14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at the Massive studio of Ubisoft working on The Division is announcing that the coming beta version of the title will be offered with a massive range of improvements when compared to the alpha that took place late in 2015.
An official forum announcement offers a list of changes that have been made, with many of them based on the feedback the community has offered and the information extracted from data gathered from gameplay sessions.
Ubisoft says that more than 10,000 bugs have been eliminated during the previous month of development, and there are no more broken textures in the game and sounds are assigned to all weapon and mods combinations.
A full list of the changes made to The Division as it moves into its beta stage can be seen at the end of this article and the company might deliver more details when the testing phase is open.
Gamers can also expect to get improved balance for firefights, better enemy NPCs, and a better character progression system.
Beta testing for The Division is going on January 28 on the Xbox One and one day later on both the PC and the PlayStation 4 and will run until the end of the month.
Ubisoft says that it wants to test the infrastructure that will be used to sustain the big game world and to give a larger group of players, including all those who have placed a pre-order, a look at some of the most interesting mechanics that have been tweaked recently.
The Division will be launched on all the above-mentioned platforms on March 8 of this year.
The title aims to mix third-person shooter and MMO mechanics
Ubisoft is trying to create a hybrid experience that can attract a wide group of players by borrowing the best ideas from both genres, with some gamers comparing The Division to Destiny when it comes to its ability to mix and match concepts.
The story of the game is centered around a group of deep-cover operatives who are activated in New York after a disease spreads rapidly during Black Friday via money and quickly overloads the traditional institutions that power the United States government.
Ubisoft says that it has a wide range of single-player missions that gamers can engage with to improve their character and get access to equipment, but the overall experience is more engaging when groups are involved.
The game world offers an almost one-to-one recreation of Manhattan, and more areas of the city might be introduced later via downloadable content packs.
Those who are looking for more high stakes action can venture into the Dark Zone, where unique gear is offered, but gamers might have to face both AI-controlled NPCs and teammates to secure it.
Ubisoft has made it clear that it has no plans of introducing microtransactions to The Division and that it wants to support the experience in the long term with both new content and patches that improve balance.