Helldivers 2 Update Plans for Next 60 Days Revealed in Response to Escalation of Freedom Changes

Just last week, Arrowhead Game Studios released the “Escalation of Freedom” patch that introduced new enemies, a new difficulty level and loads more. As is with almost every major update for a live service game, this also included gameplay adjustments, weaponing tuning changes and the like, which didn’t resonate well with players.

Today, the studio (posting on the game’s official Discord channel) acknowledged the missteps they made in terms of balancing. While they can’t undo everything in one go. the studio did reveal the plans they have for Helldivers 2 in the next 60 days in terms of updates. According to Game Director Mikael Eriksson, they have been listening to feedback since the Escalation of Freedom update, and admits they haven’t hit their target with it, and mentions how they need to address “other more fundamental inconsistencies in our approach to game balance and game direction.”

Here’s what the studio plans to do for Helldivers 2 in the next 60 days:

• Continue to re-examine our approach to balance. Our intention is that balance should be fun, not “balanced” for the sake of balance.
• Update how the fire damage mechanic works to tweak how the flamethrower serves as a close range support weapon. (A quick straight revert won’t work, as it would break other things)
• Rework gameplay to prevent excessive ragdolling
• Re-think our design approach to primary weapons and create a plan for making combat more engaging
• Re-prioritize bug fixes so that the more immediate gameplay-impacting bugs are prioritized.
• Improve game performance (frame rate is a focus)
• Rework Chargers

Additionally, from a bigger picture perspective we will be:

• Exploring creation of an opt-in beta-test environment to improve our testing processes and we consider this a high-priority.
• Post regular player surveys to gather more insights and feedback from the community.
• Improve our process for patch/release notes – providing more context and reasoning behind changes.
• More blog posts and streams where we expand on these topics for those interested.

Speaking of updates, there was one released today, which included adjustments to weapons and stratagems alongside other fixes.

Stay connected to MP1st and the latest news by following us on Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google News.