The Division gets new anticheat and sanctions for bug exploiters

A few weeks back, The Division's first Incursion launched and players swiftly discovered ways to exploit glitches in the mission to farm the highest tier loot in the game. At the time, Ubisoft said that it did not approve of this but no real punishments were handed out to players. However, this week Ubisoft addressed cheaters and exploits head on and has a new plan in-place to deal with it in the future.

There have been complaints about cheaters/hackers in the Dark Zone PvP area and now, The Division has a new anti-cheat system that should help catch more players out. The biggest ban wave yet is set to take place over the next few days:

“First, we have implemented new cheat detection methods that have allowed us to identify many more players currently using cheat engines in the game. We have already caught more cheaters in the last few days than we had in total during the previous weeks. As a result, we will be handing out the biggest wave of suspensions and bans to date over the course of the next few days. Second, when cheaters are caught, we will now apply a suspension of 14 days on first offence (instead of the previous 3 day initial suspension). Second offence will always be a permanent ban.”

Ubisoft also addressed those farming for loot using glitches. In the future, glitches and exploits will be openly noted by developers and then those that repeatedly abuse them will suffer punishments ranging from character progress rollbacks to account suspensions and permanent bans:

“We cannot simulate the experience that millions of different players will have, and how they will play the game. As a result, some bugs may make it through testing, and may be present when an update is deployed. In the event that a bug makes it into the game, and this bug can be used by players to gain an advantage, we need to be able to react and fix it, but also dissuade players from exploiting this bug until it is fixed. This is why moving forward we will adopt a stronger stance against players abusing exploits.”

“Our first step is to give you clearer and more concrete visibility. Should new bugs be discovered, we will quickly confirm if these are considered exploits. All known exploits will be clearly listed in a public forum thread and across our various communication platforms. Second, sanctions will be implemented for players who repeatedly abuse exploits and will vary depending on the severity of the abuse, as well as the history of the player. Possible sanctions include character rollbacks, account suspensions and permanent bans. Those who encounter bugs during the normal course of play have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

KitGuru Says: As much as I have been enjoying The Division, the glitches found in the Incursion during its first week did upset the balance of power, particularly in the Dark Zone. Hopefully these new measures will help avoid these problems in the future. Have any of you been sticking with The Division? 

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