Helldivers 2 entire existence since it launched can be summed up in two ways. First, that it sold far, far more than anyone could’ve ever expected it to, and second, that the player community is always giving the game’s developer, Arrowhead, flack for one thing or another.
Not that the players aren’t justified in voicing their disapproval and providing that flack, just that it’s the common thread with the game, and more so than other live service titles it’s become part of the game’s identity for the community to rally against what it doesn’t like.
In the latest bout players were upset regarding the game’s recent Escalation Of Freedom update, which heavily nerfed certain weapons in ways that, to players, did not feel ‘balanced’ at all.
Arrowhead’s chief executive officer has already responded to the backlash from this update, and now it was game director Mikael Eriksson’s turn with an official statement posted to the game’s Reddit page.
“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,” Eriksson began.
He went on to reiterate some of what his CEO said in that the studio knows it messed up, but furthermore Eriksson laid out what is coming in the games updates for the next 60 days, and how the studio plans to fix things.
“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.”
Source – [Arrowhead Game Studios]