When Helldivers 2 first launched on February 8, 2024, on PlayStation and Steam, many gamers praised it as probably the greatest co-op horde shooters out there with its enjoyable and chaotic gameplay. Not solely did it have a strong gameplay basis, however its total theming and group assist of an ongoing galactic conflict elevated the sport to new heights. Nonetheless, as time glided by, the sport steadily declined in participant rely because of choices made by Arrowhead Studios that slowly degraded the group’s sentiment on Helldivers 2.
Right here, we’ll check out a few of the steadiness choices that Arrowhead has made, from the weapons to the various enemies within the recreation that had been deemed controversial. One of many larger ache factors in Helldivers 2 at this time is that Arrowhead likes to offer extra energy to enemies than giving gamers extra viable choices to cope with them, which in the end makes the sport tougher for informal audiences.
How does Helldivers 2 steadiness every little thing?
The core concept of Helldivers 2 is that each weapon and Stratagem fulfills a job in fight. Some are greatest used within the long-range, whereas others do higher in short-range. Others are meant for clearing out teams of weaker enemies whereas some Stratagems excel at killing armored elite targets. To make up for his or her energy, these instruments are weaker in sure elements to make sure that they don’t overshadow different weapons of their roles. This steadiness of energy ensures that each weapon has a spot within the recreation’s sandbox and that gamers will all the time discover every weapon enjoyable to make use of.
When a weapon does every little thing and solutions many of the recreation’s issues, it turns into overpowered as a result of most gamers need to use the most effective weapons for any state of affairs. That is comprehensible because the entire level of steadiness is to make sure that each weapon excels in its objective.
Helldivers 2’s First Nerf: The Railgun
The Railgun assist weapon was initially thought of to be the most effective weapon within the recreation when it first got here out. It had the most effective armor-piercing functionality, ammo financial system and total ease of use. It might simply dispatch Chargers, Bile Titans, and lots of heavy Automaton items. It was the staple weapon for many gamers, however Arrowhead deemed the weapon too sturdy within the meta and nerfed its armor-piercing functionality.
This nerf was extremely divisive among the many group, however for a time, it was a justifiable one because it overshadowed different anti-tank weapons. This additionally solidified the concept that weaker weapons should obtain buffs to make them extra related within the recreation.
Slugger Nerf
Within the Automaton entrance, precision weapons are way more helpful than horde-clearing ones just like the Machine Weapons. The Slugger is a precision slug shotgun that completely occupies this area of interest because of the nature of Automaton items having innate armor, which requires precision concentrating on. In comparison with the Diligence and the Diligence Counter Sniper, the Slugger fills their position higher than the devoted marksman rifles that the sport presents. In response, Arrowhead nerfed the Slugger by decreasing its harm, destruction worth and stagger worth.
As soon as once more, the group had requested for buffs to the DMRs to compensate for the Slugger nerf. Whereas they had been buffed, it wasn’t sufficient to totally have interaction gamers into utilizing the Diligence weapons over different weapons.
Eruptor Nerf
This nerf was negatively acquired because it was a part of the Democratic Detonation Warbond and had carved itself a pleasant area of interest of coping with teams, due to its AoE harm. In fact, the weapon is innately unwieldy because of its dimension, however gamers caught with the weapon because it’s highly effective in its area of interest. As a gradual bolt motion sniper rifle that has worse dealing with, its harm was highly effective sufficient. Nonetheless, the weapon had its capabilities reduce in half by having its AoE shrapnel eliminated, which severely reduce its use on each Automaton and Terminid fronts.
Hearth Injury Nerfs
Although it wasn’t intentional, flame weapons in Helldivers have been not directly nerfed, as this got here a couple of days after the discharge of the Freedom’s Flame Warbond. Many felt that this nerf was a knee-jerk response to the Warbond as they felt it’d overperform within the sandbox, however gamers have but to expertise the brand new weapons of their greatest state.
The change to fireplace projectiles was that they’re now affected by life like projectile blocking. Beforehand, the flamethrower might penetrate by way of Charger armor, which made it extraordinarily helpful towards Terminids. Nonetheless, its lack of vary made the flamethrower much less helpful towards Automatons.
This modification makes flamethrowers much less viable towards Terminids since their energy is reliant on clearing each Chargers and smaller targets in shut vary. That change was the straw that lastly broke the camel’s again.
Arrowhead Video games guarantees change
After the backlash, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani admits that the studio has taken a heavy-handed method to nerfing weapons. With the brand new Escalation of Freedom replace granting a tougher issue in a state the place gamers have much less viable weapons to play with, this solely added gas to the fireplace. Jorjani has taken to many social media platforms, promising that the builders will meet participant expectations extra sooner or later.
