The Helldivers 2 devs have spent the week or so promoting a major patch aimed at addressing a whole pile of player concerns, but one developer is offering a reminder that this one's about evolution rather than revolution.
On Discord, community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson was asked how he'd rate the new patch on a scale of 1-10. "I'd rate the patch a strong 7 or an 8 (or a 3+ to -4 if you prefer)," Twinbeard says. As for why it's not a 10/10, he adds that "I'm picky in terms of grading and review scores. If everything's great, what do you say when something comes along that IS truly great? So yeah. A solid patch with a bunch of changes; evolutionary rather than revolutionary."
Twinbeard has said similar things in the recent past, noting that the upcoming update won't be the "biggest patch of all time." A proper 9 or 10/10 patch, in Twinbeard's estimation, would take "new substantial game mechanics or systems being implemented that also improved the game as a whole." Stuff like new areas, vehicles, enemies, weapons, and the like.
What this upcoming patch will feature is a whole lot of buffs. The Railgun's power is getting quadrupled, the controversial Flamethrower changes are getting rolled back alongside a 33% damage buff, and the Breaker is getting buffed back to what it was at launch. Exactly how all these buffs work together in practice remains to be seen, but even if this patch isn't "revolutionary," in Twinbeards words, it seems the community is anticipating a big step in the right direction.
After an eventful year, Helldivers 2 devs hope "it will be less of a bumpy road when it comes to release accuracy" - but Arrowhead is still "prepared to take risks"
Marvel Rivals director on Helldivers 2 nerfs and how a little "psychology" could help us cope: "sometimes it's good to frustrate the player"
