To call the latest Helldivers 2 patch big is an understatement. Even calling it chunky doesn’t feel apt enough, with the patch notes going into explicit detail on various balancing updates to weapons and Stratagems, bug fixes, and the supply lines between planets are actually visible now. While Patch 01.000.400 has only launched today, early responses from fans suggest Arrowhead is taking things in the right direction, with some calling it a big win for players.
I’m not going to cover the full patch notes because, again, there’s simply too much, but one of Arrowhead’s key goals was to better balance the Stratagems. As such, some of the weaker options have received buffs to make them more viable. For instance, the Orbital Precision Strike has had both its call time and cooldown reduced, making it easier to use against moving targets. A wide array of regular weapons have seen buff too, like the Heavy Machine Gun. In a separate blog post detailing the rationale behind all the Stratagem and weapon adjustments, chief creative officer Johan Pilestedt explains how the Heavy Machine Gun “failed to deliver on the fantasy,” which is why its rate of fire has been lowered and it deals more damage than before.
Perhaps one of the most welcome changes is the inclusion of visible supply lines. Despite being an important mechanic that dictate which planets players can actually go to, you initially couldn’t see them. Arrowhead says this was to avoid the Galactic War map getting too cluttered, but “based on the feedback from our community we have made an implementation showing them on the map. This solution tries to maintain the general readability while still exposing the system to players in game.”
Initial responses from players appear to be mostly positive. In this Reddit thread discussing the patch notes, many fans are frankly elated with some of the changes, saying Arrowhead “cooked” with this update. “We asked them to cook and they gave us a full buffet,” wrote one player, highlighting the various buffs and the implementation of fixes suggested by the community.
Several are also thrilled with the changes made to the Orbital Gatling Barrage Stratagem, which now has a 70 second cooldown (it used to be 80 seconds), a 25% increased fire rate, and increased armour penetration. Fans who frequently used this Stratagem to begin with are happy with the improvements, and a couple of others intend on using it for themselves from now on.
There are some who have complained about how the FAF-14 Spear Stratagem has been affected. It was in need of a fix to improve its aiming and while the patch has done exactly that, it unfortunately can no longer target Automatic Spawners. Arrowhead has stressed this was unintentional and will be fixed, but this is a sticking point for a handful of players, though they appear to be the minority. On the whole, while there are definitely more fixes required, this patch seems like it’s done almost everything right in keeping the player-base happy.
