Among other things, the update brings back the old strength of the flamethrower, thus boosting player numbers.
After the last big update in August, the player numbers for Helldivers 2 on Steam reached dizzying heights, but there was a big problem: the revision of fire damage. Many fans were very unhappy with the fact that the popular flamethrower to the ground.
Shortly thereafter, the Arrowhead team announced that they would be rethinking their approach to balancing with the help of a 60-day update plan. Now, the first major patch of this plan has arrived, bringing a lot of fans back to the front lines.
Adios , armor – hello fire damage!
The biggest change brought about by the update concerns the armor of enemies. You can now do something about it again. On the one hand, the damage and effectiveness of weapons such as the heavy machine gun or the flamethrower have been increased, while on the other hand, tanks such as the Charger or the Bile Titan now have poorer armor.
In general, most primary weapons were buffed with the update, while you yourself, for example, take less headshot damage, but are more vulnerable to other parts of the body. You can read about all the changes in the detailed patch notes.
On Steam, the patch is particularly noticeable in the player numbers. After these have fallen continuously since the last update, they are currently climbing again to over 68,000. It remains to be seen whether this will also be reflected in more positive reviews, as the recent ratings on Steam are currently still at an “even” level.
In mid-August, Arrowhead commented on the negative feedback that followed the Escalation of Freedom update. The approach taken with this update was not the right one, which is why the 60-day plan is dedicated to a fundamental overhaul.The following updates should focus more on the fun factor instead of mere balancing, for example by promoting weapon diversity and gathering more feedback from players.
What do you think of the new patch? A first step in the right direction or just a drop in the ocean? Feel free to tell us in the comments!