It was only in February that we reported that Helldivers 2 was in the best shape it had been in since launch. The siege of Cyberstan galactic campaign was the glittering jewel in the game's live-service storytelling crown, delivering new toys like the Bastion tank and colossal new enemies called Vox Engines, as well as a dramatic invasion of the Automatons' home planet where every dead patriot reduced the chance of success.
Yet only three months later, Helldivers 2's recent reviews have plummeted to 'Mostly Negative', with a host of issues from alleged hidden changes to weapons to underwhelming warbonds putting the community at loggerheads with developer Arrowhead Studios once again. This came to a head on Friday, with Arrowhead publishing a Steam post addressing the community's grievances:
"We've been following your feedback over the past few days and seeing the conversations across the Helldivers 2 community," Arrowhead writes. "Helldivers 2 matters to all of us and we want to be clearer about what we're working on and what's coming next."
Broadly, Arrowhead explained that it is currently working on "improving meta-progression and the Galactic War," adding that it has "significantly expanded the team working in this area". Plans for the future include altering major orders, which often get completed quicker than Arrowhead anticipates, into longer, multi-week campaigns. It also wants these campaigns to have "branching outcomes" that have clearer stakes and are more responsive to player actions.
Regarding the allegations of hidden changes to weapons, Arrowhead says that some changes in its patch notes "have not been communicated with the clarity we intend" and as such it is "working on how we explain balance updates more clearly". I can imagine that tracking all the different tweaks to weapons in a game like Helldivers 2 is more difficult than might be apparent, but I also think Arrowhead's obsession with "balance" is a bit odd considering it's a cooperative game.
Arrowhead also directly addresses the fallout over its recent Exo Experts warbond, which included two new mechs players could purchase. This caused some consternation among players, who felt that the existing mechs were too fragile to be of much use anyway. Arrowhead ended up bulking up the durability of all mechs in a patch that released alongside the warbond, but some believe the imbalance between what's free and what's paid in updates is too great.
In the post, Arrowhead says the goal with Exo Experts was "to create something that felt thematically strong and exciting". The studio says it has "seen the feedback around how that landed" but stops short of admitting any fault. Instead, Arrowhead says it wants "to strike the right balance between what's included in the warbonds and what's available through gameplay", stressing that other vehicles are coming to Helldivers 2 that players can unlock without investing in a warbond.
Elsewhere, Arrowhead says that it's working on new red stratagems (which includes things like orbital strikes, airstrikes and lasers), better Galactic War rewards, and more beta tests for updates—both closed and available to the public.
As for how the community has reacted to the post, it sure hasn't quieted the Helldivers subreddit, which is currently riddled with memes accusing the post of not saying a whole lot. I think this is a little unfair, although there are definitely some empty phrases in there. There's also a broader sense of "Oh, Arrowhead's at it again" futzing about with a perfectly good videogame and then having to apologise for it.
I do think some of the sensibility here comes down to post-update ennui, with all the hardcore Helldivers fans having chewed through the new stuff, leaving them twiddling their thumbs until the next big story arc rolls along. But the trouble with live-service games is they are supposed to be live service, not "once every six months" service. Moreover, I agree that Arrowhead has put too much emphasis on warbonds and not enough on stuff you can unlock through general play. It would be nice to get a new gun without grinding super credits for hours or dropping fifteen notes on a game I already paid £50 to experience.
Yet while Arrowhead has a tendency to drop the ball once in a while, I also know that it's more than capable of delivering absolutely killer updates. Hopefully, the next time the community inevitably starts singing the game's praises, the song will last a while longer.
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