The Division 2 Episode 1 is almost out, marking the beginning of the future of the game’s narrative. The Division 2 Episode 1 will release on July 23 for Year 1 Pass holders and a week later for everyone else, and will include two new main missions. The missions promise to wrap up some loose ends in storylines, as well as provide new loot.

Players will venture to the first investigation area of Kenly College, the library, for the first Expedition, while the two new missions will take you to the National Zoo where you’ll find the leader of the Outcasts, and to Camp White Oak (fictional Camp David) where the Black Tusk is waiting for you. To access these missions, players will need to be in World Tier 5.

On July 30 the second investigation area of Kenly College will open up, with players exploring another train station. Finally on August 6, players will venture to the Kenly Student Union building. Expeditions will have a weekly cadence, though Ubisoft is still working on how exactly it will work.

Finally, a new Discovery difficulty mode for the Operation Dark Hours raid will be added for all players. Players that haven’t been able to organise a group will now be able to participate in the raid, however at this stage it looks like loot will be lower than players that are doing it on one of the harder difficulties. Still, Discovery Mode gives players a great way to explore all parts of The Division 2, and is a welcome addition for casual players.

Watch the official The Division 2 Episode 1 State of the Game cast uploaded today on the official Ubisoft Youtube channel:

The Division 2 Episode 1: Title Update 5 Patch Notes:

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.

Rocket Chainsaw reviewed The Division 2 at launch, giving it 4.5 stars, calling it, “a solid third person online shooter with plenty of different options and playstyles for each type of gamer.“ We have also been covering the game post-launch with the release of Tidal Basin, and will continue our support for The Division 2 moving forward as it expands throughout the country’s capital. You can find out more about the game’s first 8-player raid here, and for more official information on The Division 2, head to the official website here.