On August 6th, Helldivers 2’s biggest update to date, “Escalation of Freedom”, was released. The developers brought a whole series of new features to the game, but also a few nerfs – one of them is already causing discussions in the community and stealing all the attention from the new features.
What’s new in Helldivers 2? The update “Escalation of Freedom” has brought some new features to the shooter:
Helldivers nerfs flamethrowers against armored enemies
What kind of nerf is this? The update included a nerf for all flamethrowers and fire-based weapons. The patch notes for “Escalation of Freedom” state: “The behavior of flame effects has been made more realistic. The effect no longer penetrates various bodies/objects that you would expect to bounce off, such as armor and static objects.”
With this change, Strikers can no longer be killed with the flamethrower. Strikers are the fat armored bugs that all Helldivers love.
Before the change, it was possible to point the flamethrower at a striker and fry him until he stopped attacking you.
Announcement for Helldivers 2: Escalation of Freedom shows extreme combat
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Change is supposed to make fire more realistic, but players complain
What do the players say? Players are criticizing the nerf. One player wrote on Reddit, “Really, Arrowhead?!” and posted a meme showing a man with the Arrowhead logo on his head shouting, “Stop having fun.” Next to the man, other people can be seen playing on a screen. A photo of the flamethrower has been inserted into this screen.
The meme is clearly intended to criticize the change. The Reddit user received almost 6,900 upvotes and collected 1,100 comments for the post within just 6 hours (as of August 6, 6:30 p.m.).
You can see the Reddit post here:
There is further criticism in the comments on the post. One player notes that enemy fire can even penetrate solid objects. Other players criticize the timing of the change, as the new war bond “Flame of Freedom” is launching on August 8th, which brings 3 new flamethrowers.
In addition, some players say that the change makes the effect of fire more unrealistic. Fire doesn’t care how effective armor is and the beetle should cook in its armor: “If I grill a striker, its organs should melt under the armor, no matter how thick it is.”
The meme post is currently the largest post about the update. A second post on Reddit, which also addresses the flamethrower nerf, is also among the largest posts and also has over 5,000 upvotes and over 1,300 comments.
If you want to take a look at the upcoming content of the Flame of Freedom War Bond despite the fire nerf, you can see an overview on MeinMMO: With the new Flame of Freedom War Bond, Helldivers 2 finally brings the armor that the community has long wanted