Operation ISAC and gear score detailed in the patch notes for The Division

I’m going through the motions right now with The Division. General Bliss has been buried in the smoking remains of his chopper, I’m sort of still struggling to find a balance between my stats and the hunt for the perfect gun is still ongoing. After several dozen hours, it does start to wear a bit thin. But I’m doing all this as preparation for new content, such as the upcoming Incursions.

The raid-like missions and player loot-trading system will be in effect soon when the latest patch drops, but I’m also after something a bit more challenging. And that’s where Operation ISAC comes in. According to Ubisoft, this will be a new challenge series of weekly in-game assignments centered around your Intelligent System Analytic Computer every Tuesday. Here’s a teaser for it:

Sounds vaguely familiar, and more fun than grinding for Phoenix Credits in the daily missions. The other big kicker comes in the form of a retuned Dark Zone experience when the new patch hits. Ubisoft has essentially slashed the level barrier in half for Dark Zone vendors, allowing players to get better gear sooner, provided that their existing gear meets a certain score. Again, this all sounds vaguely familiar but I just can’t put my light finger on it…

• Superior (Purple) items: Rank 15 instead of 30
• High-End (Gold) level 30 (Gear Score 163): Rank 25 instead of 50
• High-End (Gold) level 31 (Gear Score 182): Rank 40 instead of 50

Crafting will also be tweaked, with the costs for creating high-end items increasing while deconstructing weapons and gear will yield only one material item. It’s like our finance minister had a hand in the patch, I swear. Here’s the highlight reel from the patch notes list, for you to peruse through at your leisure. Check the link above for far more on bug fixes and even more tweaks:

Falcon Lost

• Falcon Lost is a new incursion available in the Stuyvesant area
• You must be level 30 and have completed the mission “General Assembly” to access this mission
• The encounter is balanced for 4 players with high level gear

Gear Sets

• Gear set equipment can be found by completing the most challenging activities in Manhattan
• Collecting and wearing gear sets grant powerful stat bonuses and talents
• Gear sets of varying gear scores can be found for many playstyles. Find the set that best suits yours
• “Tactician’s Authority” – enhances electronics and support capabilities
• “Striker’s Battlegear” – provide bonuses for assault capabilities
• “Sentry’s Call” – enhances marksman capabilities
• “Path of the Nomad” – provides bonuses for lone wanderers

Trading

• Items dropped by enemies can be shared with other players
• Trade items by dropping them as loot from your inventory, so players in your group can pick them up
• You can only share items for during the first 2 hours after you have acquired them
• Items can only be shared with players who are currently in your group and who were also in your group when the item was originally dropped

Assignments

• Assignments are automatically obtained when you log in and can be tracked from the map via the menu called “Mission Overview”
• Assignments are available for a limited time (24h for Daily Assignments and 7 days for Weekly Assignments), after which, they will be replaced by different assignments
• Assignments come in different categories:
• Combat
• Dark Zone
• Crafting
• Most assignments can be completed while playing alone but some will require enlisting other agent’s assistance to complete

Dark Zone Supply Drops

• Dark Zone Supply Drops are a global event where the Strategic Homeland Defense agency airdrops multiple supply caches to assist Division agents
• Supply drops will occur multiple times over the course the day
• The supply drops will contain non-contaminated gear of all types that will be ready to use without the need for extraction
• These supply drops will be heavily sought after by other agents and enemy factions that roam the Dark Zone, so be ready for resistance

Gear Score

• Every non-vanity gear piece that can be found when your agent is level 30 has a Gear Score value. The higher an item’s Gear Score, the stronger the item
• The overall Gear Score of your agent can be seen in your main menu next to your player level. Gear Score indicates the advancement of an agent
• Other agents’ Gear Scores are displayed next to their health bars
• Improving your gear and increasing your overall Gear Score will grant your agent access to the most dangerous high-end challenges

New High-End Named Weapons

• Added new High-End named weapons:
• Warlord: Assault Rifle
• Valkyria: Submachine gun
• (Historian: Marksman Rifle) Please note that while the Historian will be implemented in the game with this update, it will not be acquirable in-game until update 1.2

Gameplay

• Turret skill can no longer suppress enemy NPCs, as this allowed named NPCs to be defeated too easily
• Recalibrating High-End items will now cost normal Credits instead of Phoenix Credits
• Phoenix Credits drop have been increased on lvl 31 and 32 named enemies:
• Level 30: 1-3 Phoenix Credits
• Level 31: 2-4 Phoenix Credits
• Level 32: 3-5 Phoenix Credits

The new patch drops on April 12, and hopefully includes a mute button so that I don’t have to hear JTF forces going on about small arms fire yet again.

Last Updated: April 6, 2016