The release day of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 has arrived and it has brought a nasty bug that causes many of the skills in the game to be totally unusable, as they end as soon as they are activated.
In The Division 2, the player has access to different skills that can be altered using mods. The skills available in The Division 2 are the Pulse (a scanner that detects the presence of enemies), the Turret (an automated weapon on a tripod that fires at approaching enemies), the Seeker Mine (a mine that rolls towards nearby enemies and detonates), the Ballistic Sheild (a portable shield that absorbs damage), the Chem Launcher (a weapon that fires corrosive liquids at the enemy), the Firefly (an automated flying machine that be commanded to attack the enemy), the Drone (a multi-purpose flying machine that can fulfill different roles on the battlefield), and the HIVE (a group of micro-drones that perform different functions depending on how they are used.)
It seems that the skills in The Division 2 aren’t working as planned, as players on the game’s Reddit page have been complaining about a serious bug that causes skills to ignore their timer and end as soon as they begin. The bug causes the Ballistic Shield to instantly disappear, which can result in a player being slain, while the Drone skill also fizzles out straight away, causing them to disappear a few seconds after they are summoned. The game treats the skill as if had been used normally and causes the cooldown to activate as it would under regular circumstances. The community manager of Ubisoft commented in the Reddit thread that they were aware of the issue with a brief statement:
The players who have been trying to test out the cause of the glitch have yet to discover anything specific that triggers it. The bug can occur at any point in the game, whether inside or outside of combat. The only skills that appear to be immune to the bug are the Pulse, Chem Launcher, and Firefly, which makes them the safest skills to use for the time being. The opening post on the page offers a potential workaround that involves unequipping everything and fast traveling frequently in order to make the game update your character, though this isn’t a guaranteed fix. Here’s the workaround described in full by the poster:
“Jumping in to say that we are investigating this internally and that we appreciate all the detailed information provided in this thread.
/ Johan”
The Division 2 is hardly alone when it comes to recent games with serious glitches, as Anthem’s latest patch had several nerfs that turned out to be unintentional bugs, Fortnite had a content update that caused players to instantly expire when passing through Fork Knife, while a recent bug in Battlefield V allowed a player to drive a tank into the enemy starter area and mow them all down before the match even began. That is to say nothing of Fallout 76 and how it has been lambasted since launch due to a mountain of bugs that may never be fixed outside of a dedicated fan movement.
“You need to remove any armor, including mods, that affect skill cooldowns and durations. I can trigger this bug on command with +29%> CDR on skills. However, removing that CDR doesn’t always fix the bug.
When you’re tinkering while trying to fix this, remember to session change frequently. For the non-IT folks, fast travel, or quickly relog, after removing all your skill cooldown shit to force the game to update your character (it should be doing this automatically when you remove the armor, this is a just in case step).”
Skills are an important part of The Division 2 as they allow the player to gain the upper hand against the enemy and can turn the tide of battle in a moment’s notice, so long as they are used at the right time. If Ubisoft and Massive are aware of the skill glitch, which the comment from the community manager on Reddit seems to indicate, then it should hopefully be fixed soon.
More: Division 2 Guide: How To Unlock The Dark Zones (& At Which Level)
Source: Reddit
