While Helldivers 2 had a rocky launch, the community stood by it. Despite the server issues, the lack of rewards, and the constant crashes, fans didn’t bat an eye and kept spreading some warm democracy across the galaxy. Overall, the landscape seemed hopeful and wholesome. Or that’s how it looked until the recent patch brought unwanted nerfs to Helldivers 2. It seems that waiting hours in a queue to enter the game was fine, but a few tweaks to some guns that didn’t ruin them was the last straw for gamers.
Helldivers 2’s Latest Patch Brings Nerfs to the Meta Build But Buffs Other Weapons
If you didn’t know, the latest patch brought many balance tweaks to the game, focusing primarily on the “meta” build. This loadout saw every Helldiver brandishing a Breaker, Railgun, Shield Generator, and certain stratagems. Due to the recent fix, the Breaker’s efficiency was adjusted, but it wasn’t ruined.
Before you burst faster than a bug hole, let’s look at the facts. Previously, the Breaker was allegedly the only viable gun in the game. That was not the case. That primary weapon, accompanied by certain Stratagems, generated toxicity in the community, leading to players getting kicked from matches if they didn’t have a specific loadout. Also, for the outraged fans, the latest Helldivers 2 patch, didn’t nerf the gun completely, at least in terms of damage.
The recent update increased the shotgun’s recoil and reduced its magazine capacity. That’s it. As for the Railgun, it reduced damage against armored parts but didn’t make the weapon obsolete. It just means you need to aim better and save your ammo. On the other hand, weapons such as the Flamethrower and Laser Cannon got significant buffs, which is great.
As you can see, several users have flooded the game’s subreddit, claiming this is a poor choice from the developers. Many mention that if only two guns “worked” in the game, why change them? Sadly, it seems the majority of the playerbase shares this feeling. Some even claim the developers only focused on balancing shotguns, whereas rifles were completely ignored.
On the other hand, we have users claiming this was the right way to go. Now, players will have to experiment with other weapons as the Breaker is now at the same level as certain guns, making every other armament viable in the game.
If you ask me, I see this as a huge blessing in disguise, but the dust needs to settle first. I switched my matchmaking options to private and have been doing operations on my own. Why? Because I don’t like the “meta” loadout. It makes the game stale and boring if you can’t use the other guns it has, and you know what? There are plenty of things you can use to kill enemies. So, why should we stick to one safety bubble where only two guns work?
With these changes, I’m not afraid to join other freedom fighters in the game again without fearing getting kicked. Furthermore, something people aren’t discussing is the new environmental hazards. Yes, you’ll now see fire tornadoes around certain planets. How is that not a conversation topic? Ultimately, we’ll have to wait for the community to calm down and realize that the developers are pushing us to try all the game’s weapons. And in the end, I feel that’s a great way to encourage players to leave their comfort zone.
