Helldivers 2 is getting a new “Chemical Agent” Stratagem next week, but you’ll literally have to pay or grind for it.
… so it’s exactly the same as every warbond?
Had me worried it would be exclusively $$. This is just a garbage article about something that’s been that way since the beginning.
If the goal is bringing back players, it’s definitely not the approach I would have taken. If the goal is to just continue milking the existing user base, then it will have no effect.
Bringing folks back is them making weapons suck less again. I am definitely going to log back in on the 17th to try all the weapon buffs, see if any of the ones I had high hopes for are fun now that they can actually kill things. If it’s fun again I’ll grind out some super credits and get the warbond just like always. If it’s not fun enough I’ll go back to other games. Same as always.
I don’t fully agree with people’s idea of what the weapons should be to make it fun. Though I completely agree that your interest in the game is probably how a ton of people are with it now.
Helldivers is a more niche game than it was at first glance. The gameplay loop isn’t for everyone and specifically the gameplay loop is 10x better with 4 known friends in comms playing together.
I think the nerfs to weapons (flamethrower didn’t actually get nerfed, they just make flames actually work correctly and not penetrate literally everything so you can run around being master chief 1 man god army) actually made the game more like the intention: mid completion rate, success by the skin of your teeth, extraction extremely optional because the divers are just a part of the military industrial meat grinder so the loss of life doesn’t matter. That is what makes for all of the epic moments, not 1 manning level 9 bugs with flamethrower and a jetpack with relative ease.
The game just isn’t made to be as fun solo queueing sadly.
is also the natural progression of a PVE game. You have huge playtimes early on and it falls off hard after the first year when people get board. PvP games always retain players much much better (excl to big to die MMOs)
They continually took away the fun things, if Flameththrowers were truly “fixed” then it was at the worst possible time.
Chose the railgun on first play; Amazing weapon, took down chargers, titans, all of it. It had a huge risk of exploding yourself. Quite a bit of fun honestly.
Railgun now; Even if you manage not to explode yourself, its gonna take 20 shots to kill a titan. Maybe. Chargers? Good luck, 5 shots and you might take out its leg armor. Wtaf?
Eruptor; Beast for bots. Took out missle launchers in a decent amount of time, you also would kill yourself if you shot it to close.
Now: No risk sure, but you’re not gonna dismantle bots with it.
Personally; I liked the guns being OP, you felt like a true war hero raging through, whos really only susceptible to being overrun. So you play careful, you retreat when bugs are going insane, you make sure to do objectives the right way. BUT YOU GOT TO HAVE FUN WITH WEAPONS YOU CHOSE.
Now its either play the meta weapons, or yeah, you’re gonna fail every single base defense mission ever. Even when you always play with 3 other buddies in a discord call.
Seriously, we went from base missions being a 100% success on level 5, and being insanely fun and tricky at 7. Now? Yeah, its a 100% for sure way to kill your operation even at level 5 because the guns simply suck ass.
Honestly if they didn’t go so overboard on some of the nerfs people wouldn’t have cared as much and would’ve continued playing. Like the grenade pistol rework was not that bad and actually made it better in some ways. But most of the other nerfs weren’t justified. For example the flamer was good for keeping enemies at bay but its reload time, slow aiming speed and limited range made it so that there was an actual risk meaning you couldn’t just solo any but that jumped at you.
There were also alot of duct tape solution nerfs like the railgun and eruptor which were bugged(both did way more damage than they actually should’ve) and instead of fixing them they just removed/nerfed crucial aspects to how they work. Because of all of that alot of guns were rarely if ever used, with people sticking to a few select weapons and not experimenting at all since most weapons would never be as effective as the meta weapons people would use.
If you can earn it in-game, it’s not locked behind a paywall. Bad headline is bad.
The original set of strategems were so damn cheap even if they were in game currency.
Farming credits isn’t that hard and I’m surprised it wasn’t like this in the past.
The least p2w game in the last decade. Somebody is mad about messing w the algorithm.
it’s unfortunate that they are going down this route. stratagems are one of the main appeals of the game, missing out on primary, secondary, and throwable weapons due to not having a warbond isn’t nearly as disappointing IMO.
something i’d like to emphasise for people who think this is no big deal, because you can earn credits by playing: not everyone has the game amount of time to play as you might. those players don’t have a choice of grind for it or pay for it, for them it’s pay for it or lack the stratagem.
Sounds to me like it will cost the same as any other warbond, 1000SC? Sooooo…it’s click bait?
As someone who is really stingy on spending my SC until something interesting comes along it’s fine. I saved enough do that when the last update came along I got the Fireproof Underwear because I just happen to use the flamethrower load out a lot, and I still have 1000+SC
It’s fair for them to offer new stuff this way, because people will spend money or they won’t, and either way it’s not too daunting of a cost.
the difference is that, stratagems have been (until this point) been unlocked with requisition slips, not with the super credits. additionally, it might not be a daunting cost to you, but it might for others, always something to keep in mind!
Yeah I get that, * do understand the struggle, but is it something you can’t achieve?
I mean, do you play the game to have fun or to get shiny objects?
I personally (again, my perspective and with loving thought of you in mind as well), haven’t unlocked all the stagems because I enjoy the lower levels with randos and only venture upwards with a good squad that’s gone through a couple missions already. There are those who take the game way to serious, and those who love to play dolly and dress up. Everyone is different and everyone enjoys the game for what it is: a broken, frustrating, amazing, repetitive, surprisingly entertaining time waster.
Keep that also in mind.
As the game is, it’s not a necessary addition by any means. So no, it isn’t a big deal.
Though I don’t know the price of it, I know it doesn’t take too long to play your way to enough “Super Credits” to pay for the Warbonds. I can’t imagine it’s so much more expensive than that.
Also, people may not like to hear it, but only they have a responsability in what hobbies they themselves choose. If you don’t have the time to play a grindy live-service game, then don’t buy it. Yes, that choice lies with you and you alone.
Neither the Developers or anyone else, has any responsability as to how you choose to spend you time.
There’s a million cool hobbies out there, find one that fits your schedule.
Edit: The entire article reads as if it was written by someone that hasn’t played the game. They use the words “Warbond” and “Stratagem” interchangeably. And write as if the Warbonds didn’t cost ‘Super Credits’ before. You’ve never been able to pay for a warbond with anything else.
it’s a major shift in how warbonds work, for that reason alone it’s a big deal. as far as responsibility goes, i’d invite you to find empathy for those who were suddenly impacted by this change. additionally i believe we should be advocates to make more experiences accessible to all people, regardless of financial constraints, time constraints, or other circumstances.
As I said, the article is very poorly written. I’m unsure if they mean that there’s a Strat’ coming that’ll cost “SC” or if they are referring to the Warbond. Because Warbonds have always cost 1000SC. Zero change.
And no, it’s only your responsibility whether or not you engage with a specific game. There’s tons of great games out there, not every single one has to cater to your specific needs.
Welp, as it turns out, it was just another Warbond. Not a Stratagem that cost Super Credits.
So same old, same old…
im not sure if you looked inside the warbond, but it does contain a stratagem
No, it doesn’t. It contains a Support Weapon and it’s just the flamethrower, but green.
You’re not missing out on anything other than the gas grenades and skins.
And the grenades can’t open loot containers or close bug holes/fabricators. They are tiny versions of the Gas Strike orbital, but without the explotion.
ah, i think i understand your confusion
support weapons are a type of stratagem (you can see other support weapon stratagems here ) unlike normal weapons, such as primary, secondary, or throwable weapons, support weapons are stratagems that are selected before each mission alongside three other stratagems. you can then call them down using their respective stratagem code, and they will arrive in a manner similar to a resupply or like the machine gun support stratagem in the tutorial.
