“We jumped the gun” – The M1A will get it’s damage back

M1A

There are some known issues” says Hamish Bode. Well, I’m glad we cleared that up!

The biggest topic this week is the M1A and Baker’s Dozen so I will get straight into that and then we will cover the rest of the State of the Game update for this week.

The M1A was over tuned to being with apparently, and became the new meta gun because they retired the Eagle Bearer by nerfing it’s talents. Due to this the devs have been working on how to better balance the weapon.

They started by explaining that are working hard from home, creating new content, a new raid, regular updates, etc. They had a plan for how they were going to implement better balancing for the M1A however they shelved work on looking into it and rolled out the adjustment as they simply didn’t have time.

We make human errors” and “this is not a result of bad intention, it’s a result of bad process” said Bruce Kelly, “we apologise for this, this isn’t something that we intended to do or continue to do.

The devs agree this isn’t good enough and don’t want our expectation to be that this is what will happen with future updates.

No concrete date can be provided (either this week or next week though), however as a first step they are going to revert the nerf in PvE (giving back the 40% damage that was taken with TU9). For PvP there will still be an adjustment but only 20% as the PvP community have reported that the nerf has been welcomed.

So that’s great news, right? Yes it shouldn’t have happened to begin with but at least it’s getting fixed. So for the time being there is no need to completely change your builds, just find an alternate rifle and get back into it for a few days.

The hit also taken to builds from the nerf of the Fox’s Prayer Kneepads and the Contactor’s Gloves will remain, however doesn’t have as dramatic an effect on builds now that the M1A will be returned to its previous glorious status…………for now.

Title Udate 9 Nerfs

Here’s the recap of today’s stream as provided via the official website:

  • The 40% nerf of the M1A/Baker’s Dozen was more drastic than originally planned, and will be partially reverted (fully for PvE, half for PvP) later this week as developers work on better long-term balancing.
  • A free trial version of The Division 2 is available now, playable for up to eight hours.
  • The third Season 1 Manhunt Target, Saturn, is available now in Warlords of New York.
  • A new League event begins next week as part of Season 1, bringing a new set of challenges.

PRIORITY ALERTS

TITLE UPDATE 9

  • Released on April 21
  • Full patch notes are available on the forums. The team will continue to update and highlight changes that might have initially been missed.

Known Issues:

  • Striker kneepad replaced by a Level 1 item – this was fixed during yesterday’s unscheduled maintenance.
  • UI issue related to damage to health on Assault Rifle (Stadia specific)
  • Kenly College Technology Laboratory being blocked.
  • Coney Island, several progression blockers.
  • Firefly Skill not launching or sticking to the Agent’s hand.
  • Turret Skills not placing properly and immediately going on cooldown.
  • SHD Levels not showing in group UI.
  • Shield Skills and Assault Rifles not working together properly.
  • Not being able to start or finish the Angel of Mercy Contaminated area.

Developer Interview – Balancing Discussions

M1A Classic Rifle Nerf and Rebalancing

  • The 40% nerf in Title Update 9 was not meant to be final, but the shift to working from home disrupted the developers’ ability to more thoroughly rebalance it. 
  • The M1A will receive a less drastic power reduction in a future update, as part of a more holistic look at gear and overall balance.
  • As a first step, the M1A/Baker’s Dozen will be reverted to its pre-Title Update 9 stats in PVE this week. In PVP, the M1A will receive a 20% reduction, instead of 40%.
  • The change may cause a UI issue for Stadia users, showing the Title Update 9 values, until a client update can be deployed.
  • The M1A is still considered to be an outlier performing above its intended power level, which will be better addressed in the long term.

Send-Off Talent Removal

  • Holstered talents were removed from all weapons, and this was initially missed for the Send-Off shotgun.
  • It was never intended to keep a holstered talent for a weapon like the Send-Off, which needed to first be crafted before players could find out it had a holstered talent.

A larger balance pass is currently being worked on. The team is targeting an update in June, but with the current circumstances, the exact date is still in flux.

Free Trial of The Division 2 Available Now

  • Playable for eight hours, up to Level 8
  • No Dark Zones or PvP
  • Clan functionality disabled
  • Store functionality disabled
  • Referral system functionality disabled
  • Character progression will carry over to the full game if trial players decide to purchase it.

Backpack Trophy and Apparel Keys

  • Available for free to celebrate Title Update 9’s release
  • Log in between April 21 and May 5 to claim
  • Three Apparel Keys
  • Soda Backpack Trophy

Season 1 – Shadow Tide

New Manhunt Target: Saturn 

  • Third Target is now live
  • Targets are available until the end of the Season.
  • Players will need to take down all four Targets to get access to the Prime Target.
  • Double XP Event is also live, giving players the chance to gain double XP for their next 15 levels until April 28. 

Urban Jungle Apparel Event closes this week.

  • Players can still purchase and gift keys, as well as spend earned keys.
  • After April 28, the Urban Jungle Apparel Cache will no longer be live, but event items will be available for direct purchase on the in-game store.

The Home League, a new two-week event offering new challenges and rewards, will begin next week.

 

Are you looking for some help with your builds or understanding the changes made with the latest updates and account sanctions? Here are a few links that will assist you:

Warlords of New York released on March 2nd and is an expansion to the base game Tom Clancy’s: The Division 2.

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