After unleashing 100 changes, Helldivers 2 boss says the team is still looking into more Stratagem improvements: "We are not done"
The eternal fight to balance
Despite having today deployed over 100 changes in Helldivers 2's biggest ever patch, developer Arrowhead Studios is supposedly still looking into improving Stratagems.
The big ol' patch included tons of changes, fixes, buffs, and more with invite-only lobbies and visible supply lines on the Galactic War table being the highlights. But the patch also tweaked around 20 different Stratagems "to make them more viable and add more opportunity for variety in loadouts," according to a blog post from director Johan Pilestedt. "We also changed a few to make them more consistent, but the goal was to keep a similar or higher power level."
If your favorite Helldivers 2 Stratagem was left off the list, worry not, Pilestedt assures that the team is still "looking into the Stratagems more to see if there are any other Stratagems that might need some buffs or changes to make them more viable," before adding that "we are not done, we will continue to refine and improve the play experience to keep the game fresh!"
Among the changes are buffed durability on almost every turret Stratagem, lowered cool down and call-in times for the Orbital Precision Strike, and boosted damage for the machine gun family of Stratagems - MG-43 Machine Gun, A/MG-43 Machine gun Sentry, A/G-16 Gatling Sentry, and EXO-45 Patriot Exosuits Gatling.
What might get tweaked next? Pilestedt singles out the Anti-Personnel Minefield and the MD-I4 Incendiary Mines, which are supposed to viably block off pathways, as tools that "are currently not very good at filling this role." While Arrowhead just buffed the mines' damage output, the team "will be looking more at them in the future." The Eagle Strafing Run will also be tweaked in future patches after just receiving an armor penetration buff, while the team is "open" to tweaking the Eagle Rocket Pods dependant on feedback.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.