Helldivers 2 Dev Explains New Balance Changes
Summary
- Helldivers 2’s latest patch introduces environmental hazards, along with controversial weapon and stratagem balancing updates.
- One of Arrowhead’s developers emphasizes transparency in ongoing balance changes, urging players to embrace new weapon choices in the game.
- Arrowhead aims to prevent players from relying on certain overpowering items, encouraging diverse gameplay tactics in Helldivers 2.
Helldivers 2‘s new patch has been released, bringing impressive features such as environmental hazards to the game. It has, however, introduced several balancing updates for weapons and stratagems, which have been controversial with those who have invested more time into the game.
As reported by GamesRadar, one of the developers at Arrowhead, Alex K, took to the Helldivers 2 Discord channel to address these changes. According to Alex K, this patch is “the first round in a never-ending series of balance changes” and stated that the team wants to be transparent regarding their approach to game balance, especially when it comes to weapons and stratagems.
Helldivers 2 Dev Update Means Your Non-Meta Build Is Going To Get A Lot Better
With Helldivers 2’s server issues mostly fixed, a developer update indicates that an upcoming patch will focus more on gameplay and balance.
Arrowhead Explained Its Approach To Game Balancing In Helldivers 2
The Studio Knows Players May Feel Like They Are “Being Punished”
Alex K went on to state that they knew how disappointing these balance changes may be for those who have spent many hours mastering a particular weapon, saying “I know that having your favorite toy nerfed absolutely sucks“. While they addressed the player sentiment that it may “feel like a punishment” for being too good at the game, this isn’t necessarily the case, and is intended as a way to offer a wider range of weapon choices in Helldivers 2 where each gun has its own set purpose and none are seen as being significantly superior. Alex K then implored players “not to compare a changed item with its older version, but to evaluate the existing one as it is” before deciding on whether it’s still worth equipping to their loadouts.
Citing the powerful AC-8 Autocannon – which deals a large amount of damage and works well at range but requires assistance from other allies, or an ammo backpack to balance it out – as an example of their philosophy, stating that the team doesn’t want weapons to be a “no-brainer” choice that everyone gravitates towards. According to the player data, the SG-225 Breaker, RS-422 Railgun, and SH-32 Shield Generator Backpack are the “biggest offenders of that principle” as they have been both extremely powerful and versatile, resulting in many players turning to them by default, and not properly tailoring their gameplay tactics. These items have been amended in the new patch to make players better evaluate the pros and cons of using such items to better complement their individual gameplay approaches.
Arrowhead’s title has been extremely successful since its launch on PlayStation 5 and PC, attracting far more players than its predecessors with an impressive concurrent player count on Steam. While these balance changes may be disappointing for players at first, it seems like a way to keep Helldivers 2‘s ongoing Galactic War more fresh and exciting over time as it encourages players to evolve their tactics to keep up.
Source: GamesRadar
