Arrowhead is Right, You are Wrong - A Counter Essay to the Criticism of Escalation of Freedom

In this quite long video essay, InnerAgntAuto (aka Commander Auto of the 501st Stim Regiment), covers the current drama of Helldivers 2 regarding weapon balance. Like, dang man, I've never seen so many people not understand what Arrowhead wants the game to be. So I'm taking my stand against the traitors who've forsaken our creators and the visionaries of Super Earth.
#helldivers2 #arrowhead

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

FYI: I KNOW THE FLAMETHROWER SUCKS WITH THE NEW PATCH. Arrowhead screwed up, the devs are human beings too. Pushing out weekly patches can have things slip through the cracks. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. I want to know your thoughts on the update and to keep an open and civil dialogue

[@animgreppi]

"a thing " slips ?! A THING ?! EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMN TIME THEY DROP A PATCH THE SUPERIOR PACKING METHOD BREAK ! i have a bug that, 90% of the time when the game crash, my keybinds are reset OR scrambled ! AND THE GAME USED TO CRASH WHEN I WAS CLOSING THE GAME NORMALY ! -performences are bad -crashes all the time -weapons sucks for the most part, what's the point of the liberator concusive when the Pummler is here, just nerf the SMG, don't give the ASSAULT RIFLE a buff right . -other issue like key reseting -out of the roof ragdoll effects -" realism " for your fire and bullets but the 90 rocket devastators barraging you all the time have illimited realistic ammo and 5s cooldown and most bots shoot through the map( also the fire -effetc of the flam-40 look like SHIT now, straight out of 2000's ps2 -they nerfed the fun out of the eruptor - nerfed nerfed the stagger out of the arc ( well, they just updated the hulks not to be staggered ) but the straw that almost broke it all is the simple fact that most of the bug are either here FROM LAUNCH, or are coming back each update ! and " fire should not be the only thing blah blah blah you should have freedom " duuude ! the SNIPER RIFLE do not one shot hunters ! the Assault Rifles can't keep up with enemies ! the AT-weapons take times to reload while you have 10 behemoth-chargers that need 3 headshot to kill, WITHOUT EVEN STUNING THEM ! Take an explosive punch in the end with a helmet and see if you're not stuned for a while !

[@reedworsham5643]

18:35 I really dont understand what you mean by saying the flamethrower had no downsides, it has zero stagger, the lowest range of any support weapon, requires time to ignite its flame, and can kill you if you get unlucky and are ragdolled into your own fire, which are very significant downsides compared to the other horde clearing options of the machine gun and the grenade launcher. The flamethrower's ability to kill chargers frontally was its only significant advantage over the competition, and with that gone, it is in a very bad state. Also, even if the flamethrower hadn't been directly nerfed in escalation of freedom, it would have still been indirectly nerfed by the addition of spore chargers, which explode on death, which would have been perfectly reasonable.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I may have been extrapolating for sake of argument, but the point stands that it WAS the objective best support weapon for the bot front since it could do everything pretty effectively, taking out all enemies short of a bile titan. Now, that being said, it is a worse off state (and ignoring today's patch that killed it on accident), it's still quite effective on the bug front, especially paired with stun nades. It also does require a bit of a skill set shift, which happens whenever a weapon is drastically changed in a certain way. However, I must admit, you are correct that it had the downsides of being prone to accidentally killing you, however, at the same time, it was easy to mitigate those downsides in my experience.

[@suds9365]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto Shouldn't your stratagems be able to take out everything short of a bile titan? If the support weapons were not strong there would be no point in them being in the game.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Most stratagems can, such as Orbital Gatling, Eagle Incendiary, and Eagle Airstrike! Others can do immense single target, like the 500kg, Orbital Railgun, or Orbital Precision. Support weapons fill the niche your primary can't. For example, the Recoilless Rifle does amazing single target, so naturally you'd build for crowd control. And most support weapons are strong right now! The flamer isn't the greatest right now since it's bugged to be bad, but hopefully it'll be fixed soon. Also, the MG43 and the Stalwart are amazing crowd clearers if you're looking for a Flamer alternative!

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

Stagger won't happen for FIRE.

[@samomargecn4936]

​@FlipperTitan pretty sure if you're set on fire you would stagger and rethink your next steps, aside from the bots.

[@adrios7943]

Guys dont listen to this guy, listen to the thousands of player reviews with over 500 some over 1k hours in the game and they tell you that this is not ok, mediocre buffs vs major nerfs while also buffing enemies.

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

Listen to the people angry over a small patch? Which Arrowhead is actively fixing, by the way. Get over yourself, and get a job.

[@alphawolf6708]

@@TheSpiderMeisterFT Consumers when they see someone criticizing the problems of a product that lost it's value due to poor choices and negligence (Its the people's fault)

[@samuelkral414]

major* nerfs

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Hey, that's your opinion. I myself have over 300 hours on the game. The buffs done absolutely helped. I now see the slugger back on the bot front, the crossbow is seeing usage on the bot front, and the Breaker Incen is still used just as much on the bug front. It's just my opinions, and we may disagree, but that is how discussions work, yeah?

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

@@alphawolf6708 But... but this isn't criticism. It is a bunch of children whining about an INDIE STUDIO not being able to keep up with one of the most played games on steam. I never blamed anyone. So, please, get over yourself, and maybe, just maybe, get a glimpse of the nonstop work and dedication the Arrowhead team put into this. Jesus you fools are immature.

[@gavrock3775]

I tried to give AH the benefit of the doubt. As someone with 1000+ hours in hd2 and hd1, ive made suggestions to the developers many times and they have the mentality that if i have a popped tire to fix the issue would be to pop the rest of my tires to make them balance. Some of the balances just dont make any sense, and when we ask, it's always some excuse. The game is just not as enjoyable to me anymore. Im happy for the friends i made but ive turned to starship troopers (which is getting better updates) and space marines. I wish you the best in your endeavors

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

"Some excuse". Imagine getting this mad at an indie team that made one of the best co-op games in history.

[@samomargecn4936]

​@FlipperTitan get some friends dude you're too invested in this 😂

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

AH is doing their best, and yeah, they've absolutely screwed up in places, but everyone does that. It's called being human. No developer, no person, nothing, is going to be 100% perfect. I agree that some of the balances have been really weird and awkward (Like, Scythe nerf? It didn't need that.) And I'm glad that you can be civil while respectfully dissenting against my opinions! It really does mean a lot.

[@bongwaterbojack]

People keep using this analogy without realizing that over-pressurizing a tire is a thing too.

[@YungFozz]

@@TheSpiderMeisterFT”one of the best co-op games in history” is fucking insane. Chill out with that dick in your mouth brother, you might rip it off ArrowHead

[@Ashen_Night116]

Even Arrowhead doesn't know what they want the game to be, don't act like you know what they want either. Do they want it to be a realistic sci-fi milsim cooperative horde shooter? Well, then they got a lot to fucking do, because 80% of this game is far from realistic, they wouldn't even know it if you dangled it in their face with a big red neon sign indicating it. So, what does that mean? Let us start with the Railgun, the holy grail of "This weapon was taken out back, and ol' yeller'd" and it never recovered from it, so we know in today's day and age, the fastest we've gotten a Railgun to fire is Mach 7, and the ammo equivalent of smaller calibers can be on par with a 152mm naval cannon (this is your daily reminder that an M1 Abrams has a 105mm cannon, or for the M1A2 a 120mm cannon.), and we're in a magical sci-fi setting, so in reality, it should operate like it did pre-nerf (Everyone used it on unsafe mode anyways, and there was a damage bug concerning PS5 hosts.) Any anti-tank weaponry is an okay spot on this, but the wounds inflicted on things like Chargers and BTs, is woefully pathetic outside of the SPEAR which has a chance of not doing what you want it to do, Recoilless either fires HEDP or HEAT, the new Commando is a hard one to place, because the M202 Flash fired an incendiary compound, not AT rockets. The AMR and Autocannon would definitely be able to take out any bug leg considering that their joints are not armoured in the slightest, the HMG would reach the same effect with enough bullets being placed on a specific point, or aimed at a joint. The Stalwart is okay, the MG-43 is in a serviceable state. The Flamethrower? They went from the realistic depiction of a flamethrower, to the absolute travesty that is the current iteration, not only in look, but also in function. The Arcthrower is interesting because it's functionally shooting lightning at something, but it makes them explode rather than fry from the inside considering the amount of amps that are probably going through it's body (remember children, it's not the volts that kills someone, it's the amps.) I nearly forgot about the Laser Cannon because of how little use I ever saw it get outside of cold planets and the Quasar Cannon existing, the Laser Cannon should absolutely MELT any sort of armour after a few seconds, consider that it's a magnifying glass, and how easy it is to start a fire with one of those, or how easy it is to burn yourself with one. Quasar Cannon is one of those weapons that I would just chalk up to being a plasma weapon because that's the only way it would get it's AT capabilities. Functionally, Bile Titans would not be able to walk, as their body is way too big, and I could only assume that it's incredibly heavy considering the nigh indestructible chitin that is on it's main body, which wouldn't be able to maintain it's weight, and Chargers would not be able to change their movement on a dime like they do in the game. The Automatons remain to be the one thing in the game that are functionally, and competently designed maybe outside of Hulks. Many things involving Automatons are rigid, and aren't fluid, you can see it in the animations, the way they move, how they act, but majority of their stuff you have clear cut design points that are "SHOOT HERE" for the sake of game balance, otherwise Automatons would be an absolute nightmare to fight if they didn't have these weakpoints. Medical stims are another bag of worms of something that doesn't physically exist in a healing factor state, but in terms of painkillers and what not sure. But to be able to treat a wound that upon receiving would kill you from the bleed out just by jamming a stim in your neck? Not at all, it's the Fallout equivalent of a stimpak, the healing factor in that stim has to be out of this world for it to be that effective. But, it's sci-fi so I'll cut it a bit of slack. If Arrowhead was balancing from the bottom up, many of the weapons wouldn't be falling short of certain break points, in fact, the game is intentionally designed with weapons to fall short of critical break points, ThiccFilA has an entire document on this as to why majority of the weapons feel bad from a technical and numerical standpoint based on the aforementioned break points. I'll go over the points of weapon balancing that you put into the video: 1. Laser Cannon buffs, made it a more viable option in terms of dealing with chaff, but it lacks any anti-armour capability that it SHOULD have, you should be able to melt off carapace on Terminids or chunks of armour on Automatons. (There isn't a 1.001.200 change, as that isn't a patch number the highest we have is 1.001.004) 2. Flamethrower, all buffs that it got were rendered pointless with the latest "fix" to how it functions 3. Breaker Incendiary was in a relatively decent spot, it still is, but if they wanted to actually reign it in, tighten spread, increase DoT damage, decrease pellet damage, not reduce it's ammo economy. 4. Slugger, they have no idea how to actually balance this weapon, do you want it to not function as a DMR? Give it heavier damage falloff and increased bullet drop, slugs lose a lot of velocity at range, and are far heavier than an actual bullet. 5. Dominator was an okay pick prior to it's buff, after buff it is in a very good place (they could've gone without reducing it's damage, but that's whatever), the Peak Physique armour makes it a really great weapon, one of the ones on this list that actually deserves mention 6. HMG, reload speed was greatly needed on it, the weapon was non-functional without it basically, I'd like to see it have the ability to do durable damage to Terminid armour but not Automaton heavy vehicles. 7. Patriot Exosuit was an absolutely critical fix to the mech to make it less likely to kill you, they're still made of paper mache, so they're still an incredibly weak pick compared to the rest of what we have 8. Crossbow was essentially an unusable weapon because of it's inability to close bug holes, it didn't do enough damage to warrant being a main weapon, now that it can also be used one handed is nice. 9. Punisher Plasma I don't know what actual changes they made to it, but if they made it better, then I'm all for it, as it felt incredibly awkward to use it. 10. Scythe? Was it just durable part damage that they increased? It wasn't anything substantial that made it a worse or better pick, it stays as a decent weapon to use on cold planets. 11. Rocket Sentry, the 01.000.400 changes were a step in the right direction for it, happy for those changes 12. 110m Rocket Pods, undoubtedly required a buff to be usable in the first place, they were way too inaccurate before hand, where you could have 75% of the barrage miss in an open field on a slow moving target. 13. Tenderizer needed the buffs to set it apart from the rest of the ARs, since it wasn't anything even remotely different from them, on top of being shipped with a wholly incorrect model and texture work. You have to remember, it shipped with a base of SIXTY damage, which was 5 less than the default Liberator, which made it actively worse than the Liberator. It would also heavily benefit you to not open the video sounding like a raving fanboy who is too into LARPing if you want to get your points across, only players that actually care about that stuff are going to be ones who stick through most of the video, and reading the reddit posts with the snobby voice also weakens your points, because it makes you sound like a condescending jerk.

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

They do not want it to be "realistic" in the sense that you think. You expect an INDIE TEAM to be flawless. Get over yourself.

[@Ashen_Night116]

​@@TheSpiderMeisterFTThat's your only refuting point? Well, then they shouldn't be claiming to balance weapons in the name of "realism" then. Also no, I don't expect a team to be flawless you toddler.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Oh boy, Imma need a google doc for this...

[@Ashen_Night116]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I know, I used to love this game, but the constant lies turned me away from it. I can't in good conscience support AHS until they actually prove that they won't continue to lie about what people can expect from changes going forward. But hey man, I'm glad you enjoy the game. I agree with some of your presented points which is why I didn't touch on them like the meta point, I agree that the game has a diverse enough sandbox where everything (barring primaries and exos) that you can use which is cool, and they're bringing more stratagems in line. Oh yeah, that is another personal point, I think you could really benefit from making a document with all your points presented for those who maybe like to read instead of listen.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Dude, holy fuck, I uh, don't have enough words to properly describe or convey how much I appreciate how long this comment is. I'll hit a few key points though: - Realism in the game is subjective, since it's real to their universe but also real to us. Like, sci fi takes creative liberties sometimes. Also, something like the Bile Titan could absolutely exist, and again, with alien species, they don't have to follow the same rules we do. For all we know, they could be less effected by gravity, or they could just be built different. - Laser cannon is weird right now since it feels like it does percentage based damage, and is definitely something special right now.

[@Sir-McKnight]

I appreciate the video and the positive attitude, but I've given arrowhead the benefit of the doubt for over 6 months and I just can't anymore. I really wanted this game to be a big deal to me, but after them showing time and time again that they just don't have what it takes to deliver, that trust I gave them at the start of the game has been weathered away to the point that I don't think I'll come back anytime soon

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

They are an indie team, give them a break.

[@theendlessvoid7124]

​​@@TheSpiderMeisterFT the game sold over 12 million copies in the first week. It's like 6th or 7th on the list of Sony's most profitable games of _all_ _time_ . The expectations have been raised. Either do something with that money or the game dies, like it has been.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Arrowhead is a smaller company yes, but holy shit does it need more manpower for the game it currently holds. The devs need to step back, take a breath, and commit themselves to focusing on bug fixes and less about new content right now.

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

@@theendlessvoid7124 Money is not everything. The devs work tirelessly, something you people have no idea about. Arrowhead is an indie team, expected to be on Rockstar levels because they have a great game launch.

[@Sir-McKnight]

@@TheSpiderMeisterFT Been giving them a break for 6 months my guy

[@humantwist-offcap9514]

“Am I out of touch? No, it’s the millions of disgruntled players that are wrong.” This is a bad take. I am tired of excuses being made for bad balancing in games because “the game needs to be challenging, we can’t just buff everything!” The game cannot be challenging at the expense of fun. The game’s number one objective always is to be FUN. Weapons that feel like crap to use are not fun. Do not make your game a chore for the sake of challenge.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

The peak player count was 450k on launch, and peaked at 62k on the Escalation of Freedom update. There's no million you speak of. Furthermore, I disagree that buffing everything is the correct answer. Lower difficulties exist if you want a more casual experience, as the game was intended. The game can be a chore, but 9 times out of 10 for me, it's the most fun I've had in a long while. I love it when games are difficult but not unfair, and Arrowhead, in my opinion, has hit that nail on the head.

[@ascendantchameliasapostle2580]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto 450k on steam only, not including PS5, and that's only concurrent players, not sold copies. Across both steam and ps5 the game has sold over 11 million copies. They just weren't always on at the same time. Plus, the disgruntled players are probably the ones who love the game the most and have had a lot of fun in the past, because it hurts to see a game that you used to enjoy so much get consistently worse as time goes on, with no signs of getting any better.

[@anstorner]

​@@YTInnerAgntAuto Did you forget everything that happened in the before and after the march update? During launch everyone was happy and it was tough to get into the game due to everyone jumping in it literally was capped, nobody was complaining aside of disconnection bugs or having to wait to play which was expected, everyone was roleplaying as helldivers, you literally saw the game being praised by media everywhere with stuff like stealth, Malevelon Creek lore videos everywhere, cinematics, etc. It was just some issues it had but it did not stop anybody from enjoying the game including me, and it was super fun at lower difficulties too. But then the March update happened which all of what i will mention appeared solely on this update alone: -Every enemy became extremely aggressive out of nowhere and you would see 8 hunters in the span of a second dive all 4 of you and instantly kill your squad without struggle because of the next point. -Head-shot damage increased while armor was still bugged so you instantly died against anything that shot or touched you once, that included the smallest of bugs because of the added aggresion now the bugs dog pilled your ass and you would be not be able to move an inch -Most of the good stratagems got nerfed like the Shield generator in a time where most of the stratagems were bad, bugged or purposeless since of how mid they were -Stealth disappeared out of nowhere and now everything followed you even without knowing you are there (which people complained for months forward). -Spawns broke so hard even at DIFFICULTY 4 you saw over 6 hulks and 4 cannon tanks in solo difficulty spawn from one bot drop (Im not exaggerating, i experienced this first hand and it felt terrible even back then when i was having a lots of fun just vibing) which was insanely worse on full squad, - Friend system broke and joining friends was very difficult and annoying (In the past it did not have any issues, bugs happened but they were simply getting disconnected alot which was annoying but nothing to do with gameplay like they did right after). It took like a week after that update for the player count to go down without any stop, go check the steam chart and you will see the player count lower after march. Now is pretty much the Escalation of ragdolls, now Bugs ragdoll you like crazy which only automatons did with their missiles and cannons, which is why people avoided automatons in the first place and now they cant even.

[@bongwaterbojack]

Play on a lower difficulty, scrub. You'll get all the power fantasy you want.

[@MrSolidsnake293]

@@bongwaterbojack well now your just flat out lying, helped out some newbz on a difficulty 5 and low and behold the amount of enemies didnt change and the amount of rounds they take didnt change either.... the only change was a lacking amount of bile titans and less objectives and samples wtf is this new age playerbase of shillery madness acting like everything is fine while sitting in a burning home

[@JohnQDarksoul]

Bro's roleplaying so hard he's no longer in touch with reality

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I'm playing Diff 10 in the background too bro. I know what I'm talking about. Please, bring up one point that I made and refute it. I'd love to hear your perspective, like, genuinely.

[@tikityler1386]

​ @YTInnerAgntAuto 0:35 "AH nerfing everything to make the game not fun" - You calling people with that opinion traitors "It feels like every time someone finds something fun, the fun is removed," Pilestedt AH CEO at the time. " 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." Mikael E Game Director & Arrowhead Game Studios talking about the Escalation of Freedom update. Well you seem to disagree with AH so... Most of your buff list is them trying to fix bugs, many of which are still present. You listed the Airburst like making it not explode as it left the barrel was a buff. Every Buff to fire was an attempt to overcome the bug where only the host got dot.

[@mobeus5019]

Ya stepped in some shit with this video. Arrowhead has destroyed any trust or good will with players due to blatant lies and rudeness to the community. Literally every patch has introduced. More cyberbugs than the meridia supercolony spawned terminids. I didn't pay for an alpha or beta game. Now the game has so many crashes I struggle to actually complete a level 4 mission without disconnects or crashes.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

The blatant lies? I'm sorry, where specifically? The rudeness was taken care of, especially when the whole Spitz drama was a thing. This game blew up WAY more than expected and Arrowhead is trying to play catch up and I respect that. The bugs list is way lower than it was from launch, and your crashing might have to do with file integrity actually. I'd verify that because that might an issue with your save specifically.

[@mobeus5019]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I did do a full re-install, and it had no improvement on the game disconnecting from hosts. My internet is very stable, so that is not it either. As to the lies from the devs, Lets see. "We are done nerfing" "We value player feedback" "Let us cook" "We need to do better" "It is more realistic", "It takes a long lead time for all of our changes", "We playtest", and from the game box "Powerful weapons" I love the game, and I loved the worlds reaction, cosplaying and roleplaying in lore. But the developers have systematically destroyed ANY good will and enjoyment. The newest information coming out stating that the original coders and devs have left pretty much prove that Arrowhead is incapable of releasing a update or patch without creating more problems.

[@holarndius]

Here is my take, as a player that played at launch and stopped then came back a week ago. I feel WEAK, My weapons don't kill anything bigger than trash in a reasonable time, I have to spam grenades and Stratagems to survive waves and even then theyre so weak they dont wipe the whole group. I get ragdolled from EVERYTHING that even looks in my direction.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

That's reasonable, especially after coming back after a break! I think that maybe watching some videos to catch yourself up could help quite a bit! I don't feel weak, but that might be just due to me having been playing for so long. Also, a weaponry switch could be an order, especially with other weapons that have been buffed.

[@holarndius]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I tried every gun i had and the Shotgun seemed to work the best against both bots and bugs. I used a Laser rifle, several ARs, The Sup MG, 50cal rifle, grenade launcher, None felt good to use and made things such a grind to get through. I had to rely on Airstrikes and grenades to kill the majority of enemies. The commando is a cool sup weapon though i like its Low CD for rearming.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

As you go on higher difficulties, the enemies require more specialized loadouts and require precision to take out, as well as stratagems. However, you have to use your tools in your arsenal and not overly rely on one or the other.

[@holarndius]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto Im running around in helldive 7s mostly. As is i dont think ill be playing much longer, the game has definitely gone down hill in the Fun department.

[@yeggstuh4389]

I agree with some of your points like that the eruptor nerf was justified because it was stronger than some support weapons, but nerfing fan favorite weapons just because they’re popular isn’t the right way to do things. It’s been all but confirmed that the devs don’t extensively properly play test their own game, and when they do, it’s on like difficulty 3. The flamethrower was strong but it had its share of weaknesses, short range, high chance of killing yourself and your teammates, random chance of fire blowing back into you and killing you, can’t kill titans, weak against spewers and entirely useless against bots, I think a better and more fun way to balance it would be to add a backpack to it and rework its ammo economy instead of just lifting the ban hammer. With the breaker incen, it was nerfed because it was popular and this was confirmed by the ceo, and instead of buffing the other options, they decided to nerf the ammo economy, and this nerf is pretty much negated by just using a supply pack, so this nerf was pretty much pointless which makes me question why it happened in the first place, this is coming from someone who didn’t even like using breaker incendiary. Arrowhead doesn’t operate by gathered data, they see the big number on the spreadsheet and nerf instead of actually testing things, that’s why people are mad, not because the game is hard, but because AH is less focused on proper fun gameplay and more focused on numbers and optics.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

For sake of discussion, I'm going to assume that by fan favorite weapons, you mean the Breaker Incen, which absolutely needed a nerf, but not the nerf that it got. Less ammo was not the right way to fix it imo, and needed a damage nerf or a pellet decrease, but once again, absolutely needed a nerf since it boxed out every other bug option (and still does mind you). The flamer needs a total rework, I agree, since it's just in a weird spot right now (ignoring the patch that broke it in half). However, Arrowhead absolutely needs to change how balance is done by gathering data from gameplay over the numbers sometimes.

[@astartesfanboy5294]

@@YTInnerAgntAutoI mean. I’d say it boxes out the other primary options on bugs because they’re just not good. I’d implore you to find any situation in which a liberator penetrator should ever be used. Or the spray and pray. The fact that the other weapons are weaker in every way dosent justify a nerf to the one good weapon. How about making the other weapons good instead? In HD1 every weapon was useable and fun. In 2 most of them are mediocre or just passable.

[@НикитаИванов-ж7ъ]

I do hope that AH will stick to "A game for everyone is a game for no one".

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely. Their entire company is founded on that core belief, and it would suck to see them fold due to a vocal minority

[@Blank55600]

Then ain't no one gonna play it

[@torchic00004]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto While I don't want weapons to be broken, all of your beliefs here are those shared by the vocal minority which you are also in, the latest poll on the discord clearly showed that those who want the game to be more fun are the majority, and the way you speak kind of makes you seem like an elitist bootlicker, it's ok to not like changes that made the game less fun for people, while arrowhead has buffed a decent amount of stuff that made way more things viable, they nerfs they have done have been FAR more substantial even if less in quantity, and concerning other issues like bugged enemy spawns, being shot by bots through rocks, endless ragdolling, crashing issues, and the constant problem with charger balance, it's not surprising people feel let down about a game they were passionate about and really enjoyed, the game devs have had so much goodwill given to them, and easily had GOTY in the bag until they essentially fumbled the ball and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at almost every turn.

[@corbin4065]

Then don't make a game for everyone. Make a game for the audience you've gained.

[@lnugl]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto "vocal minority" bro the people agreeing with you are the minority in your own comment section. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people upset with what AH are doing.

[@benniebees]

The players' vision for the baseline effectiveness of primaries is just wildly different from the devs. That's why one side sees things as justified and the other doesn't. It is just a developer design vision that's incongruent to player expectation.

[@welds8424]

People here the phrase 'vocal minority' and start regurgitating it at every opportunity thinking they did something. The last thing they should have done was nerf anything. The gameplay variety is absolute dogshit and the endgame progression is fucking nonexistant. You wonder why people are really upset. Nerfs are easy to talk about. But when there is nothing to fucking do because all the devs do is add something, nerf it then repeat that cycle without the addition of meaningful content, people see that.

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

So, if anyone disagrees with you, they are regurgitating what they say at every opportunity? Either you didn't watch the video, which your comment reflects, or you are just ignorant. You expect an INDIE TEAM to be flawless. Get over yourself.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Hey, it was just my opinion. The truth is, the Vocal Minority could very well be skewed back the other way, but I believe that's due to negativity bias. The gameplay is wonderful, and the game doesn't really need that extensive endgame content since you can unlock most of the game after around 30 hours. Now, if the roles were reversed, and I was criticizing Arrowhead while part of the community was praising them, would I still be regurgitating it? Or would it simply be opinion?

[@kims4149]

​@@TheSpiderMeisterFTArrowhead has been bought by Sony, Sony is Behind the game. It is anything but an indie studio.

[@Fish_Nexus]

Felt good deleting hell divers 2 for black myth wu kong

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@Fish_Nexus That's your opinion, and I hope you like being labeled a traitor to Super Earth. (In all seriousness, play whatever game you enjoy, I'm not your mom)

[@suds9365]

5:30 what do you mean the only nerf you disagree with? Railgun and arc thrower were both nerfed because of bugs caused by the host playing on PlayStation and the Incendiary Breaker only had average ammo economy and was just nerfed because it was good at dealing with chaff. Honestly I don't think there has been a single justified nerf besides maybe the Eruptor.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Railgun was absolutely meta defining, and overperformed in a sea of mediocrity, which at the time was how most of what Helldivers 2 was. It's now in a very healthy spot today after the buff it got. The Arc Thrower needs love right now, since it's just overall bad since other options can do its job better. The Breaker Incen got nerfed since it boxed out other options for the bug front, but the nerf wasn't the correct one imo. I would've rather seen a damage decrease since it got an effective 75% damage increase (25% direct bonus, 50% from the Fire Damage increase). I do agree that the Eruptor nerf was absolutely justified though.

[@suds9365]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto A damage nerf for the breaker Incendiary is actually a really good Idea that's a good call, especially if they gave the spray and prey some love. I am curious though, what are your thoughts on the Autocannon? I have been really loving it and from what I hear it is still the best support weapon for both Bugs and bots.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Im in the minority here, but I do not like the Autocannon. I've never really liked any of the backpack weapons in the game, and have always preferred to play with smaller support weaponry, such as the Railgun and HMG.

[@therepoman3051]

Thank you for making this video especially since most people despise what you talked about. I think the a lot of players need to swallow their pride and play on the lower difficulties because they lean to much on Metas. I know arrowhead is working on buffing the underperforming weapons/stratagems (Arc Thrower) but players can't grasp how the gameplay will be once the Illuminate invade the galaxy. Keep it up Helldiver and switch your railgun to unsafe mode!

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! It was definitely something that I wanted to put out there. I've deadass never heard a single complaint INSIDE of the game itself across 50+ diff 10 games. It's just people who are too lazy to work to get good at the game. Also, my railgun stays on safe. I explode myself too much

[@HollowedTZ]

Very good vid, and glad to see someone put out some positive energy about the state of the game. 👍🧡

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@HollowedTZ Absolutely! I'm super passionate about Helldivers 2. It's the only game that lets me get away with being a junkie! I mean... well, stims aren't addictive so I'm not a junkie but

[@defenstrator4660]

I just played the Breaker for the first time today in over four months. It was fun, for ten seconds. Then I had to reload. This happened over and over, I would have fun and then be forced to reload. It feels awful, like it was not balanced around what it can do but to make sure you can’t have fun with it.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Oh you poor, unfortunate soul. The Breaker was nerfed after 1.0 and hasn't seen any love since unfortunately.

[@defenstrator4660]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto it’s not a question of being unfortunate. It is a question of design. They make choices that make the game less fun to play. I really like the game. I have over 450 hours of playing it, all the war bonds, and usually play at level 8 or 9. And I would agree that they have buffed lots of weapons. But they seem to have a very hard time understanding that this game is not the game they think it is.

[@C4ernarvon]

I've been saying this for a while, people complain about the meta being nerfed like there isn't a good reason behind it and like it doesn't happen in literally every other online game. I see heaps of people saying how much they hate arrowhead because they played on the HARDEST difficulty and it was nothing but "pain and suffering", seriously don't pull up to the Olympics and complain when its too hard its not like you're forced to play the hardest difficulty. Maybe its an ego thing and people just assume that they should be able to handle anything and if they cant its because "the damn devs keep nerfing my favorite guns!!11!". And I heard one guy say that the devs intentionally nerf primaries to get people to buy the new warbond with new "flashy" weapons even though they literally nerfed all flamethrowers right before the warbond with all the flamethrowers in it dropped. Obviously you aren't going to like it when guns get nerfed because you don't have to play against them. IMO the game is in a good state right now because before every mission I genuinely have to think about what guns and stratagems I'm going to take there is no one meta that is clearly the best, I love the auto cannon but with other weapons like the commando, quasar, HMG and even the normal EAT the auto cannon isn't an instant pick anymore I think its great.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Nerfs hurt. They always will and always have in PvE games, and there's no changing that. The hardest difficulty is supposed to be pain and suffering, but also is so rewarding when you successfully run through it with a team. Some of it is definitely an ego thing, some of it is the game getting harder and them expecting for the same strategies to work. I love that Arrowhead's vision is coming to fruition with them making you really think about what exactly you want to bring, especially in accordance with your team. Coordination being rewarded is honestly my favorite part about this game.

[@Random-ei2uo]

"a game for no one is a game no one play" Senzu the art of bean

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

"A game for everyone is a game for no one." - Arrowhead Studios mission statement.

[@drorsheffer1182]

Honestly other than the flamethrower which now is unfun to use, I never had a problem with the nerfs. Using the same weapons all the time is boring af.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! The flamer is right now shit and AH needs to revert the "fix" they put out for it because it's currently in an unusable state, but I've never had problems with nerfs either. Even when the Eruptor was nerfed and then kicked while it was down, I used it, but I also tried out other weaponry like the Dominator and the Plasma Punisher.

[@jamesowsley8291]

@16:20 they literally just made the flamethrower worse with the newest patch.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Yeah that's a RIP, and unintentional, so hopefully it'll be reverted.

[@jamesowsley8291]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto they later came out and said the flamer was so good because it was a bugged and then they fixed the bug, so it was definitely intentional. It is now functioning as intended.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@jamesowsley8291 Which specific patch are you talking about? I was referencing the one where it glances off of the chargers ass

[@jamesowsley8291]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto yes

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@jamesowsley8291 That one isn't intentional, just the first one where it can't pass through armor

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

Exactly. Arrowhead is human. I don't agree with these patches, and I think they have to fix them, but they said they are. Arrowhead isn't just a floating head like Ubisoft, Arrowhead actually cares. Sad people are so self centered that they expect Arrowhead, and indie team, to be perfect.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Yeah! Arrowhead is a small indie team. Even if they had the resources to buy 50+ developers and bug fixers, the game's engine needs to be learned and that takes time, and I wish people understood the true extent of Arrowhead's work.

[@Error-mn4el]

focusing on the latest update and assuming that people are angry at the balance because of just this one specific update is missing the point, the latest update was just the straw that broke the camel's back for some people, between AH nerfing things that people liked, not fixing bugs for months, rather blatant lack of any QA and other out of game drama people got worn down below is me ranting about my personal experience and overall issues i see with the way AH handles things, TL:DR below TL;DR of the rant: -no testing of things (the ammo upgrade, anti tank mines, missions, weapons overall (a gun being literally wrong color and having the stats of a liberator pretty much despite in game description and numerous massive bugs with incredible influence on balance) -bugs persist for months with no end in sight (patrol spawns, armor not working, titan bodies having death fields around them, PS5 bug, flame/DOT dmg bug and so on) -inconsistent/hypocritical logic to balancing (if flamethrower is OP why is autocannon okay, overall autocannon being ridiculously strong for most if not all of the games lifetime but receiving no heavy nerfs despite that) -nonsensical buffs to enemies (headshots being prime example) -on the previous note, shadow changes to the game not listed in the patch notes, its not cute, its not funny, its just irritating that i have to watch youtube videos to understand why things feel different because someone at AH decided that big changes arent important enough to be listed ====================== personally I never experienced the OP railgun, it took 7-8 charged headshots to kill a bile titan, this was the actual railgun, working as intended, not the absurdly bugged version from PS5 bug, then they nerfed it because I guess nobody at the office took note of how odd it is that some people show videos of one shoting a titan and some have to headshot it half a dozen times, clearly since some people can instakill titans we have to nerf the gun for everyone, then they nerfed the arc thrower and then they nerfed the chargers because otherwise the community would be left with nothing effective, I wonder how the meta would be if instead of nerfing the railgun and arc thrower they fixed the PS5 bug first and changed the chargers and their "obvious" weak spot as they did later on, on the topic of balance i saw in one of the comments that the flamethrower had to be nerfed because it was the best option because it killed everything but titans, clearly this is the devs logic which brings up a question, why is autocannon allowed to exist in its current state then? it can kill every single enemy on the bot front in a reasonable timeframe without expending much overall ammo, its been that way forever, its irritating to see a thing you like nerfed because it was "OP", when its weak compared to the autocannon the patrol spawns bug was the last straw for me, I used to play with my brother in a duo but after that bug was introduced we played less and less because it just wasnt fun, we would go into a game and we would get overwhelmed when a patch before we could actually fight and not just play running away simulator, when i played with randoms in a 4-man team we would get the exact same number of enemies which felt bs, weeks passed and no fix on the horizon so we stopped granted this was just the last straw, all the small and big bugs along the way contributed to this, between titan's bodies leaving behind lethal invisible hitboxes, pelican ramp sides being invisible walls, shield devastators being able to shoot through their own shields or bodies, bots being able to shoot through terrain, gunship spawners being sometimes immune to hellbombs, bot side objectives having anti-strategem ball bouncy fields around them and bile titans heads becoming hyperarmored when spitting which apparently was not a bug but an intended change, on that note, all the enemy buffs didnt help either, i dont understand why AH figured that giving enemies the ability to headshot us would make the game better, especially with robots firing thousands of bullets at us and hunters having a very common attack that is jumping and attacking at head level, then they changed bot's spread making them in effect more accurate

[@Mistarpotato]

Buff other weapons to be on par with the most used weapons/strategems < Nerf the most used weapons/strategems into the ground Not hard to see why people quit. When a game isn't fun anymore, it's just not fun. Arrowhead has repeatedly seen to it that the things that were fun are consistently nerfed into the ground and do fuck all else for the rest of the things that are weak. Gave em a chance after the PSN Fiasco to see if they could recover but it's clear to see they can't because they don't even know what they're doing or what they want to do. Can't blame Sony for your inability to listen to your playerbase, also trying to gaslight them won't work either. Listen and fix it or take the L, those are their options.

[@horrorfan117]

Nah see the issue here is you bought the game thinking it was going to be a horde shooter. You thought you'd be going down as an elite badass with overpowered weapons that could cleave through enemies with but a sneeze. You got suckered in by the propaganda. Every single Hellwhiner fell for the propaganda you all said you could see through day 1.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I believe there's a misconception here: You bought the game under the impression it was going to be an easy AF power tripping fantasy where you could blast baddies with no consequences. You bought into the propaganda bestie

[@Mistarpotato]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I bought the game to have fun. It stopped being fun when 90% of the guns got shit on with no replacements for them. I enjoy experimenting and trying out different things but when you have something like pre-buff Birdshot Shotgun that can't even kill eggs it's a problem and there's no justifying something like that being okay. Frequently played on difficulty 7-8 and made do with various options even after Railgun changes, but after the PSN Fiasco it just was a constant downward spiral and them saying they're listening but still doing the same exact thing. Chalk it up to meta chasing misconceptions people mad because they're not OP, justify it however you want but when the vast majority tend to quit for more or less the same reasons that says alot about the state of the game and the playerbases dissatisfaction.

[@anotherfriendlyshikikan6960]

Everyone bitching about how AH wants realism but so n so isn’t realistic. Helldivers 2 isn’t supposed to be a PTSD simulator. What AH wants is War thunder arcade. Realistic enough to keep you thinking but not to the point where you’re just playing Arma 3. In WT arcade, the game tells how far to lead or what angle of elevation you have to put your gun to hit the target. You still have to think about whether it’s worth dogfighting or if your shell can penetrate. The game does things for you but you still need to think.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! The game's not a power fantasy, it never was. I've been enjoying that the game absolutely doesn't feel fair at times and you gotta suck it up and keep moving forward. The game's never gonna be easy, and I live for that

[@un1xify]

Counter Point: I wanna have fun, I can’t have that here in HD2. I don’t wanna spend my time not having fun.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I'm sure you've probably heard this argument before, but I say this genuinely: Why play if you're not having fun? Like, genuinely. If I don't enjoy a game, I don't play it, simple as that. I don't like Halo Infinite, so I don't play it anymore. Like, if you're not having fun, don't play it. That's always been my philosophy when playing games

[@un1xify]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto That’s what a majority of the players, me included, are doing. Also, what are you even trying to say with that?

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Nothing? It's pretty cut and dry. If you don't enjoy it, don't play it. I'm not your mom, I'm not going to sit you down and force you to play Helldivers 2.

[@un1xify]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto That's exactly what I said, so you're just agreeing with me. You're not that smart.

[@PARAN0IDxGERBIL]

When the game is dead and you have no one to play with you’ll wish you had stood up alongside everyone else when it mattered instead of glazing

[@LagSammiches]

I'm baffled people are defending the mobile game style 'pay for convenience' model of monetization in the current year. That should be the real outrage in the community. In regards to the main topic, I'm having plenty of fun on difficulty 8. I don't understand the desire for making the super mega hard difficulty any easier by overtuning weapons. Unfortunately this outrage is driving a ton of clicks, and it's basically slop content in order to farm more watchtime. Hopefully Arrowhead sticks to their guns and chooses their vision of the game.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Tbh i dont know why people are so upset either, but honestly part of me thinks that this is negativity bias. The people complain because it's easier to do instead of yknow, getting good at the game. I think that most people are content with the game and don't feel the need to pollute their experience with negativity

[@Sundown_86]

The devs arent bad people, they're just incompetent. When you balance, there needs to be a baseline and a vision. They kind of have the latter, but absolutely do not have the former. You can't tell me what AH wants the game to be because AH doesn't even know what they want the game to be, since if they did, they'd stop counteracting every comment they make about the game's design/

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

The devs are not bad people any means, I agree! I also definitely agree that the devs are struggling since there's two different visions for the game right now: The vision of the community and the vision of Arrowhead. Arrowhead wants the game to be a difficult (and sometimes unfair) game in which players are powerful, but not unkillable by any means. The community (from what I've seen and read on both YT and Reddit) is to be a power fantasy. The two ideas are clashing, and AH is splitting itself apart by trying to appeal to everyone.

[@aaronwong4977]

I'm going to throw my two cents into this whole mess as an outsider looking in: Do the players know what's best in terms of the game being balanced? Perhaps not. Do the players know what's best in terms of the game being fun? Absolutely. It doesn't matter if a game is perfectly balanced; if your game isn't fun, then players won't continue to play and support your game. Plain and Simple. This applies to Helldivers 2 more than ever, being a live multiplayer game that depends on players coming back to continue onward, and if players are complaining, protesting, and ultimately leaving in numbers because of balance patches that they don't like, then Arrowhead aren't doing a good job of maintaining a good game.

[@horrorfan117]

Well... yes and no. If Arrowhead was say making chess, but the player base wants checkers then I'd argue the players are at fault for not understanding what they were getting into. Arrowhead has no obligation to mutilate their vision to please the community. If it means the game dies then so be it.

[@tymera]

I call my loadout CROSSBOW GP IMP

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Im assuming that's a very crowd control focused build? I vibe! I personally run the Eruptor, Big Iron, Railgun, and Supply Pack. I call it: The Biggest Iron

[@tymera]

When you use any other secondary I miss the GP. IN 1 SHOT are u taking out a medium unit, or the 2nd shot, the GP is the best weapon in the game rn

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@tymera I like the Big Iron because of the big damage and medium armor pen, which is crucial on Diff10, and pairs so well with the Eruptor

[@sweetinvictus654]

im confused, the balance is clearly based off low difficultly. our AT support weapons cant one shot hulks or chargers anymore(cuz urhrhmrmrm realism duh), our insanely long cooldown for a orbital railgun cant oneshot anything save for the fodder(realism duh AH is so realistic), flamethrowers no longer are actual flamethrowers and now resemble a blow torch(realism being stated as the reason again). AH keeps nerfing because they want us to play some hardcore tactical experience running low on ammo the entire time, which was directly stated by community leaders. almost every single weapon sucks, we are forced to use the meta in majority scenarios. not even a point in picking supports and strategems for the mission itself. bot mission on 10 ? two possible loadouts. bug mission on 10 ? maybe 2 load outs. even though there are hundreds of weapons only a handful work.

[@sweetinvictus654]

and yes AT SHOULD one shot hulks and chargers, it only has 4 shots, hulks spawn in groups of 7 usually same with chargers. not even a rare enemy or anything and they're treating them like they should be insane spectacle battles where you gotta try hard. instead of an important enemy that you have to deal with quickly before returning attention to the large groups. if AH balanced by adding unique enemies that force you to deal with them quickly before you get overrun. instead they keep nerfing our shit dude. I clear nearly every mission I go on, even with bad off meta shit BUT it's tedium. not a challenge. they "challenge" us by forcing us into a tedious crawl and pseudo stealth mechanics.

[@Blank55600]

Well enjoy a game with dwindling numbers.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I will! I'd rather play a game with an amazing community that has 2k people in it over one with 20k people who will cry over two nerfs. Idk what you're out to gain here. As far as we're concerned, Arrowhead already has made back what it cost to make the game, they've got something they're passionate about and love, and have a diehard fanbase to keep playing. Also, what proof is there that the numbers are dwindling? They're maybe a little below the average before Escalation of Freedom, but that's probably due to people going to school and college. It's a 3k decrease from the lowest points in player count according to SteamDB, so honestly? If you wanna quit, quit. I'm not your mom. I won't dictate what game you play. In my unprofessional opinion, you're just a doomposter who saw one 30 second tiktok and are no CONVINCED that's the end all be all.

[@Blank55600]

​​@@YTInnerAgntAutoTell me how to play then that doesn't involve avoiding contact, decreasing difficulty(you already got everything unlocked bud), or relying on entirely stratagems (they're already on cool down)

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@Blank55600 games a military sim. You're going to use guerilla warfare tactics if im being honest. It's about managing your resources as well as movement and positioning. There's plenty of options available! Just pick whatever is fun for you!

[@ascendantchameliasapostle2580]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto The game was advertized as a "horde shooter" with "overpowered weapons" (the latter literally being on the back of the PS5 box)

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

@@ascendantchameliasapostle2580 uh, imma be real, you definitely bought into the propaganda

[@waitingtrout2437]

I feel like the idea of “the flamethrower had to be nerfed for build variety” is a bit unfounded. Ever since escalation of freedom, I’ve only seen much more rigid builds on the bug front. Rocket launchers have become basically required on the bug front on difficulty 7 and above, and where I formerly saw flamers and rockets, I now almost exclusively see rockets on the bug front because not taking them with charger spam being as high as it is, is basically suicide. No hate to you, I respect that you’re voicing your opinion, but I personally disagree

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

That's just a meta shift. As it stands, most games these days will 100% have a meta, whether it be how fast to farm something or in this case, what's the most effective at taking out chargers.

[@TarsonTalon]

Nice argument...not buying the game. I've had my fair share of games that nerf themselves into obscurity.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Ok, don't then? Wasn't trying to convince you to do so

[@zakkmarchant]

2:22 the eruptor went from being the best gun in the entire game to being complete trash even after its buffs it still fills absolutely no rolls the devs did not "fix" the eruptor they straight up murdered the gun first they removed its shrapnel when they could've just nerfed the damage and then they cut its ammo in half now tbh i do Think the eruptor deserves that ammo nerf but they should've kept the shrapnel as that was the only unique thing about the gun (and same with the cross bow but tbh i legit have no clue why the devs nerfed the crossbow it wasn't even a good weapon on release and it isn't even good now)

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

The Eruptor is absolutely still a very strong weapon right now. As someone who uses the Eruptor religiously, it's still very solid in the role of a utility weapon and as a medium target melter. It requires precision to make good usage out of, and while I agree it needs a smidge more love like more AoE, it's definitely not murdered. If Arrowhead could fix the shrapnel to work as intended and not do 9000 damage, I would love it back too. The Crossbow is absolutely a viable option now, especially on bugs since it does amazing AoE, is one handed, and can deal with bug holes. Saying it's bad is discrediting it imo, since it has it's niches and fills them well.

[@zakkmarchant]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto you are correct in saying it melts medium targets but the problem is that's the only enemies it's actually good against it's turn radius is way too slow without the peak physique passive and while it can destroy bug holes and fabricators the crossbow does it better since it shots slightly faster and has more range if you have really good aim even though it has a slower ttk than the eruptor against some enemies also it's been months since the eruptor lost it's shrapnel it can't be that hard to add shrapnel back

[@antonyperkins6705]

I remember when i would get kicked because i wasn't using the meta.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Same... It was not a fun time for the game tbh, and I'm glad we're in such a diverse game state

[@perinoid1506]

Pretty good video, commenting for the algorithm. I will say, I feel like there is a big divide in the community right now. Those of us who are fine with the state of the game, and those of us who want it to change. I wish people from both sides would better understand that there is a middle ground. I am fine with the state of the game, and I am having a blast. However, I can see there are things that are really not being handled well. The problem is anyone who says "yeah, I like this game still" or "I dislike the current mistakes Arrowhead has made" are being polarized into two camps. This would have so much less vitriol if people from both sides sat down and talked with each other. A great example of this was Thiccfila hosted a livestream with Maplewood Live. The range of people was from OhDough (if ya know, ya know) to Maplewood (who loves the game and has a very positive view of the point the game is at) and they had some really good talking points. The energy was still slanted more towards disliking the game because the roster of people, but it was much more fairly balanced and I think it was a way healthier discussion because they were committed to being civil. I wish we could have more civil discourse than screaming at each other and Arrowhead. I personally am gonna continue playing for a while. However, I think a lot of people who might really enjoy the game if they got outside their comfort zone are gonna miss out because of all the hate and polarization.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Thank you! I appreciate the love. There is a massive divide in the community and holy shit, can shit get vitriolic so quickly. I wish, as a community, we could be civil instead of screaming over each other and getting so polarized. I enjoy the game in its current state, and am having so much fun with it, but I also agree that Arrowhead has made mistakes.

[@carterbennett655]

AH is right? Yeah, he was.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Arrowhead isn't always going to be right, that's just how it is. But they are actively trying to make their game a more playable experience instead of just letting it sit there. They could've absolutely sat on their asses after launch and cashed in, but they kept going because of how much they care for the game. No one's going to be perfect, and I admit, I'm not adverse to criticizing Arrowhead from when they screw up, but this situation is not one where they screwed up.

[@MrPlaylistMan]

You have repeatedly said the devs are human as a response to the lack of care the devs have taken in response to criticism. However when looking at what they nerf it is in response to weapon popularity. I'd say that the dev team is taking an inverse approach to Hello Games No Man Sky. Which makes the dev team look some what malicious. While Hello Games had to push pass the horrible press of their game and live up to its stated goal, Arrowhead busted out on the scene with a great number of players but seems to actively push down/away its advertised goal of being a game that gives you an overpowered power fantasy; by continually taking away power from the players. Either way if they do not course correct in a proper manner that is appealing to players their game wont necessarily be known as a failed product but a failed example of a live service and the devs being misaligned with its audience.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

You fell for the in game propaganda. The game isn't an overpowered power fantasy, it's a military strategy game in which you are expendable. The devs are doing what's in line for their vision of the game, and not what the players *think* is the vision of the game

[@MrPlaylistMan]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto so your argument is that the ads are propaganda and I fell for it. How is that not literally false advertising to the game if it was a trick? If this isn't just an argument to cope then that means the things they did to get players into the game was literally a lie that they capitalized on. How is that not out right malicious? It also doubles as a recipe for disaster because if it was falsely advertised then players would exit soon after. But considering the player count now; you could be right. It was all propaganda to get us to play the game. I just don't want to believe that because that sounds waaaaayyy more malicious than I was thinking but you might have a point. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Yeah actually, you fell for the propaganda. Even the initial launch trailer shows more player death than actual enemy death. Now, the box art is also clearly in line with the game to hype you up to be the super soldier. There is no cope here, I thoroughly enjoy this game. Now, they're balancing the game out to be more akin to their vision of it, a military tactics sim that is a little unfair, but not unwinnable. A PvE game that's too easy is a snoozefest, and they're trying to remove that from the game at the highest difficulty. It's supposed to be unfair past 7, it's literally labeled: Suicide Mission. Then Impossible. Then Helldive (A literal dive into HELL). Then Super Helldive, a drop into SUPER HELL. Game's not meant to be fair, and if you can't do good at the highest level, go down until you can have a power fantasy. TL;DR: Game isn't supposed to be fair. If it's too hard, go down to a lower difficulty

[@g3ar75]

Players demanded new content so they dropped a patch when they were understaffed. Make mistakes and now those same players are screeching about the flamethrower. Ignoring all the beautiful stuff this game offers. AH isn't perfect but I'd rather take them over blizzard or any other AAA

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! Arrowhead needs to stop putting out new content and focus on fixing all the bugs in the game right now. Balance patches would be wonderful yes, but they need to focus on the game more than content. They're not perfect at all, and I wish they'd learn to listen and fix the game.

[@saintdane9684]

I can skip through a majority of this, stopping on random points, and you’re still spouting things that only defend the devs for no reason, they’ve Gypped you out of $40 on the low end, $60+ on the high end, and they’re showing you that they want to kill this game so much, they’re willing to take things that a majority of players use, and nerf them, “for balance reasons”. Like dude, what, are the bugs complaining about being killed? What is the purpose for nerfing weapons in a PVE game? There is no reason, you buff weapons that are lackluster, you don’t nerf everything to be shitty, it’s ridiculous

[@horrorfan117]

It's to curate an experience. Like honestly. "Why would you nerf stuff in a PvE game?" What kind of stupid question is that? Fromsoft does it all the time in their games and you mouth breathers don't say a goddamn word. And that's not even a live service game. You are supposed to feel weak in HD2. It promotes team play and being clever with what you bring. I can see why you and most of the other Hellwhiners commenting have an issue with that.

[@saintdane9684]

@@horrorfan117 Fromsoft Intrinsically has a different model than Helldivers, and to compare the two in this sense shows you lack any. Fromsoft has literal PVP arenas, PVP invasions, you cannot say that Fromsoft does the same thing because it’s literally just not true. They don’t reduce things because a bunch of people are using them, they reduce things that create an unfair advantage from player to player.

[@The1Undying]

the flamer absolutely needed to be nerfed. with the ship upgrade, you could take out like three chargers on a single tank along with the rest of the horde. It was so absurd that there was no reason to use any other support weapon.

[@kims4149]

Not to the point where it was only good against half of the enemy cast and where now it is just bad against anything that's not fodder enemies. Might as well now just use another support weapon (autocannon) with an horde clearing weapon...

[@jamescooke7243]

Why did uou moss the quasar

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I did? Uh, my bad

[@BetaBoyBill]

I loved the game when it launched but this shit just isnt fun anymore, and if you dont play 6 hours a day everyday youre never unlocking the new shit they constantly roll out with their battle pass system. and every primary weapon feels like a fuckin toy, utterly worthless.

[@apolloarts687]

yeah nah this is straight Copium

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I'm not coping, I'm simply stating the facts of the game and my opinions as to how they've done. Everything is subjective, and to me, right now, the game is in a healthy and balanced spot.

[@apolloarts687]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto yeah but that is copium

[@FlerdaMan]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto healthy and balanced? You sure you aren’t on the dev team secretly doing damage control 🤣

[@Snipersavage21]

L rage bait 😭🙏

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

It's not rage bait, it's genuinely how I feel. Did you even watch the video or did you see the title and just comment this? I'd love to have a proper discussion as to why you think this is rage bait and maybe some counter points to what I said in the video.

[@Snipersavage21]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I respect it for being respectful, and no I don’t feel like debating, glad you still like the game.

[@phosphor112]

@@Snipersavage21 probably didn't even watch lol.

[@Snipersavage21]

@@phosphor112 i did bum, I was eating lunch too

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

just am curious why you wont state your point of view though. I wanna know why you dont want to give a proper standpoint besides "L rage bait 😭🙏"

[@jrodrigoav]

Good video, could have milked it and made a few smaller ones for easier consumption by the tiktok generation.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

God no, I want to do it right, and not milk it because I'm better than that.

[@TravisStockton]

sub level 85 noob's opinion on why they are still having fun at a point in progression that i passed 4 months ago. also either knowingly deceptive comparison of nerfs that completely and totally gutted weapons in order to drive up warbond sales to buffs that slightly altered numbers on a spreadsheet, or just mathematically illiterate.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Oh man I love spreading misinformation! Alright let's break this down quickly shall we? 1. Sub Level 85? Damn, I guess 300+ hours isn't enough for you 2. You must be from a different timeline, because the level cap increased to 150 exactly 3 months ago today! 3. What weapon exactly got gutted that wasn't remedied? Before you say it's the Breaker Incen, that thing is still a menace. The Breaker is still serviceable, but could use a small buff. 4. The meta is so incredibly diverse because arrow "slightly altered numbers on a spreadsheet." I didn't go through every patch because that took me 2 hours on the beta recording of this script, so I cut that out from the video entirely. If you would like to provide evidence to back up your claims, please do tell me! I would like to understand what I could improve on.

[@GentlemanSavage61]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto Since you asked, nerfs to flamethrower and subsequent "fix" run contrary to stated design philosophy of the game (milsim coop squad shooter with sci-fi elements) not to mention their inconsistent determinations regarding the "realism" they wish to achieve in design choices across the game. The original effects and interactions of the flamethrower, determined to be bugged by the developers and thus "fixed" in the days leading up to EoF, were actually *more* realistic than what we have now and would satisfy design goals if they were not manipulating the game for other purposes. As of today, issues still persist. Happy to be corrected, but I've only seen developer acknowledgement of the failed fix and no notice at time of posting of any resolution.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! Those are very clear issues that I'm hoping Arrowhead will indeed fix (RIP OG Flamer VFX, you will be missed.) The current issue is that a portion of the community is rushing Arrowhead to get a fix in, so they're shoving out halfbaked patches instead of letting them bake for a bit longer so they're not broken on release, as seen with today's failed flamer fix. Arrowhead is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't expect them to be. I wish they were able to take 2 months or so to dedicate just fixing all the major bugs in the game instead of trying to push out more and more content.

[@TravisStockton]

Oh wow, I hadn't expected you to be this offended by me pointing out that you're a casual noob. Had I known I would have checked the replies earlier. Let me break this down for you since casual noobs are living in an alternate reality. 1.I passed your point of progression well in excess of 4 months ago. A casual noob pretending that your lack of experience is a "me issue" is hilarious. 2. There's a video game mechanic called overflow experience that you're probably not familiar with since you clearly were not level 50 3 months and 8 days ago, so ill explain it to you. When a player reaches max level in a video game further experience points earned go into a hidden container called overflow experience. At a later time when a level cap increase occurs those experience points instantly translate into the new player level range. 3 months and 8 days ago, when the cap increased I was level 147, hence me being at a point of progression that had exceeded yours 4 months ago. 3. I don't understand this questions relevance but here's the answer, the railgun. And before you regurgitate some phrase you heard on youtbe about the crossplay damage bug situation. I turned crossplay off on day 1. As most non casual noobs do while playing games on PC to avoid getting teammates like you. 4.There is no such thing as a diverse M.E.T.A. so since you don't understand that acronym ill spell it out for you Most Effective Tactic Available There is 1 most effective tactic available for dealing with a given enemy type or situation in every video game. In other words a "Best in slot" weapon/item/armor so saying the meta is diverse is patently false and shows clear lack of understanding and the fact that you operate in a casual noob capacity. Hope this helped.

[@ezyfnef]

Boy if you don't get this 240p bullcrap outta here

[@horrorfan117]

That's it. Off to the Liberty Re-Education labor camp for you.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

That's your system, not mine

[@ЮрийЗагуменнов-ш7ц]

Another clown defending... Sometimes I doubt if you guys even play on difficulty above 3 or so.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

The difficulty in the video presented is Difficulty 10. I'll make sure that next time I will make that very clear as extra validation to my claims.

[@ЮрийЗагуменнов-ш7ц]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I'm not talking about footage.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Then what are you talking about?

[@ЮрийЗагуменнов-ш7ц]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto Isn't it obvious? Your takes.

[@BlokyKing]

BARBOSA 🚀🚀🚀

[@andylog7239]

Great video; you echo a lot of the things I've been telling my friends, most of which have stopped playing since Escalation of Freedom. A lot of players are blind to the small changes that have made the experience more fun and are unwilling to adapt to new playstyles/weapons. I do think difficulty 10, along with a lot of the new enemies, are unbalanced; but I just fall back on difficulty 9 and it is still, for the most part, really fun and mostly unchanged from what things were before. I think AH was justified in their nerfs, for the most part (excluding the changes to fire that makes flamer, one of my favorite weapons, near unusable). I do also appreciate them changing how some underused stratagems work. Since the update I have been using a lot of new strats that I had previously not used and I've seen a lot of others online doing the same. Overall, I think most players are being unfair with AH and I hope that patches in the next month or so are able to calm players down.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

100%! As I stated, AH is nerfing things that are unhealthy for the game state, and have overall done more buffs than nerfs. It's ridiculous that a lot of the community is overreacting violently, but truthfully, I think it's because they're spoiled

[@odespair8362]

Their buffs are impotent womp womp

[@ericstone2318]

lol lmao even

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

interesting how this adds exactly 0 value to a conversation

[@ericstone2318]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto Yeah just like your video lmao

[@dicerson9976]

My personal opinion right now is that most of the game's weapons are pretty good and have decent niches that they fulfill. But there also some weapons that are like, horrifically bad. Flamethrowers, of course, all got their teeth kicked in by a "bugfix" that renders them more or less unable to hit multiple targets like they could before. The Railgun's only purpose in life is to kill Hulks and Striders. The Liberator Penetrator doesn't exist. The Purifier SHOULDN'T exist, at least not as it is it really just needs to be reworked entirely (to function... perhaps as advertised? LE GASP) There's also some weapons that are perhaps a bit weird or meh, but aren't terrible. Like the Light and Heavy machine guns. Stalwart suffers from being a liberator with a large magazine and a higher fire rate, but no scope and it occupies your support weapon slot leaving you strapped for anti-armor options. HMG suffers from STILL having a poorly aligned scope and people idiotically insisting on firing it in anything other than first person, as well as horrendously bad ammo economy (it basically requires the ammo pack to function). Spear still doesn't oneshot things that it absolutely should be oneshotting because of a penetration angle mechanic- on an autonomous guided missile you literally can't aim or control the penetration angle of... Mortars, like in general. But aside from the outlier cases, like the vast majority of weapons in this game are all actually genuinely good and useful. I unironically take the liberator into Bots at 10 and it does fucking great, and most other weapons are at least better than the liberator at *something*. Each diligence has its perks- the Countersniper onetaps devastator heads, the normal one just has a fuckload more ammo to play with and so does way better into the Bugs (though on diff 10 it does struggle with the armor bug spam). Everyone knows how good the shotguns are, and the energy weapons all have their ups and downs. People are just bitching and moaning because the game is hard when you play solo with randoms. Its a team game, and noone wants to actually work as a team. Go figure, you suffer for it.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Oh yeah absolutely, the Lib Pen is *usable* but absolutely outclassed in every regard, the Purifier needs mass amounts of love. The Stalwart works great on low difficulties, the HMG words great on higher ones as both chaff clear (despite the misaligned scope) and big boy take out, especially one 10s where you can absolutely get away with third person firing since everything is a devo or bigger. The Spear ironically is amazing at taking out bigger targets like tanks and command bunkers, and struggles at the clear as a cost for how much it can do (however, I do agree it should be able to one shot hulks consistently). The vast weapon pool all can work and I love it for it. So uh, in short, thank you for the comment!

[@brandonprendergast7806]

I think the people with the issue were wanting to play as space marines while the devs wanted it to play like a well equipped guardsman Like you aren't supposed to rambo your way through the enemy you're supposed to wish you were fighting in a trench

[@TheSpiderMeisterFT]

You are kinda wrong. Helldivers are basically super soldiers

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! Helldivers are meant to be disposable. We literally have a 2 minute 30 second life expectancy. The devs are doing great with the concept, now they just need to focus on bug fixes.

[@FlerdaMan]

A video with a thousand views but only 45 likes I can only imagine what the dislikes are, the game is bad rn we know AH is human we've given them multiple chances to rectify their past fuckups and they seem to ignore the solutions offered and do their own thing which clearly isn't working by all the players leaving the game and the reviews of the game going to shit nobody wants to support another live service dev team that laughs at its player bases genuine concerns and then ignores the feedback because it "isn't nice"

[@horrorfan117]

Well the community is full of crybabies. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if people didn't even watch the video before posting their opinions full of pissing and moaning.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Considering the average watch time is 2:43 so yeah

[@FlerdaMan]

@@horrorfan117 nerfing a PVE is incompetence people expressing that thought doesn’t make them crybabies but go off I guess bro

[@bongwaterbojack]

This is the most melodramatic community in gaming. People need to touch some fucking grass and stop acting like making some mistakes while balancing a video game is end of the world.

[@OpXarxa]

aight, less than 5 minutes in and I can already smell the bullshit. Are you seriously defending their balance updates with "look at how many weapons kept getting buffed so frequently!" as if people claimed they didn't, when the problem, very well acknowledged, is that most of the time those buffs were insignificant? sure, sometimes they'd make a weapon viable, but then the same patch would break a different weapon, like when the dominator got buffed from horrible to decent in the same patch that made the slugger go from overtuned to worthless. Are you seriously defending it by praising the stratagem buffs that gave many underused stratagems higher armor penetration? FFS, *we all praised that*! It was a great patch! We were all happy about it! That change coupled with spawns having more chaff and less elites made the game the most fun than it'd been since launch! The reason everyone is going to town on the game right now is because that patch seemed to be promising that things would finally improve, the first truly good patch since release, and then on the very next one they went back to their old bullshit! It's well documented by now that the first game had much better balance with the weapons being actually overpowered, *to face the overwhelming odds with*. And the game was sold with a promise of that being the experience this time around too. It's also well analyzed by now that most of the gear is designed to fall short of breakpoints to "need teamwork to take down enemies", except teamwork should be in role division, with specialized loadouts able to take out specific threats by themselves; the game balance feels like it was tested on difficulty 5. If it were so simple, you wouldn't have the active playerbase reduced to barely a tenth of what it used to be, and with most of those remaining unhappy with the changes.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

I am defending them for this, because I'm taking the game from its objective standpoint as the game is currently. The game right now with its current patches has every weapon (with a few exceptions *cough* purifier) has some sort of use case. The Breaker Incen is still 100% viable right now, and the game is a different beast that Helldivers 1 since there's more moving parts. (They went from a top down 2d shooter to a 3d shooter.) Also, Helldivers 2 has seen a decline due to other games coming out, the hype dying down, and others moving on to different games. Not every game needs to have a massive playerbase to be good, and I genuinely believe that this game is still phenomenal. It's not for everyone, and that's okay, since it's Arrowhead's main statement on their website.

[@OpXarxa]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto "every weapon has a use case" is a statement as short-sighted as the people balancing these things. Yes, many weapons have things they excel at, and if it were as simple as "by having critical shortcomings, they force the team to stay together and help each other"(nvm that you can in fact solodive and coordinating with randoms is a nightmare) you could still make a case for the devs simply driving towards what they wanted the game to be like. The problem is that in higher difficulties the numbers are simply too much for what we got. weapons at those levels *need* to either have excelent crowd control, excelent TTK,(for support roles) excelent utility against the more annoying enemy types, or a solid balance of all those, else even cooperating, you get overwhelmed... and the few weapons good enough at those things are the ones that keep getting nerfed, or in cases like the incendiary, just plain don't have enough ammo for a sustained fight anymore. "every weapon has a use case" is what you say when you expect a full team with loadouts covering for each other to stay together the whole mission to quickly take objectives and move on. Except you'd need the full squad on antitank loadout to actually deal with how many heavies spawn, which leaves not enough stratagem slots and/or ammo to deal with the amount of chaff that spawns. Which is how you end up with a high difficulty meta that's basically "don't engage, sneak around, minimize combat to the absolute bare mandatory minimum". In Helldivers. As most people clearing those difficulties say, yeah, it's still doable, it's just far less fun than it was. I'd almost think that higher difficulties are meant to be a nigh-unbeatable nightmare scenario for masochists instead of what skilled players work their way up to... if they hadn't made a big deal in this update out of introducing a brand new even higher difficulty setting with unique high-difficulty objectives.

[@theoneandonlyweener]

I honestly appreciate this even if i dont agree with everything in it, this community is constantly jumping on bandwagons and complaining so an actual dissenting opinion is nice.

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Absolutely! I love Helldivers 2, and I wanted to (somewhat respectfully) dissent from the negativity that is the game right now.

[@alphawolf6708]

Ooh this aged poorly

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Perhaps. We'll have to wait and see how the player counts hold up. This community will never be satisfied, which is what it is.

[@alphawolf6708]

@@YTInnerAgntAuto I agree with the community not being satisfied, since theres a sudden upcry of players who have meta'd and min maxed the fun out of themselves that are calling this game too easy, despite it being AH's objective. Plus, the playercounts seem to tripled after the buffs drop. Itll most likely drop by a few thousands after awhile which is understandable, but you can bet the game isnt going to feel boring and frustrating for the wrong reasons now.

[@leftymclefterson582]

Nice glazing brah, enjoy your ratio 😆

[@YTInnerAgntAuto]

Damn I remember the days when people actually were mature in their responses and gave valid criticism of a discussion video