A Helldivers 2 dev apologized for “being an ass” after his responses to community feedback following a recent balancing patch.
Helldivers 2 received a significant patch on March 6 that made a heap of adjustments to weapons and stratagems, with some receiving helpful buffs while others received nerfs to reduce their effectiveness.
The player base was not happy with a number of elements in the patch, which downgraded some of the fan-favorite weapons and Stratagems, and it triggered somewhat of a war of words between the community and game developers.
One dev admitted they were “feeding the rage” on Reddit, then later apologized and said they wouldn’t interact with players directly anymore and instead leave that to the community managers. Game director Johan Pilestedt also commented on the situation, confirming action was taken internally.
That wasn’t the only member of the dev team who irritated players with their comments, however, and another developer has issued their apology in several Discord posts gathered on Reddit, where they admitted to “being an ass.”
Unlike the previous developer, it appears this dev will remain active within the community and intends to “slowly make amends,” though they are aware that “earning trust back is harder than earning it the first time.”
This, hopefully, will draw a line in the sand and mark an end for what has been a turbulent week for Helldivers 2. But it has to be said the developers are far more interactive with the community than many other games—even outlining the reasons for the balance changes in a long blog post.
One thing is for sure, though—Helldivers 2 won’t be going away anytime soon with a fresh update landing on March 14, bringing new weapons and Stratagems, while the long-awaited introduction of Mechs is right around the corner.