Many Tom Clancy’s The Division players are eagerly awaiting April 12th. That’s the day Update 1.1: Incursions is set to be released.
Besides bug fixes and Incursions, the update adds the much-anticipated loot-trading mechanic. In The Division‘s 1.1 patch notes, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment detailed the way it will work in-game, and they made some interesting decisions.
Loot-trading in The Division will occur in so-called safe areas, like anywhere outside the Dark Zone and Safe Houses. Players can drop a recently acquired item, which can then be picked up by a group member, without the danger of a random player snagging it. However, there are pretty big limitations.
If you were hoping that you could trade just any weapon or gear item currently in your inventory, you’re going to be disappointed. Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment say you can only trade an item within a two hour window from when you picked it up, and only with players who were in the group when it was acquired.
This works differently than other games like Borderlands, which allows players complete control over trading their weapons and gear. There are likely several reasons why The Division‘s developers made this decision, but it probably won’t prove popular with players.
By limiting who can acquire the traded loot, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment force the player to make a decision, and then live with it. After two hours, there’s no recanting, so you’ll need to be sure you don’t mind giving away that High-End pick-up. I rather like this aspect of The Division‘s loot-trading system, since I feel like it adds to the game’s RPG nature.
Similarly, since the item can only be traded with group members who were present when it dropped, it promotes teamwork and participation. Still, we all have that one friend who manages to get online 15 minutes after everyone else leaves and is stuck playing solo. It would be nice to help them out.
So, it’s not a perfect loot-trading system, but it is at least a system – which is more than we can say about Destiny.
What do you think about The Division’s new loot-trading system? Let us know in the comments.
To see what else is coming in The Division‘s Incursions, check out the video below:
