WMG / The Division

The Rioters are Alex fans

Thats why they commit acts of gratuitous violence. it is also why they are all called alex, since they rename themselves as alex as a homage to their idol.

How the game could fit in with the other Tom Clancy games.

The whole game is a advance VR training scenario simulator by Fourth Echelon on how to deal with a successful bio terror attack.

• Alternatively, some Division agents are, in fact, Fourth Echelon agents, seeing as how the very concept of the Division is basically the Splinter Cells writ large.

The terrorist attack was inspired by/ perpetrated by someone involved with Operation Dark Water

The villain was directly inspired by the vulnerability found by Operation Dark Water and directly based their scheme on said attack. For extra measure, the villain will be someone involved in the original Operation, more than likely one of the generals involved.

• The beta suggests that a scientist may have been involved with the Black Friday attack.
  • Confirmed. Gordon Amherst is the one who started the Black Friday attack.

Dave, the subject of the Miracle ECHO Logs, is an Assassin

He's not only managed to survive the Green Poison, but one ECHO log shows him about to perform a Leap of Faith from the third floor of a building under construction, which he survives.

Each of the enemy factions is based on a different fear in American culture.

• The Rioters represent, well, fear of riots and social collapse.
• The Rikers represent fear of violent crime.
• The Cleaners represent the fear that ordinary people could be drawn to political extremism.
• The Last Man Battalion represents fear of non-governmental use of violence, specifically in Private Military Contractors.
  • Not just that, intelligence in-game notes that essentially all LMB troops are former veterans. They aren't just PM Cs, they're the people America once counted on to protect itself now turning against her.
• Finally, the rogue Division agents under Aaron Keeler represent the fear that the government could turn against the people.

An outdoor apparel maker will be partnered with for the Division 2.

• Ghost Recon Wildlands is partnering with Body Armour, Crye Precision, etc. for "authenticity's" sake. Why wouldn't The Division team just partner up with say The North Face and steal the 2018 Spring/Summer (Also WMG: Next game won't be set in a Winter/snowy locale) collection instead of having to make their own?
  • Confirmed. Mechanix brand gloves are now part of the game as of patch 1.1

Future DLCs will be set in different places in New York City.

• Brooklyn, Queens, Lower Manhattan, Upper Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Coney Island and North Brother Island.
  • Semi-Jossed: The sequel's DLC is set in Lower Manhattan and Coney Island is also included.

Assuming society eventually recovers from the virus, changes the world will see.

• First of all, in the Fall of Canada trailer, it was shown that the Canadian government completely collapsed, and Division agents were operating there. This means the United States will most likely occupy Canada at least until a new government can be set up.
• The United States itself will become more authoritarian, considering the massive powers Directive 51 gives the president. Even when the Division is deactivated and the Joint Task Force is disbanded, the government will implement sweeping anti-bioterrorism measures to ensure another Green Poison will never happen.
• Physical money itself might fall out of use, because it was a vector for the disease. The government might encourage people to use something like the in-game credits instead.
• Because the Last Man Battalion was so dangerous after it went AWOL, the United States will try to lessen its dependence on Private Military Contractors.
• Other nations will implement their own Directive 51s and possibly form their own Divisions.
• Although the government would want to keep its technological edge, some of the less advanced Shade Tech might be released into use by the army, or even the civilian market.
• An international push to ban the fabrication technologies used to create the virus.

Aiden Pearce is a Division agent.

• Granted, he would be holding things down in Chicago as opposed to New York, but considering that Aiden is proficient in combat, familiar with various types of technology, has no real social life or close family members and already operates outside of authority, he seems to be exactly the kind of guy that would be recruited by SHD.

Springboarding off the above: The Division was created/is run by The Templars.

Because continuity of government doesn't seem like it'd be part of the Assassin's guidelines. Not in this case anyway and not the way The Division does it at least.

The Division takes place in the same universe as The Secret World.

• I mean, assuming they managed to lock down and hush everything that goes down in The Secret World's Manhattan raid before the Dollar Flu. In both games your a covert operator for a shadowy organization with too many liberties in a diseased crisis area with too many secrets and your just trying to get the clothes that will make you look the coolest. The Brooklyn Division safehouse is even in the same building as the Illuminati HQ in The Secret World.

The Division is the joint end for all the "real-world" Ubisoft properties.

All the Tom Clancy games, Far Cry, Watch_Dogs, even Assassin's Creed all comes to an end with the dollar flu. There's no time for other secret military operations, drug induced government overthrow, hacking the system, or a conspiratorial war through all of time when there's a global pandemic about.

Enemies having ludicrous durability to bullets is a side affect of the Dollar Flu.

• The people who get the dollar flu, yet survive it, or are passive carriers develop hardened skin and/or regenerative abilities. The reason why the world fell as it did was the uninfected police and military that flew in found themselves fighting super humans with guns, and thus even an advanced PMC was overwhelmed by civilian gunmen. This is the equivalent of a big bad's plan from Resident Evil, where a plague of super-soldier BOW go on an unchecked rampage, with those surviving becoming infected themselves. The reason why enemies get stronger and harder, including the player character, is because of increasing infection as time goes on. The reason for everyone's insanity is also a result of the virus as well, which removes impulse control and enhances aggression. Most of the rioters were originally just people who found guns and attempted to scavenge while defending themselves from other infected, but once infected they became purely "shoot whoever isn't us." The player isn't immune, but doesn't notice, even as they murder other players for their stuff in the Dark Zone.

The Division is set in the same universe as The Last Ship.

• It's rather simple really, the game is set in the same universe, but say... a month before the show began, when the US government was still clinging to some semblance of control - the parallels are there up to the "a few good men" against horrible odds. Hell, it even tracks with the weird behaviour by the Cleaners and LMB as the virus in the show caused normal people to become unhinged and turn into the Cleaners for example . Contrast/compare that with the Ramseys that went from normal sailors into people that nonchallantly sipped tea while their comrades succumbed to the virus.. and then became WORSE

Division Agents are pulled from the most loyal 'Constitutionalists' of the US Military, and are from the areas that they're inserted into.

• When it comes to preserving what's left, who better to handle it than someone who can recite passages from the Constitution in their sleep? Someone who can do that who is from the area they're being inserted into. Odds are, the agents are handed a DD 214, and sent home, as this gives plausible deniability to why they're no longer in the military. Prior to leaving the service, the agents are briefed on their role from then on, and then sent home. This would explain why Fay is so insistent to restore New York City to what it was: She's a New York City Native, knows the city like the back of her hand, and more importantly, has family who lives there. If all Division Agents are treated this way, it would make sense why so many stay loyal to their Oaths of Enlistment. It also explains why some agents have gone rogue as well. Some have just simply lost the will to carry out their official objective, and have decided to use their tools to further their own ends.

Origin of the Hunters

• The Russians: Concerned with both the loss of a top virologist and the assault on their embassy, the Russian government has sent over their own top operators to try and take over where the Division has failed.
• European Operators: With America crumbling, the Europeans have decided to send their best equipped forces to try and stop what they see as a rogue element of the US government from making things even worse.

There will be a boss character named Alex

He will be renowned for his Iron Butt Monkey status given how many critical wounds he's survived on luck and sheer spite alone.

Predictions for The Division 2

• Factions
  • Being a highly politicized city, DC will play host to several hostile forces organized around American political lines. Separatists, rogue military, will undoubtedly become the players against the Division by the sequel.
  • ^ (Confirmed. Hyenas take over the combined Rioter/Riker role from the first game, Outcasts are separatists looking for revenge against everyone, and both the True Sons and Black Tusk represent rogue military/PMC organizations operating against the Division. Then there's those spooky Scavenger/Ambusher factions and the Hunters...)

• Story
  • Keener is tracked from New York to DC, where he's engineered an attempt on the life of the president judging from the crashed Air Force One laying across the National Mall. The Division agents were initially driven out of DC, but are making attempts to return now that New York has been stabilized/are reinforcing what's left of the government and reaching out to the civilian survivors. Meanwhile, Keener is rumored to be interfacing with several of the groups in order to build up his new world order, and is ravaging government offices and files for more intelligence.

The Hunters are a Third Wave of Division Agents...

• ...And they're tasked with cleaning up the First and Second Waves. Look at it from this angle: The First Wave of Agents went rogue, and any loyalists were killed off. SHD realises something's up when the agents don't respond, and wave two shows up both to help with the outbreak and find what happened to the First Wave. Wave Two finds out Wave One went rogue, reports what happened to the government. The government probably knew something had happened to Wave One, but didn't know what exactly - they now know that the agents went rogue, commanded by one of their own.

'So,' they ask themselves, 'what's to stop Wave Two from joining Keener, or going rogue one by one?' Answer: Very little. Plus, the Agents have seen a lot of potentially compromising material - they saw how the government left thousands of civilians and Agents in the DZ to fend for themselves, they know how the First Wave went rogue, they may know how some agents were effectively left for dead. What would they do with that information if they themselves went rogue?

So, the Hunters are activated. A 'Who Watches the Watchmen' Division within the Division, a Third Wave of Agents. Specially equipped and trained to take down other, rogue agents. This explains their ability to disrupt your tech, as well as why they co-operate and are much harder to kill than anything else in game. They're told all agents in the DZ, or in NY as a whole, are rogues and traitors that need to be terminated. That prevents word about what happened getting out, and neatly prevents any more rogues from showing up. They take the watches of dead Agents as proof of their kills, and as means of further suppressing the information. They wear their masks and kill their targets at close range with a melee weapon to make it look like they aren't connected to the Division - the masks keep their fellow Agents from recognising them, the method of killing more associated with a group like the Rikers than Agents.

This also helps explain the DZ Supply Drops - they're for the Hunters hiding in the zone, not for the Agents, hence why they don't land outside the base. The natural secrecy of the Hunters would further explain why Faye Lau has no idea why the drops are in the DZ.

And as for why they only attack during the snowstorm, while you have the anti-virus? They know you're weak. They know you're missing most of your best gear, and that they have the advantage of surprise and disruption tech. They don't attack during normal DZ operations because of the risk of an agent escaping - they can just run back to the checkpoint and get out of there, or lose the Hunters among the buildings. In the storm? You're cut off from the checkpoints, and cannot escape them normally. They wait until you're at an area where they have the advantage, and hit you hard and fast.

They don't want the anti-virus leaving because the PC could be a First Waver or a Second Waver - if the first, Keener gets even more dangerous. If the second, they risk letting information leak. Either way, they need the PC dead.

Source of Theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J00uzxl6rjQ