Disgruntled Helldivers 2 players turn treasonous in protest of recent balance changes: ‘let them invade Super Earth’

I never thought I’d see the day. Helldivers 2 players frustrated with the recent balance updates are considering treason. As Automaton forces draw near Super Earth, some are suggesting standing by and letting the invasion take place.

Currently, only 2,500 Helldivers are protecting their home planet of Super Earth from Automaton forces that are one sector away from a full-on invasion. The Kelvin Sector, sandwiched between Super Earth and the embattled Marsipa Sector, is the only safe space between home and the blood-thirsty bots. But that may change soon.

Helldivers 2 players voicing their grievance and citing prior weapon nerfs are now toying with the idea of treason and allowing the bots to march through unscathed.

The enemy within

Last week, developer Arrowhead Games launched Escalation of Freedom. The update brought more content to Helldivers 2, including new enemies, objectives, and more. It also introduced balance changes, nerfing the Incendiary Breaker and Flamethrower weapons. Angry players in the community lashed out against the changes, once again review-bombing the game on Steam.

Since then, that anger has seemed to simmer down to good, old-fashioned apathy. The Automatons are ready to march onto Super Earth’s doormat, and some don’t seem to care anymore.

Other players seem more curious than vengeful. Clearing the path for Automatons clearly goes against the point of the game, and tosses cold water on the ooh-rah roleplaying shown by divers since the game’s launch. Letting the bots win could throw a wrench in Arrowhead and Game Master Joel‘s machinations. Will they send out emergency orders for the defense of Super Earth? Not every player cares for social media, so there should be plenty of divers willing to sacrifice themselves for their home planet.

We’ll have to see just how things pan out. Arrowhead and Joel aren’t likely to change the script (unless this is part of the script!), as the war isn’t meant to end and restart over and over like with the first game.

Getting back on track

Arrowhead has responded to the issues. The team created a feedback form last week, allowing players to voice their concerns to the company directly. Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani has also taken to Discord to address concerns.

“I haven’t spoken to everyone (on the team) of course – but many of us are disappointed on a few levels. On the one hand the update had a bunch of nice stuff that aren’t getting talked about,” Jorjani wrote in a response to a player. “Maybe deservedly so – as many aren’t happy with the latest balance round. I think more broadly it also has us discussing the path ahead and what we can do to avoid this situation again. ie internal learnings, more changes in process etc.”

Jorjani also mentioned that discussing changes with the community via Discord posts won’t be the norm, and will work toward improving communication.

“[This] is a huge pain point for me personally as well,” he explained. “Our official communication about the game should be via blogs, streams and vlogs – not me posting here. That’s being worked on.”