New Dev Blog regarding update

[Raiko]

https://www.arrowheadgamestudios.com/2024/03/balancing-the-firepower-in-helldivers-2/

"It is extra important to us to tread carefully so that we don’t ruin fantasy and fun when we do nerfs. We hope you, our players, will tell us when we cross that line inadvertently."

We are telling you already, the railgun nerf was too far.

"However as a designer I can tell you this is not a great idea"

I really hope you also understand how many games took this "I know better than the players" approach and how it worked out for them.

[Malidictus]

The spirit of that blog post is in the right place, but some of the axioms it assumes are not. For instance, the developer seems to assert that primary weapons are supposed to suck - obviously not in those exact words. No reason is given as to why that needs to be the case, beyond "you have to rely on your Strategems and team-mates". Thing is, you could absolutely do that without primary weapons feeling terrible to use - which most of them did. Granted, we saw buffs to some of the worst joke weapons, but their core ideology remains unchanged.

Similarly, nerfs to the Railgun seem to at least superficially show that they're aware of the AWFUL state of anti-tank weapons in the game. However, this feels like an admission at gunpoint. That is to say: it feels like this developer doesn't believe anti-tank is lacking, but also can't deny that players definitely feel that way. No mention is given to Charger/Bile Titan design, which suggests they either aren't aware or aren't bothered by their generally bad design.

I definitely appreciate this more open communication. I just hope some of the player reaction can be taken into consideration, rather than digging heels.

[Raiko]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

I definitely appreciate this more open communication. I just hope some of the player reaction can be taken into consideration, rather than digging heels.

This is essentially my feelings as well however over on the discord they are actively deleting negative feedback so it seems pretty doomed.

[Ferrix]

Wait are they actually straight-up deleting criticism? Jesus.

[Nteger]

This blog post worries me more than any nerfs they could have made. I've stopped playing the game until they fix the real issues with the weapons, but now they're saying that they aren't going to, because you're not supposed to be using them in the first place.

[RedPepper93]

Originally posted by Raiko:

Originally posted by Malidictus:

I definitely appreciate this more open communication. I just hope some of the player reaction can be taken into consideration, rather than digging heels.

This is essentially my feelings as well however over on the discord they are actively deleting negative feedback so it seems pretty doomed.

really? wow, that's very crappy from their part

[gzd]

Patch is a failure. This blog post just shows to everyone that they are being arrogantly wrong about things. Imagine having access to all of the metrics then just blindly following the numbers like it's numerology or some other BS. No, you are supposed to use the numbers to gain insight into REASONS why the metrics exist as they are, and then make changes according to that insight.

[Ferrix]

I genuinely wonder if they're trying to depower the arsenal to make the vehicles seem good by comparison...

[GFish_]

The developers say that players need to rely on Eagle strikes, orbital bombardments, and turrets, but these are hindered by various negative planetary traits. The Railgun was particularly favored because once equipped, it wasn't affected by the randomness of support requests, delays in Eagle deployment, suspension of strategic support, or increased cooldowns.

[jautja]

Originally posted by Raiko:

https://www.arrowheadgamestudios.com/2024/03/balancing-the-firepower-in-helldivers-2/

"It is extra important to us to tread carefully so that we don’t ruin fantasy and fun when we do nerfs. We hope you, our players, will tell us when we cross that line inadvertently."

We are telling you already, the railgun nerf was too far.

"However as a designer I can tell you this is not a great idea"

I really hope you also understand how many games took this "I know better than the players" approach and how it worked out for them.

comments are blocked (there was no rudeness in the comment)

[Silverlight]

It sounds like an overwatch blog. Super patronizing and filled with goop about why changing numbers is the best approach to game design

Here's an idea devs:
Add a new, cool, enemy that the rail gun struggled with, while, maybe, the flamer excelled at. ..
That's balance by design in reality.

[NoLifeDGenerate]

My reply, which they probably won't approve on there:

It has nothing to do with “fantasy.” It’s about “FUN.” Most people don’t find nerfs fun. We want some OP options to unlock and wreck ♥♥♥♥. Some of us greatly miss the days when we could unlock totally OP weapons or in-game cheats by completing hard challenges or just grinding until we were OP on something.

Furthermore, capping all the resources kills the game for many players. If we can’t stack samples anymore, there’s no reason to look for them or extract at all. Frankly, there’s no reason to keep playing on higher difficulties either. It’s just tedious because devs nowadays are more obsessed with balance and control than fun. Why have squad leaders if we can’t choose how we host? We can’t turn off your ♥♥♥♥♥♥ modifiers and just enjoy the planet we like. We can’t choose which mission type we play beyond a set of 3 randomized ones from an already short list…made shorter because some mission types don’t appear at all difficulties. Again. WTF? Let people play what they want how they want, or we get bored/annoyed and move on.

[Rager]

The developers prove they are clueless. If this is really the truth. Why did they design Hell Dive like they did?

[Muhspaceaids]

Literally Blizzard's "You think you do, but you don't." in regards to previous expansion servers.

Now advancing to Cataclysm Classic because it was so popular.

Hate when Devs act like clowns. We, the player, know what we want. I promise you we do.

[Rampage]

they already ruined fantasy and fun when Joel can just step in and say nononon lolllll do the objective again! Making it so it seems completely out of lore and makes us feel jaded, I dont even bother doing galatic objectives anymore until the timer reaches 12 hours before the end.

Anything you do before that is just wasted effort anyways thanks to JOEL

[Baelog]

Nerfs are bad, mmkay? You don't want to nerf things in a PvE only environment, mmkay? Just buff everything else to be better, mmkay?