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Some of the backlash against Prototype Gear being normalised in The Division 2: Echoes of Central Park shows exactly how elitist parts of this community have become. I understand why people who have spent hundreds of hours grinding Prototype Gear want that investment to matter. It should matter. But that does not mean an entire new DLC should be balanced around the small section of players who have reached Expertise 30, farmed Escalation repeatedly, collected Prototype Cores, upgraded complete builds and levelled the correct Augments. I could be considered biased because I’m a build creator who doesn’t use Prototype Gear. Anyone who watches my channel knows that I prefer making builds that the majority of players can realistically recreate. I want someone to watch a video, understand the synergy and have a reasonable path towards building it themselves. I don’t want to make builds for the tiny percentage of players who can spend 12 to 18 hours every day grinding the highest endgame systems. That isn’t how most people experience The Division 2. Echoes of Central Park is a brand new paid expansion. It should welcome active players, returning players and completely new players, not immediately make them feel like they need months of old endgame grinding before they’re properly equipped to enjoy what they just purchased. The DLC even includes a Level 40 boost. What it doesn’t include is an Expertise 30 boost, a complete Prototype build and all the resources needed to perfect its Augments. Imagine being a new or returning player, buying Central Park, using the Level 40 boost and then being told the content should be balanced around players running fully upgraded Prototype Striker builds. That would be ridiculous. Prototype Gear was introduced as an optional way to push existing builds further. It was never supposed to become the minimum entry requirement for every meaningful piece of content added afterwards. It already has a purpose. It gives hardcore players another progression system. It helps push Legendary, Mastery and Escalation content. It gives dedicated grinders something powerful to chase after they’ve already completed practically everything else. But Prototype Gear does not need to be the be all and end all of The Division 2. Echoes of Central Park is not Escalation. It isn’t a six piece Prototype Gear showcase. It is a new story expansion intended to bring players back, attract new players and provide an experience that the wider player base can actually enjoy. If full strength Prototype Gear makes ordinary Heroic content considerably easier, then allowing it at full power from the first playthrough could completely remove the tension the developers are trying to create. The alternative would be balancing every enemy around full Prototype builds, which would make the DLC miserable for practically everyone without one. Either the Prototype players trivialise the expansion and complain it’s too easy, or the developers balance around them and make it unnecessarily punishing for everyone else. Normalising it at launch is the sensible middle ground. Your gear isn’t being deleted. Your grind hasn’t been erased. You can still use the build, and the developers have already said they plan to restore its full power inside the DLC later. The opening experience simply isn’t being designed around the most heavily invested players in the entire game. Playing for thousands of hours doesn’t mean every new piece of content must be balanced exclusively around you. Prototype Gear should be a reward for hardcore endgame players, not an entrance ticket that everyone else needs before they’re allowed to enjoy a new expansion. #TheDivision2 #EchoesOfCentralPark #Division2