The Helldivers 2 Revival Is Stunning

[@BellularNews]

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[@edenglobe]

Helldivers 2 is region locked so not available in Serbia and over 170 other regions... I think that would be a good story for you guys to cover.

[@emdo.unlimited555]

The player count went down because they kept nerfing weapons according to a "nerf the meta" philosophy that only bred the next meta to nerf. Escalation of Freedom saw fire nerfed as they released the fire warbond. They finally listened to the community and overhauled the weapon balancing by undoing or buffing virtually everything in their 60 day plan (of atonement). It's awesome again and we are so back. o7

[@TheBlargMarg]

I think one of the biggest things Arrow Head decided to do is, instead of trying to balance the enemy spawns and health, just buff the heck out of the weapons and leave the insane enemy spawn rates.

[@Grimangell135]

Too right. I was ok with the spawn rates when things were ok. When the weapons were nerfed to oblivion and the enemy chaff were tanks, I just stopped playing. Now it's better than ever.

[@MrKnaives]

Right, this game works best as a power fantasy than a balance experience. it's not pvp.

[@olso8621]

they did change the spawn rates in a huge way. the volume of patrols after the objective is completed is way lower, leaving the team free to loot the now destroyed map. enemies will converge upon the extraction point, which represents their understanding that the helldivers are going to attempt to leave. there is more-you would know this if you actually played the game

[@trueandfact]

Helldivers is one of the best "acts of proof" that the consumers are ALWAYS right, and not the devs. the devs wanted the most boring ass game possible, in particular that nefarious balance dev who previously killed 2 games. As soon as they started shutting the hell up and doing what the players wanted, surprise surprise people stayed and started growth.

[@TheBlargMarg]

@@olso8621 I do actually play the game. Also I NEVER said they didn't alter the spawn rate. I said Arrow Head was trying to BALANCE the spawn rate, AKA they changed it with no success. Learn to read dude. I have over 100 hours into the game and every-single-warbond near completely done. I also know the spawn rate of enemies were all over the place with each patch but Arrow Head finally just gave up and reverted to having a lot of enemies and buffed the weapons.

[@NorthzYT]

The biggest thing for me is just the fact it's a live service without FOMO. I logged back in and got bombarded with medals from multiple MOs.

[@Harakanis]

THIS, SO MUCH THIS it's the sole reason i bought helldivers2 when i alway sstay away from live service crap i haven't played it in months, i had other stuff to do, but i know that when i decide to call the boys and go back, be it for a weekend, a week or a few months, the game is there waiting for me and i haven't really "lost anything" it's the perfect game you can pick up and drop anytime and enjoy it, other live services are either "you're 100% locked in" or "you quit" no inbetween, even if they're in your library

[@byronwesley6643]

What do you mean it doesn't have fomo if I recall correctly there's a black hole where a planet used to be, and don't get me started with melevalon creek

[@ElMayonesero]

What's fomo?

[@Xiodot]

@@byronwesley6643 well there's always going to be big one time events like this, that's how Helldivers is structured. If blowing up Meridia induces FOMO for you, then not being able to play on a specific planet because it isn't occupied by the enemy is also FOMO, but that's necessary for the game story to progress

[@Xiodot]

@@ElMayonesero fear of missing out

[@jetrexdesign]

The Jet Brigade did a lot for me. Seeing that little enemy ship go from planet to planet, fighting big groups of coordinated flying bots, it really made things feel alive in the HD universe. Like, where does it go from there? More factions, more subfactions, emerging, rampaging around. They keep things as dynamic as they can, and they're still in the first year of the game.

[@flabbywall1780]

@jetrexdesign the jet brigade really kicked our asses at first. Thought they had us for a minute

[@thedog5k]

In Helldivers one they had an assortment of vehicles as well as unique playstyles. You could play mech all game, tank, vehicle healing guns, weapon upgrades. It could be so much more.

[@chilbiyito]

​@@thedog5konce arrowhead gets them working as intended without major game performance issues

[@pubfriendthegreat1259]

Hopefully, when the DSS is finished, we will be able to make our own sub factions (with platoons, sorta). Like the purifiers, 99th hell company, the cheese divers. -chaosdivers-

[@mustang_5197]

Exactly, the jet brigade is almost like a recurring character in the overarching helldivers narrative and i pray we see more of it

[@dagdamor1]

There have been a slew of "we are so back" moments for different loadouts. The 500kg airstrike now has a serious blast radius, the MG Sentry is a dark horse stratagem with a lightning-fast cooldown and a formidable supply of ammo, the anti-tank options have all been given a new lease on life, and the Emancipator Mech now hits like a freight train with an enhanced fire rate to match.

[@dylansmith6078]

My favorite stratagem since all the updates tbh is the fortified sheild (team bubble) this thing has tanked 3 striders all firing at it for 3 minuites just long enough for the squad to get out their 500kg's the sheild feels so good on bots you can acctually do a full support loadout.

[@bit_ronic]

i love how all they did for the 500kg is match the radius with the visual effect it always had and now it's one of the most destructive things in the whole game

[@dylansmith6078]

@@bit_ronic I still think 380 is most destructive. But yes the 500kg just feels hige

[@agps4418]

@@dylansmith6078 380 is stupid. since it last 30 seconds you have to wait 30 seconds to enter an area bombarded by the 380 to prevent getting killed, but at the same time, staying still for 30 seconds in a diff 10 patrol spawn rate is stupid.

[@harmless9336]

​@@agps4418 then use walking barrage, its the same thing but it moves forward so you can move up after the first salvo or two. Either way the point of barrages is to throw somewhere you dont need to immediately be and come back after its done softening up the area.

[@altaccount8749]

HD2 stimmed itself in the neck and shouted, “Injury?… what injury!!!?!??!”

[@josemx4lif3]

I’ve been playing helldivers 2 since the beginning and I’m not gonna lie to you, I was very close to leaving the game over the summer due to the constant nerfs and changes that were affecting the gameplay negatively (I had over 350 at the time). I stayed because this game has not only transformed my life for the better (the community is amazing) but because this brought me back to the golden age of video games (ps2-ps3-Xbox 360 era). Now, I’m over 600 hours into this game and I can’t thank AH enough for (finally) listening to the community and I hope that they continue to listen to us and make this game better! I know we won’t go back to the 450,000 we saw at the beginning, but I hope we get more stories like the ones at the creek because this community is awesome!

[@VitorHugoOliveiraSousa]

When they drop the third faction it could very well reach the launch window numbers even if temporarily.

[@viniciusschadeck4992]

i dive in after creek, and get away in the nerf stage, maybe i never will back in... This game suffer too much of FOMO, and i had 0 FOMO, soo, i back to my minecraft and others single player games where not had time limited events that if i miss, i never will access that content no matter what, and i payed for a full game, not a "base game" that maybe i can had "event contents" soo i will keep my pod out of the launcher, if they fix content limited shit i will be glad to return, also that stuff of banning entires countries are pure trash

[@Reptar530]

This game reminds me of gears of war. On PSN this is all I have left.

[@GinaRanChaosdiver]

@@viniciusschadeck4992 the thing with Helldivers is that there IS no FOMO. the Warbonds never go away, you can always buy them, the shop rotates through items pretty predictably, there is a pattern to what is in there and when it's in there, and any "limited time event" usually has its rewards released to everyone a few days after the event ends. on top of that, the game isn't predatory, it's super easy to get 1000 credits in an hour or less on desert planets completely for free, even faster if you play with a group.

[@Aves_1]

​@@viniciusschadeck4992whats fomo in this game? The passes never expire and the new game mission types arent removed

[@Zer0Hour17]

It's amazing what actually listening to your playerbase gets you.

[@ttvkyberwolf6659]

@@Zer0Hour17 Ikr? Almost like we know what we like and don’t like..

[@andrewyp6724]

'Playerbase' or 'we' is not a collective. You're not particularly wrong in looking at this as devs vs playerbase, but one other comment I read makes me think of D3 vs D2 vibe (as in, playerbase1 vs playerbase2). You would think D2 group is the 'playerbase' or 'we', because they always complain about the current state of Diablo. But no. It more looks like the devs went the D3 route. And that is what's making the playerbase return. At least according to Twitch view count, D3 was generally more popular than D2. Ressurection made it slightly over D3, but still, D2 is no match against D4. So.. One side of playerbase could be more in the wrong.

[@Steir12]

@@andrewyp6724 D2 and D3 werent on even ground to begin with, D2 is an insanely old game.

[@andrewyp6724]

@@Steir12 That's the standpoint from pro D3 group. It wasn't the standpoint from pro D2 group, who kept trashing D3, who wanted D4 to more resemble D2. They kept voicing out their opinion throughout (not anymore of course, as D4 is already out). My point was that, 'playerbase' is not a single entity. There are factions, sides depending on what they want from the game, how they want it to be. As exemplified by pro D2 group, not all playerbase's opinion is the popular one. But you would still consider pro D2 group as the 'playerbase'.

[@Relhio]

Which one should I listen to tho? Cause I'm pretty sure everyone is arguing over the same things with different opinions, which group is right and which is wrong? Should I listen to Jerry that thinks the game is too hard on challenge rank 3 or schizo Leonard that says the game is too easy at the max difficulty? Or maybe Ron is right saying that the 500kg bomb is ruining his gaming experience. You can't be that narrow sighted by just saying "oh just listen to your players".

[@_Snakepit]

Great news, I haven't touched it in a couple of months, might go back now.

[@Roukle]

It feels much less punishing and I'm actually experimenting with alternate loadouts again

[@ismael8391]

It's so much fun now and the buffs weren't small either. We got 2 sets of buffs and they were GOOD!

[@sepehrpooladi4418]

put the cape back on diver... super earth citizens need u

[@Brownkid422]

I took some time off. Basically all of the 60 days update. It's good to be back. Feels great. Still a few bugs (other than terminids) but they get worked on quickly and the fun is just back.

[@pjotrpanzerfaust]

Do your part!

[@Mazurus]

i'm a simple man, i see helldiver 2 content and i dive in. WE ARE SO BACK!

[@carlzerris6566]

Dive in. Well played sir

[@S1rSlippy]

Also simple man -> checks if still delisted in Africa -> still delisted -> screw sony i ain't diving.

[@jalil2985]

Unfortunatly the steam sale restriction is still in effect.

[@sepehrpooladi4418]

yea sony is just sony cant help them self

[@Aves_1]

Arrowhead cant do anything about that

[@Kant3n]

@@Aves_1 They chose to work with Sony, they did literally *everything* about that.

[@declicitous1763]

@@Kant3n how could they have known sony would block around 90% of the world because they couldnt steal peoples data

[@jlstruyde]

The country's that are psn locked isn't all sonys fault its also the government's in these countries who restrict sony because of the cost and so on... if it was solely up to sony every single country would have access...

[@Azrael178]

One very important thing about retaining returning players is the fact that Helldivers 2 doesn't make you feel out of the loop with endless popups and here is what you missed. When I logged in five months ago I took my rifle and started a mission. Even if I were to not play for a few months if I log in the game won't shower me with notifications. It will give me my rifle, a general direction to give me an idea what the community is doing and let me helldive again no questions asked

[@_Zaid]

@@Azrael178 I remember dropping destiny 2 for nine months, coming back, being forced into a story mission I had no context for and all my gear being invalidated. Uninstalled it and haven't played since.

[@sirjazz1268]

Personally, I hope we will have access to some sort of Index later on . . . something providing us intell on the factions ( lore & ennemies ), but also retracing all the narrative of the 2nd Galactic War. Just so when you take a look at it you can think : "oh, I remember that, when we secured the Patriot exos". But it's true that seing the World building even without you makes it more thrilling, alive. And it ain't forcing you at any point, you can pick whatever you want [ as long as it helps Super-Earth ]

[@Azrael178]

@sirjazz1268 the terminal opposite the Armoury seems perfect for that

[@pieman2906]

I'm usually pretty finicky when it comes to games, i often jump from game, to game, to game. Until this game. I've been playing consistently since launch, and i personally find it shocking that i still log in multiple times a week and am still having as much fun as in February, it's a rare game that can retain for this long, and i feel like the ongoing narrative and community engagement is a big part of that.

[@mkrauze8247]

@@pieman2906 same with me. I bounce off of games pretty easily and I'm admittedly picky, but I've been playing HD2 since launch and continue to play to this day. That's almost unheard of for me.

[@DutchGuyMike]

@@mkrauze8247 Same!

[@Mazhura_13B]

Same

[@ryanvacation7319]

The number one issue AH needs to address is the lack of end game content. One example is veteran players accumulate samples, medals, and Slips but do not have anything to spend it on. Would be nice if you can buy things like temporary boosts or additional stratagem slots etc.

[@olso8621]

how bad does it feel to collect samples, slips, and other resources only for them to be deleted due to having a full inventory? with no way to empty my inventory, because there is nothing to buy? man…

[@TheLakinessMonster]

The DSS seems to be the solution for that. Based on leaks, you can spend resources to make call ins to the DSS.

[@epgamer1145]

Exactly what I was thinking. I’ve offered up the idea of bringing a 5th stratagem at the cost of the requisition points.

[@machao5531]

@@ryanvacation7319 I saw a discussion that AH might implement a “donation” system for the DSS using our resources before the DSS itself could do a certain action, like constant orbital bombardment or moving to another planet/sector

[@epgamer1145]

@ exactly. Used for an expanded orbits barrage of our choosing. As well as a fleet of eagles.

[@afkart1671]

slight correction, the jetpack brigade actually is a new enemy, they gave a jetpack to a grunt type that didn't have them before.

[@vokkera6995]

They came in with escalation of freedom. Jet brigade is a different constellation that replaces most troopers with the jet versions

[@bryan0x05]

There also leaks of new jet pack units that we might see when we attack the jet barrage head quarters.

[@jordanrea9564]

Yeah can't wait for the jet pack hulks flying around

[@baconshreds1772]

I recently got back into Helldivers 2 after not playing it since the whole Sony debacle. I remember saying to my friends that I would never play the game again and that what happened to it was tragic. That was until a coworker of mine mentioned how the game had been fixed and was better than ever. Who knows how long it would have taken me to discover the resurgence without him.

[@Talinthis]

Too bad people can't play it in like 180 countries still. They had a workaround until everyone caused a massive uproar about needing a PSN account, now i think they can't do it cause it got government attention and the loophole is no longer possible.

[@DutchGuyMike]

@@Talinthis Those countries barely account for like 10% of the player base, but yes. They should be able to play.

[@olso8621]

Helldivers 2 is definitely my favorite release of the year. The summer was really rough for the health of the game. Player counts on steam were as low as 5k… It was depressing. After the buffdivers changes, it’s in a very good state. I could gripe about specific stuff like how long the DSS project is taking, the lack of information on the galactic war map (despite the expectation that players self organize to complete major orders, yet we can’t make educated decisons without consulting third party tools), the lack of transparency regarding what various weapons and armors do… basically nothing is communicated to the player. all these issues i continue to struggle with as someone who loves the game

[@TheKing_of_HippoIsland]

@@olso8621 You think 5K players is bad? Wait to you play the games I like lol

[@TheGreatestCow]

Excited for the Illuminate! They remind me of the Aeon faction in Supreme Commander and I can't wait to see that in Helldivers 2

[@Khotetsu]

1:05 I have to stop you right here. The buffs largely brought the weapons back into the original goal of the rock, paper, scissors gameplay. They hadn't nerfed outliers - they had nerfed the feasible weapons to use so your options were largely a piece of gravel, a used tissue, and a pair of child's safety scissors. They forced a meta on the game with the nerfs and the sheer number of heavily armored enemies at higher difficulties, and then continued to nerf any guns that players used too much in that meta.

[@temporal_paradox]

Yeah he never really quite understood exactly what was going on (as you can see from his other video) but he's got the general idea that they were constantly nerfing and making decisions that the majority of the playerbase vocally disliked, repeatedly.

[@Khotetsu]

@@temporal_paradox I remember making a similar comment on the previous video as well. The general gist is right, but the distinction is important because the playerbase and the devs are largely aligned on their view of the gameplay and "power fantasy." It was never that the community wanted the game to be Space Marine 2, just that the nerfs went against the goals of the dev team themselves.

[@kinocorner976]

The gameplay loop is fun and rewarding. You feel like you did something Every mission is an item unlocked, a stratagem bought. Even having everything. You don’t get bored planning your next attack. Each battle is different. I’m surprised what they’ve done and I hope they continue.

[@Guywiththetypewriter]

Belluar I would highly recommend you look into the fact they are hiring a head of engineering role. Here are some of their requirements: - Plan & lead execution of tech roadmap - Lead the technical training and education efforts within the studio - Collaboration with key external partners - Build & restructure sound high level processes for facilitating technical excellence Doesn't exactly scream "We've been doing the right things", and we both know how big a red flag this type of role being advertised non-internally is... The implications of these requirements also line up with the 3-4 warbond releases as of late, that have been reuse of mechanics already existing in the game (e.g: Shotgun with the stun mechanic slapped on etc). The buffs were nice, but the DSS has been confirmed to just be extra strats and %ticks on a community-wide voted planet every MO, the last unique narrative missions were 3-4 months ago (with no indication of new ones any time soon, and the entire DSS arc has literally just been normal liberates and defenses for nearly 2 months straight). I think honestly the engine is giving them more trouble than it just being unsupported... because its old and unused nowadays, they are struggling to hire new devs (lots of their dev roles are still open after months) and, if I'm frank, even you know the red flags the head of engineering role being a non-internal posting is... let alone the requirements it has... tl;dr: I think you have, on this very rare occasion, missed the practical aspects of how they are handling new content. I know everyone wants this game to smash it, but unless we point out the worrisome aspects, we might all get blind-sided if the curtain gets pulled back and theyve got not substantial content ready to ship.

[@Steir12]

Their main tech guy who was well knowledgeable with the engine left the company so they desperately need new tech savvy guy to sort our the spaghetti. Its not like they are hiring SBI to educate them on genders or something.

[@Guywiththetypewriter]

@Steir12 source?

[@Steir12]

@@Guywiththetypewriter Their CEO said it, check his interviews during 60 day plan.

[@Guywiththetypewriter]

@Steir12 I'd appreciate a timestamp if u have it mate. It's been a long day 😅

[@Steir12]

@@Guywiththetypewriter Sorry i cant even tell which interview it was exactly, i only saw it once.

[@gumpthegreat1]

Well, they finally stopped trying to make us play the game THEY wanted and started making the game the way WE wanted. Amazing how the community comes back when you make the game for THEM instead of the devs making the game for THEMSELVES.

[@cerealmama3879]

And probably the devs aren't even playing their game. Maybe that was the problem, they was seeying the game from a devs perspective, not from a player perspective.

[@Khotetsu]

@@cerealmama3879 I do remember hearing that the devs said that they didn't play any of the difficulties above like 6 or something when people were complaining about the sheer number of hulks and chargers at higher difficulties.

[@cerealmama3879]

@@Khotetsu The recipe for disaster...

[@DutchGuyMike]

@@cerealmama3879 The developers are now CONFIRMED to be playing their own game - and at higher difficulties, the test server is up and running and they do testing before patch releases. They have turned the whole game around since Joel (the previous main CEO) turned into the CCO (chief creative officer, aka head of balancing/content) and the new CEO is a great team manager who stressed that Arrowhead missed cohesion - things that are GREATLY improving now.

[@CalamanSii]

Been loving my time back. The viable build variety is enough fun for me to stay

[@YuubiTimberwolf]

People like big, heavy hitting guns and lots of chunky monsters. Keep buffing, keeps adrenaline flowing.

[@mamaluigigamer99]

I think that the better warbonds have also had a trend in attracting players. But it ties in with weapon balancing so yeah.

[@DietMtnDew]

Sick jacket bro

[@eric7591]

So proud of Arrow Head. I'm still loving Hell Divers 2 after 300 hours.

[@damienblackfyre9965]

I wake up in the morning and think I can’t wait to kill some terminids and build a space station.

[@Dumb-Comment]

When devs swallow their ego and respect player's feedback to roll back chances

[@EbonMaster]

Was playing Helldivers while I second screened this lol. Me and my friends came back when the buffs came in and I've been so into it that I even play a solo mission or two in between work stuff.

[@PROPHYZ]

this game feels completely different and is so much fun now, it feels rly freaking good. I am so glad the devs never gave up and kept going, it's a great story with ups and downs.

[@manynukes11]

As long as AH continues actively taking player feedback the game will continue doing well

[@dylanr.27]

I wonder if the “summer sun” effect is also bolstering the numbers and now that the weather is getting colder and more casual people are moving toward indoor hobbies is helping the incredible patches from arrowhead

[@warp00009]

Good software products, like some smaller games, are best done by small teams of people who all understand the vision of what they're trying to build. I think ArrowHead's small studio size is actually an advantage for them, allowing them to avoid the disasters that EA, Ubisoft, and other big publishers and their big studios can achieve. I've played it through good times and bad since shortly after its launch and will continue to do so as long as there are others there to play with!

[@crankpatate3303]

Man, I gotta go play Hell Divers 2, too. I've totally slept on that game when it released, but am very happy to hear, that the community is still going super strong! :)

[@skeletorzomg]

Ive been playing helldivers from the start consistently. From the dark ages, they did a rebalance but this did a video of making it better. THEY KNOW how good it is and what they will add

[@NeoArden]

Unfortunate that they have not been able to revert the region restrictions added. Just this weekend I wanted to invite my friend to join the ranks only to have a reminder that it is not available to purchase for everyone.

[@jlstruyde]

Its not arrowhead decision... and it's out of sonys control. The country's governments have laws and sanctions that go against having a psn, when importingor exporting goods/services. Why would sony just not want to have access to more country's to make more money.

[@CGarci]

@@jlstruyde stfu what about steam then

[@moonwarden6473]

@@jlstruyde It's not out of Sony's control. Everybody on steam could play at release because the PSN """requirement""" wasn't being enforced. And if the game ran fine without it in the first months, then why have it in the first place knowing it would cut down on the amount of money the game makes?

[@DutchGuyMike]

Those countries barely account for like 10% of the player base... but yes. They should be able to play.

[@CGarci]

@@DutchGuyMike what's the point of bringing us up being the minority then

[@dylansmith6078]

I think the unique way arrowhead is doing live service is probably the coolest way to do live service. Like gatekeeping certian new content behind large community objectives was the coolest thing any game studio has done. Like they had mech units ready to launch but helldivers had to earn it because there was a lost major order on retrieving mech schematics and they delayed the release of mech units because of it same with the anti tank mines that the community failed to get 3 times but now finally got them. I feel the new gas support weapons should have also went this route instead of a warbond

[@theburningcloud1214]

@@dylansmith6078 Excuse me, the community *refrained* from getting the anti tank mines 3 times!

[@dylansmith6078]

@theburningcloud1214 by failing the major order 3 times

[@temporal_paradox]

The community _purposefully_ rejected the AT mines at every opportunity, AH literally had to force them on us in the end with an MO that couldn't be done (something like a billion kills with regular mines or some nonsense, otherwise AT mines would be rewarded).

[@xycan8734]

I personally got back into the game a couple weeks ago.. it's in a far better state than it was and I'm having a blast

[@0taku912]

Who knew that listening to player feedback would lead to a better game

[@joltik2]

you're actually a legend! so many people cover how games fall and stuff. and never go back to see if they recover! it's nice to see that thank you.

[@vongrimm1421]

Arrowhead seemingly stopped trying to balance around difficultly and just balanced by fun. And it's amazing!

[@coven14]

I came back for liberty day and have stuck around, it's so much fun lately

[@Kronosbattlemaps]

Helldivers is still giga fun. Every weapon and stsratagem is valid. and I still find it challenging while also feeling powerful. Its in a great spot atm

[@TheHotDogGuy.]

They grabbed their stims and yelled, "LIBERTY NEEDS ME." Got up on their feet and sprong right back into action

[@Teeheehee093]

Helldiver 2 is the first multiplayer game I've truly loved since Halo Reach

[@OrigionalCigarette]

Arrow head has done what many companies said will 'fix' a game, Arrow head has then learned that these are the same companies who have no clue what they are doing *Arrow head then decides nerfing is overrated so they started buffing* *Arrow head made Helldivers 2 great again.* Liberty bless Democracy. *o7*

[@Neitism]

The lesson that I see: mechanics are nice and all, but a great story that is driven by the players is what kept me playing. And I love to see that Arrowhead learned exactly that.

[@maxpower8549]

it is so fuckin funny to me that i started playing hd2 exactly 1 day before liberty day. as a veteran of the first galactic war, at first i was sceptical about the 3rd person change and then life happened and i somewhat forgot about it. but i can proudly say that this game is a masterpiece, it is fuckin intense, has a great humorous community with extremely funny roleplaying moments, i still love the parody, and it is awesome that you can unlock the special warbonds by playing the game, that is a refreshing monetization idea that i can get behind

[@grimaldur778]

"What if we just focussed on fun gameplay over fine tuned gameplay in our co-op game"

[@Psy-Krow]

I think it'll sustain because I think there are a lot more customers like me and my friends who are still struggling to do 7-8's with confidence that are now having FUN with the struggle and not feeling limited in the loadouts we can try. When they were catering and balancing to the "git gud" crowd who are/were complaining/showing level 10 is to easy for the highest skilled players, it wasn't fun for us in the mid-range skill level just looking to have a good time blowing some things up. Now I'm having fun again!

[@scott8553]

They messed up with nerfs, listened to the complaints, and did the 60 day patch and every loadout I have tried feels FUN.

[@Screech2111]

6:30 Small correction: With the Jet Brigade every small Bot, but the Rocket Troopers, got a jump pack. Before jump pack bots were normally Commissars (pistol+sword) with a jump pack. They are basically a subfaction. And there is already some fun stuff in the files for their inevitable return. Really hope that we'll see the first bug subfaction introduced soon.

[@DutchGuyMike]

And the Iron Brigade is coming SOON!

[@bastiancole3565]

They figured out that the game being difficult 24/7 wasn't what drew the players.

[@bastiancole3565]

Escalation of Freedom did so poorly because it wasn't an update to what the players value. Yeah some new enemy types are cool, but when those enemy types are designed to be a difficulty increase, ON TOP of us having issues with really poor weaponry to actually deal with the new enemies. It was an enemy buff update, not a player enjoyment update.

[@michaelmurley487]

The Jet Brigade using blitz tactics and jumping from planet to planet was great. They didn’t even take the planets they invaded, they just moved on to the next one.

[@nahfeh2008]

Awesome content, hope your channel achieve more growth

[@MrThademon]

Don't forget that during summer break there was absolutely no narrative. It was just "liberate this" "defend that". The narrative was what kept me coming back over and over again because it felt like a live story unfolding in real time and we the Helldivers are characters in this story.

[@CyberLou]

Honestly I see this less as a ravival and more of a natural progression. Players where burnt out many months ago and the devs told us all to take a break. Im now logging onto helldivers 2 for the first time i many months and the new content is blowing me away ^^

[@pian-0g445]

One thing that makes this live service game actually good (beyond gameplay and events) is that it has a lot less fomo than pretty much most others. Even if you don’t play during major orders, you still get the rewards if they’re completed. And warbonds are available indefinitely which can be purchased by support credits which is collected in game. If you aren’t trying to grind for them, you’ll get like 20 or 30 each mission, and accidentally get enough to buy a war bond by the time you finish one. The only fomo is the super store. But due to the more limited cosmetics compared to Fortnite or cod, the rotation isn’t the worst thing (still annoying). But it’s also probably with super credits, which means if you have enough, you don’t need to spend a penny. More games need to make progression permanently accessible (halo infinite also dots this with its season pass). And especially if there’s a free and paid version (cod, halo etc), the people who purchased the actual game should have at least the first progression given to them (since usually there’s very little the players actually gets in terms of multiplayer progression over the free to play).

[@caladensama3479]

This game fills my heart with Righteous Liberation!!

[@infinitechumbucket]

just imagine the how many more would come if PlayStation was not allergic to money

[@WTFAnyNameWorks]

Bro your voice is just soothing.

[@ryankoroll5421]

My friends and I did a round, all 4 of us using the rifle against the bots. 2 of us used turrets and rifles, made a firing line when we ran into massive mobs of rocket turrets, autocannons and machine guns, plus our pinpoint fire. Most fun I've had.

[@rayanderson5797]

Helldivers 2 is back? Where'd it go? I've been here.

[@j.4354]

Most companies won’t copy helldivers 2 live service model because it’s not plastered with microtransactions but as shown if you treat your player base well and listen it will sort you out big time.

[@vindex57]

Great thumbnail. The armor looks sick.

[@JPJW001]

Helldivers 2 come to Xbox, Microsoft automatically: Well gentlemen, time to release Halo ODST 2

[@AtelierGod]

What makes me not want to buy it is that it’s steam page over here still says”Requires third party login” and I simply refuse to do so.

[@Dank_Engine]

I’ll give it another go. I play this type of game during winter. It’s just a fun comfort thing. And I usually play Darktide, but I’m curious about the Helldivers 2 changes

[@FuriousTheGeorge]

I stopped playing about 4 months ago. Maybe it's time to go back.

[@S1rSlippy]

Nah it's still delisted in Africa, Don't be a sheep to sony.

[@humanahumana7878]

@@S1rSlippy that's Sony's decision, not Arrowhead

[@S1rSlippy]

@@humanahumana7878 No shit captain obvious. why do sheep feel the need to state the blatantly obvious.

[@humanahumana7878]

@@S1rSlippy ok👍

[@Eisenight]

Sentiment aside, it is a better game than it was before. Give it a shot. It's kinda fun with pubs now too.

[@johnbloodborne9243]

Helldivers 2 deserves game of the year this year. Stuck out the most out of any game released.

[@DutchGuyMike]

I can't agree more. I voted, hopefully it gets the award!

[@VanoooK]

Great video, but I'm reporting that terminid gameplay to your Democracy supervisor

[@andrini4455]

Really enjoyed this, thank you for being so optimistic about everything. I’ve seen so many channels just clickbait or whine about the smallest things, it’s refreshing to hear some happy things. ❤

[@g80gzt]

Multiple things had contributed to a net exodus of players 1: Patches that include overly-heavy-handed nerfs, and any buffs alongside them being pathetic. Example: Introducing a ricochet change which introduced a bug that caused a gun to instantly kill you up to 120 meters away. Solution: Nerf gun. Also, the exploding crossbow was nerfed and was dogshit for months. What were the kinds of buffs in return? A gun got +5 damage. Cool. 2: PSN shenanigans. Although if you look at the steam charts, it didn't necessarily add to a chunk, it just maintained its decline. 3: Novelty. Started with like 400k, 500k players. We're back down to sitting at like 43k AT THE TIME OF WRITING THIS COMMENT, and 56k on the galactic map (not accounting for inactive players, so there's a few thousand PS players at least). But that's like 5x as many players as we used to have regularly when the nerfs kept slamming and the buffs kept wheezing! It's a massive improvement as for the actual core playerbase! Of course there was a novelty period, some people didn't like the enemy armor system, some didn't use stratagems, some didn't like the timers, etc. Our core playerbase shrivelled to like 10 to 20k peaking at a time. Now we're so fucking back to 50k, 60k, 100k being possible. Now, we got buffs to weapons and stratagems. Anti tank weaponry is now more effective than non-anti-tank weaponry, for killing tanks and tank-like enemies. What a fucking shocker! And people complaining over the game multiplying its playerbase and ceasing the barefaced lies in the equipment menus... Are the kind of people who, quote, "hope something newsworthy happens to (you)" ("you" meaning someone who thought the patches contributing to the decline were bad, and patches contributing to the revival were good)

[@DutchGuyMike]

Those balance patches.. you can blame Alexus Kravchenko for it (who ruined Hello Neighbor 2). He is now doing cosmetics only.

[@Arc69]

This is how live service should be done, sure the pace for content release would be greatly appreciated if it was faster but other then that Helldivers 2 is Game of the year for me

[@acoolnameemm]

Even during the "its so over" (not really) days, I firmly believed that we still had 50k to 100k players that was interested in the game, but every gun just felt bad to use. I still had fun during the "nerf days", but even I felt like if every gun was, at minimum, slightly better - they would all feel great and fun to use. And Arrowhead went far and beyond "slightly" buffing weapons. And I am so happy that my belief was proven true. That surge to 80k players on the first 60-day patch was glorious to see.

[@winndypops]

Helldivers had a hell of a wobble but I've been playing it a lot this past month. I am hoping they stay the course and we get a cool end of year resurgence.

[@itselizauwu]

Still waiting for the Xbox release… surely Sony won’t continue to divide the community and gatekeep such a popular game? Right?

[@asdf_asdf948]

Lmao just get a pc or ps5, it aint hard

[@itselizauwu]

@ way to miss the point

[@asdf_asdf948]

@@itselizauwu there's no point to be had, sony has always had exclusives, the fact that you dont like it wont change a thing

[@itselizauwu]

@@asdf_asdf948 thanks for your input, really useful stuff

[@ericbaker8781]

This game was bankrolled by Sony themselves. You’re never going to get an Xbox port.

[@Jasonwolf1495]

Escalation of Freedom was almost all nerfs to players and buffs to enemies which made players feel even more that the meta was required. There was tons of content that players felt was unusable, which is why "more content" didn't help. Adding more when you already have stuff that players worked to get and felt wasn't worth it makes them unable to trust anything else in the future will be worth anything.

[@ithelan]

The flying looks really cool, though i hope its not going to be entirely static all the time. Theres obviously some of the polish missing from what was seen in the showcases like footsteps/imprints in the snow and some general texture to the ground but you can definitely see the base of everything. It looks increasingly like the adage "its just an alpha" will actually ring true for once.

[@5hane9ro]

Between Helldivers 2, Space Marine 2, The Finals, and Hell Let Loose & Halo updates, we are eating good for multiplayer for the first time in years

[@eddyfuzzy5]

Liberty day was the 26th. WE GOT A TRAITOR!! *HELLDIVERS TUNE STARTS UP*

[@ClumsyDrow]

The game is so back. The fun factor is just amazing now. Yes we need some new game modes and some more things to do but it's really starting to get there I think. We get the new space station probably this week or the beginning of next week

[@AgentWashington2022]

That and you have ALOT of the RP Factions jumping out of the blue, from us Chaosdivers, the 101st, the 99th, the Freedom Alliance, Blitzdivers, etc. We are building our own narrative, and the Devs actually SUPPORT it wholeheartedly, and are playing around it too with the warbonds and such. It's great!

[@MickGordon-i9i]

This game is literally alive. Its us Players vs Developers. I've enlisted 8 month ago.

[@clyp3016]

its crazy to me that as soon as the numbers started going down, discord reddit youtube twitch everyone was telling them to stop nerfing and buff shit. it took the near death of their game to accept that their vision of their game was boring and frustrating to play

[@mczulian603]

doubled? It tripled

[@rhythm-peko9408]

HELL YEAH to the Helldivers who stayed the entire time! Shame on the Helldivers who left but welcome back! GET BACK IN THAT HELLPOD!

[@danielcusumano3889]

Honestly, it's nice to see gaming news that isn't all doom and gloom

[@abruptend8993]

If only I can actually buy that fucking thing in my country

[@lejenddairy]

I’m glad. People might forget it, but Helldivers is one of the only live service games to at isn’t built on pure greed.

[@ThePosrein]

I’m back a couple times a week with friends. We have so much fun.

[@peacechan4500]

The gaming industry is so maddening that a game dev studio finally listening to playerbase feels wild

[@NKGerydos]

I'm still using the Malevon Creek cape to honor the memories of our fallen Helldivers. o7

[@space.raider.2271]

I've spent 500 hours with this game. Here's to the next 500.

[@Aegis1080]

Super Helldive is hard enough to still be very hard even with the buffs, so it helps me not miss the more difficult gameplay they used to have as much

[@weir-t7y]

Alright hold up, the game did not have rock, paper, scissors balancing. Weapons and stratagems were BOTH incredibly weak in aggregate, not as outliers. They told us to use strats to kill heavies. It took two 500kg bombs to kill most heavy enemies pre-buff.

[@DutchGuyMike]

What? That was just for Bile Titans - it is the opposite now, heavy enemies requiring 2 500kg bombs, rather than earlier.

[@DuraheLL]

The buffs were spot on and they are listening for real now

[@Ministry_of_Truth2184]

The Ministry of Truth approves this positive message. May Freedom flow through your veins.