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Helldivers 2 is currently on a downward spiral following multiple updates that have nerfed most weapons in the game due to reactionary decisions by the developers. This came to a head with the Escalation of Freedom update that brought approximately 100,000 concurrent players back to the game, only for the most popular weapon to be nerfed which immediately turned most players away and now the game is at its all-time-low in terms of player count.
However, Arrowhead is committed to fixing these issues, including rebalancing the weapons to bring the chaotic nature back to Helldivers 2, as initially advertised in the promotional material. This is going to be done by following a 60-day roadmap that will consist of multiple updates over the next few months.
In a recent blog post, Arrowhead Game Studios announced that the next Helldivers 2 update is set to go live in just under two weeks saying “Our next update, containing all these changes and more details, is scheduled to go live on September 17th.”
The developers then signed off the blog post by saying “We value your feedback and are always looking for ways to improve our community engagement. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks as we work together to make Helldivers 2 the best it can be.”
This update marks the first step in the 60-day roadmap, which aims to rectify many of the balancing issues that affect the majority of weapons and enemies in the game, which many Helldivers 2 players cite as the reason that the game isn’t as fun anymore. The roadmap will also address many of the backend problems with the game, such as crashing and server problems.
The next update will specifically be focused on buffing weapons and nerfing enemies, with Armor Penetration, Anti-Tank weapons, and enemy armor and health values being at the forefront of this patch. In total, over 30 weapons and stratagems will be worked. There will also be significant changes to enemies in Helldivers 2, particularly lowering the armor of Hulks, nerfing the number of rockets that the Automatons can fire before running out, and reducing the armor of Charger, Impaler, and Bile Titan Terminid enemies.
Arrowhead CCO Johan Pilestedt recently admitted that Helldivers 2 isn’t as fun anymore due to the balancing issues and aims to bring the advertised chaotic nature of the game back, noting that we “will see a significant meta shift and bring the game into a state where the playfulness takes the front seat and challenge is secondary.”
Only time will tell as to whether this comes to fruition, Arrowhead has over-promised and under-delivered on multiple occasions, but I am quite confident that we are about to see the start of Helldivers 2’s redemption arc and players will return to the game over time. I doubt it will see a return to its initial peak, but I don’t see a reason why it couldn’t return to peaking at around 100,000 concurrent players on PC, which is a far cry from the 10,000 players it sees currently.