A to Z 2016 : LOOT

At the end of the day, The Division is mostly about the Loot. Sure there are some people who love the challenge of... well, Challenging Mode. The thrill and gut-wrenching demands of the new Incursion events. The hunt for Supply Drops, Named NPCs, Dark Zone (DZ) Key Crates, and/or fellow players. But almost all of these activities are engaged by players looking to fulfill their desire for better Loot. Whether it's drops to claim and/or trade for, money to buy items and/or blueprints, or materials to craft weapons/gears/mods with, it's done for the almighty Loot. It's so important they even mark it on the mini-map for you!

I suppose there could be the argument that some people just really like the Player Vs. Player (PvP) aspects of the game, but I'm guessing that's a sliver of the game's populace.

As explained in the Crafting entry, Loot comes in the following categories: Weapons | Masks | Body Armor | Backpack | Gloves | Holster | Knee Pads | Weapon Mods | Gear Mods. They also come in Apparel and Paint Mods. In addition, every weapon, piece of gear, and mod (non-Apparel/Paint) comes in one of five qualities (rarity color): Worn (White) | Standard (Green) | Specialized (Blue) | Superior (Purple) | High-End (Yellow) and now Set Gear (Seafoam Green).

If a newly dropped item isn't any better than another you already own, it will generally be sold or broken down for crafting materials. It may not make sense or sound fun for some, but it's a common element in all Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. The constant grind to upgrade your character (Farming). The hope is that these games offer a wide variety of End Game material that is unique, engaging, and fun. It's a necessity to keep an active playerbase.

For these reasons, MMOs are almost always updated with new content and tweaked. Just like the first major, free Downloadable Content (DLC), Update 1.1, released for The Division. Along with many tweaks made for their various game systems/mechanics.

In regards to Loot, the new update made High-End (Gold/Yellow) drops more frequent (guaranteed on Named NPCs) and crafting material conversions cost more resources (as do crafting from blueprints in general), because too many people were focusing their time on the Crafting system to obtain items, rather than running around and engaging the game's environment. I've notice that DZ Key Crates (or maybe they should be called SHD Crates?) now drop more High-End gear as well!

All of the changes made (which can be found in the Update 1.1 patch notes) seem to be another step in the right direction (even if making the DZ even more dangerous than ever!) and I'm hoping the developers continue this path in efforts to provide a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Whatever your "poison" in The Division is, don't lie to yourself, it's all leading to one thing: Loot.

What's your favorite way to obtain Loot in The Division? Do you have a favorite piece of Loot you've gotten over the course of the game? Do you think the changes to Loot drops in Update 1.1 are good or bad? Why? What changes would you like to see made to the Loot system?