Helldivers 2 Director Reveals Future Plans After Controversial Escalation of Freedom Update

Highlights

• Arrowhead addresses Helldivers 2 community backlash, promises to re-examine balance adjustments for weapons and gameplay mechanics.
• Upcoming 60-day plan focuses on engaging combat, avoiding unnecessary changes, and exploring opt-in beta testing for future updates.
• Players dissatisfied with constant weapon nerfs resulted in a decline in player count as Arrowhead aims to regain trust with improved communication.

Helldivers 2 game director Mikael Eriksson has addressed the community in a new statement, laying out plans for the live-service game’s future following a controversial update on August 6. The Helldivers 2 community was unhappy with the Escalation of Freedom patch after it nerfed a magnitude of weapons and stratagems, but Arrowhead says it has been listening to feedback.

The Escalation of Freedom update was Helldivers 2‘s biggest update to date, adding a new difficulty level, enemies, environmental hazards, and much more. But while Arrowhead Game Studios was hoping that players would focus on all of the new content included in the update, the community quickly took issue with the many nerfs that were also included. As a result, Helldivers 2 was review-bombed on Steam as fans expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the changes, calling them “unnecessary” and “endless.”

In response to the latest Helldivers 2 controversy, the game’s director has issued a new statement on Reddit and told the game’s community that the studio has spent the last week “listening” and “reflecting.” Eriksson goes on to explain how Arrowhead didn’t hit its target with the Escalation of Freedom update, but says now is the time for action, not talk. The director then laid out a 60-day plan for Helldivers 2 and listed key points that Arrowhead intends to focus on with upcoming updates.

Helldivers 2 Lays Out Future Update Plans

As Helldivers 2 players weren’t happy with recent nerfs, Arrowhead says it will continue to re-examine its approach to balance adjustments and won’t make any changes just for the sake of it. Eriksson also notes that the fire damage mechanic will be tweaked, ragdolling gameplay will be reworked, and the approach to primary weapons will be reassessed in order to create more engaging combat. The director goes on to list a magnitude of other changes in the works, while also announcing that Arrowhead is exploring the idea of an opt-in beta-test environment to improve the overall testing processes.

While weapon nerfs and buffs are going to be controversial in any live-service shooter, allowing the community to beta-test the changes before they go live is a great way to avoid any future issues. After Arrowhead and PlayStation found themselves in hot water over the Steam and PSN account-linking fiasco, it would be wise to avoid any new controversies at all costs. But as Helldivers 2‘s player count falls to an all-time low, many of the game’s die-hard players cite the constant weapon nerfs as one of the main reasons for leaving the game behind.