Helldivers 2 kicked off the year with remarkable success, selling over 12 million copies. However, you might be surprised to see how little buzz it’s generated lately. It feels as if the game has vanished from the conversation. In fact, everyone I know who was playing has completely stopped.
That was until today, in the massive patch, Helldivers 2 Patch 1.001.100 was released, to rework and rebalance much of the game. This patch is all due to the developers of the game, Arrowhead, taking feedback, complaints, and frustrations from players who were still playing the game, as well as those who left the game.
Helldivers,
Thank you for your valuable feedback. Many players have expressed feeling constrained in how they approach challenges, often relying on a limited set of tools while other options seem less effective. This has impacted your ability to play the game in a way that suits your preferences.
So, what’s changing? For all the bugdivers out there, many situations were previously either resolved with your primary weapon or anti-tank weapons, which haven’t always performed as expected. With the overwhelming presence of Bile Titans and Chargers, many weapon choices therefore became invalid.To address this, we’ve reworked armor penetration, anti-tank weapons, enemy armor and health values. Our goal is to improve the effectiveness of weapons such as the Autocannon, Heavy Machine Gun, Flamethrower, and Anti-Materiel Rifle against heavily armored enemies. Although they may not be as effective as specialized anti-tank weapons, they are now more viable choices making your loadouts more versatile, fostering better team collaboration and planning.
On the Bot front, Hulks have also had their armor reduced, making them more vulnerable to a wider range of weapons. Additionally, to improve the gameplay experience, the Devastator and Gunship will now have a limited supply of rockets, and those rockets won’t hit as frequently as before. This comes alongside the previously updated smaller impact radius for rockets, reducing excessive ragdolling.
We’ve also made improvements to many primary weapons, bringing them closer in effectiveness to the most popular choices. This should offer more variety and flavor during your play sessions.
We are adjusting damage mechanics to make the damage Helldivers receive more consistent over time by reducing 100% extra headshot damage to 50%. To maintain the overall challenge of the game, we’ve slightly increased the damage taken to other parts of the body. Our intent is to preserve the intensity of the gameplay while minimizing frustrating situations where sudden headshots cause large damage spikes.With these changes, along with an upgraded Helldiver arsenal, enemy adjustments, and more consistent damage, the overall difficulty may slightly decrease. We’ll be monitoring this closely and will listen to the community on how you think it feels.
We want to assure you that your feedback remains essential to us. Please share your thoughts on these updates, as we are actively listening. We plan to conduct another balance pass by Day 60 of our commitment to ensure we’re aligning with what you need for the best possible experience and to address any concerns or adjustments required. Your insights will be invaluable in refining these changes and making sure the game remains engaging and enjoyable for everyone.
Here’s a few of the key things that this patch has addressed.
- Major Overhaul of Anti-Tank, Armor Penetration, Health and Armor Values
- Weapon & Stratagem Balancing
- Enemy Reworks
- Helldiver Health and Damage Mechanics Tweaks
- Gas Gameplay Mechanic Rework
- New Galactic War feature
- Emote Wheel feature
- Crash & Bug Fixes
You can see the full, massive list of updates, changes and more, here.
This patch can be considered a redemption, a last-ditch effort to bring the players back, after a prior patch that ended up chasing players away with several changes that felt like Arrowhead forgot that its own game was a PVE and not a PVP title. With several titles such as Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 and the upcoming Starship Troopers, a property that Helldirvers is heavily inspired by, you can bet that Arrowhead is filling the pinch right now.
I’m personally left wondering if an overhaul patch will be enough to see players return long-term in a content-driven landscape. One example, I recently returned to Ubisoft’s Division 2 because they dropped new content but I probably wouldn’t have played it again for a rework of existing content. You can check out the full patch notes video below for more details. Let us know, are you planning to return to Helldivers 2 with this patch or do you need something more?
Helldivers 2 is currently available for the PlayStation 5 and Steam.
