Yesterday Massive Studios held true to their word and made the new public test server available to anyone who signed up for the Elite Task Force opportunity. It will become available to anyone starting Monday. Some quick facts you need to know about the PTS:

• The PTS is running a release candidate build of the game client and game server, intended to be version 1.4.
• Since the client files and server files need to be in sync, you have to install a separate installation of the game to access the PTS.
• The size of the download for the PTS install is approximately 37 - 40GB in size.
• The PTS is only accessible for PC users, NOT console users.
• Steam users will receive an email with a product activation code.

I will update this post as I get more information.

Feel free to join us on The Division Discord in the #pts_discussion channel to discuss these changes and more.

– DocHolliday324

Changes in the files

There were quite a bit of changes to the games archive files spanning pretty much all aspects of the game. Some of the changes were trivial while some were significant. I will do my best to try and cover as much of the changes as I can that I see in the files.

Please keep in mind, that these changes are not guaranteed to be in the final 1.4 release nor can they be assumed to be 100% confirmed since I am having to make some educated guesses for some of the information.

Consolidation & cleanup

Many changes appear to be implemented merely to consolidate and clean up the database. For example, many of the data structures used to determine assignment rewards have been renamed and used more broadly.

Changes to GearSets

Striker’s Battlegear

• 5th set piece unlock has been removed
• Unlocks:
  • (2) +20% Stability
  • (3) +10% Enemy Armor Damage
  • (4) Striker’s Battlegear - Every consecutive hit deals 1% more damage. Stacks up to 100%. Missing shots drop bonus by 2%. Bonus is reduced by 1% every second.

Sentry’s Call

• 5th set piece unlock has been removed
• Unlocks:
  • (2) +30% Increased Aiming Accuracy
  • (3) +10% Damage to Elites
  • (4) Sentry’s Call - Headshots using semi-automatic weapons mark the enemy, increasing the damage inflicted on the target by 5% for a duration of 30 seconds each. A target can receive up to three marks.

Talent changes

• Before: 15% damage bonus & 10s duration
• After: 5% damage bonus & 30s duration

Predator’s Mark

• Unlocks:
  • (2) +5.0% Rate of Fire
  • (3) +800 Assault Rifle Damage & +700 Pistol Damage
  • (4) Predator’s Mark - Hit 10 shots without switching target to make the target bleed for 100% of damage already done by those bullets.

Tactician’s Authority

• Unlocks:
  • (2)
  • (3)
  • (4)

Talent changes

• Before: Every {0} damage your group deals adds 1% skill power to you for a max of 100% bonus. Bonus is reduced by {3}% every second the group isn’t dealing damage.
• After: Every bullet your group hit enemies with adds 0.2% skill power to you for a max of 30% bonus. Bonus disappears after 10 seconds of not being updated or after 10 seconds at full power

Final Measure

• Unlocks:
  • (2) +50% Exotic Damage Resilience
  • (3) +15% Protection from Elites
  • (4) Final Measure - When in range of hostile grenades or mortars, defuses them and adds grenades to your inventory. Can only happen once every 4 seconds.

Talent changes

• Before: When throwing a grenade, gain the defuse buff. When in range of a hostile grenade, the buff is consumed and defuses the grenade as well as gives you a grenade.
• After: When in range of hostile grenades or mortars, defuses them and adds grenades to your inventory. Can only happen once every 4 seconds.

FireCrest

• Unlocks:
  • (2) +3 Incendiary Grenade Capacity
  • (3) +50% Flame Turret Range & +30% Flame Turret Damage
  • (4) FireCrest - Your damage is increased by 15% against burning targets.

Talent changes

• Before: Killing a burning target grants incendiary bullets for 10 seconds.
• After: Your damage is increased by {0}% against burning targets.

DeadEYE

• Unlocks:
  • (2) +40% Initial Bullet Stability
  • (3) +20% Marksman Rifle Critical Hit Damage
  • (4) DeadEYE - When zoomed, Marksman rifles lose headshot bonus but gain 100% critical strike chance.

Talent changes

• Before: While not scoped critical chance on marksman rifles is increased to 100%, but headshot damage bonus is removed.
• After: When zoomed, Marksman rifles lose headshot bonus but gain 100% critical strike chance

Reclaimer

• Unlocks:
  • (2)
  • (3)
  • (4)

Talent changes

• Before: Consumables and special ammo used now apply to the whole group and are not consumed on use.
• After: Consumables and special ammo used now apply to the whole group and are not consumed on use. Triggers consumable cooldown on party members and cannot apply effects when party member’s cooldowns are active

Hunter’s Faith

• Unlocks:
  • (2)
  • (3)
  • (4)

Talent changes

• Before: Hitting an enemy with a bullet grants you temporary armor. The further your shot, the more armor. The armor disappears after one bullet hits you.
• After: Hitting an enemy with a bullet grants you and your group temporary protection. The further your shot, the more protection. Each group member’s protection disappears after getting hit by one hostlie bullet.

Nomad

• Replaced 3 piece unlock with new talent
• Unlocks:
  • (2) +20% Health on Kill
  • (3) Nomad’s Resolve - Administers a constant small healing, allowing the user to regenerate passed the segments of the health bar.
  • (4) Path of the Nomad - When receiving fatal damage, you are instead healed to full health. Can occur once every 4 minutes.

Path of Nomad Talent changes

• Before: 10 minute cooldown
• After: 4 minute cooldown

Lone Star

• Unlocks:
  • (2) +100% Ammo Capacity
  • (3) +1,000 LMG Damage & +1,000 Shotgun Damage
  • (4) Lone Star - When the weapon is holstered, it regains full ammo.

Changes to Talents

This list includes both simple changes to the talents description to make their abilities more clear as well as significant changes to how the talent works.

Vicious

• Before: Critical hit chance is increased by {0}% while at full health.
  • Clamp((((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 5) / 2) + ((Talent.ScalingItemQuality - 6) * 2))/100, 0.05, 0.15)
• After: Critical hit chance is increased by {0}% while having more than two segments of health.
  • 10%

See: CLAMP() Definition

Ferro’s oxygen mask

This appears to be a new unique item that might be introduced in 1.4 or future content update.

Description = “User can run and shoot their weapon while burning”

Resourceful

• Before: All healing is also applied to skill objects
• After: All healing applied to you is also applied to your skill objects.

Experienced Agent

• Before: Increase XP gained from all activities by 10%
• After: Increase XP gained from all activities by 10%. Does not affect Dark Zone XP.

Hurried

• Before: Critical hits increase reload speed by {0}% to a minimum of {1} seconds reload time
• After: Critical hits increase reload speed by {0}% to a minimum of {1} second reload time

Reckless

Increase damage by {0}% and increase incoming damage by {1}%

• Before:
  • {0} - Clamp((((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 5) / 2) + ((Talent.ScalingItemQuality - 6) * 2))/100, 0.05, 0.15)
  • {1} - 0.10 (10%)
• After:
  • {0} - 0.15 (15%)
  • {1} - 0.15 (15%)

See: CLAMP() Definition

Specialized

• Before: Adds 15% of Firearms and Stamina to Skill Power
• After: Adds 200% of Firearms and Stamina to Skill Power

Ferocious

Damage against Elite and Named enemies is increased by {0}%.

• Before: Clamp((((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 5) / 2) + ((Talent.ScalingItemQuality - 6) * 2))/100, 0.05, 0.15)
• After: 0.15 (15%)

See: CLAMP() Definition

Swift

Reloading is {0}% faster.

• Before: Clamp((((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 5) / 2) + ((Talent.ScalingItemQuality - 6) * 2))/100, 0.05, 0.15)
• After: 0.15 (15%)

See: CLAMP() Definition

Sustained

Killing a target increases your health by {0}%

• Before: Clamp(((Talent.ScalingItemQuality - 3) * 2)/100, 0.01, 0.06)
• After: 0.06 (6%)

See: CLAMP() Definition

Stable

Stability is improved by {0}%.

• Before: Clamp(((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 15) + (Talent.ScalingItemQuality * 5)) / 100, 0.20, 0.50)
• After: 0.35 (35%)

See: CLAMP() Definition

Accurate

Accuracy is increased by {0}%.

• Before: Clamp(((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 15) + (Talent.ScalingItemQuality * 5)) / 100, 0.20, 0.50)
• After: 0.25 (25%)

See: CLAMP() Definition

Changes to formulas

Vanity item max

The item count maximum for vanity items has been increased from 600 to 8000.

Sticky bomb

The formula labeled StickyBomb_ExplosionDamage_Final had been changed, removing the maximum of 250,000 damage and adding a multiplier of 25% for use in single player only (I think). It also appears that the minimum sticky bomb cooldown of 20s has been removed.

Smart cover

The damage resistance and damage buff base amounts have been decreased. Damage resist has gone from 0.2 to 0.07. Damage buff has decreased from 0.15 to 0.0. Also, it appears that there is another single player multiplier increasing damage resistance by 50%. Finally the base cooldown time for smart cover has been decreased from 60s to 45s and the minimum of 20s cooldown has been removed.

Seeker mines

A huge buff of seeker mines can be seen by the base damage being adjusted from 1000 to 2000, their health points increasing from 150 to 300. This should greatly increase their popularity. Finally, the maximum of 150,000 seeker mine explosion damage and 25,000 HP has been removed from the equations. Cooldown minimum of 20s has been removed.

Pulse

Pulse has seen several nerfs. Critical hit chance base has been reduced from 0.1 to 0.06 and the Critical hit damage base has been reduced from 0.2 to 0.06.

First aid

First aid has received a few buffs. Self-heal & ally-heal base heal amount has been increased from 550 to 1000. Also, the maximum heals have been increased from 100,000 to 300,000.

Support station

Similarly to First Aid, Support Station has also seen many changes making it stronger. The healing rate has been increased from 30 to 50, the base health points from 400 to 800 and the maximums for healing rate, health points and lifetime (length of time it lasts) have been removed.

Riot shield, mobile cover

Maximums have been removed from pretty much every attribute. Base cool downs have been reduced as well.

Turret

Turret’s base range has been increased from 30 to 35, lifetime increased from 30 to 45, and health points increased from 1000 to 1500. As has been common in the other skills, maximums have been removed from the formulas. I think the most interesting change is turret damage increases by skill power has been tripled.

Single player combat

So, it also appears that most if not all skill cool downs have a modifier reducing them when in single player combat mode. I am also not sure if single player means PVE or only when you are solo and not in a party.

Armor Damage Mitigation

It appears that the maximum armor damage mitigation has been dropped from 75% to 60%. At this point I am not sure if it is a mistake or an intended change.

Headshot damage

There were changes to the headshot damage formula but I haven’t had time to fully review them yet. I will update this section later on.

Ammo capacities

Possibly an end to the police backpack, all base/minimum ammo capacities have been increased by a factor of 2. The new minimum capacities are as follows:

• Assault Rifle - 540 -> 1080
• LMG - 600 -> 1200
• Marksman - 80 -> 160
• Shotgun - 96 -> 192
• SMG - 600 -> 1200

Weapons

Some new blueprints are coming for weapons (M60, SA80, M44, M870, etc)

Weapon group changes

• Marksman rifles received a game wide nerf of suppression power from 30 to 15
• Assault rifles will receive a suppression nerf, reduced from 20 to 10
• Pistols will receive a suppression nerf, reduced from 12 to 6
• Shotguns will receive a suppression nerf from 10 to 5
• SMGs will receive a suppression nerf from 16 to 8

Exotic / Named weapon changes

• Caduceus will receive an item level minimum boost from 30 to 31
• The Showstopper will receive an item level minimum boost from 30 to 33
• Hungry Hog is getting damage buff from 124 to 165
• Pakhan is getting a damage boost from 115 to 135
• Historian is getting damage nerf from 650 to 500
• Damascus is getting damage buff from 120 to 135

Individual weapon families

• G36C will receive base damage nerf from 140 to 133 as well as tweaks to recoil
• MG5 (or HK121) LMG will receive a damage nerf from 235 to 141
• M249 is getting a damage buff from 115 to 143
• M60 is getting a damage buff from 124 to 160
• RPK74 is getting damage buff from 115 to 125
• SA80 is getting a damage boost from 135 to 145
• M1A is getting damage nerf from 620 to 400
• Classic M44 has been buffed from base damage 800 to 920
• Hunting M44 has been buffed from base damage 800 to 900
• Custom M44 has been buffed from base damage 700 to 840
• ScarH is getting damage boost from 350 to 430
• SRS is getting damage boost from 650 to 780
• SVD is getting damage nerf from 405 to 385
• FNX45 is getting nerfed from 190 to 114
• M9 is getting buffed from 120 to 132
• PX4 is getting significant buffed from 100 to 125
• T821 is getting nerfed from 150 to 115
• Aug will receive nerf from 145 to 116
• Burst Fire MP-5 A4 will receive a buff from 135 to 150
• All other MP5s will receive a nerf from 135 to 110
• MP7 receiving huge nerf from 145 to 100
• PP19 is getting nerfed from 145 to 110
• SMG-9 is getting nerfed from 130 to 104
• Vector is getting nerf from 145 to 116

Changes observed playing the game

• DZ Checkpoint vendors now sell High-End (Orange) items
• Vendors in the BoO have a more diverse selection including High-End (Orange) items
• There are gear mod slots and performance mod slots now. You cannot put a normal gear mod in a performance mod slot.
• Vendors now have a buyback option
• You can mark items as favorite to prevent deconstructing / selling them
• GS182 and up armor items have all three primary stats, however the ones that are not rolled are fixed value and much smaller. E.g. GS182 Mask with 605FA, 64ST, 64EL.
• GearSet items gear scores have been aligned with all other pieces in the game

Formula Function Descriptions

MIN

MIN() takes two arguments. One is an expression and one is generally a fixed value. It evaluates the expression to a fixed value and returns which ever of the two numbers is lowest. It is used to provide a maximum value for an attribute.

EXAMPLE: MIN(1, BlindDeafStatusResistancePercentageFlatBonus)

MAX

MAX() takes two arguments. One is an expression and one is generally a fixed value. It evaluates the expression to a fixed value and returns which ever of the two numbers is higher. It is used to provide a minimum value for an attribute.

EXAMPLE: Max(0, (1 - AimSwaySpeedModifierModBonus))

CLAMP

CLAMP() takes three arguments. The first argument is an expression. Second argument is a floor value. The third argument is a ceiling value. It returns the value of the expression as long as it is within the bounds of the floor and ceiling values, if not, it returns the floor value if it evaluates less than it or the ceiling value if it evaluates to be higher than it.

EXAMPLE: Clamp((((Talent.ScalingItemPowerLevel - 5) / 2) + ((Talent.ScalingItemQuality - 6) * 2))/100, 0.05, 0.15)