The Division 2 is one of Ubisoft’s marquee titles, bringing third-person loot shooting to a dilapidated Washington, D.C. Although it is bursting at the seams with content, The Division 2 DC Outskirts: Expeditions update is bringing more new features and skill updates to the game very soon. We now know the Division 2 DC Outskirts Expeditions update release date along with what it will contain.
The Division 2 DC Outskirts: Expeditions Update release date
Whether you’re a Year 1 Pass holder or not will determine when you’ll be able to get your hands on the new update. If you purchased the pass separately for $39.99 or bought the Gold or Ultimate Edition of The Division 2, you can check out the new narrative content beginning on July 23, seven days prior to the regular release. If you’re not a Year 1 Pass holder, you’ll get access on July 30, which is when all the balance changes and new content will roll out to all players.
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This early access period will only include the two new main missions and the first investigation area for the new Expedition. That means the balance changes and the rest of the new features won’t be available until it is available to everyone on July 30.
Do you need the Year 1 Pass to play the new content?
Simply put, no, you do not need The Division 2 Year 1 Pass to access the new update. So, why get the pass? There are a few benefits including the aforementioned seven-day early access to each episode of Year 1. You’ll also instantly unlock three new Year 1 Specializations, get exclusive cosmetics, and have VIP status for the duration of the year.
However, all new Year 1 content Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment decide to add to The Division 2 will be free for all players. This was announced back at E3 last year, along with its overhauled endgame content.
The Division 2 DC Outskirts: Expeditions Update | What it contains
DC Outskirts: Expeditions is just the first of three episodes slated to release within The Division 2‘s first year of release. With it is a slew of new content for high-level players to enjoy.
Two new story missions will be added, picking up where the base game left off. The first is at the National Zoo where the leader of the Outcasts, Emelie Shaw, has hunkered down. The second is at Camp White Oak where you’ll chase down Andrew Ellis and his Black Tusk goons. The new missions will offer new loot but can only be accessed by World Tier 5 players.
The titular Expeditions will be released on a weekly basis. The first investigation area will be set at the Kenly Library. As mentioned above, it will be available for Year 1 Pass owners on July 23. On July 30, the Kenly Metro Station investigation area will open to all players at the same time. Additionally, the first investigation area will be available to all owners of the game. Lastly, on August 6, the third area will open to everyone at the Kenly Student Union. Completing all three wings will unlock the Expedition’s treasure room.
The upcoming update also gives a new difficulty option for the raid, Operation Dark Hours. The “Discovery” difficulty mode will allow players to matchmake for the raid, a feature previously not available. The loot, as stated in the post, “is still being finalized” with details pertaining to the difficulty mode’s loot situation coming soon. Despite that, the Discovery difficulty mode will be available on July 23 for all players.
That covers all of the new content available in The Division 2 DC Outskirts: Expeditions update. The rest of the patch notes detail PTS updates and skill updates, which can be viewed below:
Title Update 5 – Episode 1 Release Date
- Year 1 Pass holders have seven days early access to narrative content for Episode 1 starting on July 23
- Early Access Release:
- On July 23 the two new main missions and the first Investigation Area of Kenly College, for the new Expedition will be available to Year 1 Pass owners.
- Regular access:
- Starting July 23, all balance changes will be available for all The Division 2 players, with or without the Year One pass.
- On July 30, the two new main missions and the first two Investigation Areas of Kenly College will open up for all The Division 2 players.
Episode 1 Content
- The two new main missions not only offer new gameplay and loot, they also wrap up the narrative on two storylines.
- In the National Zoo, you’ll be hunting down Emeline Shaw, the leader of the Outcasts who has now barricaded herself in the Zoo.
- Camp White Oak is a presidential retreat and Andrew Ellis has Black Tusk reinforcements protecting him from the Division. You’ll have to chase him down, dead or alive.
- To access these missions, you will have to be in World Tier 5.
- Expeditions
- The first investigation area of the Expedition opens for Year 1 Pass owners on July 23 at Kenly Library.
- On July 30, the library will still be open for investigation while the second investigation area, Kenly Metro Station, will open up.
- Week 3, starting on August 6 all investigation areas will be open, including the third area at Kenly Student Union.
- Expedition and Mastery System
- Expeditions will have a weekly cadence for wings to open at first, but the dev team is still investigating how the rotation will work afterwards.
- The Mastery system is still in the works as the dev teams believe the system can add another layer to the expedition experience, but isn’t ready to implement it with TU5.
- Stay tuned for an update on progress and how the system will look.
- Operation Dark Hours raid difficulty
- The new Discovery difficulty mode for the Operation Dark Hours raid will be available on July 23 for all players.
- The loot for this new difficulty is still being finalized. Stay tuned!
PTS Updates
- Remember to go to the forums and fill out the surveys if you participated in the PTS testing.
- Some players couldn’t not join the PTS due to their profiles not loading properly, causing them to receive ECHO-02 errors.
- To allow as many players as possible to join, the dev team deleted all player profiles and offered the template agents instead.
- Many changes have been made for the second testing phase on the PTS, a full list of Patch Notes can be found on the forums.
Skill Updates
- The Skill Cooldown Minimum Hard Cap of 10 seconds has been lowered to three seconds for all skills, except the Chem Launcher which will be at eight seconds.
- BTSU Gloves:
- Fixed several bad behaviors and synergies related to the Pulse status effect.
- No longer creates an explosion when quick-deployed or when thrown at close distance.
- Grenades:
- Increased the radius of the Gunner’s Riot Foam Grenade from two meters to three meters.
- Turret:
- Increased Assault Turret base damage by 22.5%.
- Increased Assault Turret base duration from 120s to 300s.
- Increased Incinerator Turret base duration from 120s to 300s.
- Increased Turret platform base health by 100%.
- Decreased Artillery Turret base ammo from 10 to 4.
- Decreased Sniper Turret base ammo from 15 to 6.
- Decreased Turret Cyclone Magazine Mortar Ammo from +20 to +8.
- Decreased Turret Ammo Box Extra Mortar Ammo from +20 to +8.
- Decreased Turret Ammo Box Extra Sniper Ammo from +30 to +12.
- Cyclone Magazine (Generic) +Extra Sniper Ammo variant added to all loot list quality tiers.
- Drone:
- Increased Striker Drone base damage by 7.1%.
- Increased Blitzkrieg Blasting Powder Striker Drone damage from +200% to +600%.
- Increased Striker Drone base duration from 120s to 300s.
- Increased Defender Drone base duration from 20s to 300s.
- Increased Fixer Drone base duration from 180s to 300s.
- Increased Tactician Drone base duration from 180s to 300s.
- Increased Defender Drone base health by 100%.
- Increased Fixer Drone base health by 60%.
- Decreased Striker Drone base health by -20%.
- Decreased Bombardier Drone base health by -46.6%.
- Decreased Tactician Drone base health by -73.3%.
- Seeker Mine:
- Explosive Seeker Mine radius now correctly says 5m in the UI.
- Increased Cluster Seeker Mine explosion radius from 3m to 4m.
- UI now shows the correct explosion radius for Explosive and Cluster Seeker Mines before detonating.
- Increased Explosive Seeker Mine base damage by 25%.
- Increased Cluster Seeker Mine base damage by 42.8%.
- Increased Mender Seeker Mine base duration from 120s to 300s.
- Decreased Airburst Seeker Mine base burn duration from 5s to 4s.
- Firefly:
- Decreased Blinder Firefly base blind duration from 8s to 6s.
- Increased Burster Firefly base damage by 6.7%.
- Vac Pack and Guiding System Firefly mods now correctly increase Max Targets by the amount listed on the tooltip.
- Pulse:
- Lots of backend fixes for consistency/usability.
- Scanner Pulse will now begin its cooldown after a 3 second delay upon activation, rather than at the end of the Pulse effect’s duration.
- Reduced Scanner Pulse base radius from 52m to 50m.
- Increased Banshee Pulse base cooldown from 40s to 60s.
- Distributed Architecture and Super Glue Pulse mods no longer affect the radius/range of the Banshee Pulse.
- Reduced Distributed Architecture and Super Glue Pulse +Radius value from 60% to 50%.
- Reduced Unstable Oscillator and Atmosperic Analyzer Pulse +Effect Duration value from 55% to 50%.
- Chem Launcher:
- Increased the radius of the Riot Foam Chem Launcher from 1.5m to 3m.
- Decreased Firestarter Chem Launcher base burn duration from 5s to 4s.
- Hive:
- Stinger Hive is no longer affected by Explosive Damage modifiers.
