Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead needs "more time" to get an upcoming weapon balance patch right, but fret not, the team is "cooking."
A user in the Helldivers 2 Discord recently asked an Arrowhead community manager whether they had a timetable for a new weapon balance patch launching, as seen in the screenshot below. The community manager responded that the developer needs "more time," but reassures the player that "we're cooking."
Twinbeard on timeline for weapon balance patch from r/Helldivers
Arrowhead hasn't said anything official about a new weapon balance patch for the last few weeks. Given, however, the state of live service game development, especially one so scrutinized as Helldivers 2, it's a safe bet that some sort of rebalance is basically always underway at Arrowhead.
- After an eventful year, Helldivers 2 devs hope "it will be less of a bumpy road when it comes to release accuracy" - but Arrowhead is still "prepared to take risks"
- Helldivers 2 has an endgame problem, but a developer assures us "things are coming," they just can't say what yet because otherwise our expectations will be too high
This could also be the fallout of Arrowhead taking its time with updates going forward. Earlier this month, the Helldivers 2 developer said it would take all the time it needed to fix enemy spawn issues that have been plaguing the game over the past few weeks, instead of merely rushing a fix out of the door.
This is so the developer can get the fix just right, rather than having to patch it again later on down the line. It's not hard to see how Arrowhead could be taking on a similar line of thinking with the new weapon balance patch - get it right first time, rather than implement something and be forced to update it repeatedly, costing developers precious time.
The comment follows Helldivers 2's own game director agreeing with some balance complaints, saying that Arrowhead often mistakenly stamped out fun aspects, just as the community was uncovering them. Back in March, a Helldivers 2 balance dev said the "don't nerf, only buff" was a horrible approach to game design, and they believed the community is "scared of nerfs." This isn't a new conversation surrounding Helldivers 2, but it's reached a new level of intensity of late.
Arrowhead reveals the Helldivers 2 ideas left on its cutting room floor, from 5-player squads to low-gravity planets and a whole new armor system
Helldivers 2 has a Major Order problem, but the solution isn't simple because "having 100% participation means the MOs will always be won and that introduces other issues"
