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Arrowhead Game Studios has been under fire in recent times due to many Helldivers 2 updates missing the mark with players. This has led the developers to create a 60-day roadmap that aims to rectify many of the issues caused by recent updates, rebalance weapons, and fix many of the problems that are plaguing the game.
The Helldivers 2 developers, Arrowhead Game Studios, have released a blog post to give the community an update on what to expect with the planned 60-day roadmap and when the next update will be. Arrowhead began the blog post by saying that,
“It’s been a couple of weeks since we committed to our 60-day plan, and our team has been hard at work refining the gameplay experience, addressing your concerns by doing in-depth reviews and adjustments of various systems, from weapon balancing and enemy behavior to the overall game mechanics. We are fully committed to ensuring Helldivers 2 meets the high standards we all expect,” noting that they “see the steam reviews and we hear you loud and clear.” This comes following the “recent review” score dropping down to “Mostly Negative” at just 37%.
Arrowhead Game Studios then detailed what we can expect from the next update, which will come on September 17th. This update will focus on balancing over 30 weapons and stratagems and balancing enemies. Here is everything we can expect from the next update,
- “We are reworking Armor Penetration, Anti-Tank weapons and enemy armor and health values. As a key part of the rework we have done an initial balancing pass on over 30 weapons and stratagems.
- We are overhauling a number of different enemies to make them feel more rewarding to kill when you use the proper tools to handle them but ensure they still feel formidable. Enemy bots, including Hulks, will have lower armor, and the number of rockets fired by enemies like the Devastator and Gunship will be limited, making combat more balanced. The armor values of particularly tough bug enemies like the Charger, Impaler, and Bile Titan will also be reduced.
- Weapons such as the Autocannon, Heavy Machine Gun, and Anti-Material Rifle will be more effective, providing greater loadout versatility. We are also working towards additional improvements for the flamethrower weapons.
- We’re taking this opportunity to consider new player fantasies and design goals for these weapons and stratagems based on the feedback we’ve received and the trends we’re observing during gameplay.”
The blog post also claims that Chief Creative Officer, Johan Pilestedt, is leading this balancing update, analyzing “player feedback, internal and external playtests, gameplay data, and the original design goals for each weapon and stratagem.” Arrowhead notes that they want each weapon and stratagem to feel “powerful, responsive, and fun to use, while also fitting into the broader gameplay ecosystem.”
Arrowhead has also revealed that they have been conducting closed beta tests with a small number of members of the community to ensure that this process is running smoothly before expanding it out to the wider player base. This is incredibly exciting as much of the backlash from the Helldivers 2 community has been due to it seeming that Arrowhead wasn’t doing what was best for the player base, after having admitted that they don’t spend much time playing the game. Allowing active members of the community to test future updates will help ensure that they will have a greater chance of being positively received, which will help to rebuild the reputation of the game and hopefully bring more players back.