This weekend, you can try new season’s updates on the Public Test Server and share you feedback before release.

PTS Opens: Friday, November 13 at 2 PM CET / 8 AM ET / 5 AM PT

PTS Closes: Monday, November 16 at 2 PM CET / 8 AM ET / 5 AM PT

CONTENTS

• Season Modifiers
• Legendary Difficulty
• Escalation Updates
• Prototype Gear Improvements
• New Gear, Weapons, and Talents
• Gear Balance Updates
• PTS Test Only
• Known Issues

SEASON MODIFIERS

This season, enemy factions have gotten hold of counterfeit versions of Prototype Gear Augments. Some enemies will have a Hostile Modifier that gives them a passive bonus and a Contra-Augment, an extra effect that charges during combat.

While the Contra-Augment is booting (charging), its charge bar fills. Deal enough damage to the enemy’s highlighted weak point to cancel it before it activates. Hitting the enemy elsewhere makes the bar fill faster.

Cancelling a Contra-Augment also helps you earn seasonal bonuses and power your own Active Modifier.

GLOBAL MODIFIER - UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGIES

Unknown Technologies gives you seasonal attribute bonuses through the Enhancement Track. The track has five segments, each with a different set of bonuses. New segments unlock on a schedule throughout the season.

Everyone starts at Segment I, even if they join later in the season. Once you complete a segment, you can move on to the next one as soon as it’s available. Each segment’s bonuses start at their lowest values and get stronger as you earn points.

• Defeat an enemy with a Hostile Modifier to earn 1 point. Eliminations you assist with also count.
• Cancel a Contra-Augment to earn points equal to its boot level, from 1 to 5. Cancels by group members also count.

SEGMENT	ATTRIBUTE BONUSES
Segment I	Rate of Fire 2% to 6% Armor on Kill 5% to 10%
Segment II	Skill Damage 5% to 10% Skill Repair 5% to 25%
Segment III	Weapon Handling 2% to 10%; Protection from Elites 2% to 6%
Segment IV	Status Effects 6% to 12%; Skill Haste 10% to 20%
Segment V	Augment Efficiency 4% to 20%; Hazard Protection 4% to 20%

Augment Efficiency, earned in Segment V, boosts this season’s Active Modifiers. If you have Prototype Gear equipped, it also strengthens the parts of its Augment effects that scale with weapon level.

ACTIVE MODIFIERS

You can equip one of three Active Modifiers to use in combat this season.

When you cancel an enemy’s Contra-Augment, you capture one Frequency Pattern. Its value matches the Contra-Augment's boot level at the moment you cancel it, from 1 too 5.

The Frequency Pattern Matrix is the five-slot meter on your HUD that stores your Patterns. When all five slots are full, you can replace your lowest stored Pattern by capturing one with a higher value.

To use your Active Modifier, fill all five slots and cancel at least one Contra-Augment yourself. Cancels by group members can help fill your slots. Activating your Active Modifier spends all five Patterns, and you can start filling the meter again once the effect ends.

An asterisk (*) marks values that are multiplied by the average value of the five Frequency Patterns you spend.

Active Modifier - Advanced Lethality

For 60 seconds, damaging an enemy has a 2% chance to grant a 1%* Damage to Armor bonus. The bonus can trigger once per activation and lasts until Advanced Lethality ends.

Active Modifier - Mirrored Sabotage

Uses the last Contra-Augment you personally cancelled to weaken or disrupt enemies. **The chances shown below are for Level 1 and increase with your Active Modifier level. **

Last Contra-Augment you cancelled	Active Modifier Duration	Effect
Quantum	45 seconds	Damaging an enemy has a 2% chance to apply a permanent debuff that makes them take 1%* more damage from all sources.
Echo	45 seconds	Damaging an enemy has a 10% chance to apply a permanent debuff that reduces all damage they deal by 15%*.
Amalgam	30 seconds	Gain 40% Hazard Protection. When Burn, Shock, or Ensnare is applied to anyone within 30 m of you, there’s a 5% chance to Disorient up to 1 enemy* within that radius. This can trigger once every 3 seconds.
Anomaly	25 seconds	Damaging an enemy has a 3% chance to apply a permanent debuff. The debuff causes 5%* of the damage that enemy takes to also be dealt to its allies within 30 m.

Active Modifier - Mirrored Boost

Gives you a buff based on the last Contra-Augment you personally cancelled.

Last Contra-Augment you cancelled	Active Modifier Duration	Effect
Quantum	45 seconds	Taking damage has a 2% chance to make you immune to all damage for 1 second*.
Echo	45 seconds	Dealing weapon damage has a 2% chance to deal 10%* additional damage.
Amalgam	40 seconds	Dealing weapon damage has a 20% chance to apply a random status effect for 1 second*. This can affect the same enemy once every 5 seconds.
Anomaly	40 seconds	Convert 4% of Skill Damage dealt into Health or Armor. On activation, reduce Skill cooldowns by 10%*.

PASSIVE MODIFIERS

There are 11 Passive Modifiers this season, split into five Enhancements and six Tweaks.

Enhancements

The five Enhancements are called Augmented Track I through Augmented Track V. Each boosts the bonuses from the matching Enhancement Track Segment by 30%.

For example, equipping Augmented Track I strengthens the Rate of Fire and Armor on Kill bonuses from Segment I.

Tweaks

Tweaks affect how you earn progress, collect Frequency Patterns, counter enemy Contra-Augments, or use your Active Modifier.
Overclocked Transmitter: Keeps one Frequency Pattern Slot at its maximum value.

• Pattern Signal Reinforcer: Prevents hits outside an enemy’s highlighted weak point from speeding up its boot sequence.
• Matrix Frequency Amplifier: Increases the duration of your Active Modifier by 30%.
• Advanced Jammer: Cancelling an enemy’s Contra-Augment at its maximum boot level stops other enemies within 20 m of that enemy from booting their own Contra-Augments for 5 seconds.
• Stochastic Matrix Gains: Gain additional Enhancement Track progress whenever you cancel an enemy’s Contra-Augment.
• Turbocharged Mirroring: Counts your lowest Frequency Pattern as 1 higher when you activate your Active Modifier.

HOSTILE COUNTERMEASURES

If an enemy completes its boot sequence, its Contra-Augment activates. Cancelling the sequence stops that enemy from charging its Contra-Augment again. The enemy keeps its passive bonus for as long as it’s alive.

• Quantum: When the enemy takes damage, it can briefly grant the enemy Damage Resistance.
• Echo: The enemy’s hits can deal significantly more damage.
• Amalgam: The enemy’s hits can apply Burn, Shock, Disorient, or Bleed.
• Anomaly: When affected enemies deal damage with grenades, turrets, or skills, they repair Armor and restore Health for themselves and nearby allies.

LEGENDARY DIFFICULTY

In Y8S4, we’re expanding Legendary difficulty to four Main Missions and adding it as a Global Difficulty option in Washington, D.C.

We’re tuning White Tusk to challenge even fully optimized Prototype builds, with health and damage increases that vary by enemy type. These changes also apply in The Summit.

As you play on Legendary, let us know which White Tusk enemies feel too strong or too weak and what stood out about fighting them.

LEGENDARY MISSIONS

Four Main Missions now have a Legendary option, each with reworked White Tusk encounters.

• Air & Space Museum
• Space Administration HQ
• Grand Washington Hotel
• ViewPoint Museum

For these four missions, Legendary difficulty is available only on the Main Mission version. To play, open the mission’s AR panel, select the Main Mission version (shown in blue), then choose Legendary difficulty.

LEGENDARY OPEN WORLD

• Legendary Open World will only be available in DC, the other maps will not feature it.
• Once you set your Global Difficulty to Legendary you’ll start encounter White Tusk in place of Black Tusk.
• White Tusk can take over Control Points and appear in the following activities:
  • Propaganda Broadcast
  • Territory Control (Normal and Elite)
  • Public Execution
  • Resource Convoy (Normal only)
  • Aerial Convoy
  • Rescue Operation
  • Supply Drop
• Other factions are still present, with increased health and damage to bring them closer to White Tusk’s difficulty.
• Bounties won’t drop in the Legendary Open World.
• Heroic remains the highest difficulty for Retaliation, including in matchmaking. You can still start a Retaliation from the Legendary Open World.
  • Faction Agitation meters continue to fill while you play on Legendary, and any Agitation you earn from White Tusk counts toward the Black Tusk meter.

LEGENDARY PROJECTS

• Daily Legendary Mission - The existing Legendary Mission Project now refreshes daily instead of weekly. All four new Legendary missions join the rotation, and each daily Project grants its own reward.
• Weekly Legendary Project - Completing three Daily Legendary Mission Projects within the same weekly cycle will reward you with a larger loot package.

LEGENDARY REWARDS

You can earn Prototype Gear from the new Legendary Main Missions during this test. The drop rates in this build are temporary and do not reflect the final drop chances.

ESCALATION

In Y8S4, you will be able to choose an Escalation Directive and a Tier separately for each Escalation run. The Directives shapes how you play, and the Tier sets the difficulty. Once you unlock a Tier, you can play it with any available Escalation Directive.

We’ve also removed the run timer across all Escalation Directives and Tiers, and added a personal Player Rating that can improve your chances of finding Prototype Gear.

ESCALATION DIRECTIVES AND TIERS

• Tier determines how difficult the run is. It sets enemy health, armor, and damage, the highest Player Rating you can reach, and which Prototype items can drop.
• Escalation Directive determines how the run encourages you to play. Each Directive has its own Mutators and ways to build your Rating, with a gameplay theme designed to encourage you to try different builds, tactics, and group roles.

We’re also reducing the total number of Tiers, as only a small number of the existing Tiers are played regularly. With fewer Tiers, the difficulty increase between them will be more noticeable.

Higher Tiers will offer the best Prototype Gear drop chances and rolls.

Here’s how it works:

• Escalation and the first Tier unlock at Level 40.
• To unlock the next Tier, complete an Escalation mission at your current Tier and finish with that Tier’s maximum Player Rating.
• For each run, your group will choose a combination of Tier + Directive in the mission setup menu.
  • For example, two groups could play at the same Tier but choose different Directives and have very different gameplay experiences.
• Matchmaking will take both your selected Escalation Directive and Tier into account.
• Everyone in the group needs to have access to the selected Tier. The same requirement applies when joining a run in progress.

The minimum Escalation Token balance requirement has been removed in Y8S3.2. So you can spend your Tokens on caches and other rewards at the Escalation Requisition Vendor and still play any Tier you’ve unlocked.

PLAYER RATING

Your Player Rating tracks your performance during a run. It’s personal to you, even when playing in a group, and is displayed as a grade in the HUD.

I → II → III → IV → V

Each Tier has its own Rating cap. In earlier Tiers, the highest grade can be lower than V. To unlock the next Tier, complete Escalation mission and finish at the maximum Player Rating for the Tier you’re playing.

The higher your Rating during the run, the better your personal chances of getting Prototype Gear from both regular drops and Targeted Loot.

Each Escalation Directive is going to have its own ways to earn Rating. But you can also gain it through general actions that apply across all Escalation Directives:

• Getting consecutive kills within five seconds of each other
• Getting headshot or grenade kills
• Getting kills from outside cover
• Reviving teammates
• Healing allies
• Buffing allies with Smart Cover
• Destroying enemy weak points

Getting downed lowers your Rating.

ESCALATION DIRECTIVES

We plan to launch new season with three Escalation Directives and add more over time. If there’s a playstyle or mechanic you’d like to see in a future Escalation Directive, we’d love to hear your ideas.

MARKED - ESCALATION DIRECTIVE

Marked is designed primarily with solo play in mind. You can play it in a group as well, but it will require coordination.

Mark

• Damaging an enemy marks it as your current target.
• Each player can mark a different enemy. A Mark cannot be removed or overridden by another player’s Mark.
• You can have one Mark at a time, and it lasts until the enemy dies.
• You deal more damage to your own marked target.
• Damaging a teammate’s marked target deals less damage and reflects some of it back to you.

Hunter Stacks

• Killing enemies builds Hunter stacks, which increase:
  • Critical Damage,
  • Skill Efficiency
  • Damage Resistance
• Your Hunter Stack limit depends on how many players are in your group.
  • Solo – 12 Stacks
  • 2 players – 9 stacks per player
  • 3 players – 6 stacks per player
  • 4 players – 3 stacks per player

Hitting your marked target with a sidearm consumes three stacks to Ensnare it, repair some of your Armor, and temporarily improve your Weapon Handling.

Rating Sources:

• Each sidearm shot that consumes stacks will generate Rating.
• Dealing damage to Ensnared enemies.
• Acquiring Stacks in a quick succession will also generate Rating.

CORE BUILD - ESCALATION DIRECTIVE

This Escalation Directive is designed around the way builds are created. Your build determines whether you play as Red, Blue, or Yellow, based on which Core colour you have the most of. Reaching full stacks automatically triggers your group ability.

Red Core

• Passive: You deal more damage at longer range.
• Build stacks by dealing damage and getting long-range kills.
• You can have up to six stacks. Each stack increases Weapon Handling and the damage you take.
• Group ability at full stacks: Dealing damage repairs Armor.

Blue Core

• Passive: Generate more Threat and deal more damage out of cover.
• Build stacks by taking damage and killing the enemy that last hit you.
• You can have up to six stacks. Each stack increases Damage Resistance and reduces Hazard Protection.
• Group ability at full stacks: Dealing damage has a chance to apply Shock based on Skill Tier.

Yellow Core

• Passive: Deal more weapon damage to enemies affected by status effects.
• Build stacks by applying status effects and killing affected enemies.
• You can have up to six stacks. Each stack increases Skill Efficiency and Threat generation.
• Group ability at fill stacks: Gain Damage to Armor based on Critical Damage.

Enemy Colours

Enemies are assigned a colour at random, with a different effect for each:

• Red enemies take reduced damage and have a chance to deal double damage when shooting.
• Blue enemies take increased damage but return part of that damage back to the player.
• Yellow enemies apply Shock when hitting a player without armor.

Rating Sources:

• Gaining stacks
• Killing enemies that match your Core color
• Triggering your ability

COLLABORATION

This Escalation Directive focuses on roles and gives you more opportunities to build Rating through drawing enemy fire, applying status effects, and helping teammates.

Resolve

• Players and enemies build Resolve by taking damage.
• Generating more Threat helps you build Resolve faster, while being affected by status effects reduce it.
• Enemies deal less damage at close range and more damage from farther away.
• At full Resolve, your next sidearm hit consumes it to deal increased damage, Shock nearby enemies, and buff your group.
• Enemies at full Resolve trigger their own ability the next time they deal damage.

Wounded

• Taking Health damage applies Wounded, reducing Weapon Handling, Rate of Fire, and Critical Hit Chance.
• Taking further damage while Wounded can cause Bleed.
• Restore your Health and Armor to full to clear Wounded.

Enemy Mutator - Active Mesh

• Some enemies have increased Damage Resistance and Status Resistance.
• Skill damage bypasses the Damage Resistance.
• Applying Shock or hitting the enemy with a Resolve-powered shot disables Active Mesh.

Rating Sources:

• Clearing Wounded from teammates
• Lowering enemy Resolve
• Triggering your Resolve Ability.

PROTOTYPE GEAR

We’re updating Prototype Gear to give you more control over your builds and make experimentation easier.

You’ll be able to choose your Augments directly, keep their upgrade progress when switching, and customize your items through a new Prototype Schematic system.

To upgrade an item to Prototype quality, it must be at Expertise Level 30.

AUGMENT SELECTION

Random Augment rerolls are being replaced with direct selection.

• In the ProtoLab, use Select Augment to view the available Augments and choose the one you want to apply.
• Each change costs a fixed amount of Prototype Cores.
• An item’s Augment level will now belong to the item itself. When you switch to another Augment, it will use the item’s current Augment level. That level stays with the item whenever you change Augments, so you can try different Augments on an upgraded item while keeping the progress you’ve invested in it.

PROTOTYPE SCHEMATICS

With the goal of giving players more control over their Prototype Items, we're introducing the Prototype Schematics with Y8S4. This is a new system in place of standard Recalibration and Optimization for Prototype items.

Depending on the Schematic, you can replace eligible attributes or Talents, adjust and attribute's value, or add a bonus attribute.

Each Schematic lists the specific changes it offers, so you can choose one that suits your build and apply it to a compatible item.

What a Schematic Can Do

A Schematic can contain one or more of these effects.

• Bonus Attribute – Add an extra attribute with a specified value. If the item already has that attribute, the two bonuses add together.
• Slot Recalibration - Replace an eligible attribute with the attribute and value provided by the Schematic.
• Slot Stabilization - Sets an eligible attribute to a specified percentage of its maximum value, while keeping the attribute itself.
• Talent Recalibration - Replaces an eligible existing Talent with the Talent specified by the Schematic.

Checking Compatibility

Each Schematic specifies where it can be used.

• Item type determines whether it supports weapons, Brand Set gear, Gear Set gear, or any Prototype item.
• Weapon category or gear slot may narrow this further, for example to Assault Rifles or Backpacks.
• Character Expertise level determines whether you meet its Expertise requirement.

The Expertise requirement applies to your character, independently of the item’s own Expertise level.

Applying Schematics

• Each Prototype item can have one Schematic applied at a time.
• You can apply the same unlocked Schematic to multiple compatible items.
• Each application costs resources.
• For effects that change an attribute slot, you choose which eligible slot to modify.
• If a Schematic offers multiple slot changes, you can apply one and skip another.

Rules for Attribute and Talent Changes

• Named attributes and named Talents are protected from replacement.
• Talent Recalibration requires an item that already has a Talent.
• Each eligible attribute slot can be changed once by the same Schematic.
• Attributes added by a Schematic are protected from further changes by that Schematic’s other effects.
• Attribute Recalibration must produce a valid attribute combination. For example, if the item already has Headshot Damage, you can’t replace another attribute with a second instance of Headshot Damage.
• The separate Bonus Attribute effect can add to an attribute already on the item, as described above.
• Core Attributes, including Skill Tier, are ineligible for Schematic effects in Y8S4.

Schematic attribute changes are marked with icons in the item details. Removing a Schematic removes its effects.

Unlocking Schematics

You can find the Schematic Library under Mod Inventory. Each entry shows whether the Schematic is unlocked and what you need to do to unlock it, including any unlock cost.

• Most Schematics can be found in caches from Prototype Requisition Vendor.
• Others are warned by completing missions or can drop from bosses on Legendary difficulty.

Once unlocked, a Schematic is available to all characters on your account. You can apply it to multiple compatible items, paying the application cost each time. The selection list shows only the Schematics you’ve unlocked.

PROTOTYPE CORE DONATIONS

• You can donate Prototype Cores in the Expertise menu to earn Proficiency.

NEW GEAR, WEAPONS, TALENTS

NEW EXOTIC WEAPON

August Exotic AR

Talent Convergent 2 bullet hits to the body from this weapon build a stack. At 25 (10 in PvP) stacks, all stacks will be consumed upon your next reload to grant +100% Accuracy and +150% (+25% in PvP) Headshot Damage for 10s (8s in PvP). While the bonuses are active, 4 bullet hits will build a stack instead Weapon Mods: Optics: +40% Headshot Damage Magazine: +20 Rounds Muzzle: +20% Accuracy Underbarrel: +15% Crit Chance

NEW EXOTIC GEAR

Forward Observer Exotic Mask	Talent Strike Order Enemies you aim at for 1s (2s in PvP) are pulsed and marked for 4s. Marked enemies take 10% (+8% PvP) Amplified Damage from all sources. When a marked enemy dies, every ally involved in that kill will receive repairs of 10% (20% in PvP) of their Total Armor.

NEW GEAR

Field General Gear Set

2 Pieces equipped give +15% Weapon Handling 3 Pieces equipped give +10% Total Armor (+7% Total Armor in PvP); +1 Skill Tier 4 Pieces equipped unlock a new unique talent Talent Helping Hand The last enemy damaged by each of your allies is marked. An enemy can only be applied one mark at a time. Deal 40% Amplified Damage (+15% in PvP) to marked enemies. Assisting in killing a marked enemy will grant every ally +10% (+3% in PvP) Skill Efficiency per every 1 of your Skill Tiers, 200% (+75% in PvP) of your Total Armor as Bonus Armor and +30% (+10% in PvP) Damage to Targets Out of Cover for 10s. Generate an Armor Kit for you and your allies every 60s. The timer pauses when out of combat. Chest and Backpack Talents: Chest Bonus – Talent Blitz Increase the DTOC bonus from 30% (10% in PvP) to 45% (15% in PvP). Backpack Bonus – Talent Water Boy Decrease the Armor Kit generation timer from 60s to 30s.

NEW NAMED GEAR

Magnet 5.11 Tactical Kneepads	Perfect Attribute: +30% Incoming Repairs
Siphon Belstone Armory Holster	Perfect Attribute: +30% Incoming Repairs
Thrive Gila Guard Gloves	Perfect Attribute: +50% Health
Hearty Palisade Steelworks Holster	Perfect Attribute: +50% Health

NEW NAMED WEAPONS AND TALENTS

Blackout Named X-45	Talent Perfect Technophobia Deal 50% Amplified Damage to Skill Proxies and Mechanical Enemies.
Power Spike Named 1886	Talent Perfect Technophobia Deal 50% Amplified Damage to Skill Proxies and Mechanical Enemies.
Talent Technophobia	Deal 30% Amplified Damage to Skill Proxies and Mechanical Enemies.

GEAR BALANCE UPDATES

• See what’s changing for tanking, including weapon Threat, and full breakdown of updates to Gear Set bonuses, and Exotics. Exotic weapon mod changes also apply in PvP. See Y8S4 Gear Balance Updates.
• Check the updated PvP values for your Prototype Augments, compare Schematic stats in PvE and PvP. See Y8S4 Prototype Gear PvP Updates.

PTS TEST ONLY

• Create a new character in the test build to access the save template. It comes with a selection of maxed-out Prototype Gear Sets and Named Items. You can use them on the new character or put them in your Stash to use on your main character in the test build.
• The new Legendary Main Missions use temporary Prototype Gear drop rates for this test.
• During the test, all modifiers will be unlocked from the start.

Adam Shipley’s Inventory:

• PTS Cache: Y8S4 Gear - Contains all upcoming Gear,respective materials, and all other materials used in the Expertise system.
• PTS Cache: Materials -  Contains Gear Set materials not included in the Gear cache, Prototype Cores, Prototype Credits (previously called Escalation Tokens).

Why is the PTS only available on PC?

Running the PTS on PC allows us to make changes and deploy new builds more quickly based on feedback during the test. Console updates require an additional certification process, which makes the quick turnaround needed for a PTS more difficult.

KNOWN ISSUES

Prototype Gear

• When selecting a Schematic for a Prototype item, the list may show Schematics intended for a different weapon category or gear slot.
• Some Schematics offer more attribute changes than the item has slots for.
• Unbreakable may repair 100% of your Armor instead of 95%.
• Headshots may fail to trigger Reformation’s Skill Repair bonus.
• Brave Draw is missing its Protection from Elites bonus.

Escalation

• We recommend focusing your Escalation testing on Core Build directive. Marked and Collaboration are also available to try, and you may encounter bugs with both in this PTS build.
• Mission objectives and Player Rating may disappear from the HUD when you start a new Escalation mission after completing or failing the previous one.
• Player Rating from revives can be inconsistent. You may earn Rating for reviving yourself or a teammate who has died. Both players may receive Rating from the same revive, and Rating may be awarded only for the first revive.

Legendary Difficulty

• Gear stashes in both regular and Elite Territory Control activities fail to award loot when Global Difficulty is set to Legendary. This affects all factions.
• Named enemies at Control Points can drop Prototype Gear while Global Difficulty is set to Heroic.
• Bosses in the new Legendary Main Missions have placeholder names.
• A Heroic Retaliation started from the Legendary Open World may show Legendary in the UI. The Retaliation itself runs on Heroic.
• Enemies from factions other than White Tusk use Heroic scaling in the Legendary Open World.
• White Tusk have less Health and Armor in the Legendary Open World than in Legendary Main Missions.

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We’re looking forward to hearing what you think once you’ve had some time with the PTS. Join us on the official The Division Discord to share your feedback directly with the team!

/ The Division 2 Team