I made a prediction ahead of the launch of The Division 2’s new expansion, Warlords of New York. I thought I would play through the campaign, mess around in the endgame for a few more days, then drop it once the new season of Destiny launched.
And yet, after Destiny 2’s Season of the Worthy arrived yesterday, I couldn’t shake the thought that just a few hours earlier I was having…quite a bit more fun with Warlords of New York. And I really want to go back to it.
Simply put, I am finding that I have a clear list of achievable goals that I want to pursue in the game, and I am finding it easy to cobble together fun builds that may not be crazily optimized, but still feel strong and enjoyable all the same.
Here’s the mental list of what I’m currently pursuing in my head for the Warlords of New York endgame:
- Finishing up the skill trees for the specializations that I never got to over the past few months.
- Getting solid copies of every gear set to play around with.
- Finding god roll branded armor, which is what most of my current builds are made of.
- Finding god roll armor or stats that I can extract using the new calibration library system and build a collection of banked perfect rolls.
- Hunting down named loot and exotics I don’t have, or finding better rolls for the ones I do have.
- Tracking down the new target in the season that just launched with a checklist of activities to get through.
- Ranking through the seasonal battle pass which rewards a bunch of set and named loot.
- Enjoying unscripted, unplanned encounters like an impromptu 15 minute battle with a giant aerial drone that dropped a Striker’s mask and a double god roll chestpiece.
The point is that I feel like I have a lot of stuff to do, and it’s all stuff I want to do, rather than feel like I’m being forced to do it (*cough cough* leveling Destiny bunkers). Yes, I agree that there are some issues with loot quality at higher levels and some old problems with enemy tankiness. And yet I don’t think those overwhelm what’s good about this expansion, and these problems are not nearly as bad as they were back in The Division 1, even if they’re a downgrade from a more recent era of The Division 2.
I can see the seasonal model working for The Division based on what we’ve seen from it so far, and the roadmap we have ahead. It’s something that doesn’t seem like it demands all of your time, which is exactly what I need right now with so many other games to play.
I have been hot and cold with The Division for years now, as my articles would indicate, but despite my critiques, I genuinely think the game has landed in a very solid spot overall right now, and it’s something I am going to stick with as much as I can, balancing it between Destiny and Borderlands content, in addition to the other big titles that will be out soon too (DOOM, anyone?).
I’m impressed. I’m looking forward to more. I want a damn Striker’s Chest.
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