Helldivers 2

It indeed lacks an offline mode.

Helldivers 2 absolutely is a live service game. It doesn't get as much flack for it because the live service elements flow naturally from the core design (and are very similar to Helldivers 1) and don't feel stapled on.

And that's really the problem with Live Service games nowadays. We've had live service games in general for decades so their existence wasn't the problem, it's making everything live service whether it improves the experience or not.

Helldivers 2's live service systems have found greater acceptance because of its total lack of FOMO:

- Its version of battle passes never expire, so you can unlock them at your leisure instead of worrying they'll disappear after the season ends.

- It also doesn't rely on limited time events with content or rewards that's only accessible for a few weeks before being withdrawn for a long time (or forever).

- On top of that, newly added weapons serve as sidegrades rather than straight upgrades, so there's no obligation to get them ASAP (provided Arrowhead can sort out their balancing issues). Meaning you can stick to the starter weapons and strategems and still contribute greatly in missions.

Ultimately, not feeling like you're punished for taking breaks from the game is hugely refreshing.

Alright. I may give it a miss unless there’s something very compelling happening to draw me in.

There's a lot of hidden and partially hidden math behind how liberation works (and what's shown after completing operations is a placebo that doesn't reflect the actual math) but the very short version is that it's a community effort and the larger the percentage of the playerbase is on a planet the faster a planet gets liberated.

New Warbond! Looks like they're adding an updated version of the PLAS-1 "Scorcher", among a whole host of other goodies.

Edited by ReginaldOgron5 on May 2nd 2024 at 5:42:55 AM

Aren't those Stormtrooper skins?

Arrowhead has been entirely conspicuous about what they're about, so I'm going with yes

So the modifiers seem to be frost gear making it easier to traves ice and snowy environments.

Means we're now getting planet specific gear.

Then I can't wait for them to release the flame-resistant armor so I can be continuously annoyed at flame tornadoes without the sweet embrace of death being able to grant me a reprieve from them homing directly in on me

According to the description the gear is mostly frost-themed, the armors are servo-assisted (increased throw range), fortified (explosive resistance), and an unspecified one whose description reads like engineer (+2 grenades)

Edit: notably the first armor (the winter warrior set) is described like a stealth armor but has servo-assisted as its listed passive, so :sparkleshrug:

Edit 2: apparently the description got updated the third armor is scout rather than engineer.

Edited by 4maskwolf on May 2nd 2024 at 12:09:18 PM

I've noticed the number of players on the Automaton front are at an all time low.

The automaton front, all things equal, has always been the less popular (about 2 to 1 favoring bugs), and there's a major order on the bug front right now after a long drought of story content for that front. Not too surprising tbh.

Several bot planets only have a couple hundred on them, which is nuts.

Really? All the memes I've seen show the bots being way more popular to fight.

But the last few Major Orders have mostly been bot-focused, so not that surprising that so many people are fighting bugs, too.

Starting May 6th, you have to link your steam account to a Playstation account for safety features, and can't opt out.

Whelp, good going killing your game on PC, Sony.

How many PC players are there?

The game is one of the best selling games of the year because of PC, not PS 5, from what I recall Mat Piscatella said in his round up of best selling games of the year so far, and that its apparently the 7th best selling Sony game of all time.

This is gonna kill the games momentum, since you HAVE to get a PSN account now to play on Steam. And Playstation's online infrastructure isn't known for being the best when it comes to security.....

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on May 3rd 2024 at 6:59:21 AM

I'd still imagine that a decent chunk will be willing, but I hope they'll change their minds if it starts to negatively impact numbers.

Allegedly this is apparently so Sony can have more control of trolling and griefing players to punish them more easily.

Edited by slimcoder on May 3rd 2024 at 10:02:47 AM

I'd start that sentence with "allegedly", personally.

I think I remember Arrowhead say that they're gonna find a way to help players in regions were you can't get PSN accounts, but I don't know how.

The current update is "we're trying to talk to Sony about it, we'll let you know when we have more information."

Apparently, the way Sony is going about this might be illegal to EU laws, and maybe a few US ones too, as it does not actually mention this on the EULA.

Edited by Kaiseror on May 3rd 2024 at 2:56:35 PM

Interesting, perhaps they'll pull a Blizzard.

*cries in former Blizzard fan*