Raids and their mechanics are one of the most heavily guarded secrets among developers of MMOs and live service games, but that has not stopped dataminers from allegedly getting their hands on an incredible amount of details about the mechanics of The Division 2’s first raid, Operation Dark Hours. This leak comes from the same user on The Division subreddit who previously leaked early details about The Division 2’s first 8-player raid. Anyone wanting to go into the raid blind should turn away now, as if these details prove to be true, major spoilers follow.
According to the leak, the raid begins on the Arlington Bridge and all eight players will need to make it to the other side alive, without using any of the Skills in The Division 2. Even though players will apparently be without that major part of their loadouts, enemies will drop items that will boost players’ bullet damage against enemies. As raid teams near the end of the bridge, one random player will be marked as “Hunted.” That player will be the only person who can spot the escape route off the bridge and will have to communicate with the rest of the team where to go. But that same player will also be the sole focus of every enemy, so it seems that the other seven players will need to protect them as the entire team finishes the encounter.
Next, the leaked details say that after clearing the bridge, the eight-player raid team will be split into two teams of four players and enter a bazaar area. One team will be the “watchtower” team and needs to reach a watchtower to the north of the bazaar. Another will be “off the grid” and will need to search the bazaar for a stolen GPS. Once the GPS is found, they fire off a flare to the team at the watchtower who will fire off missiles using the coordinates from the GPS. At that point, Elites will spawn in and the two teams will need to get out of the area through two different routes and meet at an extraction point outside the area to end the encounter.
Finally, the raid will conclude at the airport. The raid team will move from the parking lot to an upper level of the parking lot, but along the way, players will be attacked by artillery and attack helicopters. The raid will end on the runway against a main boss and a mini-boss of sorts that accompanies it. According to the leak, the main boss will not deal damage directly to players, but the mini-boss has an ability that, if activated, can wipe the entire team instantly.
The leaked Division 2 details also say that there will be “Powerplay” items that will drop randomly from special enemies throughout the course of the raid. These special items will last only a short time and will do special things for players including restocking their ammo, giving infinite recharge of Skills, show hidden stashes, turn Hunters against Elites, and unlock a hidden checkpoint.
If these details prove to be true, it appears that players hoping for a genuine raid experience, similar to something like raids in the Destiny games, may very well be in luck with Operation Dark Hours. The release date for the raid has yet to be revealed, but it is coming ever closer with The Division 2’s launch of World Tier 5 on April 5.
The Division 2 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: The Division Reddit
