Arrowhead Game Studios’ co-op shooter Helldivers 2 has been one of the biggest hits of 2024 so far and continues to gather more hype. After dealing with the server issues and raising the max player cap, the developer has now released the first patch update with several balance changes.
The patch update has brought plenty of new things to the game and nerfed the game’s supposed “best” loadout. The developer has also explained the changes it has made with the patch and why, including the power of weapons, which has been a hot topic of online discussion for a while now.
Helldivers 2 Developer Gives Insight on ‘General Power’ of Weapons
The latest patch brought updates to stratagems and other weapons in Helldivers 2 but also nerfed weapons and items such as Breaker, Shield Generator Backpack, and Railgun, which saw backlash from fans who were frustrated with the changes. This led to Arrowhead releasing a statement via a blog post and explaining why it has made such balance changes to the game.
Patrik Lasota, the Head of Product Testing at Arrowhead Game Studios, who was also the designer on the first game, said that players have been commenting that the primary weapons are not powerful enough and are not able to deal with the enemies either due to the amount of ammunition or “raw DPS.”
Lasota explained that the development team knows about the power of weapons in Helldivers 2, saying, “This is very much intentional,” and added that players need to use their and their teammate’s stratagems during the battle to dispose of the enemies they face during the galactic war.
He further said that the loadout of the player’s team should help them kill weaker enemies “more efficiently” by using Eagle Airstrikes, Support Weapons, Orbitals, or Turrets. Lasota added that a player’s primary weapon should feel good to use in battle, but he also urged them to understand that it is only a primary weapon because players spawn in the game with it.
Fans Are Not Happy With the Recent Weapon Nerfs
Despite the explanation from Arrowhead, fans are not happy with the balance changes and said that a lot of items need rework. Players on the Helldivers community subreddit have been discussing the changes, and one player has said that armor needs “total rebalance” and should have more protection.
Another player added that “the armor needs some serious work, it’s really bad.” Players also said that the developer wants them to use stratagems against enemies, but the stratagem’s cooldown on high difficulty “is absurd!” Players have said that stratagems take too much time to activate after 8+ levels.
A Helldivers 2 player said that it’s “kind of let down that more wasn’t done with the primary weapons.” Many added that the weapons are worse than before, but the developer has asked players to give the new weapons a chance and not compare them to the old versions.
What do you think about the weapon balance changes in Helldivers 2? Let us know in the comments section below.
