Helldivers 2 players slam “terrible” nerfs to popular weapons: “We wanted buffs”
Arrowhead Game StudiosThe Helldivers 2 01.000.100 update brought a whole host of balancing changes, but players have been left furious by some of the nerfs included in the patch.
No Helldivers 2 mission is a walk in the park, so it’s no surprise that players often come up with tricks and exploits to try and ensure success. They also spend hours coming up with the ideal loadout to help them survive, from weapons to Stratagems.
But, this often meant that the community would end up running a fairly similar loadout for each mission. So, in the March 6 update, the devs looked to balance some of the more popular equipment to urge them to mix things up.
The SG-225 Breaker, RS-422 Railgun, and SH-32 Shield Generator receive three of the biggest nerfs, as the devs felt that “all three of those were quite strong with too little downsides, overshadowing all other options on higher difficulty levels.”
However, plenty of Helldivers 2 players have slammed the nerfs, arguing that the game is less enjoyable as a result.
“So they just nerfed everything good without making other things better, like the burst rifle and antimatter sniper,” said one reply to the patch notes on Reddit. “I hate when games do this.”
Many Helldivers 2 players argued that nerfing popular weapons in a PvE game where powerful equipment is less of an issue is a less rewarding way to make missions more difficult.
“The railgun nerf is definitely the worst. I don’t even use it but a massive nerf like that without compensating buffs in a PvE game where balance is allowed to be wack?” said another reply. “That’s a bit f**ked. If they want to change the meta at high difficulty this is not the way to do it.”
In fact, most seemed to feel that the answer would be to buff the less popular weapons in the game in order to make the meta more balanced, as it would mean more viable options at higher difficulties.
“I f**king hate nerfs. Just buff the crappy weapons. Don’t make every weapon feel like s**t,” argued one fan, before another added: “Ah yes, the classic nerf everything so every gun feels like s**t instead of buffing sh**ty guns. Terrible patch.”
Only time will tell how severely these nerfs affect the meta in Helldivers 2. But with more and more content reportedly coming down the line, it likely won’t be the last time the devs drop an update as more issues arise.