Fellow Helldivers,
I want to directly address the feedback you’ve raised about the Escalation of Freedom update. We’ve spent the last week listening to feedback, reflecting about the path ahead for Helldivers 2 and how we want to continue developing the game. In short, we didn’t hit our target with the latest update. Some things we just didn’t get right - and other more fundamental inconsistencies in our approach to game balance and game direction.
All of that is on us and we are going to own that. As many of you have pointed out, and we agree, what matters most now is action. Not talk.
To that end, here’s what we intend to do in the upcoming updates.
Our aim within the next 60 days:
-Continue to re-examine our approach to balance. Our intention is that balance should be fun, not “balanced” for the sake of balance.
-Update how the fire damage mechanic works to tweak how the flamethrower serves as a close range support weapon. (A quick straight revert won’t work, as it would break other things)
-Rework gameplay to prevent excessive ragdolling
-Re-think our design approach to primary weapons and create a plan for making combat more engaging
-Re-prioritize bug fixes so that the more immediate gameplay-impacting bugs are prioritized.
-Improve game performance (frame rate is a focus)
-Rework Chargers
Additionally, from a bigger picture perspective we will be:
-Exploring creation of an opt-in beta-test environment to improve our testing processes and we consider this a high-priority.
-Post regular player surveys to gather more insights and feedback from the community.
-Improve our process for patch/release notes - providing more context and reasoning behind changes.
-More blog posts and streams where we expand on these topics for those interested.
We also want to thank you for your patience. We’re grateful that so many of you provided constructive feedback and suggestions on the latest update.
Mikael E Game Director & Arrowhead Game Studios
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I wish they didn’t break the flamethrower. I knew it wasn’t going to last, as it was way too fun and dangerous. I like gameplay where the weapon is just as dangerous to the player as it can be to enemies. That mindset has been bred out of modern shooters, though.
This is a good take. HD2 made me love suicidal flamethrower guy. Seeing him setting himself on fire while taking on three chargers brang a tear to my eye. I’m not going anywhere near him, I’ll assist from a distance. But damn it was a spectacle.
Seeing him setting himself on fire while taking on three chargers brang a tear to my eye.
It’s brought, not brang. Sorry this is physically painful for me, and I need to get better about it, but I had to say something. Otherwise agree 100%.
I was that guy ❤️
Does their PvE anti-cheat still need kernel access? All other points are moot if so.
Yes, and I guess don’t play it then…
This is disappointing, AH has been fumbling and taking L after L, the community gives feedback and it seems like they’re just not listening. I played for a little while but the bot spawn rate on like 3-5 with just 2 or 3 players was atrocious so they came out with an update that allegedly fixed it. In actuality it made it worse, si I haven’t played since.
This is the third or fourth time I’ve seen them apologize for nerfing the weapons that made the game fun for people and then play the “we’re reevaluating how we do weapon balance” card. This is a PvE game, why do weapons need nerfs? If you feel like your game isn’t difficult enough, add a higher difficulty tier for the best players, and let the other 90% live out their bug smashing dreams.
That’s just an endless cycle of adding new difficulties if you don’t address power creep or balance.
The goal is to limit one player carrying the others to much.
