Helldivers 2’s Mega-Buff Patch Triples Playercount Instantly

It seems as if Arrowhead has finally gotten the message, that Helldivers 2 players are tired of feeling weak against enemies and want more diversity in what loadouts they can bring into battle to survive. Now, Helldivers 2 has gotten what is very much its most buff-heavy patch ever, not just countless buffs to weapons and stratagems, but it’s essentially a rebalancing of how the entire game plays. And players are loving it.

The patch more than tripled the game’s playercount on Steam, going from a 22,000 peak the day before to a 68,000 peak the next day when the patch was fully rolled out. It’s a larger surge than even the game’s biggest update a few weeks ago which added a lot of new enemy types and maps, but also came with nerfs players hated.

That peak is the highest playercount has had mid June, three months ago, and a significant spike for a game that has seen close to nothing but declines since release. We don’t know how long this surge may last and if it will create a new, higher baseline, but it’s certainly brought a lot of players back to try it out. This has also resulted in a surge of positive reviews on Steam, a barometer of how the community is feeling at any given time.

Here’s what Arrowhead said, in part, about the goals of this patch:

“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.”

As for the future of the game, the invasion of the Illuminate is still on the horizon, and now that will likely go better than it would have otherwise in this new, rebalanced phase of the game. Though I would not rule out the alien race showing up and being the most challenging faction of them all, at least for a while, to indicate their high threat level. We’ll see, as we’ve been waiting for them to show up for a while. And Arrowhead is not even done with its long-term buffs plan yet.

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