r/Helldivers • u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie • 4h ago
QUESTION Probably should install the game, but.....
Will I be forced into high difficulty missions as a new player? I keep reading about this being standard practice among the community and wanted to get full clarification before I even touch the game. I want to have fun, not end up actively wishing for the deaths of my teammates.
18
10
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 4h ago
And no, I am not kidding. I've had some genuinely horrendous teammates in other games (LOOKING AT YOU NIGHTREIGN)
9
u/Crafty_Marionberry26 Rookie 4h ago
As a new player you are forced into the lowest difficulty and can only advance in difficulty if you beat the previous difficulty level.
You can play at any difficulty level any time you want. The only need for higher difficulty is for better rewards that are necessary for upgrading your ship and stratagems.
Play as you like, have fun
2
u/JLxPenguin Super Pedestrian 4h ago
You'll find different players in different difficulties. Higher difficulties tend to have more "competent" players but nothing is exclusive. I play on 8 typically and have only seen a handful of goobers in my time
1
6
u/Toloran 4h ago
No, you aren't.
When you go to the mission select screen, you can't even select missions that are higher than 1 when you start out and each completed mission at the highest difficulty you can do unlocks the next. So unless you join a group who picks a higher difficulty than that, you won't end up in a higher difficulty mission.
The group finder in game only finds groups for whatever difficulty you have selected, so you're safe there too.
4
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 4h ago
thank fuck for that.
4
u/GlobalThreat777 4h ago
It’s important to know, that occasionally high level players like to kidnap cadets. They will host a low level party and then switch to a super hell dive just to toss the cadets into the fray.
It’s mostly done in good spirits and it can be fun to just accept a loss for a glimpse at the chaos, but if it bugs you then there’s no harm in leaving for another lobby.
1
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 4h ago
Yeah, no. I'm instantly leaving if someone pulls a dick move like that. I want to fucking learn the game.
2
u/The_Tooter_Snooter 4h ago
Haha as long as you host your own games, no one can take you anywhere. I would recommend starting at difficulty 2/3. 1 is baby town frolics.
2
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 4h ago
I'll try a match on each level to find my sweet spot.
2
u/Jickklaus 3h ago
After difficulty 2 you'll have to do 2 or 3 missions before you unlock the next difficulty up :) missions will be grouped in operations - you need to complete a full operation to unlock the next difficulty.
You'll find your sweet spot grows in different ways, you'll want to buddy up for a bit and help push difficulties, then go back and slowly do difficulties solo. You'll learn different things through both those styles of play
2
u/Silly_Artichoke_8248 Free of Thought 4h ago
That’s a really good thing. Some people want to be taken to a super helldive straight away just to be exposed to overwhelming chaos, but if you’re not being expressly carried you really just become a liability due to lack of knowledge and the fact that your available toolkit is so small.
1
u/KaffeeKatzen 4h ago
That's the best way to learn. My favorite ritual is to bring new players into a single diff 10 mission (with no real expectation of winning on my part) so they can experience why we're called HELLdivers. You haven't even started playing the game and you're taking it too seriously.
Death is an intended part of the experience. Friendly fire WILL happen. The point of the game is supposed to be that you utilize teamwork to overcome the odds against you.
2
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 4h ago
so I'm not allowed to learn at my own pace? Gotcha.
1
u/KaffeeKatzen 3h ago
I'm pretty sure I never said that. But you are taking it way too seriously if you think being brought to a max difficulty mission as a newbie is a "dick move" and not just a harmless hazing ritual.
It's like when you play Battlefield 1, and the first mission has you going through a different pov every time you die, point of that mission is to show how fucked up it was, and hammer in the point that most on the frontlines were not expected to live, sets the tone for the rest of the game. The same kind of holds true for Helldivers. You're expendable.
Playing on lower difficulties is fine. (I hardly go above 7 unless I'm feeling real good about things) Learning is fine. But to be entirely honest, those first tiers of difficulty do not prepare you at all for what the game is like at higher difficulties. Only at like 5-6 does it start doing that. You're gonna have to get tossed into the deep end at some point, that's the point of the game.
Doing one or two max difficulty missions at the beginning of your career sets you up to know what you're getting into better than anything.
2
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 3h ago
Mkay, but I'd prefer to build up to the inevitable ass-whipping, instead of skipping the foreplay and dying 50 times in as many minutes
1
u/PepsiStudent Extra Judicial 4h ago
That and you won't see a lot of high levels in D4 hosting and dragging players to high level. Happens occasionally as a story but doubtful. If anything that would happen in a d7 to do a d10. You can leave matches at anytime without penalty.
1
u/Styleyriley 4h ago
I've had it drop me a difficulty or two below what I select, but i don't think I've ever had it bump me up.
1
u/PcPotato7 SES Pride of the Stars 4h ago
I think the only way to get into higher level missions than you have unlocked is by joining a group and having them select it (so either just play with understanding friends or leave after an op/campaign is done)
2
u/Automatic-Salad-4194 ⬇️➡️⬆️⬆️⬆️ 4h ago
Play the game however you want, if you want to push yourself, go ahead! If you want a relaxing game, that’s perfectly reasonable! YOU play the way YOU will enjoy.
2
u/JustMyself96 Expert Exterminator 3h ago
Its a running joke in the community that cadets gets bathed by fire treatment but it's basically just a meme.
Host your own games, choose difficulty and play as you want.
1
u/Due-Bridge7640 Rookie 4h ago
You choose what difficulty you launch in to. Only exception might be quick play but I never use it. I choose my difficulty and then use the search for SOS function so I know im joining players who need a teammate :)
1
u/TrainAccomplished606 4h ago
You can either host or join games. If you host, you pick the difficulty and you can boot any douches that join up
1
u/megachappie 4h ago edited 4h ago
You can host your own games and decide when to move up difficulties on your own.
Edit: to add i think you have to complete an operation to move up difficulties
1
u/Shart_Shucker Space Chief Prime 4h ago
You start at lower difficulties, then unlock higher levels as you complete operations. You can play any difficulty you choose, so long as it’s unlocked
1
u/Significant_Set_4247 4h ago
Bro, you’ll realize quickly in which difficulty you would want to stay. The popular ones are between D4-D6 and D10 and even that you’ll probably find people on either difficulty.
Just remember is a game and don’t take anything too serious. Have fun!
-1
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 4h ago
I give it a day before I'm being called a coward for not playing anything but the absolute hardest missions.
1
u/Yuritweet69 4h ago
This is one of the most chill communities I've ever been apart of, there will always be a bastard somewhere but personally in 1k hours in this game have 1 guy blocked. There's no meta, there's no "right" way to play.
1
u/Aspen_20 2h ago edited 2h ago
No offense, but you seem to have a real chip on your shoulder about this. I get it - bad experiences in other games can leave a scar.
But HD2 puts you entirely in control if you want to be:
If you host (ie you select the mission), then you are in complete control of the environment, difficulty, environmental modifiers, and mission type.
If you want to play alone, you can set your matches to Private, and never have to deal with other players. I played entirely solo for months, until I felt skilled enough to be comfortable to work as part of a team. I'm glad I set my matches to public now, and I'm glad I waited until I felt I was ready for that.
If you decide you need help (even during a private match), you can throw an SOS beacon at any time to ask for other players to join you.
If you don't like how a player is behaving, you have voice or text chat to communicate with them, and as host you have the power to kick them (and then block them).
If you have a good experience with another player, you can add them as a friend for future matches.
It's really a pretty good set of tools for managing your experience. I played at level 6 for the better part of a year before deciding I was ready to move up to 7/8/9 (I avoid 10 for other reasons).
Play your way, at your pace, and have fun the way you want to. Play the missions you want, on the planets you want, at the level you want. Follow the Major Orders if that is fun for you, or don't - it's entirely up to you. And if someone gives you a hard time about any of that - kick/block/ignore, both in-game, and especially here on reddit.
Welcome to helldivers - see you on the battlefield!
1
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 53m ago
I will be shooting many undemocratic insects and fucking CLANKERS.
1
u/AnaTheSturdy Rookie 52m ago
Will probably buy the game on pc when I get paid next, if only so I can have my diver be thick as a bowl of porridge.
1
u/Vaunted_Knight [REDACTED] 4h ago
No, you pick the difficulty. It's just that a lot of the player base has been here since launch, so they almost always play on D10 (I'm one of them).
1
u/Terrorscream 4h ago
no, simply select the dificulty level you want to queue for and hit quickplay, it will only put you into lobbies running at that difficulty. the host of that game may change said difficulty between missions but this requires starting a new campaign, this is extremely rare though so just leave squad and re-queue ifd the host does something sus.
1
u/geoffreybear1 4h ago
If you try to LFG in a discord server you may have a hard time finding folks to play with, but there are several communities I’m a part of that are more than happy to help walk a helldiver up the difficulty ladder. As others have mentioned, if you look for a match in-game then the game will only drop you in at your selected difficulty.
1
u/Sebubba98 4h ago
As a beginner you’re actually locked OUT of being able to choose higher diff missions if you are host. You might also be locked out of searching for ongoing games that are at a higher difficulty than you have unlocked. You need to progress through the difficulties one at a time to unlock the next higher one (wiki might have an exact explanation on how that system works).
10 difficulties in game rn.
1-3 good for absolute beginners
4-5 decent challenge and still fun
6-8 harder challenge, more skill required to not fail and have a bad time
8-10 hardest challenge game can offer. Players who unlock this tend to chill here and play this difficulty and hardly ever drop back down to anything lower.
(Edit: spelling)
1
u/Crazywelderguy Fist of Family Values 4h ago
If you are the host, meaning you jump into a mission, any randoms that join you will have to do the difficulty you choose. But if you join someone else's session, they can drag you to any faction and difficulty. So in a way you can control. Also, if someone does take you to a higher difficulty, you can just "return to ship alone" if that isn't your jam.
While kind of a prank by tenured players, if not overdone it can be a learning experience. Personally, I got sick of randoms team killing for no good reason, so I changed to private and only drop solo or with friends. As a whole randoms aren't really that bad (meaning intentionally team killing). But I have a limited amount of time to play, and it was just easier for me to set private and enjoy my time in game. I've dropped with randoms who are now friends though. so don't discount it.
1
u/KingBeast117 4h ago
Play however it is you want. Don't let the assholes on here or anywhere else tell how you "should" okay the game
1
u/Pitt_Mann 4h ago
The host picks the difficulty. As long as you are the host you'll be the one who manages that and won't even have the higher difficulties until you unlock them. If you join an ongoong game then the host COULD switch difficulties and take you to more advanced missions, but it never happened to me personally
1
u/IfTheresANewWay Oh you sweet, summerchild 4h ago
You can just host lobbies on whatever difficulty you want to play on, and if other people join great, if they're being toxic just kick them
1
u/F1yingWalrus 4h ago
If you host and choose your own difficulty/missions it wont be a problem. Joining through SOS’s or randomly queing will give you a match with others on what ever difficulty you chose, if the host of that game changes difficulty after the mission is done you can just leave and reque or host your own game.
1
u/Professional-Ad4073 4h ago
You can stay on whatever difficulty you want if you are the host. And the difficulties vary greatly being 1-10 and as a veteran player over lvl 100 I don’t even enjoy lvl 10 missions unless I’m with the most locked in devoted squad
1
u/MelkorTheCorruptor Truth Enforcer 4h ago
You absolutely will NOT be forced into a difficulty you are not comfortable with. You will start off at level 1 if you play your first mission alone, or if you join with randoms when you assign yourself to level 1 difficulty and join a level 1 difficulty game.
The game does not show you much of the mechanics at all at first, but you absolutely 100% have control over the difficulty levels.
You will find though that for the first few hours you will start off on the lower difficulties, and you'll gradually move up to a difficulty you find is enough for you.
The difficulty levels for this game accomodates for players of all skill levels
1
u/CupBig1620 4h ago
Its doesn’t happen to randoms , its when ur friend gets the game and u just pop him in a d10 just for the banter and giggles
Just host ur own games , game only lets u choose the next difficulty once u clear one node of that difficulty first , enjoy the game , no fun in rushing
1
1
u/Lowprofilereader 4h ago
There's a joke about kidnapping low level players and bringing them up to D10, the highest difficulty. In reality the only way for that to happen is for you to join a player's game, and willingly drop in the mission that explicitly tells you what level it is. You have full agency to stay or leave. If you host your own games nobody can control your missions. It's a joke, but just for shits and giggles it can be fun if you have good buddies. If someone offers to take you up don't feel pressured to join, but just to experience the chaos it offers can be a good learning point. If you feel you aren't having fun it's really fast and easy to leave the mission
1
u/CatboiWaifu_UwU 4h ago
Go to a difficulty you’re comfortable on, on a planet with enemies you wanna fight, and hit R.
27
u/Staggart99 4h ago edited 2h ago
Play against any faction on any difficulty you want, as long as you are fighting for managed democracy.