With all of its raids, Dark Zone exploration and other post-game content, it's easy to forget that The Division has vendors from whom players can purchase an assortment of items.
Sure, there's a certain point in the game when gear players can buy from vendors becomes obsolete, with gear purchasable via Phoenix Credits falling off soon afterward. The concept makes sense — players shouldn't be able to purchase the best gear in the game — but it also means that, after awhile, the only way to get upgrades is for them to run high-end content and subject themselves to the whims of RNG — a process made even more frustrating due to the game's frustrating loot system.
Well, for this week only, players can put off that process thanks to the special vendor at the Base of Operations, who is selling the surprisingly powerful AUG A3 Para XS for 206 Phoenix Credits.
On paper, this weapon will likely appear to be quite weak, and thanks to its Gear Score of 182 rather than 204, it's easy to question why one should even bother purchasing the weapon at all. Simply put, ignore what you see on paper and check out the video of the weapon in action below.
As you can see, even with a 182 Gear Score, the weapon handles like a dream, partially due to its stats, as well as the strong combination of the talents: Deadly, which increases critical hit damage; Responsive, which increases damage when a player is less than 10 meters away from their target and Swift, which allows players to reload the weapon faster.
Together, they allow the weapon to outperform many other "better" weapons, because they make this weapon better optimized, as opposed to the aforementioned "better" weapons that may possess higher stats but weaker (oftentimes useless) talents.
Unfortunately, even if this weapon does outperform many others that are supposed to outclass it, equipping the AUG AU A3 Para XS will drop a player's overall Gear Score, meaning that they might be placed in an improper bracket for matchmaking or DZ, be considered ill-equipped for an incursion by the game or be treated somewhat unfairly by closed-minded players. Fortunately, the chances of this happening have been reduced thanks to the way The Division calculates Gear Score as of the 1.2 Update.
In any case, if this weapon looks like it's your cup of tea, then head on down to the special vendor at the Base of Operations. Just be sure to do so before Friday before the vendor resets.
