Helldivers 2 players are pushing back against 'meta' builds because they just want to have fun

Some Helldivers 2 players are seemingly urging others to play the game with a 'competitive' nature, and a lot of players aren't having it.

If you didn't already know, 'meta' is a phrase ascribed to something that's popular in an online competitive game. This might be a particular character paired with a particular weapon, for example, like how the R-99 submachine gun was absolutely dominant in the early days of Apex Legends, and therefore deemed the 'meta' amongst competitive players.

It seems some Helldivers 2 players are trying to figure out the game's meta, much to the derision of others. The subreddit post just below, for example, is critical of players calling out their teammates weapons. The 'Breaker Shotgun' is deemed to be one of the more powerful weapons in the game right now, but the post below argues that not everyone has to use it, just because it's popular.

PSA: Don't be "that" guy. from r/Helldivers

"No one wants to play with the sweat screaming commands into their mic like they're on the front lines of 'nam in a life or death situation," the player writes. But, they add, this situation actually flips on the higher difficulties, where teamwork is required for a successful mission - if you're just fooling around with a weak weapon, then it's logical that your teammates would be slightly annoyed.

Similarly, the post below argues that streamers are damaging the team-based nature of Helldivers 2 by trying to create builds that are viable for solo play. Helldivers 2 is a game that's meant to be played as a squad, not on your own, and so YouTubers or streamers that are trying to urge others into playing solo are sort of missing the point of the co-op shooter.

I've never seen streamers do so much damage to a playerbase from r/Helldivers

A commenter even claims that they got "kicked" from a match for stealing 'Samples' from their squad mates. Samples are universally shared across an entire team, so if one person bags a Rare Sample, it's shared among all players, but apparently some people haven't worked this out yet, and are kicking their allies out of games for what they deem to be theft.

Finally, the subreddit post below claims that players are 'farming' the Defense-based missions against the Automaton armies. Completing a campaign requires players to complete several missions in a row, but according to the user below, some are quitting out as soon as they complete the Eradication-type mission, instead of seeing the entire campaign through to its end.

Farmers are ruining the defence campaigns. Every time I join a game, it's just people doing an eradication mission, then quitting and starting another one over and over. No wonder we're losing. from r/Helldivers

This can seriously hurt progress, because it drastically reduces the chance a campaign will actually be completed. If the Defense campaign isn't completed, it paves the way for the Automatons to claw back the planet, and makes other squad's hard-fought victories against the robots feel worthless. Please don't be like this, is what the user above is writing.

The good news for players it that Helldivers 2 nearly doubled its server capacity earlier today, February 23. Up to 700,000 players can now play Helldivers 2 simultaneously, which sounds like fantastic news, but one lead has warned that it still might not be enough for everyone to bag a spot this weekend.

Read up on our Helldivers 2 Stratagems guide for a look at the best gear for the right situation.