The great Helldivers 2 rush of 2024 is behind us. While the monster hit isn’t drawing the same crowds it did at launch, this isn’t a sad or surprising development. The $40 co-op shooter kept millions of fans engaged for months with its incredible gunplay, rapid-fire updates, and a surprisingly deep galactic war metanarrative that delivered unprecedented moments of collective victory and grief. Those millions of players experienced everything Helldivers 2 had to offer, unlocked all the content available, and have since moved on.
Responding to a series of unpopular patches and recognizing that their previous update schedule was unsustainable, Arrowhead has announced a slowdown in warbonds and updates. The upcoming warbond will be the last for a while, and Thursday’s patch is arriving after the longest wait for balance updates since launch. According to Arrowhead’s preview, this patch is shaping up to be Helldivers 2’s most significant update yet:
- Visible supply lines
- Patrols and spawn rates reverted
- Invite-only lobbies
- Super samples at level 6
- 100+ changes and fixes
You wouldn’t think “Supply lines!” would get people excited, but they are a potential game-changer for how Helldivers 2 players interact with the galactic war. Until now, supply lines have been routes between planets only visible by visiting a fan-made website. These links show which planets are affected by each other when they are lost or retaken by Super Earth. If a planet low in the link chain falls into enemy hands, all of the subsequent planets fall too.
As Helldivers 2 evolves with this new patch, players can look forward to a more strategic and interconnected experience, even if the updates are coming at a slower pace.
The ability to cut off supplies from multiple planets at once was the basis of the Martale Gambit, a community-devised plan to liberate two planets for the price of one by exploiting the Automaton supply lines. The gambit ultimately failed when not enough divers rallied to Martale to finish its liberation. It’s believed the plan could’ve worked if more players had known about supply lines. After Thursday, everyone will.
This patch marks a big moment for Arrowhead as it adopts a slower update schedule. “Similar to our future approach to Warbonds, this is so we can dedicate more time to each patch to reduce the pressure on our teams, dig into your feedback more, and deliver higher quality patches,” the official Helldivers Twitter wrote.
As Helldivers 2 evolves with this new patch, players can look forward to a more strategic and interconnected experience, even if the updates are coming at a slower pace.
“We’re very aware that going from quick, small patches to slower, bigger patches means your expectations are higher. While we think the next patch is strong, with lots of bug fixes & requested features, we’re definitely not resting on our laurels or being complacent.”
Many of those “100+ changes and fixes” are likely balancing tweaks to weapons and possibly enemy health pools. Studio head Johan Pilestedt recently mentioned that he believes time-to-kill is too high across the board. Players can expect large swaths of buffs, more consistent enemy spawns, and hopefully an end to dying instantly from bile bugs.
This patch marks a big moment for Arrowhead as it adopts a slower update schedule. “Similar to our future approach to Warbonds, this is so we can dedicate more time to each patch to reduce the pressure on our teams, dig into your feedback more, and deliver higher quality patches,” the official Helldivers Twitter wrote. “We’ll continue delivering patches and content that squash bugs and evolve the game. And, most importantly, evolve the game WITH our players and community. We sincerely thank you for your patience and support as we’ve made this adjustment.”
As Helldivers 2 evolves with this new patch, players can look forward to a more strategic and interconnected experience, even if the updates are coming at a slower pace.
Consider checking out my YouTube channel for more Pop-Culture news!
https://www.youtube.com/@reviewflicks
Comic Flick News 
Leave a comment