Visuals, Variety, and the Spice of Life
Even beyond these points however, The Division’s long-term lack of drive and variety can be seen in other ways as well, both in regards to the characters themselves, and how it treats its own environment.
The fact that high-level gear looks cooler than low-level gear has been a well-established device in RPGs. Due to the real-world, grounded leanings of The Division however, this isn’t really an option. Guns and backpacks look like standard guns and backpacks no matter your level. Couple this with the cosmetic appearance options taking over most of each character’s looks, and gear really only becomes exclusively about the numbers no one sees but you.
Meanwhile, it’s no secret that, for many, the main drive to get specific gear items in Destiny has often been how they look. And Bungie knows it. One need only glance over the announcement of any Iron Banner event to see a perfect example. The developer doesn’t show off the awesome stats on the new weapons and gear that will be available, they show off the unique look of them. And going forward, unless we see some pretty substantial aesthetic changes over all, that’s something The Division just doesn’t seem interested in.
A similar narrowing of variety is mirrored in the game world itself. Once you finish the side missions and encounters, and find all the collectibles, there is simply no reason to return to the open world.
This limits players to fast traveling between the 12 missions and running into the Dark Zone. With crafting materials spawning at the base, there are no rewards to draw players back out into the open-world content, giving the unpleasant sensation of the game shrinking in its final stretches.
Doing the opposite, even at launch, Destiny saw players jumping into multiplayer patrol missions for Daily Bounties, planetary resources, and even Public Events. Whether such things could be considered a chore or not, there was a tangible reward for journeying back to the open-world and engaging with the full breadth of the game’s variety, even in the endgame. Without any such rewards, The Division leaves players with an interesting world, with nothing to do in it.
