Those excited for The Division 2’s first raid may have to contain their excitement for a while longer.
Following a previous statement from developer Massive Entertainment that the game’s next big update containing the first ever raid instance is set to arrive next week on April 25, the developer has since pushed the date back “in order to fine-tune the balance of our game and to ensure the best possible player experience for everyone.”
The update is named Title Update 3 and it contains the first ever raid instance of The Division 2, aptly called Operation Dark Hours. It is a raid for eight players and is part of The Division 2’s year one content, meaning it will be free for all players who bought the game.
The raid was datamined in mid-March and has revealed several key features. It will most likely start at the Ronald Reagan airport, before moving into Arlington Island by first heading over the Arlington Memorial Bridge. All of these events happen across the Potomac. The data mine also revealed the objectives, in no particular order:
- Survive the assault on the bridge.
- Find the stolen GPS coordinates.
- Protect the named agent on your team.
- Confirm the kill of second hand Lieutenant.
- Rendezvous with your team.
- Survive the blackout attack.
- Find the activation code.
- Extract your team to safety.
- Split teams and flank the target.
- Stop the convoy from leaving the runway.
- Takeout bombarders from high ground.
In a somewhat related decision, Massive Entertainment also announced that a PTS (private test server) will be available to all players on the PC platform. This test server is expected to play an important role going forward for Massive, as it will most likely serve as a playground to test future updates to The Division 2, as well as get important player feedback on new and upcoming content and stability testing. For the sake of fairness, though, the upcoming raid will not be available to the test server and will be experienced by players across all platforms at the same time.
The Division 2’s Title Update 3 content will arrive some time in May, although it is still unclear if the Operation Dark Hours raid will arrive at the same time or after the update.