Grenades menu in the Inventory, players will see a notification which lets them know if the selected Grenade can be equipped or not

KNOWN ISSUES

TALENTS, GEAR & WEAPONS

• Missing text highlights in various Talents’ descriptions
• Placeholder images are displayed instead of the correct icon and mods for the St. Elmo’s Engine Exotic AR in the Crafting Station menu
• Placeholder image is displayed instead of the correct icon for Shocker Punch Exotic Holster in the Crafting Station menu
• The PTS Crafting Cache does not mention the new TU18 gear in its content description
• The Charged and Changing Talents can be stacked in co-op
• St. Elmos Engine stacks can be earned with shock ammo from the Talent (only standard ammo should count towards the 100 stacks)

DESCENT

• 40-level players with SHD progression unlocked may receive a much higher amount of XP than designed after completing any number the Descent game mode loops
• A door will automatically open if you wait for too long in the corridor. On Darpa maps please interact with the door console before entering the room

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QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

• The living world activities rebalancing revamp is only available to players who have their difficulty set to Heroic. Please be aware that since we do not have difficulties activated in the PTS build and players join in with their own difficulty settings, the ones who don’t have Heroic on won’t be affected by the XP revamp
• Items claimed from the Compensation Vendor won’t drop on the ground if the player has their Inventory or Mailbox full. Please make sure that your inventory has enough space before attempting to claim items from the Compensation Vendor

There’s no set release date yet on when we’ll see Title Update 18 other than it’ll be in June. Once we know more, we’ll let our readers know.

Source: The Division 2 Trello Board