The Division’s Big Update Will Nerf Crafting Materials

Update 1.1 for The Division will bring with it a number of new things to do in the game.  As outlined in the recent notes for update 1.1 players will be able to play a new Incursion designed for high level players with high-end gear.  Gear sets will also be earned by completing some of the game’s more challenging tasks, as well as other features like the introduction of a trading system and Dark Zone tweaks and supply drops.

While it’s great that The Division is getting some new content for its players.  One big change coming to the game that has fans polarized is a big nerf to crafting materials.  Crafting is a big part of The Division, in that it allows you to deconstruct weapons for materials and then use blueprints to make better, more powerful variants.  It sounds like players are going to be spending a lot more time searching for these crafting materials following update 1.1.

Some Division fans on Reddit are calling it Destiny all over again?  If you’ll recall, one of the most hated parts of Destiny was the need to farm materials that were needed to upgrade weapons in that game, and it appears that the Division is going down that road.  Instead of having an abundance of things to do in the game to better your character and its stats, players will are describing these inbound changes as a “crafting simulator” instead of a multiplayer shooter.

Many Division players find crafting to be the best way to get the items necessary to play the game’s hardest content, instead of relying on random drops.  After the update this is going to be a more intensive process as craft rates will be nerfed considerably. Bottom line, you’ll need more lower-end materials to craft higher ones.  10 Greens for 1 Blue, instead of the current 5 for 1.  15 Blue for 1 high-end gold material, instead of the current 5 to 1 ratio.  10 high-end Gold materials, instead of the current 8 to 1 ratio.  Deconstruction of items sees a corresponding decrease.

While The Division players are up in arms about the inbound changes, hopefully Massive has something up their sleeve that they’ve yet to announce.  Hopefully they’re just trying to push players away from crafting for high-end items, and buffing the drop rate for these items by actually playing the fun part of the game.  This new Incursion and ability to earn Gear Sets could be the remedy, but fans won’t really get a chance to find out until the new update launches next week.