Every element of The Division 2 will transition to Gear 2.0 in Title Update 8, from your favorite gear to your darling exotics. No item will be spared, even if you haven't purchased Warlords of New York, so it's best to understand what the changes are.
Gear 2.0 completely overhauls talents and attributes
All talents are removed from regular high-end and higher items, with the exception of chest parts, backpacks, and weapons (a list of these new gear talents can be found here). These will relaunch with one of the new talents making their debut in Gear 2.0.
Exotics will have revised talents, and the named armor will have their talents replaced with either a higher roll than is normally allowed, or a roll that is not usually found on that specific category of gear. Gear sets will also have a backpack and chest piece talent, but they will be designed to amplify and enhance the four piece set bonus. A list of the new Exotics and their drop locations can be found here.
Wait, a roll of stats that doesn't appear normally? Yes, Gear 2.0 stats don't cover as wide a range of gear as before, allowing each item type to have more room to specialize. This goes twice for the Brand Sets, which have all been updated to feature set bonuses that complement a specific playstyle (and a list of those bonuses can be found here).
Much of this stats overhaul comes from the newly introduced base attributes (which work similarly to the base attributes from the first game). All gear will now roll with one of three primary attributes outside of the normal attributes: weapon damage, armor, or skill level (which replaces skill power).
Attributes will roll based on an item's base attribute, so while it is not impossible to find a red weapon roll on a yellow skill level item, the majority of gear will have attributes that complement each other better. Mark sets will be given a base attribute based on the role they perform, so defensive marks will have armor, damage marks will have weapon damage, and skill marks will have skill level.
It also means that talents no longer need a specific number of skills to unlock, so agents can focus on the stats they want without worrying about whether their talents will activate or activate. no.
The budget system has been eliminated, so the statistics are no longer limited. All stats now have a chance to roll well, regardless of the quality of other stats on an item.
Damage to elites and explosive damage have been removed from the loot pool and will be replaced by a stat that matches their old role (so a damage roll for DTE and a skill roll for explosive damage). Explosive damage appears on two sets of marks, it just won't roll onto other objects with Gear 2.0.
The attributes that can now roll on equipment are:
- Weapon damage
- Competence level
- Armor
- Handling of weapons
- Critical Hit Chance
- Critical Hit Damage
- Head damage
- Skill damage
- Skill repair
- Looking forward to skill
- Armor Regeneration
- Protection against risks
- Health
- Explosive resistance
Gear mods and skill mods
Mods have also been updated in Gear 2.0, although they work as before. Gear mod slots will only roll on specific gear - mask, backpack, and chest. There will be only one mod slot each, and the gear mods have been condensed into one roll.
With the removal of Skill Power for Skill Tiers, skill mods no longer have a limitation associated with their use. Any skill mod can be equipped, regardless of skill level. This means that the battery modules have been removed. These will remain a single roll.
Arms
Weapons will now roll with two main stats: damage for their class and their special bonus (Crit Chance for SMGs, for example). A third stat can roll on high end weapons that wouldn't normally roll on this class of weapons, such as increased health damage on a shotgun. An active talent will always appear on high end and higher weapons, and they are listed here.
Updated user interface ties it all together
To facilitate the analysis of all these changes, the user interface has been revised. All stats on all items will have a bar below that will show how well that stat has rolled into its allotted range. A bar filled almost entirely to the right has better roll than a bar hovering closer to the left. A Perfect Roll, or "God Roll", will have a filled bar and will be highlighted in orange. An orange icon will also be visible on the item's portrait to indicate that a God Roll is present.
Equipment mods and skill mods will also have this bar under their stats, so agents can tell at a glance whether a mod is worth keeping or ditching. Weapon stats are directly below total damage, RPM, and store window, and also feature the range bar showing how well the weapon's damage and class bonus performed.
This cleaner user interface not only makes it easier to analyze what equipment is worth equipping, but also what is worth saving for the recalibration library. Agents can now permanently store rolls in the recalibration library which can be used an unlimited number of times. Whenever an item drops that has a better roll than the one stored in the library, the UI will display it with an icon next to that roll. Rolls can be overwritten in the library, so knowing when you have an upgrade worth storing is a godsend.
Less drops, but more rewarding
Because these changes make drops more punchy than before, loot drops have been reduced slightly. The idea behind this change is simple: there is less waste to filter out, with every drop now more meaningful and useful.
To facilitate this drop rate change, the difficulties have been adjusted to be more rewarding the higher you go. A perfectly rolled item can appear on Story difficulty, but it will be rarer compared to the loot removed from Heroic. Essentially, the higher the difficulty, the narrower the stat range, which increases an agent's chances of receiving loot with multiple high-end stats, or God Rolls.
Due to this change in the way Difficulties grant loot, Gear Score has been removed for players at level 40; all gear will drop to level 40, and it will be the number of quality rolls that will distinguish the loot. The Division 2 Agents who do not purchase Warlords of New York will continue to have the Equipment Score, and that will be increased to 515. Loot from the 500 to 515 score will work the same, however, with higher gear score items that roll better stats. Tackling harder content will increase the chances of the higher loot score dropping.
To conclude…
Gear 2.0 affects all items in The Division 2, whether or not you purchased Warlords of New York. Whether you're looking for the perfect level 40 loot or grinding that 515 Gear Score gear, the updated system will be felt by everyone. These seismic loot changes mean you can safely sell or discard any items that have been in your stash up to this point, as everyone will climb a new ladder of power.
That's all there is to Gear 2.0. The Division 2 needed a good polish to its gear mechanics for some time now, and Gear 2.0 is just what the game needed. It might seem intimidating at first, but over time agents will find the new system more flexible and rewarding than what came before.
For more The Division 2: Warlords of New York guides, check out our guides hub.
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