Within the Pier areas, two new game modes will be available: Resistance and Skirmish. Resistance is a survival-style PvE mode which features "continuous waves" of spawning enemies, tasking players to survive for as long as they can. Skirmish is a PvP mode which sees two teams of four players competing for the highest kill count within a timed session. PvP progress is shared between the existing Last Stand mode and Skirmish, and the level cap has been raised from 40 to 99.
Update 1.8 also sees the introduction of Rogue 2.0, an updated version of the game's 'Rogue' system. Players need to toggle their Rogue status before being able to do damage to friendly agents, and any member of their team can choose to either go Rogue also or leave the group. Agents who achieve 'Manhunt' status will have objectives to interact with, which will reward them with Manhunt caches; non-Rogue agents will see the general area of the Manhunt objective and receive rewards for stopping the Manhunt agents.The Underground expansion has also undergone some changes, adding new Directives, Hunter enemies (who can drop exotic loot), and weekly assignments that offer even more loot. In fact, rewards overall have been increased in the Underground.
If all of this isn't enough, a range of new Classified Gear and Exotics have been added to the game, as well as a series of gameplay patches and fixes, including the option to kick members out of groups of 3 or more.
There's also the usual selection of bug fixes and minor adjustments, including one slightly alarming bug which would "cause wildlife to explode during the Strike global event".As an extra, extra added bonus, Ubisoft has also announced that all three paid DLC packs will be made available to all players for a limited time. Even if you don't have the Season Pass, the game's three Expansions - Underground, Survival and Last Stand - will be playable by all until December 10.
The Division is available now for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Update 1.8 is live now.
For more on The Division, check out our thoughts on the base game, or find out how the game's feature is defining itself through free content and simultaneous multi-platform releases. Matt Davidson is a freelance writer for IGN who is slightly overwhelmed by the size of this update. Follow him on Twitter if you're that kind of person.