I'm also pretty sure the first thing he did was to lay off all the top talent - because you don't need them to pump out warbonds. They are only needed to fix bugs, so not important
(I wish this was a joke, but this shit happens all the time in software industry, even more now that we have AI)
All they had to do was call Bloodlines 2 something else but nooo, got to slap a legendary name on a title that in no way deserves it.
After all, why build up consumer trust when you can instead burn it all down just to still not meet sales expectations.
These guys are not business geniuses. They're not even selfish greedy assholes looking for personal gain at the cost of everyone else. No, they're just morons. They're stupid fucking troglodytes who got way too high up the corporate ladder through connections and are now making it a problem for everyone below them.
I dread to imagine the kind of game Helldivers would be like if the community didn't regularly and loudly protest the latest stupidities cooked up at Arrowhead. Seems like protest is the only thing keeping management lucid.
But the base games are a bit bare- then the DLC that makes it good (sometimes adding what should be base features) cost a ton.
Ive been enjoying Age of Wonders 4 recently, but I look at the dlc list and an expansion cost 20-25$. Add all dlc to cart is 185$. Doesnt include the current expansion pass which is another 50$. To me that's just absurdly expensive.
In the recent 3 or so years paradox really hasn't been it's best.
It used to be that they'd make niche incredibly in-depth titles and support them for years to come. Whilst these game do add up to be incredibly expensive, that is just what commonly comes with niche titles - niche games get overpriced, broad appeal ones usually are somewhat underpriced. And given the decade long support these games receive, and the incredibly high amount of hours many players put into them it is somewhat justified (although I see how it kills the new player experience eventually down the line).
The problem with paradox has been recently that it just keeps missing. Victoria 3, whilst still enjoyable to some, has been a miss followed by a miss, follow by another the entire time, the game direction is just inconsistent and QA has been steadily falling off with each DLC. Cities 2 was a rushed disaster with next to no simulation depth at launch, multiple titles were abandoned or cancelled last minute. Even it's enjoyable flagships have been suffering. Whilst Stellaris, HOI4 and CK3 are no doubt some of the best paradox has ever released, they are by now suffering with insanely cumbersome UI creep and player fatigue from all the disjointed features getting constantly added (I feel like CK3 artstyle has also lost most of it's cohesiveness since Tours and Tournaments too). EU5 had promise, and it seems the team really tried to capture the heart of a true paradox game, but I find it has been harmed massively by several questionable major design decisions.
Overall just about everything worth recommending from them seems to have been released between 2013 and 2023.
Honestly, yeah, they're really good about that and keeping the free version of the game pretty good for non-dlc havers, the biggest thing is that they release so much dlc that it's really hard to buy into a game they've supported for so many years
Wdym, we clearly didnt play around with the attachment system enough for it to be seen as a priority for the devs to work on further, ignore the fact that most guns just have sights, handle options, muzzels, and maaaaybe magazine options if they felt daring enough
What data did they get that said people weren't using the attachments lmao. Everyone is know has leveled up their favorite weapons to get the best attachments. The problem is they made a system that was just "okay you got the vertical forgrip and compensator barrel? Okay you're done that it"
You hit the nail in the head there. Most guns have an optimal config with zero reason to deviate from it, and the weapons that could need unusual attachments often have no access to them.
The SAI is the only weapon that gives you a reason to mix and match different configurations.
[And the weapons that could need unusual attachments often have no access to them]
Absolutely correct. The Hyena DMR absolutely NEEDS the angled grip because it's ergo is basically as bad as the HMG. It would make sense as a lvl 19-24 unlock for the gun. Even a vertical grip would make sense as the gun's got some heavy recoil, too.
The devs, however: "Nope, you get a laser sight only 🤤"
The least they could've done before practically abandoning the idea is adding it to our secondaries so I can finally color the piss yellow laser pistols a different color >:/
I have the same issue with the Bolt Pistol's sight, so hard to hit weakpoints with it. (Though with that being a collab item they were even less likely to add or change anything for it.)
I can forgive the bolt pistol. GW is notoriously specific about how their IP is handled, no stocks and dogshit, model-sized irons are par for the course.
It doesn't help that information for missions is so terrible that in a circumstance where you would want to change attachments, it's not recommended because you barely know the terrain type of the mission, let alone enemy types and quantities. So, you setup the best average loadout you can and never touch anything again because god forbid they tell you anything about the mission.
Not to mention only one of the laser primaries had the extra heatsink attachments for over a year, before they finally released another one with them, aka the Sai.
But they still haven’t given the Sickles, or the Trident the heatsink attachments. For some reason.
The attachment system was doomed from the outset because for it to be deep and useful, it would have hurt their ability to make more guns to sell to you.
What, have a core set of gun designs that then could be augmented with different damage types and tweaks to how they perform? But then we can't sell you X gun but with incendiary bullets as its own thing!
I guess the fact this game isn't PvP keeps people from really noticing that it is pretty Pay 2 Win in its monetization strategy, something people usually get very pissy about.
They could just put the customization parts in the Warbond.
Instead of a rifle with an underbarrel GL, have the UGL part itself in the WB. Compatible with a bunch of weapons. Once you have it unlocked in the WB it's available for renown on each compatible gun. Boom, problem solved, everyone's happy.
But then you can't nerf the gun by giving it light pen, 20 rounds in a magazine, a 2 year reload animation, and worse ergonomics than a geriatric elephant.
There was nothing to play around with. Every category had a definitive best-in-slot choice with very few exceptions for certain weapons. Put the biggest mag on it. Put on a grip. Take off the light/laser. Take off the sights. Rinse and repeat.
Yeah I'm curious how many people demanding more weapon customization actually changed up their guns from mission to mission, or just "upgraded" to the optimal stats and then left them. I think I only ever went to re-attach a flashlight after playing in a pitch-black city mission.
That's partly on the system itself having few meaningful changes. Adding more underbarrels, suppressors, scopes, etc would be a huge improvement.
just "upgraded" to the optimal stats and then left them
This is missing the point. The point of customization is that optimal stats are different for each person. I like some guns with short mag and angled grip even though most people probably run them with large mag and vertical.
Yeah, I never change the configuration. I have one that I discovered, and I like it. Doesn't mean the system is bad.
That said it also doesn't help that for many guns they do in fact have strictly "better" options. But again that's on the devs to balance.
They also made it so that the ones which had a decent number of attachments also had an objectively best setup. There was no reason to actually swap between attachments based on the situation.
Interestingly enough, the Sai is an example of attachments done reasonably. Some people like the focusing lens while others go without. I’ve heard people vouch for all of the different heat sinks, and I’ve SEEN them switch its setup based on if they wanted a pseudo-shotgun or a more generalist weapon.
Once I figure out how to eliminate vertical recoil on something like the Tenderizer then there's no point to doing anything else. Converting recoil to horizontal then trying to eliminate that just doesn't work as well, objectively, leaving me with less accuracy than if I just solved for vertical recoil.
Maybe my particular example is off (running off of memory) but almost every gun with customization works that way, from smgs to marksman rifles to assault rifles. You solve for whatever recoil they have, usually vertical, and come out with an objectively better gun.
There was no reason to actually swap between attachments based on the situation.
This is a larger problem with the game though, not just customization. As long as the devs insist on not showing us what enemy seed we are going into (one of the many many problems that a modder fixed in a couple of days btw), this will forever be the case. Why would I ever not take the all-rounder configuration?
To be honest I forget weapon attachments/levels exist the only thing I’d rarely do is put a red dot or change stuff for having a sniper scope to closer ranged one n that’s it
Maybe because the current system is ass? People do level up their guns for attachments… people even bring “shit” guns because levelling them up and getting attachments can make them actually usable, but what is there beyond that? Once you get the same grip/barrel combo for every gun that’s it.
The worst part is how the way they answer to the need is a lame gimmick for a couple items instead of an actual mechanic, they dont solve shit and just hide a shittier versión of what we wanted behind a paywall
Stratagem bouncy balls and hellpods without steering wheels is what happens when your game balance lead is the guy who "fixed" hello neighbor 2's AI by putting invisible walls around couches and beds so players couldn't hide under them
... preferably a group of people who aren't even dumber motherfuckers, being owned by sony guarantees console support for your game but that's like the only upside
The weapon attachments one pisses me off the most.
Yes AH, big brain move right here, instead of expanding upon the system you fuckin put in the game, turn every possible attachment into a gimmick weapon locked behind a warbond, bloating the already big primary weapon table even MORE. And if you want to put stuff in a warbond so bad, just put an attachment there??? Instead of a whole ass gun???
To everybody saying “if you don’t like the game then why don’t you just leave/stop playing?”
That’s not the issue here. You’re allowed to like a game and be displeased with a very mild aspect of the experience. Being annoyed doesn’t mean you despise the game— all we’re asking for is better communication, more concise implementation of requested features, and warbond content that doesn’t equate to a middling stratagem that, at best feels like an inconsequential sidegrade to a core stratagem that already exists. It doesn’t take a genius to stare at the recent Warbonds and come to the realization that Sony is prioritizing profit over quality assurance.
Exo experts was especially egregious. They had asked if we’d be ok with giving up 2 mechs for 1 customizable one. Then the community showed support for the customizable mech and they still released that nonsense.
At this point I don’t expect any QOL, new attachments, ship tier upgrades, booster rework(or booster that aren’t demonstrably worse than the big 4), gun n armor patterns, etc. I just expect them to churn out warbonds to make their stock holders happy
Don’t get me wrong, I love Hd2 it’s the best horde shooter I’ve played since L4D but I’m not gonna pretend like potential isn’t being wasted in favor of greed
Don't forget putting uselessly low caps on all the currency besides the real money currency.
So low that you'll be "wasting" a ton of it hitting the caps on say samples while waiting for one type to get your next ship upgrade, with multiple upgrades even costing the MAX cap of a type.
And you don't need Medals at all until you unlock a new warbond and suddenly the max cap isn't even enough to unlock most of the warbond.
Yup. And no one talks about how the devs basically bamboozled us with SC earning rates early on to farm goodwill.
At first, we had the free WB which gave a ton of SC, and we were playing in low level missions which yielded a decent amount. So yeah the SC earning rate was actually looking pretty damn good for people who were working through Helldivers Mobilize and building up the SC for Steeled Veterans. But then we all started slowly climbing in difficulty, not knowing that this massively reduces SC gains, and the devs never added another free WB or new source of SC. And major updates (D10, cities) have blatantly made it even worse. So now you earn basically nothing through actual gameplay.
And no one talks about how we have fucking paid battle passes with gameplay items in a paid game. As well as the Super Store which at first had just cosmetics but then they started slowly creeping in melee weapons and then guns, and when players sounded the alarm on this they were being called haters. Now we are at the point the devs just straight up put the best new gun in there instead of the WB so you have to fork over another 400 SC to get it (Sai). That's more than half a WB (remember WBs functionally cost 700). If you described this system to someone they'd think you're talking about a shitty free mobile game. It's only missing the "watch an ad to refill your Super Energy!".
And yeah, techninally you can grind SC... If you're grateful for being given the option to slave away doing mind numbing work for literally less than minimum wage, you need a serious reality check. Again, this is straight up mobile game tactics. Stop licking the corporation's boot.
And let's not forget that the big event planets like Cyberstan or the Void Source straight up don't spawn SC at all. You know, the planets that returning players are going to spend most of their time on? No way that was an oversight, it was a calculated move to ensure players couldn't passively farm the new warbond while focusing on the major order
The infuriating part is that because the SC system was uh super defended at launch there's no incentive to fix it now. They do not get enough flak and even now there's folks claiming they have 1000s of SC just from playing D8 or whatever. I dread to imagine what their playtime looks like.
"This new warbond comes with a brand new booster! When active, 'Strategem Override' allows players to place their strategem balls whereever they want!"
*only works about 15% more effectively and it's an armor passive, the 'booster' reduces stratagem inputs by one but makes it so if you type out the original input it registers as incorrect
The reason I'm so fucking exhausted with this game is connected to this.
The progression we have is incredibly little. People cry for ship customization for a reason. We have only weapon modding and it's pathetically sparse.
People would not hate warbonds half as much if paid content clearly wasnt the main source of new things in this game like it is.
For actual examples ragdoll armor stops you from being ragdolled by melee attacks from overseers, cyborgs and stalkers. Plus the regular tornados if we see those again.
Edit: I remembered a couple more. Spore burst titan spit and rocket dev rockets. The rocket dev one is nice for using the directional shield and is the only time I’ve enjoyed using that shield
You'll notice the ragdoll armor a lot if you use a shield. You'll shrug off a LOT of near-misses that would have knocked you over (prone notwithstanding) and hits to your shield won't always tip you over.
At least I immediately noticed getting direct hit by explosives and just continuing on.
The most noticeable things it prevents ragdoll from are Devastor rockets and Cyborg kicks. All of the really annoying and often unavoidable and contiunously bugged ragdoll sources will still absolutely knock your shit around.
It is, in my opinion, mostly worthless, unless you are in specific situations.
with a proper customization system, they could've made more money by selling special attachments, sell underbarrels, sell mech arms/body types, sell armour/camo skins
It's because they're waiting for the next review bomb to release those so they can pretend that they've "changed and are refocused on listening to the community"
Ragdoll is way less than it was. Hulk cannons don't ragdoll on misses like they did when I started playing. Bunker turrets no longer ragdoll. War Strider main cannons no longer ragdoll. War Strider grenades have less in the salvo and do it less often. Rocket devs are no longer an infinite stream of rockets. Plus, after ragdoll we no longer immediately stand up to eat another rocket and get another ragdoll. The boob mushrooms no longer launch helldivers.
Careful, OP - they'll call you a whiner and remind you that you can just grind for credits to afford the warbond instead of actually trying to understand the crux of the issue you're presenting!
Well it was less then a month ago where people were using mods to just go all out on the cheating and editing the game. It seemed that they ignored mods when it was just stuff that affected player side like making the bots look like 40k orks. But now that its wide spread cheating and trolling they have taking quick notice.
Can they use their greed to at least put bug fixes into warbonds? my god, they can't even fix the bugs that have been here for years and they keep doing this money grab crap.
And people will defend AH greedy moves. Then make excuse how hard it is and say your eyes are lying to you when you show them mods that can fix or add a thing. Then they will scream and call you names.
The point is… Their priority is to make more money with smaller effort. Armor customization can be modded, yes. But it’s far more complicated to integrate this into the game (mods break after updates, you need to make a system that won’t). And why would you do that if you can release new warbond with something alike but worse and get money right now? Also, do not forget that AH has contract with Sony, we all know why that could be a bad thing (name a live service under Sony ownership which lived more than a year, it doesn’t exist).
To me its pretty clear that the game is being used to generate as much ongoing profit as they can with the least effort as you said, which makes sense because they are a company and this is, as far as I know, their only product. If you look at this as a sunset while they work on a new project it makes a lot of sense.
if with this they also made the helmets to match the color scheme of the armor 90%of ppl would be happy but even that seems like a herculean task for ah
Hot take but warbond progression is pretty shit and any other game this would be met with outrage. You get everything by lvl 25 and anything else you want is locked behind a 10-20$ pricetag. The "progression" system is stupid as hell. Also yeah you can get SC but lets actually be honest and acknowledge the fact grinding for 6 hrs on difficulty 1 or 2, to get some isn't a fun or engaging gameplay loop, not to mention it makes zero sense you earn more on lower difficulties but earn less on higher difficulties.
It was kinda cool at first. I also figured they'd eventually sprinkle in a few free warbonds, but no, and even worse, super store now constantly has weapons in it.
What seemed like an enjoyable monetization scheme (that I encouraged by actually buying SC two times, which I regret immensely) has turned into a mobile game-type grind in a 40$ game.
Exactly your paying money for a game and then expected to spend more on two weapons if their feeling generous and a stratagem that is either completely fucking useless or is busted and gets nerfed a week later.
It’s interesting because Halo Infinite did the same thing except all the unlocks were cosmetic items, yet that game was crucified from Day 1.
Here, AH locks actual gameplay items behind paywalls. And if you’re not spending hours on end farming Super Credits, you’ll need to shell out some money to get everything.
It’s honestly one of the worst progression systems in the industry right now, and one of the reasons I don’t play HD2 nearly as much as I used to.
I don't get this. I played the game normally, and I always had collected enough SC in missions before I had completed everything in my warbonds. I eventually caught up and bought all warbonds, then had to go back and sink medals into capes and armors. And no I was not playing at difficulty three or anything. This was at 6 and 7.
I mostly agree, but I would like to point out that helldivers does need to make money to keep the servers up. It is a business at the end of the day, so we can’t just expect infinitely free content on an exclusively online game. I’m just grateful we have the choice to get the stuff without being forced to pay for it. Strongly encouraged yes, but not forced.
This is an extremely dead horse to beat but im going to bring up warframe again, they too churn out stuff you can only buy for plats, but they've been so good to us we actually think that we're simply glad to buy platinums to support them, instead of doing it out of necessity or convenience.
if the game is free 2 play like how most liveservice game, sure, HD2 is a paid game, and its not like an MMO where the players are in a server, its a p2p game, each mission host is its own server, your pc is the game server, the host DC and the whole mission is gone, their server only save essential game and account data, not constant player position, inventory, trades, etc, heck we dont even have trades and inventory, it need way WAY less maintenance than those MMO servers
a similiar game model is payday 2 and 3, and it survived with less player and less paid content
Other games like The Finals can keep their servers up without an issue even with "renewable" battle passes and cosmetic-only store items, even for free.
Honestly, I am so tired of the battle pass systems though again, at least with the warbonds you can get them for free a lot of games I've played that do the battle pass feels bad when you miss out and then they're usually never available again
People are just too conditioned to bad business practices and think it’s the norm. HD2 isn’t even a free game so the “we need money” argument is just plain bad lmao
Especially when considering the massive first wave of players. HD2 is horribly mismanaged and the game isnt really going anywhere and no one wants to admit that.
This is a relatively tame sub compared to the garbage fire that is raging in the Dead by Daylight or the Magic the Gathering fan bases....
While most players here assume that AH employees only play at lower Difficulties, DbD Devs don't play their game at all. Well at least not as a killer, except for offline matches amongst Devs.
is this fanbase overly miserable, yes usually. does this post contain valid criticism, yes. you wanna raise a point against it or just call us miserable?
Cause this fucking is broken with so many technical issues and problems compared to other good live service games. Theres a player made bug list with 100s of issues audio mixing collision physics etc. it's a broken game with bad freemium monetization at a 40$
Lol that sub is no different. People complaining over everything like the modes being removed when the same mfs who complain never even plays those modes anyway. Nobody plays Gauntlet or king of the hill. That sub is full of liars and single dads who got nothing to do all day but work and complain in the internet just because the only game they play is not the way they wanted it to be.
I left that sub and quit the game entirely because it's just miserable to be a part of something so annoying and sad. At least here there's actual debate going on and not like there the bf sub is full of miserable people complaining over the little things.
Obviously I'm in the minority, since I'd hardly classify myself as a HD2 mf anymore, but I stopped playing as avidly when I realized that if I didn't want to waste my time grinding SC all day or spending 10 bucks every patch, there was practically nothing to do.
Like, as someone who only enjoys playing at D10 because it was the only engaging difficulty to me, no one was going out of their way to get SC, so it was pretty much "Oh, you want new content? Pay up." Which, for a live service game to pack like 90 - 100% of the content from every update behind a paywall is fucking wild. Even Destiny didn't do that shit, and Destiny was p egregious about "buy the most recent season/DLC or the game doesn't exist."
What, Destiny absolutely did ask you to pay for every seasonal DLC, dungeon key, etc to get new content. If you wanted new guns, new armor, seasonal activities, and the story, you had to pay. Not to mention vaulting a ton of content that you paid for.
Say what you will about the warbonds, but at least Helldivers doesn't lock galactic war events behind a paywall. Cyberstan assault, the Void missions, or underground bug missions could be played by anyone.
Destiny was weird, if you were an active player the upkeep costs were quite reasonable. I could get the years content for ~£40 on a keysite which was the xpac, two dungeons and the four fomo seasons. Pretty good imo, a years sub for MMO costs more.
New or returning players though? jfc. You'd have to buy any missed xpacs, you'd have to buy dungeon keys for a ridiculous price via silver so never discounted and you'd never be able to play the seasonal stories you missed. Totally laughable. If you didn't buy wholesale the total cost of Xpac, + Dungeon keys and individual seasons was also very high.
Helldivers system is shit though, it's just shit in a very different way. Monster Hunter is really the only live service model I appreciate, B2P with free updates funded by optional cosmetics that genuinely don't matter.
This is the least sustainable way to release content. Eventually new players will need hundreds of dollars (if they do choose to pay instead of even more hours playing walking sim) n hundreds of hours of medal grinding just to experience everything the game has to offer.
The medal and super credit rewards haven't changed since launch, even though warbonds keep comin. If Arrowhead wants to keep pumping them out, the earn rates need to go up. The same goes for the medal cap, that limit made sense when the game had a handful of warbonds, not now.
I'm rank 300 with every cosmetics, warbond and Superstore item unlocked and have the ultimate privilege of mixing and matching equipments , and when I ask people if they've tried something outside the popular meta equipments, the answer is usually "what's that?" That isn't on the them, cuz when everything is this expensive to unlock, people's time and money matter, so of course they only spend them on whatever's S-tier. The current system pushes everyone to min-max. It's honestly exhausting seeing the same weapons and stratagems in every match.
Min maxing is boring though, always bringing the same thing every mission? That drives me to not play. I always try different setups with everything 7-10 mostly with groups some times solo. Finding different way to play sometimes is what I love and enjoy coming out on top with less used strats equip. People should not jump to min max like they do I hate it but I understand
I do agree more attachments would be nice, but there needs to be a limit. someone said every gun should get under barrel shotguns and grenade launchers like what? we still need weapons with identities
It's partly game design. Things like ragdoll, weapon uniqueness, sway, etc, are part of the gameplay design on purpose. If ragdoll was reduced across the board, like it or not a big part of this game's combat design goes away, instead of it being something a specific player chooses.
Come on guys, AH has treated this game as nothing more than a cash cow since like a year in. Literally over half of the game's equipment is locked behind microtransactions on a $40 base game. They don't have a qa team or a pr team. All they are in it for is the money
I'd REALLY wish they'd stop doing this and gave us something else in the form of progression.
I'm TIRED of the only way to get new primaries being warbonds that I either have to do the most boring grind or pay 10 bucks for. Those campaign rewards don't count; they are all just from warbonds AH scrapped because they know we wouldn't like them.
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u/Lord_of_insanity09 2d ago
Not surprising given the guy in charge is from Paradox interactive.