Arrowhead CEO Responds to Criticism and Lessons of Humility from Reddit. Helldivers 2 May Get Test Server
Shams Jorjani agrees with some of the criticism of Helldivers 2 following the release of the Escalation of Freedom update, but also points to a problem with the „subjective” fun of the game.
The developers of Helldivers 2 are considering the introduction of game test servers following the disappointment of many players with the release of Escalation of Freedom. Shams Jorjani, the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, mentioned this in response to a post by one of the players on X.
The Swede followed the example of the actions of the studio's previous CEO (currently supervising the Helldivers 2 team, but also on vacation) and has been very active on social media since the release of the big update. Furthermore, it appears that Jorjani is genuinely attempting to respond to the criticism and collect feedback on the reasons for dissatisfaction, rather than simply trying to calm the situation.
We owe this to various posts by the CEO of Arrowhead Studio. Including the one in which Jorjani agrees that the team now needs to make an effort to regain the broken trust of players (via Discord), and other messages where he makes a lot of more specific promises.
Subjective fun problem
In one post, Jorjani addressed the problem with criticism of Helldivers 2 updates "spoiling the fun," primarily in the context of weapon nerfs. The developer emphasized that "fun" is a highly subjective thing. Some players will prefer a significant challenge, while others prioritize relatively carefree clashes with hordes of aliens over "realism" and balance.
The head of AGS concludes that the devs of HD 2 must put in more effort to tailor the gameplay to "different play styles" (via Discord). Hence the idea of test servers, which is on the "wishlist" of Arrowhead Game Studios.
Diablo 4's example
Helldivers 2 may therefore follow the same path as Blizzard did with Diablo 4. The game initially lacked a Public Test Realm (PTR) found in other games, but after the poorly received 3rd season, the developers yielded to the players' requests and threats. The result was a much more successful Loot Reborn, and the current Season of Infernal Hordes also turned out well (at least judging by the current reviews).
Players of HD 2 had been requesting this feature long before some of them were put off by the constant weapon weakening (via Reddit). Now, when the Escalation of Freedom has "nerfed" certain weapons (primarily flamethrowers) again, besides too few buffs, this idea probably has more supporters.
Exaggerated reactions
Of course, the main purpose of such tests would be to obtain players' opinions, to avoid introducing more controversial ideas. However, it might also be worth mentioning another aspect: the ability to test the changes could reduce the sometimes unjustified reactions to nerfs.
The main criticism in the reviews revolves around the changes to the game's balance, even though the recent review bombing of HD 2 is also caused by issues unrelated to gameplay. The decision to weaken the SG-225ZP shotgun (Breaker Incendiary) in version 01.001.002 has received significant criticism.
The catch is that from the beginning, some internet users pointed out that the weapon is by no means "dead."Some critics admit that their grievances stem less from the SG-225ZP's weakening and more from the devs' "promise-breaking" (although Pilestedt, who told about moving away from "killing fun," was absent and may not have overseen the update).
Despite being understandable, rapid player tests demonstrate that this specific weapon remains effective in combating bugs. However, not all players consider this as a valid argument in the discussion about "nerfs," judging by the discussion under a certain post on Reddit.
Reddit and the humility of Arrowhead's CEO
Jorjani also advocates for making statistics on the use of specific weapons by players publicly available (via Discord). This would at least enable players to see the specific data that guided the developers (even if the "usage" itself isn't a convincing argument for all fans).
There are also many minor or more general suggestions that the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios refers to. Jorjani claims that as of yesterday he had received "over 200 tweets" on this topic (via X). He also assured that the studio is conducting discussions about the current situation.
Jorjani also mentioned that - as he put it - "Reddit, as usual, made him humble," referring to the post with his comment ... and a graph showing the negative reviews on Steam.
Fire-themed warbond and flaming survey
It should be added that a new Warbond was released today, Freedom's Flame. This pass introduces fiery weapons (ironically, considering the changes in flame behavior).
The developers also used the opportunity to confirm talks in the studio regarding player feedback on the "fix" for how fire operates (via Discord). Discord users can also participate in a survey on the assessment of Escalation of Freedom. So far, opinions are mixed after casting over 13,000 votes.
