The Division 2 currently drops three seasons per year, and Year 6 is right around the corner. Despite having confirmed The Division 3 exists, the current title shows no signs of slowing down.
As a matter of fact, Year 6 is shaping up to be a huge year for players of The Division 2. The roadmap has changed somewhat through the end of 2023 and into 2024, but there are some major additions already teased as happening in Year 6.
Let's break down what we know so far. Also note there are spoilers ahead relating to the end of the Year 5 Season 3 Manhunt.
The Division 2 Year 6 start date
Ubisoft has now confirmed what we already knew, the start date for Year 6 Season 1 will be Tuesday, June 11.
Season 1 will be known as First Rogue, and looks set to continue pushing the story towards another reckoning with long-time series bad guy, Aaron Keener. Our ally throughout the entirety of The Division 2 thus far, Alani Kelso, has now aligned herself with him.
He is the First Rogue, and it looks like the next four months will be spent getting closer to him once more. This time, Keener's come to Washington D.C.
Check out our full primer on The Division 2 Year 6 Season 1 First Rogue for the full details on what to expect over the next four months.
The Division 2 Year 6 roadmap and new content
The roadmap for The Division 2 has changed in recent months, down to the addition of the gargantuan Project Resolve upgrades. The biggest casualty of this was the release of the planned expansion DLC, slated to take us to an as-yet unexplored part of the universe in Brooklyn, New York.
Originally, we would have been playing the DLC already. But with Project Resolve being such a large and important part of setting up the game for the future, it was bumped to Year 6, Season 3. That means we won't be seeing it until 2025 as things currently stand.
Before that, though, there's still a lot to look forward to. Year 6 Season 1 is currently slated as the last to include Project Resolve quality of life improvements before new content kicks off. It'll also be the final season with the current Manhunt structure.
Year 6 Season 2 is marked as the big drop of Seasons 2.0, a revamp to the existing seasonal model. All we know so far is that seasonal characters will be introduced, similar to how it's done in Diablo. At the start of the season, you'll start a new character at level 1, levelling up to 40 to get back into the endgame content. At the end of the season, all XP and rewards will be merged back into your main character.
From Season 2 the Manhunts will also be changing. Instead of the story progressing monthly, it'll be on a weekly cadence, with "Scouts" replacing the current four-weekly targets. At the end of it all there will still be a climax mission, only from Season 2, these will have a new Master difficulty tier available for those who want the toughest challenge.
As ever, there will be a regular rotation of new Apparel Events, and we can expect the regular Leagues and Global Events to continue through Year 6. The first Apparel Event in Season 1 First Rogue is inspired by the Operation Crossroads companion novels.
The story DLC is currently slated to be the "culmination" of Year 6, so it's still a way off.
The Division 2 Year 6 story
Based on the events that transpired at the end of the Year 5 Season 3 Vanguard Manhunt, and what we now know, we can start to speculate.
At the end of the Manhunt we learned that long-standing protagonist, Aaron Keener, is actually still alive, as is one of his Rogue Agents from the Warlords of New York campaign, Theo Parnell. Not only this, but our ally throughout the whole of The Division 2, Alani Kelso, is now allied with them.
The story has expanded that Faye Lau turning Rogue and aligning with the Black Tusk was all part of a wider plan that involved Keener, and now includes Kelso. The final note from Kelso (attained by resetting and replaying the entire Manhunt) simply tells us that Kelso needs to finish what Lau started so we can "win this war."
Keener's beef seems to be less about The Division and more against the Government, and by extension, Sokolova, the Black Tusk, and the Hunters that are doing the bidding of whatever remains of the Government. As we see the trio driving off in a van over what's presumably the Brooklyn Bridge with what could be a mobile SHD server, what happens next we don't know.
What we do know is that Keener is coming to Washington D.C. to 'parley' with us, and this is the focus of Season 1 First Rogue. All signs seem to lead towards a future alliance between The Division and Keener's Rogues. But let's not bet against there being some twists and turns along the way.
The Division 2: One endgame
While it snuck out a little before the start of the reveal stream, Ubisoft has now confirmed that all new players of The Division 2 will now have access to Warlords of New York. The expansion is included in the new standard edition of the game.
Ubisoft has also revealed now that the endgame for The Division 2 is being unified, and all players will be united at level 40. The gear score and world tiers system from the base game is gone, and instead all players will now play up to level 40. Once there, the endgame content, including the seasonal manhunt and all additional game modes, will be unlocked. Everyone will play together, whether they have the expansion or not.
If you already play and don't have the expansion, you'll be able to play all the game modes previously locked behind it. But you'll need to upgrade to get the SHD watch and play the New York campaign missions.
A new year, new threats
The Division 2 has already far outlived what we originally expected its life span to be, and with a sequel likely many years away, there's still a lot of life left in the current game.
There's already a ridiculous amount of content to play, and Year 6 is going to add even more, as well as revamping the experience players already have further. The story has been advancing through each season, and from Season 2 of Year 6 this will also be changing alongside the new seasonal model.
It's a gold standard example of how to run a live service game, and with no sign of slowing down, it's looking like another exciting year is on the horizon for The Division 2 and its agents.
