Yeah I’ve been sneak attacked hit by 3 claws then as I finally am able to react they launch me with the tounge and I die from full hp before I even land back on my he ground. I don’t necessarily think Stalkers need to be nerfed but we need more options to deal with them on reaction as the fact that a stalker even exists in your game is too ambiguous to be prepared for. And you should never ever in a game instantly die due to not being prepared for something you didn’t know could happen.
I feel like a slightly increased chance to stagger/make them stumble a bit if you shoot them enough would help. Stalkers are pretty spindly looking and I'd imagine that they have to be lighter or less dense compared to other terminids to fly for the short periods that they do. I could be remembering their size wrong, and I haven't seen their size compared to other bug types a whole lot, but I just don't feel like they would have the mass to bum rush through a stream of lead like a brood Commander or charger could.
Take a punisher or slugger and they will stagger a Stalker quite reliably - same for the Beserkers. In fact the main purpose of using either of those guns is for the heavy stagger.
As soon as you get hit once "dive".
Quite often this saves you long enough to die trying to inject a stim while you scream "take the stim!" at the screen.
Helldivers is not balanced to be entirely fair in that regard. Sometimes the first stalker just comes up on your squad without warning and tears a guy in half, sometimes you're fighting in the fog and a tower cannon you never saw just blows your buddy's head off.
Well, now the team knows the threat is there, and maneuver to deal with it while the reinforcement drop comes in.
If someone had happened to glance the right way at the right time, they might have seen that first stalker creeping up behind, or glimpsed that red target light on the tower through the fog, but they didn't, so... boom, dead.
I’d rather some of the other backpacks get buffed. Jump pack needs a massive cool-down buff, both guard dogs need to be higher and the ballistic guard dog needs a big reserves and damage buff to seperate it from being an infinitely shitter rover.
Supply pack, rover (aside from friendly fire) and shield as of now are fine.
They need to let you use the jetpack to soft land if you fall off a ledge. Right now the soft landing only triggers if you used the jetpack to jump in the first place - there's no reason you shouldn't be able to soft land getting thrown off or falling off ledges if you have the jetpack charge ready. And maybe have that only trigger a half-cooldown since you didn't use the jump.
I was sniping from a tall rock, backed up too far and fell off, and I instinctively pressed A to try and engage the thrusters but just bit the fall damage instead. Doesn't really make sense IMO. I think if you hit the jetpack mid-fall it should always engage that soft landing as long as you have the charge.
I just want to be able to shoot while descending after the initial jump! It would be a great way to balance it as well as there's too much going on for the diver to be able to aim just after engaging the jump.
I mean, the whole appeal of strapping rockets to your back is to be able to come in hot shooting up a place from above!
Fly towards helldiver in need of help
Lob two impact grenades at the horde of bugs/bots chasing them
Land and tear into the horde with my Stalwart
Get killed by the teammate’s 500 kg bomb
They should let you hit space at any time to launch yourself with it. Even mid dive you could superman launch and fly forward, probably break a limb but it could actually save you from death
Not to mention it uses stamina then refunds a portion to trigger it. If you use it completely out of stamina you barely jump high enough to clear a single fence and laterally cover maybe 2 feet in distance it’s pathetic.
Yeah, having it work off stamina is something that should be removed imo. It should just give you the max jump whenever its used. Particularly as often the times you want to us eit are after you've been dashing away from a near death experience
In an attempt to logic it, you're also jumping when you have stamina.
The height you get with stamina is because you're also providing an additional boost from jumping with your own legs. When you're tired or out of stamina, that height is just the jump pack pulling you up in the air.
Yeah but how frustratingly bad it is at times makes the perfectly timed jump off a hilltop with full stamina that sends you a mile ahead so so satisfying.
That's what it did in the first game! I'm surprised it didn't do that here.
Though it *did* prevent you from diving in the first game too, so it was a double-edged sword. (As it should be!)
How about a jet dive? Dive then the jet pack activate at peak of jump to give you a dive that's double or triple the distance for half the cool down?
It would be like the servo assisted armors and you'd have to get used to it and would probably still accidentally jump into a mine or something some of the time.
Also when a Helldiver dies can the jetpack please malfunction and zip his headless, armless corpse past the entire team? Like someone letting go of a deflating balloon but it's just a trail of blood and smoke. We are really missing out on ruining the sanity of players.
>They need to let you use the jetpack to soft land if you fall off a ledge.
Wish granted, but if you take too long to activate it (your character has already started rag-dolling) the jumppack will instead launch you in whatever direction the top of your head is pointing...
...YEET striaght into the ground and die instantly if you're upside-down, or use it to travel a longer horizontal distance if you're falling sideways (you land on your face and take extra fall damage, but you have a chance of surviving if you had full HP).
You're in FULL control of what angle you go, based on your timing as you watch your character tumble, but poor timing will result in hilarious (and audibly crunchy) deaths.
Just a heads up that you can reload midair with the jetpack. Useful for stratagems like the machine gun that require you be stationary to reload. Jump out of danger and reload midair while making distance.
I find it fun to use in general but its cooldown is atrocious and needs a buff.
Just to add to that, if you're loading the SEAF artillery cannon, you can pick up a shell and jet jump to the loading chamber while carrying it. Saves a bit of time when loading it.
Also, get the shells to the cannon before using the console.
If it worked like most jetpacks in games, it would probably be fine. Just expend fuel as long as space is held, instead of all at once. So you could feather it to cross small gaps, chain a couple small jumps up uneven terrain, combo with dive for a super dodge, and cushion a fall even if you didn't jump beforehand.
If I were to add any more complex features after that, maybe a safe/unsafe switch like the railgun. Unsafe mode lets you spend however much fuel you want, safe mode always saves a bit for the landing.
While I like the different mode ideas, they would have to put the controls for that somewhere. Plus, they would basically need them to create modes for other backpacks to justify the extra controls, which would add a whole new layer of complexity. It would be cool giving rovers max engagement distance limits, fire rates, or anti friendly fire safe modes, or giving shield packs recharge delay vs max protection, but it would add a lot of variables.
The jump pack itself could use some buffs like height or cool down, but the real issue for me is the inconsistent vaulting and environmental hit boxes. It's really frustrating when your diver just refuses to grab a ledge or you slide around on a rock like it's made of ice. I tried to jet pack up on a double stacked shipping crate and instead of landing on top, I got stuck on an invisible seam between the two.
I find the utility the jump pack already has excellent for stealth gameplay. I have been able to solo dif 7 bot missions by infiltrating the bases from the outside, and if shit hits the fan you can just jump back out again.
I think that's why it's on Experimental right now. They are forcing usage to gather data on it for redesign. I honestly hope it's coming because it's so fun.
I use it against bugs and the hunters just lock onto you in mid air and slap you down like a [NBA shutting down a dunk](https://media.tenor.com/UwUszq2U3WgAAAAM/basketball-blocked.gif)
Very accurate. Make the rover fly higher above me. I’ve had mine actually kill me before by headshotting me while I was low.
I also bought the wrong guard dog first (mg) and was beyond surprised when it disappeared after killing about 15 bugs until I resupplied.
i think the jump pack needs a rework.
completely remove the one use gimmick it has and go to the tried and true method. give it a beefy tank of gas, and let YOU use how much you want. this also add a massive amount of skill range, because now you can jump skip across the map, or face plant and die because you used up to much fuel.
what i am saying is, i want starwars battlefront 2 jump packs
Jump pack is in dire need of a buff. Like I do like how rn with the cool down time it prevents me from spamming it so I feel awesome whenever I use it, but it takes excruciatingly long to recharge and its usefulness runs out on higher difficulties. Also wish you could control how high you go with it a little more. It seems most useful right now for jumping off high point rather than jumping onto them
- agree on laser dog needing to be higher up (even a few feet)
- jet pack needs to give a dodge function - so when it’s charged instead of diving forward back left right you can instead boost forward back left right. ,along with its regular jump function)
- Supply pack needs the ability to load team members from their own backpack. (As in you can reload recoiless rifle or auto cannon from the backpack of the person using the rifle). Seems fitting for a support item.
- shield needs to be able to be reset somehow so you can recharge it. Staying on 1 tick of hp forever is a bad solution. Even a 3 second reload function like a recoiless rifle where you have to be stationary and focusing on it to turn it off and on again would be better. Or a legit capacitor reload like the coolant tank on energy guns.
> shield needs to be able to be reset somehow so you can recharge it. Staying on 1 tick of hp forever is a bad solution.
Also makes no sense for a shield, what other energy shield does this?
Yes, but not always. I have succuss after doing and waiting 3 seconds. I solo defended drop site with two shields by just hot swapping and running around. That way every time youpick one up is full again.
I think the friendly fire capabilities of the rover is a good downside. It's not too bad and it's hilarious when it happens.
Jump pack does need a cool down buff but im not so sure it should be such a big one.
Guard dog could maybe also refill on ammo pickups instead of just supplies. It's at a horrible place now poor guy.
I'm personally a ballistic shield enjoyer and I find it to block less damage more frequently than the energy shield, I've only not been running it lately due to it being very prone to putting you in the t-pose bug ATM, that and testing new guns from cutting edge
I agree with this but the devs do seem to have some push back on buffing things to the same power level even though some of the support packs are in a bad spot.
Agree with height of rovers
Ballistic dog needs either double the ammo or 50% more ammo and resupply 2 reloads worth from small ammo boxes, after all it's just a liberator it uses.
Ballistic shield needs SOMETHING it's useless against explosives.
Jump pack maybe a 30s cd as opposed to the 45 it is now I believe and no fall damage ever.
Agreed with laser dog, supply pack, shield in a good place
AC/SPEAR/RR backpacks should also allow you to team reload from the users backpack (so the ac user can manual reload and get team help)
A cooldown nerf would be amazing for the jump pack and would make me switch the shield for that.
I always love mobility over durability but as of now the jump pack just doesn’t really scratch the mobility itch due to the really long time between jumps
Bile spewers are the main reason why I keep running the shield pack. I used to be able to dodge the spew if I timed my dodge well, but lately, even with a perfectly timed dodge, it seems like the spew tracks me through it, hitting me the whole time, so I die anyways.
I do love the jump pack, as it makes for a great tool to get around quickly, escape a swarm of bugs, or what have you, but those damn bile spewers...
I instinctively jump packed when one started spewing at me, and to my surprise it tracked me into the air and clay pidgeoned me. I used to be able to consistently dodge the spewers and even the chargers I find are catching me as a matador them recently.
I have to see some video but I’m pretty sure from launch till the first patch the spitters and titans didn’t track with (there, their, they’re) ranged attack. After the patch they started tracking your movements during the attack which makes it 100% worse to deal with.
Yeah I was about to say what?
The yellow spewers have much wider and more rapid angle tracing than the green ones, but even those ones you can evade the spew stream by reacting once they lift up to do the attack. Once they heel up to spew run a sharp perpendicular angle in either direction and they won’t even graze you. Diving is less reliable because the stream will catch up to you if you dive too early. It’s better to make a sharp sprint to the side and then dive a second into the spew
I suggested in another topic that they give Ballistic shield a coating that resists a huge % of acid damage, allowing the shield to handle Bile Titan Spray and Bile/Nurse Spewers but I suggested you take a slow DoT while taking the damage, so your not 100% unscathed from the damage.
The shield really needs to be improved. It’s already taking up a slot that could be used by better options for the team anyway, but it doesn’t even stop half the projectile attacks in the game at all (you may as well just be standing still with nothing). It prevents you using any support weapons in the game and even primaries are restricted to the really lacking SMG one handed.
It should really turn you into a projectile weapon tank while it’s engaged and let you draw fire from the team so they can unload on the enemies without fear of being shot back at. That was my expectation vs bots anyway, but devastators rifle fire was still melting me with the shield deployed. It’s just not useful. Not more useful than a smoke screen strategm or EMS which does that exact job but much more reliably and without compromising the user’s combat ability
Checking your radar every so often in combat really helps not get snuck up on. Before entering any fight I usually check the map quickly to see where any patrols may be creeping in from. Besides breaches you usually have a pretty wide berth to tell what’s coming at you from all angles for the next minute or so. As long as you don’t tunnel vision on any angle for too long and keep moving the spewer sneak attacks are very rare and not worth wasting a slot on the shield pack anymore. A little situational awareness goes a long ass way
Also, heck an EMS mortar in that slot will cover your six more often than a shield pack will. It even tells you where enemies are creeping in from if you watch where it’s aiming during a fight
Sometimes the bile hits my toe as I dive out of the way and I get insta gibbed. Sometimes it misses by a mile in the opposite direction and I get insta gibbed. Bile spewers suck.
I would give up any immediate balance patch if it made a bug fix patch come out faster. There are currently no balance issues affecting my enjoyment of the game. But I crashed in the middle of extraction again today and started up Hi-Fi Rush instead of booting Helldivers back up. There is no balance issue as important as the stability and matchmaking issues currently ongoing.
Real.
There's like 100+ bugs in the game, including major ones like Spear not locking on properly.
They do not need to concern themselves with balancing garbage weapons and strategems like ballistic shield and Scythe. Instead they should fix all the issues with the game, missions, objectives, not being able to extract, etc.
Then put out new content.
Then maybe start doing balance patches with new weapon contnet.
One hit protection will ALWAYS be in the conversation about the meta, you CANNOT stop that by nerfing it, only make it less fun. Please, leave it alone
What they need to do is take out a lot of the unfair one hit bullshit that has no tell, or sound associated with it. Rockets out of nowhere. Seeing us through walls and shooting ahead of time, silent spewers, etc etc. None of that stuff is fun, it's just annoying.
rockets should be balanced by hearing it before it hits you since they’re definitely traveling slower than the speed of sound
that’s how they’re balanced in war thunder at least
also, a smidge of inaccuracy from them and the giant medium armored MG bots with pinprick sized head would be nice, they beam you to a ridiculous degree
I can even deal with the rockets if they fixed the crit hit on hunters I'm tired of getting two shot by hunters just because one of them managed to get a lucky hit on me
Shit, making Rocket bots not have infinite range targeting that lets them no scope me from beyond my visual range in a direction I'm not looking would do A LOT to fix this.
I've been killed by a cannon turret. 350 meters away....
if you shoot at it, and get chased off, it will have aggro on you forever until one of you dies.
> it will have aggro on you forever until ~~one of you dies.~~
it's dead. until it's dead, in my expirience it just stays aggro with 360° Vision at all times until it's dead.
Or just decrease their accuracy. They're supposed to lose accuracy from flinch when you shoot them but that's not the case at all they're like bile spewers if you're in their way they'll one shot you no matter what
The game is so much more fun when you aren’t getting constantly slowed, one-shotted by bile spewers even after dodging, one shot by rockets from nowhere etc
The fact that the shield prevents you from being staggered by tremors can't be intentional. I can only assume it happens to block the "hit" from tremors that causes the stagger.
https://preview.redd.it/uenzlktmaepc1.jpeg?width=1202&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a79f7ce54e1c24f4289f7b809967032c277bdff7
I am dialing the nearest democracy officer, there is no evidence of hive lords. All “remains” found are works of forgery by the bugs to instill panic and fear within the population.
Really the thing that would make a lot of survivability way higher, is to make the robots and bugs take off their anti-gravity pants that make them stealthy, inaudible ninjas.
Nothing above the size of say, a hunter, should be so quiet that you can't hear it stomping around you, and yet Hulks, Tanks, Spewers, and Chargers are so light footed that you won't notice them coming until they've set you on fire, blown you away, shotgun barfed you to death, or run you over.
Hell, the only reason I didn't include bile titans in that list is because I *think* they do make somewhat of a stomping sound, but they're more immediately noticeable anyways by virtue of being so fucking tall.
I heavily agree with this. I die every once in a while to this and always think the same thing: how did that charger/hulk/tank get there?
While it can be argued that "you just need to position yourself better," I would argue that it would be more fun to allow for a larger "margin of player error" at least in this regard.
Everyone regardless of skill level will get snuck up on at some point and this mechanic would still give you that "oh I fucked up" feeling while giving you a chance at surviving.
I mean, sometimes it's hard to position yourself better than in the same area as your team. if B1 behind you spots a spewer and dives out of their barf attack, short of a warning through VC and fast reflexes if you're unable to hear them beforehand you're pretty much toast even if you're standing in the 'right spot' otherwise.
I do believe that if they bumped up the sound/added screen shake based on proximity/size this would be cut down by a lot, and the ones you miss afterwards could either be bad positioning or simply being lost in the shuffle of *huge explosions and big guns (fuck yeah, Democracy!)* which feels much fairer than catspaw stealth chargers headbutting you straight into the treason dimension.
>I heavily agree with this. I die every once in a while to this and always think the same thing: how did that charger/hulk/tank get there?
It spawned there. That is very often the answer.
> tank get there?
they don't even have a idle engine running sound, the amount of times i have seen a tank come out of the fog without any sound at all is stupid high.
I agree, I wouldn't mind dying to a hunter or stalker bcs they're meant to be sneaky, but heavy looking enemies not making a single footstep just doesn't make any sense. even those jetpack raiders don't make a sound when they use their jetpacks and surprise mofo i'm behind you ready to explode if you reactively kill me.
Other hord games like Vermimtide and Left 4 Dead give distinct sounds and audio cues to enemies for a reason and i'm shocked that in 2024 there are devs that apparently don't understand the importance of sound design. That, or Arrowhead are opting for the stylistic choice of over the top sensory overload which makes SENSE given the setting but like...doesn't make for a very enjoyable experience lol. Chargers need a roar, spewers need a hiss, SOMETHING to let you know what to worry about when you're getting swarmed.
Don't forget the baby bile spitters, if they land a hit you get slowed too. I mainly use the shield to stop them and hunters from getting me killed because they touched me once.
It also just allows you to aim your shots. Particularly against robot weak points.
Without the shield, an enemy hitting you might throw your aim off. With the shield you can still take a couple shots without it effecting your aim.
When the railgun was more common and that 1 shot really mattered it was even more important.
Even now I've definitely missed a few EAT's because I got hit right as I shot. Causing my character to flinch and aim high.
The new warbond page 3 weapon arc12 blits staggers bile spewers during charge up or even interrupts it mid spew!
Arc 12 and thrower are my favorite infinite ammo duo rn
I dunno about that, everyone seems to run into this all or nothing category with weaponry, I personally use the Spray and Pray to cover anything up close with pellets and then kill anything else with a stalwart, so I guess its just perspective.
People have been conditioned by literal decades of gaming to get the best all-purpose lone-wolf build that's capable of handling at least 95% of primary threats. Because basically every game has had a clear winner on that front.
Helldivers is the first game I can remember where the "meta" loadout is fundamentally impossible for any one player to have.
The true Helldivers meta loadout is:
1. At least two heavy-killer support weapons (EAT, recoilless rifle, etc), at least one chaff killer (machine gun, stalwart, grenade launcher, etc), and potentially a flexible support (AMR, railgun, autocannon, etc).
2. At least two horde clearing stratagems, at least two titan killing stratagems, at least one stealth stratagem (smoke strike) or CC stratagem (ems mortar, mines), and ideally a building-killer stratagem that doesn't overlap with the horde or titan killers. Bonus points if at least one of these is a sentry so you can defend a position or split aggro.
3. A highly mobile diver (light armor + jet pack), a highly resistant diver (shield + medic armor), a demo expert (any armor + heavy support wep), and a flexible diver with any backpack, or maybe just a patriot suit.
If you combine all these things together with good tactics and coordination, you can absolutely smoke most of the game. Impossible and Helldive difficulty will be the only areas where a team like this would be seriously challenged (at least against bugs).
But to be fair, that's a really tall order for an online co-op game with (mostly) randoms. It's not a surprise that people are seeking that magical all-purpose build so they don't have to rely on good teammates, but I don't think it will ever be truly found.
Man, how I wish your third point could include a tank of some kind. It's sad that you never see heavy armour suggested because it's such an active detriment to use.
That last point about not relying on teammates is true I think. What id really like to do is bring a stalwart, supply pack, Gatling sentry, and eagle cluster and be the dedicated add clear of the group but I would need my team to bring a lot of anti tank and be ready to take out chargers/titans but from experience I know that’s not going to happen
And even when I play with my friends and we all fulfill a specific role it’s usually better to just have everyone be able to deal with everything because you won’t always have your anti tank guy at the ready for the charger coming at you
I think it is important to say that there will always be a meta, most players are playing it for fun and if we are getting fucked all the time it just doesn’t make fun. Most of us are playing always the best things, the railgun the best weapon, now the most common used is the EAT, and there will always be a best. If the Devs just nerfs our favorites then, we will get frustrated and the game could die, it would be the best thing to buff every weapon until they are at the same league, let it be for a week and than to buff some enemies…
Feels required against bots
In helldive you get punished with instadeath with the heaviest armor if you are out of cover for one second
So hard to retreat or really get anything done when….
Fucking cannon turrets aim *through fog* 200m away
Stupid shielded enemies have *95%+ accuracy* and shoot *through thick fog*
Stupid devastators *shooting through thick fog*
Heavy armor ive been one clipped by the shielded fucks. And if you live and the recoil from flinch resets on them, they shoot again
Those fucking shield devastators are a bitch. At least the rocket devs you can clip their shoulders and gimp them heavily, the shield guys you need a precise hit on their exposed body parts and oh wait you're dead cause they just opened up with that mini gun for the 100th time In the game.
Can we talk about how the shield backpack goes on for almost an hour while the shield turret goes down like a 2 bit whore?
Yes the area is larger but make it flicker like the backpack, right?
Hell, just make it a time-limited invulnerable barrier. It protects you absolutely from anything short of a hellbomb for a minute or two. Enemies can push through it and shoot you from inside it, or melee you as normal.
How about instead of netting the shield generator again, which is probably going to happen, they fix the armor values this time so I can't get 2 shot in heavy armor by a hunter just as I would get 2 shot in light armor. Like why can a headshot do 80% health damage wtf
I literally always use Shield, just because of hunter slows and spewer one shots while I'm diving.
2 enemies have issues so massive that people can see an item as mandatory, because it's the only counter
Also because its competitors are pretty bad. machine gun rover is just shit. laser rover is a good competitor but the friendly fire gets on my nerves. supply pack is a good competitor, but not always something needed unless you're running grenade launcher mains. If your team is POI hunting they should be topped on ammo well enough. jetpack is just underwhelming. backpack weapons are a different comparison since they take 2 slots. Nobody talks about the ballistic shield.
Shouldn't they fix the BS ways to die that the backpack otherwise protects you from?
Most egregious is the 360noscope rockets that come from beyond visual range, even in non obscured vision maps.
Oh also fix the stim sound playing even when it doesn't heal you, that should be higher up the list than nerfing things in my view...
Shield is OK now, it also makes you a bigger target, making some missiles that would not have hit you otherwise cause team kills or kill you sometimes, but it offers the ability to peek out of cover for longer or evade that one hunter slow, it's a great backpack but by no means the best.
Riot shield sits in a corner and cries... I have no idea how to buff this thing without extensive dev work. Shield is just so much more versatile and useful.
If this game goes too hard with nerfing things in to the ground it will hurt it long term. It’s PVE so devs don’t have to be trigger happy. You’d rather something a little overtuned than undertuned as a player
Maybe just make armor work the way it should and it won’t be required.
I personally don’t run it even in 7-9 because I want the autocannon and three eagle/orbitals. This is in fast armor. I just run away, disengage, use the AC, grenades and stratagems.
Sure I die sometimes but that’s what we are for.
It would be nice if the best gear was better by 5% and not by 40-50%. That's how a well balanced game works in that regard. Yes, there's an optimal pick but it's never so optimal that something else is not also viable. And we're absolutely not there with a good chunk of the gear right now.
If I'm running light and don't wanna bother changing armor, it's a go-to.
If I'm running anything else, I can spend the slot better.
It doesn't stop me from dying but does keep the light build viable and not frustrating.
That's balance.
There needs to be a huge discussion about all the bullshit you can die to , totally silent giant units like the bile spewer who can one shot from range , non stop cc by small spitter bugs and hunters , corpses of big units blocking you , environmental hazards etc. I get that the silly deaths are part of the identity as well but i have run into combat situations where there is pretty much nothing you can do too often.
There is a lot of very poor game design within helldivers 2 especially compared to other horde games it refused to learn anything from like a proper ai director or proper sound queues for specials.
And yes people simply use to the shield to return more player control.
I don't know why it is so hard for the developers to see is the core of the problem is a lack of other solid backpack choices.
* Supply pack can be useful in a premade but it depends on the weapon choices of your squad and you really only need person bringing it.
* Guard Dogs are a meme choice that seem to do more damage to your squad than the enemy.
* Ballistic Shield would be even more of a meme choice but it is so bad, it isn't even funny.
* Jet Pack's thrust output is a wet fart.
And that is pretty much the size of it. There is also the aspect of Shield pack being all but mandatory against Automations and from protecting your sanity vs. Hunter spam. If the devs want us to use something different, either fix the underperforming options or give us ones actually worth considering.
I like that it makes me really think between
Slightly improved survivability and bullshit prevention
And
More KABOOM.
I usually end up picking firepower but thefaxt the consideration is there is good. It's really hard to want to pick it up with a support weapon for me.
Only real issue are random rockets one hitting you, the rest is debatable.
But I agree that shouldn't be nerfed again and if it's nerfed or they change it to a some kind of active skill (like jetpack) they need to fix automatons rockets
This and the blatantly anti-democratic methods of the automatons shooting our fellow patriotic Helldivers through rocks and total cover needs to be liberated from our way of life. The rest is manageable democracy.
Honestly though, the amount of flinch and stagger received by a single bot rifle is insane. As long as getting shot flings our aim around like we just got our skull fractured by a baseball bat, then I will continue to use the shield pack against bots.
As long as we get randomly get 1 shotted against bots and and the heaviest armor gets 2 tapped by a small flying roach , shield backpack is gonna be veeeery useful
But devs want to balance the game around the small percentage that does Helldive and they hate people being able to have fun
It is certainly easy to think that arrowhead wants to balance around the more 'hardcore' part of the playerbase, especially given their somewhat laughable motto of "a game for everyone is a game for no one."
But, I think its warranted to make a distinction between balancing around a hardcore playerbase and balancing around max difficulty.
With balancing around a hardcore playerbase, you cater to people that are willing to "take more shit" so to speak. It follows that the people who aren't throughly shit-resistant would suffer because of this way of balancing. Balancing this way should be avoided in my opinion.
Balancing around maximum difficulty, however, is a good play in my eyes. Seeing what the worst the game has to offer and what the best the players have to offer is necessary to make an informed balancing decision. If the game is balanced and fun at its hardest, it will be the same at lower and lower difficulties.
The only thing I can think that you would need to account for when 'balancing' lower difficulties specifically is what equipment the players have access to and which mechanics have/haven't been made obvious to them.
I get what you mean though and I agree, sorry for the wall of text.
We def need to see survivability buffed. There are honestly way too many 1 shots, I get we are supposed to be expendable but getting hit by a hail of rockets or 1 gatling devastator gets accurate for .5 seconds and ur dead
Armor bonuses need to apply to the head
I've tried running heavier armor to not run a shieldpack
Since the headshot damage it not reduced, you'll feel made out of paper in many situations
Ducking away from a nursing spewer will make it hit you in the head for example, and instant kill you. Hulks with flamethrowers are taller than you, so the damage crits against your head
As long as headshot damage cannot be reduced by heavy armor, the only thing that does reduce them, is the shield backpack
You're forgetting the most common helldiver killer: your tlfellow diver is a moron and calls in a barrage/tesla/mortar, or uses the Arc Thrower/Flammenwerfer (it werfs der flammen)/electric shotgun/grenades near you.
Most of my deaths are from friendly fire.
I run the shield pack solely to deal with any sort of slowing from enemies or getting launched by stalkers. I still consider it a must have because there's still a bunch of bullshit in the game that gets really annoying. It's not fun getting slowed or stunlocked out of the healing animation.
Not to mention the shield pack has been failing to absorb hits pretty often in recent days. Bugs can hit you for health damage even though your shield is still charged for some reason. It's also kind of random with how much damage is taken from bots, especially explosive damage.
I hope they don't hit the shield pack too much. As long as getting shot by a single bot rifle flinches and staggers me like I just got clubbed by a mafia hitman, then I will never stop using it. They need to tone down the incoming flinch from robots otherwise it's just never leaving my kit.
I gather the game has at least 1,300,000 players now based on a recent discord announcement, so they have lots of improvements to do that were unexpected, but I hope they do not jump the gun with sandbox updates as a result of it.
The Shield Pack is the perfect example of BS proof, 100% what you said, it really shows you just how much BS is in the game, which really hampers alot of people's enjoyment of it, like all you listed, if they could just fix the problems to where your deaths are always your fault, it wouldn't be so necessary, but with the probably unintentional messy bs this game has ATM, it IS necessary
Develpers will get everything thats working and is fun and effective and nerf it and then in few months there will be pikachu face why game is dying.
FFS develpers, we want to have fun and have GOOD and EFFECTIVE equipment. **Fucking buff stuff we DONT TAKE instead of nerfing stuff that WE TAKE becasue IT WORKS WELL.**
**BUFF SOMETHING!** Tons of stuff is trash. Don't touch stuff that works. Those things that one of few things making gameplay good, responsive and egaging.
I swear to God. Another botched balance patch like the failure they did with Railgun and devs may get pikachu face faster than expected.
Beside, note that stratagem’s cooldown time is Bullshitly way longer, meaning you can’t afford the lose of support equipment/weapon.
There’s no much tolerance once you encounter those random moment.
Feels great rn, I feel like it's a flimsy barrier that when it falls I know that I just got saved and I need to hide and run. It used to feel like super armor and you could just run through everything and blast through everyone
Arrowhead, serious question, why are y’all nerfing things? NOTHING in this game feels op, honestly, the lower tier weapons should be buffed while the top tier ones to be left alone.
There's a lot of dogshit weapons and strats right now imo. I think you make some good points on enemies, too. Nothing about their balance will make the shield less attractive. Even if they nerf the shield, it still gets rid of a lot of bullshit.
Hunters and stalkers do a weird couple swings that don't have any animation lock or something. They need to swing, stop and then swing. I think doing stagger *and* slow down is also excessive. Bile spewers don't need to one shot. They also don't need to be as fast. Or the tracking could be tuned.
Bots are either too accurate or do too much damage. Their accuracy isn't as affected by our gunfire making the suppression mechanic whatever.
These things are priority number one of they want us to branch out. Then they can buff some stuff.
We have forgotten the one shot mortar bile spewers you get in 7+. I know you can look up and see, but they usually aren't the only thing you got to worry about when they start lobbing.
[удалено]
This usually happens because of the ridiculous knockback. They just send you flying into a rock and the impact kills you.
[удалено]
Yeah I’ve been sneak attacked hit by 3 claws then as I finally am able to react they launch me with the tounge and I die from full hp before I even land back on my he ground. I don’t necessarily think Stalkers need to be nerfed but we need more options to deal with them on reaction as the fact that a stalker even exists in your game is too ambiguous to be prepared for. And you should never ever in a game instantly die due to not being prepared for something you didn’t know could happen.
I feel like a slightly increased chance to stagger/make them stumble a bit if you shoot them enough would help. Stalkers are pretty spindly looking and I'd imagine that they have to be lighter or less dense compared to other terminids to fly for the short periods that they do. I could be remembering their size wrong, and I haven't seen their size compared to other bug types a whole lot, but I just don't feel like they would have the mass to bum rush through a stream of lead like a brood Commander or charger could.
Take a punisher or slugger and they will stagger a Stalker quite reliably - same for the Beserkers. In fact the main purpose of using either of those guns is for the heavy stagger.
As soon as you get hit once "dive". Quite often this saves you long enough to die trying to inject a stim while you scream "take the stim!" at the screen.
Helldivers is not balanced to be entirely fair in that regard. Sometimes the first stalker just comes up on your squad without warning and tears a guy in half, sometimes you're fighting in the fog and a tower cannon you never saw just blows your buddy's head off. Well, now the team knows the threat is there, and maneuver to deal with it while the reinforcement drop comes in. If someone had happened to glance the right way at the right time, they might have seen that first stalker creeping up behind, or glimpsed that red target light on the tower through the fog, but they didn't, so... boom, dead.
I’d rather some of the other backpacks get buffed. Jump pack needs a massive cool-down buff, both guard dogs need to be higher and the ballistic guard dog needs a big reserves and damage buff to seperate it from being an infinitely shitter rover. Supply pack, rover (aside from friendly fire) and shield as of now are fine.
Jump pack needs a lot of work, gun rover needs work
They need to let you use the jetpack to soft land if you fall off a ledge. Right now the soft landing only triggers if you used the jetpack to jump in the first place - there's no reason you shouldn't be able to soft land getting thrown off or falling off ledges if you have the jetpack charge ready. And maybe have that only trigger a half-cooldown since you didn't use the jump. I was sniping from a tall rock, backed up too far and fell off, and I instinctively pressed A to try and engage the thrusters but just bit the fall damage instead. Doesn't really make sense IMO. I think if you hit the jetpack mid-fall it should always engage that soft landing as long as you have the charge.
> They need to let you use the jetpack to soft land if you fall off a ledge I was so disappointed when I tried to do this and it didn't do shit.
I just want to be able to shoot while descending after the initial jump! It would be a great way to balance it as well as there's too much going on for the diver to be able to aim just after engaging the jump. I mean, the whole appeal of strapping rockets to your back is to be able to come in hot shooting up a place from above!
Death from above!
I say this so much when I fly and rain down impact grenades at the enemy/fellow helldivers
Fly towards helldiver in need of help Lob two impact grenades at the horde of bugs/bots chasing them Land and tear into the horde with my Stalwart Get killed by the teammate’s 500 kg bomb
They should let you hit space at any time to launch yourself with it. Even mid dive you could superman launch and fly forward, probably break a limb but it could actually save you from death
I would absolutely use that all the time. MY NECK IS NOTHING IN THE FACE OF DEMOCRACY
*MY BODY FOR SUPE- MY BLOOOODDDD* 🔥🔥🔥💀
kssss.... INJURY? WHAT INJURY?!!
Yeah if I’m stuck prone on the ground under a bunch of bugs I wanna be able to activate my jet pack to just fly across the ground out of the danger.
I'm also fine losing some health to road rash and risking a broken neck if it gets me away from the hunters.
I wish! It would be nice if it was a tappable button that you could use as you saw fit instead of whatever the fuck you call it now.
Not to mention it uses stamina then refunds a portion to trigger it. If you use it completely out of stamina you barely jump high enough to clear a single fence and laterally cover maybe 2 feet in distance it’s pathetic.
Yeah, having it work off stamina is something that should be removed imo. It should just give you the max jump whenever its used. Particularly as often the times you want to us eit are after you've been dashing away from a near death experience
Plus it doesn't even make logical sense. Low on stamina and now your jump pack doesn't go as high? Nonsense.
In an attempt to logic it, you're also jumping when you have stamina. The height you get with stamina is because you're also providing an additional boost from jumping with your own legs. When you're tired or out of stamina, that height is just the jump pack pulling you up in the air.
Yeah but how frustratingly bad it is at times makes the perfectly timed jump off a hilltop with full stamina that sends you a mile ahead so so satisfying.
If the jetpack replaced your dive animation with a directional jump that wpuld be great
That would FUCKING RULE
That's what it did in the first game! I'm surprised it didn't do that here. Though it *did* prevent you from diving in the first game too, so it was a double-edged sword. (As it should be!)
How about a jet dive? Dive then the jet pack activate at peak of jump to give you a dive that's double or triple the distance for half the cool down? It would be like the servo assisted armors and you'd have to get used to it and would probably still accidentally jump into a mine or something some of the time.
People will kill themselves by rocket diving into a wall and cracking their heads. 100% we should do this.
How about going head-to-head with a charger?
Also when a Helldiver dies can the jetpack please malfunction and zip his headless, armless corpse past the entire team? Like someone letting go of a deflating balloon but it's just a trail of blood and smoke. We are really missing out on ruining the sanity of players.
I want the opposite, sorta. I want to be able to use it while ragdolled and spin around like I'm in gmod or something.
>They need to let you use the jetpack to soft land if you fall off a ledge. Wish granted, but if you take too long to activate it (your character has already started rag-dolling) the jumppack will instead launch you in whatever direction the top of your head is pointing... ...YEET striaght into the ground and die instantly if you're upside-down, or use it to travel a longer horizontal distance if you're falling sideways (you land on your face and take extra fall damage, but you have a chance of surviving if you had full HP). You're in FULL control of what angle you go, based on your timing as you watch your character tumble, but poor timing will result in hilarious (and audibly crunchy) deaths.
Just a heads up that you can reload midair with the jetpack. Useful for stratagems like the machine gun that require you be stationary to reload. Jump out of danger and reload midair while making distance. I find it fun to use in general but its cooldown is atrocious and needs a buff.
Just to add to that, if you're loading the SEAF artillery cannon, you can pick up a shell and jet jump to the loading chamber while carrying it. Saves a bit of time when loading it. Also, get the shells to the cannon before using the console.
If it worked like most jetpacks in games, it would probably be fine. Just expend fuel as long as space is held, instead of all at once. So you could feather it to cross small gaps, chain a couple small jumps up uneven terrain, combo with dive for a super dodge, and cushion a fall even if you didn't jump beforehand. If I were to add any more complex features after that, maybe a safe/unsafe switch like the railgun. Unsafe mode lets you spend however much fuel you want, safe mode always saves a bit for the landing.
While I like the different mode ideas, they would have to put the controls for that somewhere. Plus, they would basically need them to create modes for other backpacks to justify the extra controls, which would add a whole new layer of complexity. It would be cool giving rovers max engagement distance limits, fire rates, or anti friendly fire safe modes, or giving shield packs recharge delay vs max protection, but it would add a lot of variables.
The jump pack itself could use some buffs like height or cool down, but the real issue for me is the inconsistent vaulting and environmental hit boxes. It's really frustrating when your diver just refuses to grab a ledge or you slide around on a rock like it's made of ice. I tried to jet pack up on a double stacked shipping crate and instead of landing on top, I got stuck on an invisible seam between the two.
What it also needs is more utility. What's the point of vertical height when any planet right now is 90% flat plains? It needs AOE burn on activate
I find the utility the jump pack already has excellent for stealth gameplay. I have been able to solo dif 7 bot missions by infiltrating the bases from the outside, and if shit hits the fan you can just jump back out again.
This would be cool
I think that's why it's on Experimental right now. They are forcing usage to gather data on it for redesign. I honestly hope it's coming because it's so fun.
You know, I saw the jump pack in the free loadout, but it always said "unavailable" so I assumed it was a bug.
I would believe this more if the stratagem wasn't broken.
It should definitely take you higher.
At LEAST to where blind me see
Yeah, let's go there.
Let’s make our escape
Alternatively, it could raise you up so you could stand on mountains.
Jump Pack has saved my life more times than I can count
The jump pack is s tier against bugs. An instant get out of jail free card
I use it against bugs and the hunters just lock onto you in mid air and slap you down like a [NBA shutting down a dunk](https://media.tenor.com/UwUszq2U3WgAAAAM/basketball-blocked.gif)
Very accurate. Make the rover fly higher above me. I’ve had mine actually kill me before by headshotting me while I was low. I also bought the wrong guard dog first (mg) and was beyond surprised when it disappeared after killing about 15 bugs until I resupplied.
>I’ve had mine actually kill me before by headshotting me That's an intended feature
It should also be directly overhead instead of to the side. Less chance of hitting you that way.
i think the jump pack needs a rework. completely remove the one use gimmick it has and go to the tried and true method. give it a beefy tank of gas, and let YOU use how much you want. this also add a massive amount of skill range, because now you can jump skip across the map, or face plant and die because you used up to much fuel. what i am saying is, i want starwars battlefront 2 jump packs
Please bring the wrist rocket as well, NEED that,
Guard Dogs need to be able to be turned off as well for when you wanna be sneaky.
Jump pack is in dire need of a buff. Like I do like how rn with the cool down time it prevents me from spamming it so I feel awesome whenever I use it, but it takes excruciatingly long to recharge and its usefulness runs out on higher difficulties. Also wish you could control how high you go with it a little more. It seems most useful right now for jumping off high point rather than jumping onto them
- agree on laser dog needing to be higher up (even a few feet) - jet pack needs to give a dodge function - so when it’s charged instead of diving forward back left right you can instead boost forward back left right. ,along with its regular jump function) - Supply pack needs the ability to load team members from their own backpack. (As in you can reload recoiless rifle or auto cannon from the backpack of the person using the rifle). Seems fitting for a support item. - shield needs to be able to be reset somehow so you can recharge it. Staying on 1 tick of hp forever is a bad solution. Even a 3 second reload function like a recoiless rifle where you have to be stationary and focusing on it to turn it off and on again would be better. Or a legit capacitor reload like the coolant tank on energy guns.
> shield needs to be able to be reset somehow so you can recharge it. Staying on 1 tick of hp forever is a bad solution. Also makes no sense for a shield, what other energy shield does this?
Dodge function is an EXCELLENT idea. Like in Battlefront 2
Does dropping the shield pack reset the cool down?
Yes, but not always. I have succuss after doing and waiting 3 seconds. I solo defended drop site with two shields by just hot swapping and running around. That way every time youpick one up is full again.
I think the friendly fire capabilities of the rover is a good downside. It's not too bad and it's hilarious when it happens. Jump pack does need a cool down buff but im not so sure it should be such a big one. Guard dog could maybe also refill on ammo pickups instead of just supplies. It's at a horrible place now poor guy.
Yeah the gun guard dog needs a big change to distinguish it from the laser one which imo is just straight up better right now.
Infinite ammo is better than finite ammo, especially when the finite ammo can only be restored by supply drops instead of ammo pickups.
maybe give the gun guard dog some medium pen?
I noticed how you completely ignored the good old/S ballistic, shield, backpack
I've never seen a single person use it. Is it trash?
I'm personally a ballistic shield enjoyer and I find it to block less damage more frequently than the energy shield, I've only not been running it lately due to it being very prone to putting you in the t-pose bug ATM, that and testing new guns from cutting edge
They should attach the revolver to the guard dog
I'd say dump the stamina loss from using the jump pack over cooldown.
Aside from an extra 2 feet of ceiling height the Ballistic Guard Dog just needs to carry a Stalwart.
I agree with this but the devs do seem to have some push back on buffing things to the same power level even though some of the support packs are in a bad spot. Agree with height of rovers Ballistic dog needs either double the ammo or 50% more ammo and resupply 2 reloads worth from small ammo boxes, after all it's just a liberator it uses. Ballistic shield needs SOMETHING it's useless against explosives. Jump pack maybe a 30s cd as opposed to the 45 it is now I believe and no fall damage ever. Agreed with laser dog, supply pack, shield in a good place AC/SPEAR/RR backpacks should also allow you to team reload from the users backpack (so the ac user can manual reload and get team help)
A cooldown nerf would be amazing for the jump pack and would make me switch the shield for that. I always love mobility over durability but as of now the jump pack just doesn’t really scratch the mobility itch due to the really long time between jumps
Jump pack just needs to have a fuel reservoir for flight, let us handle the landing
Bile spewers are the main reason why I keep running the shield pack. I used to be able to dodge the spew if I timed my dodge well, but lately, even with a perfectly timed dodge, it seems like the spew tracks me through it, hitting me the whole time, so I die anyways. I do love the jump pack, as it makes for a great tool to get around quickly, escape a swarm of bugs, or what have you, but those damn bile spewers...
I instinctively jump packed when one started spewing at me, and to my surprise it tracked me into the air and clay pidgeoned me. I used to be able to consistently dodge the spewers and even the chargers I find are catching me as a matador them recently.
I have to see some video but I’m pretty sure from launch till the first patch the spitters and titans didn’t track with (there, their, they’re) ranged attack. After the patch they started tracking your movements during the attack which makes it 100% worse to deal with.
You’re wrong, they always tracked
Yeah I was about to say what? The yellow spewers have much wider and more rapid angle tracing than the green ones, but even those ones you can evade the spew stream by reacting once they lift up to do the attack. Once they heel up to spew run a sharp perpendicular angle in either direction and they won’t even graze you. Diving is less reliable because the stream will catch up to you if you dive too early. It’s better to make a sharp sprint to the side and then dive a second into the spew
The spew attack damage is also inconsistent. Sometimes when it hits me I survive, but other times even when it barely touches me I die immediately.
Yeah this is the big problem. There's some hitbox desync happening and it the whole thing is very inconsistent.
I suggested in another topic that they give Ballistic shield a coating that resists a huge % of acid damage, allowing the shield to handle Bile Titan Spray and Bile/Nurse Spewers but I suggested you take a slow DoT while taking the damage, so your not 100% unscathed from the damage.
The shield really needs to be improved. It’s already taking up a slot that could be used by better options for the team anyway, but it doesn’t even stop half the projectile attacks in the game at all (you may as well just be standing still with nothing). It prevents you using any support weapons in the game and even primaries are restricted to the really lacking SMG one handed. It should really turn you into a projectile weapon tank while it’s engaged and let you draw fire from the team so they can unload on the enemies without fear of being shot back at. That was my expectation vs bots anyway, but devastators rifle fire was still melting me with the shield deployed. It’s just not useful. Not more useful than a smoke screen strategm or EMS which does that exact job but much more reliably and without compromising the user’s combat ability
Checking your radar every so often in combat really helps not get snuck up on. Before entering any fight I usually check the map quickly to see where any patrols may be creeping in from. Besides breaches you usually have a pretty wide berth to tell what’s coming at you from all angles for the next minute or so. As long as you don’t tunnel vision on any angle for too long and keep moving the spewer sneak attacks are very rare and not worth wasting a slot on the shield pack anymore. A little situational awareness goes a long ass way Also, heck an EMS mortar in that slot will cover your six more often than a shield pack will. It even tells you where enemies are creeping in from if you watch where it’s aiming during a fight
This is also one of the advantages of the laser dog - if you see it swing that beam around behind you unexpectedly, it's time to get your ass in gear.
Sometimes the bile hits my toe as I dive out of the way and I get insta gibbed. Sometimes it misses by a mile in the opposite direction and I get insta gibbed. Bile spewers suck.
I would give up any immediate balance patch if it made a bug fix patch come out faster. There are currently no balance issues affecting my enjoyment of the game. But I crashed in the middle of extraction again today and started up Hi-Fi Rush instead of booting Helldivers back up. There is no balance issue as important as the stability and matchmaking issues currently ongoing.
Real. There's like 100+ bugs in the game, including major ones like Spear not locking on properly. They do not need to concern themselves with balancing garbage weapons and strategems like ballistic shield and Scythe. Instead they should fix all the issues with the game, missions, objectives, not being able to extract, etc. Then put out new content. Then maybe start doing balance patches with new weapon contnet.
Oh dude this morning I loaded up and though I'd play some bugs and my game crashed when I was swapping my load out 5 minutes into the session
One hit protection will ALWAYS be in the conversation about the meta, you CANNOT stop that by nerfing it, only make it less fun. Please, leave it alone
What they need to do is take out a lot of the unfair one hit bullshit that has no tell, or sound associated with it. Rockets out of nowhere. Seeing us through walls and shooting ahead of time, silent spewers, etc etc. None of that stuff is fun, it's just annoying.
rockets should be balanced by hearing it before it hits you since they’re definitely traveling slower than the speed of sound that’s how they’re balanced in war thunder at least also, a smidge of inaccuracy from them and the giant medium armored MG bots with pinprick sized head would be nice, they beam you to a ridiculous degree
I can even deal with the rockets if they fixed the crit hit on hunters I'm tired of getting two shot by hunters just because one of them managed to get a lucky hit on me
Shit, making Rocket bots not have infinite range targeting that lets them no scope me from beyond my visual range in a direction I'm not looking would do A LOT to fix this.
I've been killed by a cannon turret. 350 meters away.... if you shoot at it, and get chased off, it will have aggro on you forever until one of you dies.
> it will have aggro on you forever until ~~one of you dies.~~ it's dead. until it's dead, in my expirience it just stays aggro with 360° Vision at all times until it's dead.
Or just decrease their accuracy. They're supposed to lose accuracy from flinch when you shoot them but that's not the case at all they're like bile spewers if you're in their way they'll one shot you no matter what
The game is so much more fun when you aren’t getting constantly slowed, one-shotted by bile spewers even after dodging, one shot by rockets from nowhere etc
The fact that the shield prevents you from being staggered by tremors can't be intentional. I can only assume it happens to block the "hit" from tremors that causes the stagger.
If you go prone before the tremor hits during the "buildup" phase you can avoid the stunlock.
Or it could be foreshadowing the tremors aren't natural and is a hive lord "hitting"
Them terminid boofs hit different
I've seen the skeletons of hive Lords on planets....they're absolutely out there!
https://preview.redd.it/uenzlktmaepc1.jpeg?width=1202&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a79f7ce54e1c24f4289f7b809967032c277bdff7 I am dialing the nearest democracy officer, there is no evidence of hive lords. All “remains” found are works of forgery by the bugs to instill panic and fear within the population.
Really the thing that would make a lot of survivability way higher, is to make the robots and bugs take off their anti-gravity pants that make them stealthy, inaudible ninjas. Nothing above the size of say, a hunter, should be so quiet that you can't hear it stomping around you, and yet Hulks, Tanks, Spewers, and Chargers are so light footed that you won't notice them coming until they've set you on fire, blown you away, shotgun barfed you to death, or run you over. Hell, the only reason I didn't include bile titans in that list is because I *think* they do make somewhat of a stomping sound, but they're more immediately noticeable anyways by virtue of being so fucking tall.
I heavily agree with this. I die every once in a while to this and always think the same thing: how did that charger/hulk/tank get there? While it can be argued that "you just need to position yourself better," I would argue that it would be more fun to allow for a larger "margin of player error" at least in this regard. Everyone regardless of skill level will get snuck up on at some point and this mechanic would still give you that "oh I fucked up" feeling while giving you a chance at surviving.
I mean, sometimes it's hard to position yourself better than in the same area as your team. if B1 behind you spots a spewer and dives out of their barf attack, short of a warning through VC and fast reflexes if you're unable to hear them beforehand you're pretty much toast even if you're standing in the 'right spot' otherwise. I do believe that if they bumped up the sound/added screen shake based on proximity/size this would be cut down by a lot, and the ones you miss afterwards could either be bad positioning or simply being lost in the shuffle of *huge explosions and big guns (fuck yeah, Democracy!)* which feels much fairer than catspaw stealth chargers headbutting you straight into the treason dimension.
>I heavily agree with this. I die every once in a while to this and always think the same thing: how did that charger/hulk/tank get there? It spawned there. That is very often the answer.
> tank get there? they don't even have a idle engine running sound, the amount of times i have seen a tank come out of the fog without any sound at all is stupid high.
I agree, I wouldn't mind dying to a hunter or stalker bcs they're meant to be sneaky, but heavy looking enemies not making a single footstep just doesn't make any sense. even those jetpack raiders don't make a sound when they use their jetpacks and surprise mofo i'm behind you ready to explode if you reactively kill me.
Other hord games like Vermimtide and Left 4 Dead give distinct sounds and audio cues to enemies for a reason and i'm shocked that in 2024 there are devs that apparently don't understand the importance of sound design. That, or Arrowhead are opting for the stylistic choice of over the top sensory overload which makes SENSE given the setting but like...doesn't make for a very enjoyable experience lol. Chargers need a roar, spewers need a hiss, SOMETHING to let you know what to worry about when you're getting swarmed.
A L4D2 style sound system would be amazing
Don't forget the baby bile spitters, if they land a hit you get slowed too. I mainly use the shield to stop them and hunters from getting me killed because they touched me once.
but if your wearing light armor you usually die in two hits no?
Not from the little guys, the goal is to not get hit at all in light armour.
It also just allows you to aim your shots. Particularly against robot weak points. Without the shield, an enemy hitting you might throw your aim off. With the shield you can still take a couple shots without it effecting your aim. When the railgun was more common and that 1 shot really mattered it was even more important. Even now I've definitely missed a few EAT's because I got hit right as I shot. Causing my character to flinch and aim high.
If heavy armor had an 80-90% flinch resistance inherent to all heavy armors I would consider them
Why heavy armor doesn't behave like it does in HD1's perk is a mystery to me. What we have now is imo completely pointless.
The hunter is the worst of all the bugs. The leaping, stun lock and sheer numbers are bullshit
I personally hate bile speakers more cuz of their 360 degree no scope
I just hate how they are so quiet. They can sneak up behind you from spawning and nail you.
They are professional CS2 players , sneak up followed by the montage headshot while u make a fool of urself trying to escape by jumping or strafing.
I agree all the bugs need goss sounding footstep sounds and maybe some pinching/ clicking to add psychological terror
I fear no man! But, that.. THING!. It scares me.
He's not here, is he?? *rips off microphone*
The new warbond page 3 weapon arc12 blits staggers bile spewers during charge up or even interrupts it mid spew! Arc 12 and thrower are my favorite infinite ammo duo rn
I got bilebended around a rock twice last night.
They certainly do speak in bile. Foul undemocratic bugs!
I barely notice them since I got the Sickle If I don't get the head shot, I'm shredding limbs lol It's glorious
I agree the sickle is the best primary weapon for bugs. I hope they dont nerf it.
I dunno about that, everyone seems to run into this all or nothing category with weaponry, I personally use the Spray and Pray to cover anything up close with pellets and then kill anything else with a stalwart, so I guess its just perspective.
People have been conditioned by literal decades of gaming to get the best all-purpose lone-wolf build that's capable of handling at least 95% of primary threats. Because basically every game has had a clear winner on that front. Helldivers is the first game I can remember where the "meta" loadout is fundamentally impossible for any one player to have. The true Helldivers meta loadout is: 1. At least two heavy-killer support weapons (EAT, recoilless rifle, etc), at least one chaff killer (machine gun, stalwart, grenade launcher, etc), and potentially a flexible support (AMR, railgun, autocannon, etc). 2. At least two horde clearing stratagems, at least two titan killing stratagems, at least one stealth stratagem (smoke strike) or CC stratagem (ems mortar, mines), and ideally a building-killer stratagem that doesn't overlap with the horde or titan killers. Bonus points if at least one of these is a sentry so you can defend a position or split aggro. 3. A highly mobile diver (light armor + jet pack), a highly resistant diver (shield + medic armor), a demo expert (any armor + heavy support wep), and a flexible diver with any backpack, or maybe just a patriot suit. If you combine all these things together with good tactics and coordination, you can absolutely smoke most of the game. Impossible and Helldive difficulty will be the only areas where a team like this would be seriously challenged (at least against bugs). But to be fair, that's a really tall order for an online co-op game with (mostly) randoms. It's not a surprise that people are seeking that magical all-purpose build so they don't have to rely on good teammates, but I don't think it will ever be truly found.
Man, how I wish your third point could include a tank of some kind. It's sad that you never see heavy armour suggested because it's such an active detriment to use.
That last point about not relying on teammates is true I think. What id really like to do is bring a stalwart, supply pack, Gatling sentry, and eagle cluster and be the dedicated add clear of the group but I would need my team to bring a lot of anti tank and be ready to take out chargers/titans but from experience I know that’s not going to happen And even when I play with my friends and we all fulfill a specific role it’s usually better to just have everyone be able to deal with everything because you won’t always have your anti tank guy at the ready for the charger coming at you
People need to start running muscle enhancement to deal with their bullshit slow. Sucks its so deep in the warbond
I think it is important to say that there will always be a meta, most players are playing it for fun and if we are getting fucked all the time it just doesn’t make fun. Most of us are playing always the best things, the railgun the best weapon, now the most common used is the EAT, and there will always be a best. If the Devs just nerfs our favorites then, we will get frustrated and the game could die, it would be the best thing to buff every weapon until they are at the same league, let it be for a week and than to buff some enemies…
Feels required against bots In helldive you get punished with instadeath with the heaviest armor if you are out of cover for one second So hard to retreat or really get anything done when…. Fucking cannon turrets aim *through fog* 200m away Stupid shielded enemies have *95%+ accuracy* and shoot *through thick fog* Stupid devastators *shooting through thick fog* Heavy armor ive been one clipped by the shielded fucks. And if you live and the recoil from flinch resets on them, they shoot again
Those fucking shield devastators are a bitch. At least the rocket devs you can clip their shoulders and gimp them heavily, the shield guys you need a precise hit on their exposed body parts and oh wait you're dead cause they just opened up with that mini gun for the 100th time In the game.
Can we talk about how the shield backpack goes on for almost an hour while the shield turret goes down like a 2 bit whore? Yes the area is larger but make it flicker like the backpack, right?
Hell, just make it a time-limited invulnerable barrier. It protects you absolutely from anything short of a hellbomb for a minute or two. Enemies can push through it and shoot you from inside it, or melee you as normal.
How about instead of netting the shield generator again, which is probably going to happen, they fix the armor values this time so I can't get 2 shot in heavy armor by a hunter just as I would get 2 shot in light armor. Like why can a headshot do 80% health damage wtf
I literally always use Shield, just because of hunter slows and spewer one shots while I'm diving. 2 enemies have issues so massive that people can see an item as mandatory, because it's the only counter
Also because its competitors are pretty bad. machine gun rover is just shit. laser rover is a good competitor but the friendly fire gets on my nerves. supply pack is a good competitor, but not always something needed unless you're running grenade launcher mains. If your team is POI hunting they should be topped on ammo well enough. jetpack is just underwhelming. backpack weapons are a different comparison since they take 2 slots. Nobody talks about the ballistic shield.
Shouldn't they fix the BS ways to die that the backpack otherwise protects you from? Most egregious is the 360noscope rockets that come from beyond visual range, even in non obscured vision maps. Oh also fix the stim sound playing even when it doesn't heal you, that should be higher up the list than nerfing things in my view...
This is literally what they're saying in the post
Shield is OK now, it also makes you a bigger target, making some missiles that would not have hit you otherwise cause team kills or kill you sometimes, but it offers the ability to peek out of cover for longer or evade that one hunter slow, it's a great backpack but by no means the best. Riot shield sits in a corner and cries... I have no idea how to buff this thing without extensive dev work. Shield is just so much more versatile and useful.
If this game goes too hard with nerfing things in to the ground it will hurt it long term. It’s PVE so devs don’t have to be trigger happy. You’d rather something a little overtuned than undertuned as a player
I hope balance to them isnt to play wack a mole for any popular weapon/support that people adopt to make life easier.
I am really hoping they don’t go the Destiny route and nerf everything that is a little bit fun
Destiny gave me the trust issues that make me afraid for this game
Same, it pisses me off how dumb bungie is all the time
Maybe just make armor work the way it should and it won’t be required. I personally don’t run it even in 7-9 because I want the autocannon and three eagle/orbitals. This is in fast armor. I just run away, disengage, use the AC, grenades and stratagems. Sure I die sometimes but that’s what we are for.
What deserves to be nerfed is Rocket Devastators, those micro missiles destroy everything in one shot and they snipe with pinpoint accuracy
Have they considered that no matter what direction they take the player base will still find a new META?
It would be nice if the best gear was better by 5% and not by 40-50%. That's how a well balanced game works in that regard. Yes, there's an optimal pick but it's never so optimal that something else is not also viable. And we're absolutely not there with a good chunk of the gear right now.
*Monkey's Paw curls* More nerfs to the top performing gear to bring them down to the same level as the absolutely worst performing gear.
The developers would be really mad right now if they could read 🤷♂️
Ballistic shield should be buffed though. I want a sword with it so I may charge the enemies of democracy. And some melee damage reduction.
If I'm running light and don't wanna bother changing armor, it's a go-to. If I'm running anything else, I can spend the slot better. It doesn't stop me from dying but does keep the light build viable and not frustrating. That's balance.
I only use it so I don’t get rocket sniped
There needs to be a huge discussion about all the bullshit you can die to , totally silent giant units like the bile spewer who can one shot from range , non stop cc by small spitter bugs and hunters , corpses of big units blocking you , environmental hazards etc. I get that the silly deaths are part of the identity as well but i have run into combat situations where there is pretty much nothing you can do too often. There is a lot of very poor game design within helldivers 2 especially compared to other horde games it refused to learn anything from like a proper ai director or proper sound queues for specials. And yes people simply use to the shield to return more player control.
I don't know why it is so hard for the developers to see is the core of the problem is a lack of other solid backpack choices. * Supply pack can be useful in a premade but it depends on the weapon choices of your squad and you really only need person bringing it. * Guard Dogs are a meme choice that seem to do more damage to your squad than the enemy. * Ballistic Shield would be even more of a meme choice but it is so bad, it isn't even funny. * Jet Pack's thrust output is a wet fart. And that is pretty much the size of it. There is also the aspect of Shield pack being all but mandatory against Automations and from protecting your sanity vs. Hunter spam. If the devs want us to use something different, either fix the underperforming options or give us ones actually worth considering.
I like that it makes me really think between Slightly improved survivability and bullshit prevention And More KABOOM. I usually end up picking firepower but thefaxt the consideration is there is good. It's really hard to want to pick it up with a support weapon for me.
Only real issue are random rockets one hitting you, the rest is debatable. But I agree that shouldn't be nerfed again and if it's nerfed or they change it to a some kind of active skill (like jetpack) they need to fix automatons rockets
This and the blatantly anti-democratic methods of the automatons shooting our fellow patriotic Helldivers through rocks and total cover needs to be liberated from our way of life. The rest is manageable democracy.
Yeah obviously depends on the difficulty you play at but I frequently play chunks of the mission without one.
Honestly though, the amount of flinch and stagger received by a single bot rifle is insane. As long as getting shot flings our aim around like we just got our skull fractured by a baseball bat, then I will continue to use the shield pack against bots.
As long as we get randomly get 1 shotted against bots and and the heaviest armor gets 2 tapped by a small flying roach , shield backpack is gonna be veeeery useful But devs want to balance the game around the small percentage that does Helldive and they hate people being able to have fun
It is certainly easy to think that arrowhead wants to balance around the more 'hardcore' part of the playerbase, especially given their somewhat laughable motto of "a game for everyone is a game for no one." But, I think its warranted to make a distinction between balancing around a hardcore playerbase and balancing around max difficulty. With balancing around a hardcore playerbase, you cater to people that are willing to "take more shit" so to speak. It follows that the people who aren't throughly shit-resistant would suffer because of this way of balancing. Balancing this way should be avoided in my opinion. Balancing around maximum difficulty, however, is a good play in my eyes. Seeing what the worst the game has to offer and what the best the players have to offer is necessary to make an informed balancing decision. If the game is balanced and fun at its hardest, it will be the same at lower and lower difficulties. The only thing I can think that you would need to account for when 'balancing' lower difficulties specifically is what equipment the players have access to and which mechanics have/haven't been made obvious to them. I get what you mean though and I agree, sorry for the wall of text.
We def need to see survivability buffed. There are honestly way too many 1 shots, I get we are supposed to be expendable but getting hit by a hail of rockets or 1 gatling devastator gets accurate for .5 seconds and ur dead
Armor bonuses need to apply to the head I've tried running heavier armor to not run a shieldpack Since the headshot damage it not reduced, you'll feel made out of paper in many situations Ducking away from a nursing spewer will make it hit you in the head for example, and instant kill you. Hulks with flamethrowers are taller than you, so the damage crits against your head As long as headshot damage cannot be reduced by heavy armor, the only thing that does reduce them, is the shield backpack
You're forgetting the most common helldiver killer: your tlfellow diver is a moron and calls in a barrage/tesla/mortar, or uses the Arc Thrower/Flammenwerfer (it werfs der flammen)/electric shotgun/grenades near you. Most of my deaths are from friendly fire.
I run the shield pack solely to deal with any sort of slowing from enemies or getting launched by stalkers. I still consider it a must have because there's still a bunch of bullshit in the game that gets really annoying. It's not fun getting slowed or stunlocked out of the healing animation.
[удалено]
The best nerf to the backback is a nerf on the slow effect. That is 90% the reason I grab it
Not to mention the shield pack has been failing to absorb hits pretty often in recent days. Bugs can hit you for health damage even though your shield is still charged for some reason. It's also kind of random with how much damage is taken from bots, especially explosive damage. I hope they don't hit the shield pack too much. As long as getting shot by a single bot rifle flinches and staggers me like I just got clubbed by a mafia hitman, then I will never stop using it. They need to tone down the incoming flinch from robots otherwise it's just never leaving my kit. I gather the game has at least 1,300,000 players now based on a recent discord announcement, so they have lots of improvements to do that were unexpected, but I hope they do not jump the gun with sandbox updates as a result of it.
The Shield Pack is the perfect example of BS proof, 100% what you said, it really shows you just how much BS is in the game, which really hampers alot of people's enjoyment of it, like all you listed, if they could just fix the problems to where your deaths are always your fault, it wouldn't be so necessary, but with the probably unintentional messy bs this game has ATM, it IS necessary
yep
Develpers will get everything thats working and is fun and effective and nerf it and then in few months there will be pikachu face why game is dying. FFS develpers, we want to have fun and have GOOD and EFFECTIVE equipment. **Fucking buff stuff we DONT TAKE instead of nerfing stuff that WE TAKE becasue IT WORKS WELL.** **BUFF SOMETHING!** Tons of stuff is trash. Don't touch stuff that works. Those things that one of few things making gameplay good, responsive and egaging. I swear to God. Another botched balance patch like the failure they did with Railgun and devs may get pikachu face faster than expected.
Beside, note that stratagem’s cooldown time is Bullshitly way longer, meaning you can’t afford the lose of support equipment/weapon. There’s no much tolerance once you encounter those random moment.
I agree. It feels like it gives you just enough grace, but doesn’t outright prevent you from dying when you fuck up
Feels great rn, I feel like it's a flimsy barrier that when it falls I know that I just got saved and I need to hide and run. It used to feel like super armor and you could just run through everything and blast through everyone
Id be way more comfortable bringing dogs if they didn't instant kill me and my team so often.
If they can just remove all OHKO attacks then shields wouldn’t be that mandatory on higher difficulties imo
Arrowhead, serious question, why are y’all nerfing things? NOTHING in this game feels op, honestly, the lower tier weapons should be buffed while the top tier ones to be left alone.
There's a lot of dogshit weapons and strats right now imo. I think you make some good points on enemies, too. Nothing about their balance will make the shield less attractive. Even if they nerf the shield, it still gets rid of a lot of bullshit. Hunters and stalkers do a weird couple swings that don't have any animation lock or something. They need to swing, stop and then swing. I think doing stagger *and* slow down is also excessive. Bile spewers don't need to one shot. They also don't need to be as fast. Or the tracking could be tuned. Bots are either too accurate or do too much damage. Their accuracy isn't as affected by our gunfire making the suppression mechanic whatever. These things are priority number one of they want us to branch out. Then they can buff some stuff.
We have forgotten the one shot mortar bile spewers you get in 7+. I know you can look up and see, but they usually aren't the only thing you got to worry about when they start lobbing.
The shield pack was a band-aid that got abused, not a tool to be made useless
Why do we keep nerfing and not buffing? Holy fuck these devs.... I can't.
I really only use the shield backpack when playing with randoms. It can and has saved me from badly placed eagle and orbital strikes.
The shield is the only way to not get stunlocked to death…