The Division 2 is probably one of the most exciting and robust looter shooter video games. After a couple of months since its release and the advent of the Raid, the Season Pass owners will have something else to cheer about. The Division 2 Episode 1 Update is finally here, and its patch notes consist of lots of skill tweaks, balance changes, but also new missions and the long-awaited Expeditions.

It seems like The Division 2 follows the path of WoW: Battle for Azeroth, in which Expeditions serve to offer the players a decent amount of rewards by accomplishing various tasks in so far unexplored areas around DC. The Story Content remains vigilant, as it will link a brand new story mission to continue where it left off.

Let’s talk about more about the expeditions. Each Expedition trip is estimated to offer an exclusive fight with substantial mechanic requirements, but also places that hold reliable goods. Being a 5 man encounter, this activity may become the next best sensation in the game, and that as a core part of it.

New Exotic Rifles, skill changes, lower Raid Difficulty and more, each of it included in the Episode 1 Update.

Below you can find the complete patch notes of The Division 2 Episode 1 update:

Episode 1 Early Access is here for all Year 1 Pass owners. As a reminder, the Year 1 Pass grants 7-day early access to the following narrative activities starting today:

• “Manning National Zoo” Main Story mission
• “Camp White Oak” Main Story mission
• The first Investigation Area of the new PvE experience, Expeditions

Two new Classified Assignments—Central Aquarium and NSA Site B13—are also available today exclusively for Year 1 Pass holders.

Non-pass holders will get access to the 2 new main missions and to Expeditions, for free, on Tuesday, July 30th.

The remaining Title Update 5 updates, features, and balancing tweaks are live now for all players:

SKILLS

Title Update 5 features a major rework to Skills to align them with builds prioritizing weapon damage. We hope these changes create more build opportunities for skill users. Here are a few highlights:

• Skill Cooldown Reduction has been replaced with Skill Haste and scales with Skill Power.
• 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.

As always, please keep the conversations going regarding skills as we continuously work to bring the game into balance. For a more detailed breakdown of all skill changes in this update, check out the patch notes.

DARK HOURS DISCOVERY DIFFICULTY

Episode 1 introduces the Discovery difficulty of the Operation Dark Hours raid. Discovery has a lower difficulty compared to the regular raid, and comes with open matchmaking, but communication and coordination are still required to complete the activity. It’s designed as an introduction to the raid and provides more accessible means to practice the mechanics. Head to the helicopter pilot at the Base of Operation to get started.

Discovery difficulty rewards gear 500 items, but the Eagle Bearer exotic and the raid gear-sets that drop from the regular Dark Hours raid are not part of the loot pool.

CRAFTING & RECALIBRATION

Players can now upgrade their crafting benches in World Tier 5, granting the ability to craft gear score 500 items. Crafted items can now be recalibrated as well, creating a more linear progression path to end game gearing.

In addition, all blueprints now share the same loot pool. This means that players can grind high alert level Control Points for those last remaining blueprints. Lastly, we have introduced a new, optional perk allowing blueprints to be shared across multiple characters on the same account.

NEW WEAPONS & EXOTICS

The Carbine-7 assault rifle and Stoner light machine gun are two new additions live with Title Update 5. There are also two new exotics to track down and add to your collection—the BTSU Datagloves and Diamondback rifle!

Exotics now drop from Heroic bosses, as long as players have already acquired them. For Exotics that were obtained through crafting, players must have the blueprint before they can begin to drop from these bosses. Finally, Exotics are being buffed to drop at the highest range gear score. This rule applies retroactively to all Exotics already owned.