Determined was one of the most discussed changes during the PTS, and the feedback around it was divided. Some of you supported the change and wanted to see more options for MMR builds, while others asked us to leave it as is.
One of the main reasons we wanted to make this change is the interaction between the current version of Determined and Headhunter. Once Determined is active, a body shot converted into a headshot can trigger Determined again if it kills the enemy. Combined with Headhunter, this allows the chain to continue after the initial headshot kill.
This also leaves us with less room to improve MMRs and any related gear, because increasing their damage can make that Determined + Headhunter setup even stronger.
Another reason, and one that is just as important, is the work we are doing on the endgame beyond Red Horizon. We have more additions planned for you, and part of preparing for that means addressing some of the balance issues and meta outliers that can limit what we can do. Determined is one of those cases.
That is why, after reviewing the feedback, we have decided to move forward with the change to Determined. Doing this now gives us more freedom to add and improve things in the future for everyone.
With the final version, Determined will function like Perfect Determined, meaning a converted headshot kill will no longer retrigger the Talent. But the current chaining functionality is not disappearing completely. It is moving to the Iron Will Exotic Chest, freeing up the weapon Talent slot so you can use it with Exotic MMRs, High-End MMRs with a different Talents, and Pistols like Regulus and The Harvest.
We also heard the feedback from those who rely on Determined because MMRs can feel difficult to use without it. This is something we want to address as well. We are looking into a Handling pass for Marksman Rifles and Rifles to make them feel better to use, although we do not have a timeline to share for that yet.
The upcoming Red Horizon season will also include buffs to MMR-related Gear Sets and Brands, including Hotshot and Aces & Eights, as well as increases to MMR Damage bonuses on Brand Sets. We want to give Marksman Rifle builds more options rather than having so much of their strength tied to one Talent combination.
This was one of the harder decisions coming out of the PTS, and we know not everyone will agree with it. After reviewing the feedback and looking at where we want to take the game next, we believe this is the right decision to make. We still want to thank everyone who took the time to explain what Determined means to their builds and how they use it.
A lot of the feedback around gear and weapons focused on some of the new options not feeling strong enough in practice. Here are the changes we’ve made based on what we saw during the test:
BOILING POINT WEAPON TALENT
Standard: the portion of the magazine with -100% Critical Hit Chance has been reduced from 80% to 53%.
Perfect version: the portion of the magazine with -100% Critical Hit Chance has been reduced from 75% to 48%.
EMBER ENGINE GEAR SET
Spontaneous Combustion Burn application chance increased from 20% to 40%.
Flashpoint Chest bonus increased from 40% to 60%.
FAFNIR EXOTIC SHOTGUN
Dragon’s Breath chance to apply Burn increased from 10% to 40%.
Weapon Damage scaling from your Status Effects bonus increased from 30% to 50%.
IRON WILL EXOTIC CHEST
PvE cooldown: increased from 1s to 2s.
PvP cooldown increased from 2s to 3s.
INCINERATOR TURRET
Base cooldown reduced from 60s to 30s.
AIRALDI HOLDINGS BRAND SET
PvE: 2-piece Headshot Damage increased from 13% to 26%.
GRUPO SOMBRA BRAND SET
PvE: 3-piece Headshot Damage increased from 13% to 39%.
MURAKAMI INDUSTRIES BRAND SET
We have reverted the Brand Set changes tested during the PTS.
2-piece bonus: reverted to +35% Repair Skills.
3-piece bonus: back to +18% Skill Damage.
A lot of the feedback during the test was about the Pressure Gauge and how quickly it decayed compared to how long it could take to build. We also saw that keeping the gauge up could feel harder in group play.
Based on that feedback, we made the following changes:
PRESSURE GAUGE
Pressure Gauge decay has been made less aggressive and will now start later.
Some actions that build Pressure have been buffed.
A new Group Kill action has been added. You will now gain 1% Pressure whenever another player in your group gets a kill.
HOSTILE MODIFIERS
Achilles’ Heal: Pressure Gauge loss from breaking an armor piece or weak point has been reduced from 10% to 5%.
Draining Presence: Radius reduced from 7m to 5m.
Remember that setting an affected enemy on fire will remove the Hostile Modifier effects and permanently disable them for that enemy.
ACTIVE MODIFIERS
We also heard that the Active Modifiers themselves needed more impact, so all three have received buffs.
Fiery Aura
Armor Regen is now percentage-based, ranging from 0.5% to 1.5% Armor per second.
At Level 5, Damage Resistance while sprinting can now reach 100%.
Burn duration has been increased.
At Level 5, Armor Regen per unique enemy burned has been increased to 15%.
Vicarious Combustion
The range of the headshot effect has been doubled.
The Burn Damage penalty has been reduced from 50%-25% to 50%-10%.
Burn duration has been slightly reduced.
The cooldown of its Level 5 effect has been reduced.
Signed, Shield, Delivered
Shield Health and Shield Active Regen have been increased.
BLACKOUT DARK ZONE
You told us Blackout enemies were going down a little too easily. They’ve taken the feedback personally and will be tougher in the season release.
Prototype Gear and Weapon drop rates have also been adjusted:
Normal Enemies: 0.2% Chance for Prototype Drop – Mid Stat Rolls
Elite Enemies: 0.5% Chance for Prototype Drop – Mid Stat Rolls & 0.2% Chance for Prototype Drop – High Stat Rolls
Boss Enemies: 1% Chance for Prototype Drop – Mid Stat Rolls and 2% Chance for Prototype Drop – High Stat Rolls.
We also added Ortiz: Reficere, Caduceus, and Nurse’s Kneepads to the special Loot Pool for PvP Dark Zones.
PVP BALANCE
After reviewing your feedback around the PvP balance pass, we’ve made some adjustments to Skills, Talents, Gear and Brand Set bonuses.
We saw that Tier 6 fire-based Skill builds could become too strong in PvP when combined with Ember Engine, so we’ve made some PvP specific adjustment to the set:
Spontaneous Combustion: Chance to apply Burn is 8%, with +8% Burn Damage if the Status Effect initially applied was Burn.
Flashpoint: Increases Spontaneous Combustion’s Burn application chance to 12%.
White Hot: Increases the duration of Spontaneous Combustion’s Burn Damage debuff by 12%.
We also heard concerns around the strength of several Bonus Armor Talents. Bloodsucker, Unbreakable, Protected Reload, and Adrenaline Rush have all received some adjustments.
For the full breakdown, check out the PvP Set Bonus and Talents Rebalance and PvP Skill Rebalance sheets.
PVP STAT DISPLAY
Some of you also reported that PvP stats were not always displayed clearly while checking your builds.
Starting with Red Horizon, your inventory will show your PvP weapon damage directly below the PvE value, and your displayed stats will automatically switch to their PvP values when you enter any PvP environment.
You will also be able to check your PvP Normalization stats and PvP Balance overrides in the Shooting Range by activating the PvP switches.
As part of these changes, the Inventory Normalization button will be temporarily removed while we update the UI.
/ The Division 2 Team