The Division 2 has gotten its first major fix, targeting the skill bug that has been hampering players' ability to progress through the game's later content. The catch: Ubisoft has only mostly managed to remove it from the game, and will be continuing to remove the other instances of the issue over the week to eradicate it fully.

The Division 2 has released to critical acclaim, with many praising the game's design direction and combat while criticizing little beyond its refusal to engage in political narratives. Given the release window, just a month after Anthem's erratic debut, even a competent game would have caught the attention of fans of the looter shooter genre. The Division 2 is more than just competent, though, and represents a notable shift in the series' direction toward what fans want. The Division 2 has yet to really need to sustain players with its endgame, but so far, things seem extremely promising.

Related: The Division 2 Guide: Best Perks To Unlock First

The Division 2 hasn't been without its issues, though, and the most major of them has been the one that has rendered several of The Division 2's skills unusable for players. Players noted that a bug was causing the Ballistic Shield to instantly disappear and go to cooldown after use, which is obviously problematic for people trying to protect themselves from the game's much more dangerous random mobs. The bug also treats the skill as though it has been used properly, which means the cooldown will go into full effect. According to ChrisGansler, a community developer on Ubisoft's official forums, the team worked through the weekend to arrive at a fix yesterday:

"We will be able to solve most of these occurrences with the brief maintenance today, March 18th at 10:15 PM CET / 5:15 PM EST / 6:15 AM KST / 8:15 ACT...the team is continuing their work to resolve all the remaining issues on this topic with a future patch later this week. Until then you can try to avoid the talents EXTRA and OVERLAP which seem to be the culprit and can cause skills to act up even after maintenance, albeit still much less often."

At least Ubisoft and Massive have managed to identify the culprits for the bug, even if the team hasn't completely solved the issues they've been causing. For now, players can take comfort in knowing most of their skills will work properly, and that EXTRA and OVERLAP talents should be avoided for this week at least, as the team seems optimistic they'll be sorted before the next weekend rolls around and more Agents have time to dive into The Division 2's Washington setting.

The Division 2 is winning over players with its complex gameplay, but the quick response to major issues isn't hurting, either. Not to hammer the comparison home too much, but Anthem has been struggling to address game-breaking bugs for the better part of a month. That The Division 2 has already mostly sorted this one - and apparently hasn't created two new bugs in its place while fixing it - is a refreshing reminder that not all looter shooters are made equal, and Ubisoft's could be a major player in the coming months.

Source: Ubisoft Forums