“Revisit Your Roots” Helldivers 2 Players Offer Constructive Criticism and Suggest What the First Installment Did Better

Arrowhead devs have been working extremely hard to deliver some of the best content this game has seen so far. The Heart of Democracy update brought back tens of thousands of players, and many stayed even after the Battle for Super Earth. However, as you are probably aware, every update can introduce some new issues and bugs. So, given that this game has had its fair share of updates over the past month and a half, many new problems have arisen. Returning players also noted that the course of the game seemingly shifted. Thus, the Helldivers 2 community politely asked the devs to remember what worked in the first installment, and, honestly, we love this form of constructive criticism.

Criticism Doesn’t Have to Be Destructive

Now, if you’ve been playing Helldivers 2 recently, you probably fought on the Squid front at some point, right? And there, you’ve probably seen the Leviathans. And they probably obliterated you.

The developers have been unsuccessful in balancing this annoying unit for weeks. This week, they added a light that would “mark” the target, and somehow, the situation is worse than before. Even though smoke should help, it often doesn’t, and it seems that the Leviathan predicts the player’s next move. The situation is quite dire.

Of course, Helldivers don’t shy away from criticizing the devs, so social media has been overflowing with complaints, requests, and even threats. However, not many players suggested how to fix the issues. Well, one Helldivers 2 player, damnmaster, actually offered some constructive criticism.

This player explained that the biggest issue was “unfair attacks”, meaning that if you were targeted, there was no way to escape. They used the first installment of Helldivers as a good example of how the devs should create/rework the enemies. In Helldivers, there was (is) always a clear way to deal with enemies. Sure, some enemies were hard to defeat or escape from, but you knew what you had to do.

So, the OP suggested some ways that the devs could improve the Leviathans. First, they suggested replacing fire with lasers, as that could give a Helldiver a chance to escape. Next, they noted: “Have breaking LOS cause the aim of the ship to have to recalibrate. The easiest way to teach this is to have the light change colour depending on how close it is to locking onto your position. It then requiring a few seconds of LOS breaking to reset”. Which leads to the final point: “Going prone should have the shot miss you”.

Helldivers 2 Players Offer Some Constructive Ideas

Many Helldivers appreciated these ideas. They even elaborated on the idea of the devs revisiting the gameplay and mechanics of the first installment. Sure, these two games are quite different, but some aspects of the original game could improve the sequel.

Sharblue listed: “Actually scalable difficulties. Actually interesting objectives (minefield or escort). Extensive weapons upgrade paths. Lots of vehicles. Lots of different and effective weapons. Stratagems upgrades. The Recoilless Rifle duo reload actually useful. Readable enemies, either by sound, or by their actions”.

Hundreds of players liked this player’s suggestions. But it’s not just the ideas, it’s the philosophy behind the ideas. The devs need to find a way to balance the game so that it’s demanding, but not impossible to enjoy. Now, since those are quite subjective things, the devs have quite a task. And, truthfully, they’ve already come a long way. So, we’d say that even if they don’t decide to fulfill all of the players’ requests, they are doing an amazing job.

Of course, the players should always voice their opinions and ideas. So, if you have any, feel free to share them with us! The Major Order is in progress, so you’ll still find us on Alamak VII. For Liberty and Super Earth.