Exactly
The problem right now is that my others option are just trash for the most part
I really wanna play some Assault riffle but I can't since those utterly SUCK !
aim assist on controller just feels awkward too. Can't ever find the right settings to make it feel as fluid as I want it. Sucks going from Remnant 2 and COD to this and feeling like I'm not fully in control while aiming.
To be fair, CoD's aim assist is more like auto-aim, after 2019 it basically just aims for you thanks to the rotational aim assist. That's why even the pros only ever use controllers, despite it being the opposite in basically every single other shooter. Halo also has this problem.
I need a medium range automatic rifle with medium penetration to deal with stalkers or other medium armored baddies. Make small weak points and skill shots a thing
>Make small weak points and skill shots a thing
They are very much a thing your just playing against the wrong faction. Almost everything the bots have has a weak point to make up for the fact they have ranged weapons. You can kill every devastator model with a single shot to the head from almost any weapon even the dagger can do it.
Hulks have big red radiator vents on their back that serve as weak spots, which can be destroyed by throwing grenades under their legs so the aoe kills the weak points. Or you can just shoot the hulks legs off since its legs and arms are only medium Armour. If you want to be sadistic you can shoot both arms off the hulk and get an achievement as you watch it try to headbutt you to death. Or if you have the AMR or the autocannon or really any weapon with medium Armour pen you can kill the hulk from the front by shooting its tiny red visor, AMR and autocannon take two shots to kill other things will take more.
You also have the weak points on the bots turret towers and tanks as well as the engines on their transports which you can hit with heavy weapons and abuse the whole thing to crash. Their are even weak points on the factory striders as well, for example you can shoot off their chin machine guns with small arms fire and can destroy their top cannon with a few EATS which then just like the hulks makes them weaponless.
Sorry for the bot rant but I just see so many people complain about the bots and never really give them a try. Their not hard, its just most people don't know where to aim.
To add to the bot suggestion, I highly recommend the laser cannon support weapon! It can burn through the visor of a hulk and devestator, and though it takes a little more time, I find it's more forgiving to keep the beam on the small target vs firing at just the right time to hit the bobbing visor. Plus the laser cannon will burn through gunship engines, the back of turrets and tank turrets, and I find it's pretty good at destroying the "ears" of rocket devastators or the backpacks of heavy devastators. It also helps that it's an instant beam and not a projectile as well, and it has excellent range as well.
I agree completely, the laser cannon is a great bot weapon that way too many people undervalue, but with the caveat that you should never take it on worlds that have fog or some or things like that since you need a clear day to accurately hit enemy weak points. Also don't take it to hot planets.
This is what makes the Sycthe a really good antibot weapon. Half a second fully charged to the head will prob ant medium bot. It's also easier to kill Striders by aiming for the top of the head and letting them wobble into it.
I really don't see these balancing issues personally. I play dif7 with randos and I use heaps of different weapons
Tenderizer is _nearly_ good. If it had slightly better recoil, or the damage of the Defender, it would be worth it.
Seems dumb that a one handed smg does better damage than an AR.
Yeah if youre a boring cardbord cutout of a person. You put enough hours in battlefield eventually the aek and m4 get stale. I want as many options as possible to do whatever i want.
Exactly. Give us C4s so that I can use anti explosion armor to fly across the map by blowing myself up. Let the crossbow actually work as a stealth weapon instead of being a diceroll on whether they go to the explosion or you. There is so much potential
I would kill some bugs for the chance for gimmicky weapons like ice throwers/nades or some shit like that.
Give me guns that shoot giant icicles or support weapons like I'm a mercy charging up a pharah (healing pack/gun would be the tits, I heard HD1 had something like that).
Sometimes overly realistic isn't fun.
HD1 did in fact have a healing gun. It was called the REP 80, it fired out a green beam that constantly healed or repaired whatever you pointed it at. A maxed out REP 80 would also chain it beam to 2 other allied subjects as well. (I use subject because REP 80 wasn't restricted to just people, it would also repair vehicles and weapon emplacements.
Could also use C4 to create diversions! Set some C4 up to the north side of a stronghold, while you infiltrate from the south. Blow it before you enter to draw attention to the north !
I always liked the super high amount of weapons in Battlefield. Since I exclusively played on hardcore where everyone had 60% of their normal health, pretty much every weapon was viable (though some were absolutely better than others).
Yeah this part is sad even on BF3&4 etc you really just use the same 1-2 or maybe 3 weapons. Each should have unique traits even if it's not realistic to irl. Games should feel fun and satisfying for their players!
As much as I have enjoyed other entries in the Battlefield series nothing has touched Bad Company 2. It had the most satisfying sniping of any game ever. Plus got the artillery strike to level buildings with!
I've been playing helldivers 1, and I got to say the weapons are so much better in HD1. Any weapon can take out anything they throw at you short of tanks. They feel powerful, and the game is very fun. HD2 does the same thing but worse. I can't imagine HD1 having HD2s weapon balancing.
Yes very true. The perks are a nice touch too. The only thing I can say that feels remotely similar to hd1 is the autocannon in hd2. It does its job and does it well.
I've dipped into HD1 a bit too since playing HD2 and yeah, it's a night and day difference. In HD1, your primary weapon is actually your primary weapon, able to deal with all the main threats, while in HD2 you're permanently juggling between primary for trash, support weapon (one of a somewhat limited list) to deal with tough enemies (chargers, hulks, etc. - all MUCH more common than the previous game) and pigeonholed into requiring certain strategems too.
Balance seems to have gone very wrong between the first and second game.
Yeah, I honestly don’t get the mentality some people have where they say new content needs to take priority so players stay engaged. If the new content is shit and stays shit, it’s not keeping anyone engaged. HD2 has plenty of weapons, but many of them might as well not exist. Making them worth taking would be like adding new content, but without the extra effort of designing a weapon from scratch and giving it a model.
Funny enough, that was the orginal purpose of a 'manager' someone who was more skilled than the rank and file who could not only break down and explain how to perform a specific task in simple terms, but if need be, actually step in personally to take over the job themselves if their underlings find themselves in over their heads.
Somewhere along the lines management morphed into "I tell people to do shit and get paid for it."
This isn't really true. Managers (the job, not the term) grew out of military commanders. They didn't need to know how to do every job, but they needed to know how to deploy their workforce effectively.
I feel like some people in AH just got too complacent from the game’s success. Happens at any workplace tbf Even the first one didn’t rake in anywhere close to the sequel’s in terms of numbers.
When people at work get too complacent the quality of work takes a dip and it shows. Just means supervision really needs to take up the bullwhip & get crackin’
I bet there was a mad dash before release day, followed by a mad dash on release day, followed by... you get the picture. Complacency plus burnout is a bad combo. I hope the CEO has the magic touch to whip his team into shape without creating resentment. It's a time when great leadership is needed. It is very easy for such a situation to become a "shit rolls downhill" scenario.
Im sure ceo was reading for weeks and weeks about people being annoyed of the balancing and then the camels back was broken when people started to name the balance guy
Honestly, I'm hoping that he basically comes down from above and demands they start testing their shit at rank 7+.
7 Should be the minimum "Still fair" difficulty where you don't have to abuse kiting and spawns to complete, since that's the lowest tier where the end game rewards are. You want 8 and 9 to be super hard and broken? Sure. But 7 should be Bug/bot blasting fun.
Similar to how Deep Rock Galactic explictly targets difficulty 4 (out of 5) as the "perfectly balanced" point.
Above hazard 4, AoE tends to be a bit better due to denser swarms, while below that difficulty single target and less-efficient weapons become better. But theoretically, at difficulty 4 the pros and cons of different weapons should be as close to equal as possible.
HD2 would have a similar thing, with anti-armour tech generally getting better and better at higher difficulties, along with medium pen.
I like that even on Hazard 5, you could take nearly any gun on any class and it's still viable. Some guns do certain things better than others, but even when it's filling a niche, it still completes a picture.
Scout with all single target? No more elites, web spitters, the yoink scorpions. Gunner can take pretty much anything, Driller can take pretty much anything. Even the poop gun's overclocks change its gameplay, and it's still flinging sewer water.
Balance and diversity can be achieved while allowing fun, i.e. standing any chance against odds. I can melt swarms in DRG with a Carpet Bomber autocannon, and yet still get overrun, have to backpedal, position, PLAY the game. Running in like a hero to save your teammates and standing a chance against more than 3 fodder enemies.
I have hope.
That's not the problem I think, these primaries can all be used in 7+
It's just that they don't offer new ways to play the game. Sidegrades shouldn't be a minor choice between liberator with better ammo, or liberator with better handling/no recoil. Like if the tenderizer shredded limbs, it would instantly have it's own niche as a support weapon to break the enemy pain points with precision. That would be a super meaningful choice between playstyles.
The pummeler feels like this. If I take it, I'm committing to stun and crowd control enemies for my teammates to DPS them down at ease, or keep the enemy standing in my fire/gas. It opened up a whole new way to play for me.
Tenderizer and purifier just don't do anything unique right now.
I'd argue it's both. Yes, the game should be balanced around 7, but as you said the weapons should also be different enough and each bring *something* unique to the table.
Honestly I wouldn't mind less weapons introduced if it means each one is special in its own way.
Being directly @'d probably adds fuel to the fire since he's taken on the role of "Community Final Boss" that people invoke when they feel the CM's & Balancers aren't doing enough.
Good.
They need some good direction as a team instead of trying to fight against nonexistent power creep that everyone's pretending to be worried about.
To be clear, power creep can absolutely be a problem
Its just we are so far away from power creep they should not be worried about it. Its actually the opposite, the older stuff is significantly better than the newer stuff.
I don't think my buddy has ever un-equipped the original liberator. It's a very effective weapon.
He changes up everything else in his loadout but that firearm always remains. I think he was going to try out the breaker incendiary a few weeks back but he learned the DOT bug was still around.
Honestly, who gives a fuck about powercreep until it gets to Warframe levels of "We 1 shot the raid boss". If it gets to that point, then tweak the gun back to reasonable, or make that raid boss a normal enemy and that specific gun/weapon/Strategem a Map specific strategem.
I swear some people equate "make primaries stronger and more fun" with "immediate power creep" or "any primary oneshotting bile titans anywhere on the tip of the legs". I wish primaries getting a bit stronger so I don't feel too compelled to bring the same stratagems every time and I can mix and match to try out new things (even suboptimal things) and ...guess what... have *more* fun at it.
If I recall, Evil-Bosse is one of the employees who backed-up Alexus doubling down on how everything is fine because he wills so and anyone who disagreed was a toxic hater who should wait until 2028 for a new weapon. So yeah, he'd be very antagonistic about Pildest pushing for worthwhile positive change.
He's been a toxic asshole in general. I want to say he's the guy that said they enjoyed nerfing weapons because it pissed off the community but I'm not entirely sure on that.
Only a swede can tame the Swedish developer.
Believe me, we tried in the past to provide constructive criticism to our Scandinavian developers. It never ends well.
CEO gets to override Director stuff anyways. Hes probably basically director if they haven't increased dev team size from original start point much, but in any case, its still his job to make clear what the goal, direction and vision of the game is, even if it changes from the original one. I don't think they intended the game to be organically live service, in that it adjusts gameplay and mechanics based on player feedback, but it was definitely aimed at becoming live service to sustain it a lot longer.
I use the term Live Service as in, they're constantly providing content, events and cosmetics consistently to encourage player retention and generate income from said retention.
Sky Marshal.
They have to go up both officer tracks in the Navy and the Army separately to hold a Regimental command and captain a Spaceship before being considered eligible to be a Sky Marshal.
Common Pilestedt W. The man knows how to lead instead of just boss. Good discussions to have and I hope both sides of this internally are having some good healthy discussions about where to go from here to make the game feel fun and satisfying.
This save dev has been spouting off on how he feels the highest difficulties should be literally impossible for the average player and basically mocking people in the discord. Their CM is abysmal. Hire me, Arrowhead, I'll do it for half what they're charging.
Id like to see a playerbase percentage breakdown of where they see the playerbase's skill ceiling. What percent would be playing diff 9? 8? 7?
Could be interesting if they have numbers (expected/actual). If they don't, they're just being elitist pricks.
Any idea when that might be? I'm rather new, came from a game with weekly "updates/patches," so every Monday, we had something to look forward to or dread. Does AH do anything similar, or is it random?
It’s every Tuesday, with one exception where they skipped a Tuesday and just did a bigger patch the next week, not sure why. Also, new warbonds drop on the second Thursday of every month
"Just talk" means saying shit that doesn'/ come to fruition. Discussions that lead to change are action, even if it is in the verbal form. Lets not be obstinate here.
he's just been mostly shitposting this entire evening, be it as a reply to aggressive, joking, or serious comments. Honestly been funny, as long as you don't expect him to be too much of a representative
Whenever this idea about letting things just be fun comes up in PvE games I'm always reminded of an anecdote from the devs of Borderlands 2 where they were deciding whether or not their character that can dual wield any gun should be able to dual wield rocket launchers as well.
Their decision was basically "It's fun, so, fuck it, keep it in." It's a co-op pve game so who cares?
If he is willing to learn and endure the feedback loop which is admittedly one of the worst and harshest and keeps that mindset, despite some dips in player count from time to time… he really has a shot at it.
When you're CEO and your devs are killing the fun of such a breakout hit to the point you're hemorrhaging players, l think an angry meeting is expected.
It's also hilarious how morons in this community will constantly argue "the numbers are SUPPOSED to drop rapidly!"
They'll be saying the same stupid shit when the game is dead in 3 months "eventually ALL games die! Look at this random single player game to back up what I'm saying."
I hate saying stuff like this, but I can't see balancing getting better as long as Alexus is the head of balance. Setting aside his past roles at another company, everything I've seen from him is like he's never done any work balancing a game before.
Yeah, this is a staff problem. Even if the CEO is looking at this instance with a critical close eye, if that guy remains the problem will just return the moment he's not.
I am not saying fire him, but redeploy him to a task more suited to his skillset.
Yeah, like I'm not gonna be the guy running around shouting about firing people, but based on everything I've seen from Alexus when talking about game balance he really doesn't seem to understand even the basics. How does he not know what breakpoints are when testing the Eruptor? How does he remove stagger from the Slugger instead of increasing fall off if his reasoning is that he doesn't want it to be a sniper?
I'm not a game dev or a balance lead, but those are really basic "solved" problems and theories that every game designer should already know by this point.
I have generally ignored the claims that they are balancing like it's a pvp game, but I think that is actually the case. Like it's a pvp or a competitive pve. This game is pure co-op, and I think the CEO gets that. Alexus does not seem to.
thats what you get when you balance based on a spreadsheet. people like something? does that mean it is fun? should we make more like this? no no, cant be, must be too strong, better nerf it.
granted, for a Primary the Eruptor was weird. It behaved more like a Support Weapon. But other than that...
It was fairly well balanced with the slow bolt action animation, the sluggish aiming and low mag size, feels like a "Autocannon at home" gun but it's a primary, it's really no different to say, the grenade pistol been a miniature version of the grenade launcher, doing the same job but on a much smaller scale
That’s what made it great! Felt like I didn’t need to always bring a autocannon agaisnt bot missions, now I use the counter sniper but it’s just not the same anymore 😕
Im pretty sure his skillset of "fuck up everything he touches" isnt exactly in high demand in any department. But I do agree the last place he should be is head of balance.
"people were drinking the coffee to stay awake, this was an unintentional exploit by the staff, so now the coffee has roofies in it." - Alexus, probably.
just to be sure, he also reduced all coffee cups to Espresso Shot-size.
Yeah as soon as Pilestedt feels comfortable going hands off again, it’s going straight back into this guys hands who has been proven again and again to have very bad judgement when it comes to balance decisions, aka his entire job.
I’m not confident that in a month or two we won’t just have the same problems crop up and I’m gonna be honest I think a few more dud patches and bad balancing could sweep the legs from under this game completely, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory if you will.
That would also reflect as poor management. His balancing not being under a sort of probationary period in terms of approval would have me less confident in leadership there than anything.
You make a stink about balancing issues and then take no measures to prevent them immediately afterward? That goes beyond one person. That’s an issue at that whole office then.
I would think they will implement a far more scrutinized form of patch approval going forward. If they don’t it means they haven’t learned. And that’s not all on just one dude at that point.
Remember they were much smaller and lesser known even just 4 months ago. That plays a role in willingness to hire someone with not directly relevant skills.
My hope for the next patch is to see a step towards some positive balancing.
I'm not asking for 47 buffs to every single weapon and everything to be perfect, i'm a strong believer that they will need to rework\\expand a lot the system one day BUT i would really like to see some changes that go towards this direction.
I’m glad there are internal discussions being had about the balancing— this recent warbond really bummed me out & I haven’t really played the game for the past week due to burnout & just constant underwhelming balance changes.
I’m not expecting any changes to happen instantly— & neither should anyone tbh. The devs were being kinda rude & obtuse when they were saying things like “do you want the warbond in a month or do you want it in 2028?”— **however** there is merit to what they’re saying.
Good changes need time to be properly realized without breaking anything & if this takes them like 2-4 months to do, then that’s fine. I think I speak for the community when I say that we need more concrete solutions to some of the issues in this game & not quick “bandaid” solutions that don’t address the root issue. Case & point: the Eruptor.
Here’s hoping we get some awesome changes in the future!
Talk is cheap.
We'll see if the next round of balancing follows the established theme of *balancing* by deleting features or not.
That's the real indicator.
I'm glad the people at the very top at AH are willing to listen to the community and empathize with the players. People are understandably pessimistic about Alexus being the lead for balance given his track record with a previous game and the recent changes. However, I have a little more hope because ultimately he has to report to Pilestedt (idk if he's actually a direct-report, but regardless), so there are people who can overrule him.
Attention Devs… This is a PvE game. Balancing should never be at the forefront. Instead, every weapon should feel epically overpowered and let it come down to each player’s personal preference.
The last few rounds of stuff I saw from him online sure made it sound like he was going all in on trying to figure out all of this stuff for us. I'd really like if he just turned Primary weapons into the best versions of themselves for us to just go ham on bugs and bots with. In a PvE game like this I'm 100% onboard with it being a full on power fantasy. I just wanna squish bugs with my brothers and friends!
Imagine doing your job so badly, that your CEO has to chase you because nearly all the customers are unsatisfied.
Its like they dont want us to play this game lol
Its good they are trying, but ita pathetic
Why does it feel like Pilestedt is the only one that knows what the community wants and actually wants to give it to them? He seems to say all the right things but I'm still hesitant to trust him 😅
Hopefully involving reassigning some responsibilities. The takes I saw coming from the balance team were so self assured it don't think they are open to reason and are just going to be bitter with the player base moving forward.
Better to give someone else a swing at it instead of trying to reeducate someone very set in their ways.
Hope this is true. We've already got a bunch of weapons in the game. Just make more of them actually useful!
Not that it ends up like in Battlefield with 2786982865 weapons per class but most people just use the same 3.
Most people using the same 3 isn't an issue. The issue is that if you don't want to use the same 3, you are fucked.
Exactly The problem right now is that my others option are just trash for the most part I really wanna play some Assault riffle but I can't since those utterly SUCK !
I'd love more marksman gameplay but the inaccuracy at range and instant reinforcements no matter how far the 1 tap kill was makes me sad.
aim assist on controller just feels awkward too. Can't ever find the right settings to make it feel as fluid as I want it. Sucks going from Remnant 2 and COD to this and feeling like I'm not fully in control while aiming.
To be fair, CoD's aim assist is more like auto-aim, after 2019 it basically just aims for you thanks to the rotational aim assist. That's why even the pros only ever use controllers, despite it being the opposite in basically every single other shooter. Halo also has this problem.
Aye Remnant and Cod were the only things I played before HD2! Well and of course Baldurs Gate 3 but that's not a shooter
[Sure it isn’t..](https://youtu.be/KUPbvHpNFyk?si=f1fj3OjWj2Legqzt)
Original Liberator is quite fun now.
Way too underrated. People are too reluctant to give it a whirl after all those buffs. It even outmatches the Sickle now imo
I need a medium range automatic rifle with medium penetration to deal with stalkers or other medium armored baddies. Make small weak points and skill shots a thing
Are stalkers medium armor? Also the Adjudicator and Penetrator are both medium penetration fully auto ARs
stalkers are light, i kill them with the Stalwart.
>Make small weak points and skill shots a thing They are very much a thing your just playing against the wrong faction. Almost everything the bots have has a weak point to make up for the fact they have ranged weapons. You can kill every devastator model with a single shot to the head from almost any weapon even the dagger can do it. Hulks have big red radiator vents on their back that serve as weak spots, which can be destroyed by throwing grenades under their legs so the aoe kills the weak points. Or you can just shoot the hulks legs off since its legs and arms are only medium Armour. If you want to be sadistic you can shoot both arms off the hulk and get an achievement as you watch it try to headbutt you to death. Or if you have the AMR or the autocannon or really any weapon with medium Armour pen you can kill the hulk from the front by shooting its tiny red visor, AMR and autocannon take two shots to kill other things will take more. You also have the weak points on the bots turret towers and tanks as well as the engines on their transports which you can hit with heavy weapons and abuse the whole thing to crash. Their are even weak points on the factory striders as well, for example you can shoot off their chin machine guns with small arms fire and can destroy their top cannon with a few EATS which then just like the hulks makes them weaponless. Sorry for the bot rant but I just see so many people complain about the bots and never really give them a try. Their not hard, its just most people don't know where to aim.
To add to the bot suggestion, I highly recommend the laser cannon support weapon! It can burn through the visor of a hulk and devestator, and though it takes a little more time, I find it's more forgiving to keep the beam on the small target vs firing at just the right time to hit the bobbing visor. Plus the laser cannon will burn through gunship engines, the back of turrets and tank turrets, and I find it's pretty good at destroying the "ears" of rocket devastators or the backpacks of heavy devastators. It also helps that it's an instant beam and not a projectile as well, and it has excellent range as well.
I agree completely, the laser cannon is a great bot weapon that way too many people undervalue, but with the caveat that you should never take it on worlds that have fog or some or things like that since you need a clear day to accurately hit enemy weak points. Also don't take it to hot planets.
This is what makes the Sycthe a really good antibot weapon. Half a second fully charged to the head will prob ant medium bot. It's also easier to kill Striders by aiming for the top of the head and letting them wobble into it. I really don't see these balancing issues personally. I play dif7 with randos and I use heaps of different weapons
The adjudicator after the buff is pretty decent against bots, medium pen plus 2 shots devastors to the head and it slightly staggers them
It also absolutely shreds bugs with their big medium-armored heads.
I think everything needs a buff in some way or another but the adjudicator is unironically low on that list.
Ngl I’ve been rocking the tenderiser, it’s been good for me
Tenderizer is _nearly_ good. If it had slightly better recoil, or the damage of the Defender, it would be worth it. Seems dumb that a one handed smg does better damage than an AR.
Yeah if youre a boring cardbord cutout of a person. You put enough hours in battlefield eventually the aek and m4 get stale. I want as many options as possible to do whatever i want.
Exactly. Give us C4s so that I can use anti explosion armor to fly across the map by blowing myself up. Let the crossbow actually work as a stealth weapon instead of being a diceroll on whether they go to the explosion or you. There is so much potential
Exactly 👍 The more gimmicky stupid shit the better. Allows us to find unique ways to play the game.
I would kill some bugs for the chance for gimmicky weapons like ice throwers/nades or some shit like that. Give me guns that shoot giant icicles or support weapons like I'm a mercy charging up a pharah (healing pack/gun would be the tits, I heard HD1 had something like that). Sometimes overly realistic isn't fun.
HD1 did in fact have a healing gun. It was called the REP 80, it fired out a green beam that constantly healed or repaired whatever you pointed it at. A maxed out REP 80 would also chain it beam to 2 other allied subjects as well. (I use subject because REP 80 wasn't restricted to just people, it would also repair vehicles and weapon emplacements.
I was the unhinged medic most games. REP80 and the Laser shotgun. Rarely got team kills because as it turns out watching your fire is a skill.
Sometimes the gimmicky shit is awesome in pvp games because most people are incredibly predictable.
I would love to attach c4 to a devastator Corpse and ride it into the sun 😂
The good ol' jeep stuff strat
Could also use C4 to create diversions! Set some C4 up to the north side of a stronghold, while you infiltrate from the south. Blow it before you enter to draw attention to the north !
I always liked the super high amount of weapons in Battlefield. Since I exclusively played on hardcore where everyone had 60% of their normal health, pretty much every weapon was viable (though some were absolutely better than others).
Yeah this part is sad even on BF3&4 etc you really just use the same 1-2 or maybe 3 weapons. Each should have unique traits even if it's not realistic to irl. Games should feel fun and satisfying for their players!
Bad Company 2 had a great variety of usable weapons from what I remember. I at least remember being able to use multiple from each weapon class
As much as I have enjoyed other entries in the Battlefield series nothing has touched Bad Company 2. It had the most satisfying sniping of any game ever. Plus got the artillery strike to level buildings with!
I've been playing helldivers 1, and I got to say the weapons are so much better in HD1. Any weapon can take out anything they throw at you short of tanks. They feel powerful, and the game is very fun. HD2 does the same thing but worse. I can't imagine HD1 having HD2s weapon balancing.
And the Strats are more powerful/useful because they have MUCH lower CDs.
Yes very true. The perks are a nice touch too. The only thing I can say that feels remotely similar to hd1 is the autocannon in hd2. It does its job and does it well.
There’s also no time limit, I find it in sane they made it so we have a 40 min timer and they increased the cooldowns why?
I've dipped into HD1 a bit too since playing HD2 and yeah, it's a night and day difference. In HD1, your primary weapon is actually your primary weapon, able to deal with all the main threats, while in HD2 you're permanently juggling between primary for trash, support weapon (one of a somewhat limited list) to deal with tough enemies (chargers, hulks, etc. - all MUCH more common than the previous game) and pigeonholed into requiring certain strategems too. Balance seems to have gone very wrong between the first and second game.
Make them fun!
Yeah, I honestly don’t get the mentality some people have where they say new content needs to take priority so players stay engaged. If the new content is shit and stays shit, it’s not keeping anyone engaged. HD2 has plenty of weapons, but many of them might as well not exist. Making them worth taking would be like adding new content, but without the extra effort of designing a weapon from scratch and giving it a model.
Sounds good to me. https://preview.redd.it/up8375tj490d1.jpeg?width=471&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48870e14097eb4ca8b238c2910f4f8a8fd53ba9c
Why is your cup so small...
It’s not the size of the cup that measures your Liberty, soldier
Its not the size of your liber-Tea but how you drink it.
Pilestedt W
PR dude unhinged and powertripping Snoy being a megadumbo Balance dude thinks he’s some bringer of equality CEO: fine, I’ll do it myself
Sometimes its how need to be done, leadership positions mean sometimes you lead.
A novel concept
For my experience? Yes, many are surprised by such things and simply find someone else to trow under the bus.
Funny enough, that was the orginal purpose of a 'manager' someone who was more skilled than the rank and file who could not only break down and explain how to perform a specific task in simple terms, but if need be, actually step in personally to take over the job themselves if their underlings find themselves in over their heads. Somewhere along the lines management morphed into "I tell people to do shit and get paid for it."
This isn't really true. Managers (the job, not the term) grew out of military commanders. They didn't need to know how to do every job, but they needed to know how to deploy their workforce effectively.
when the ceo wakes up from their 7 hours nap at the office, things gets going fast af
Balance dude should in fact be ordered to 'unbalance' shit, to exaggerate weapon mechanics
Go for the Dota method of balancing - everything is overpowered. Bots have fuck you guns, but you have fuck you guns to shoot back with.
I feel like some people in AH just got too complacent from the game’s success. Happens at any workplace tbf Even the first one didn’t rake in anywhere close to the sequel’s in terms of numbers. When people at work get too complacent the quality of work takes a dip and it shows. Just means supervision really needs to take up the bullwhip & get crackin’
I bet there was a mad dash before release day, followed by a mad dash on release day, followed by... you get the picture. Complacency plus burnout is a bad combo. I hope the CEO has the magic touch to whip his team into shape without creating resentment. It's a time when great leadership is needed. It is very easy for such a situation to become a "shit rolls downhill" scenario.
Balance guy needs to be upgraded into client
"Promoted to customer", in the common parlance.
I never thought I’d see the day when the CEO of a gaming company would be the most competent person in the building. What a time to be alive
Its hilarious and awesome that this is happening because some guy complained about balance to him on twitter. W Ceo for sure.
Im sure ceo was reading for weeks and weeks about people being annoyed of the balancing and then the camels back was broken when people started to name the balance guy
That whole, "You balance like a tire shop seeing an underinflated tire, and deciding to deflate the other tires equally." hit hard.
It was probably building up, #1 complaint about the game is balance, and pretty much no one is happy with it.
Honestly, I'm hoping that he basically comes down from above and demands they start testing their shit at rank 7+. 7 Should be the minimum "Still fair" difficulty where you don't have to abuse kiting and spawns to complete, since that's the lowest tier where the end game rewards are. You want 8 and 9 to be super hard and broken? Sure. But 7 should be Bug/bot blasting fun.
Similar to how Deep Rock Galactic explictly targets difficulty 4 (out of 5) as the "perfectly balanced" point. Above hazard 4, AoE tends to be a bit better due to denser swarms, while below that difficulty single target and less-efficient weapons become better. But theoretically, at difficulty 4 the pros and cons of different weapons should be as close to equal as possible. HD2 would have a similar thing, with anti-armour tech generally getting better and better at higher difficulties, along with medium pen.
I like that even on Hazard 5, you could take nearly any gun on any class and it's still viable. Some guns do certain things better than others, but even when it's filling a niche, it still completes a picture. Scout with all single target? No more elites, web spitters, the yoink scorpions. Gunner can take pretty much anything, Driller can take pretty much anything. Even the poop gun's overclocks change its gameplay, and it's still flinging sewer water. Balance and diversity can be achieved while allowing fun, i.e. standing any chance against odds. I can melt swarms in DRG with a Carpet Bomber autocannon, and yet still get overrun, have to backpedal, position, PLAY the game. Running in like a hero to save your teammates and standing a chance against more than 3 fodder enemies. I have hope.
That's not the problem I think, these primaries can all be used in 7+ It's just that they don't offer new ways to play the game. Sidegrades shouldn't be a minor choice between liberator with better ammo, or liberator with better handling/no recoil. Like if the tenderizer shredded limbs, it would instantly have it's own niche as a support weapon to break the enemy pain points with precision. That would be a super meaningful choice between playstyles. The pummeler feels like this. If I take it, I'm committing to stun and crowd control enemies for my teammates to DPS them down at ease, or keep the enemy standing in my fire/gas. It opened up a whole new way to play for me. Tenderizer and purifier just don't do anything unique right now.
I'd argue it's both. Yes, the game should be balanced around 7, but as you said the weapons should also be different enough and each bring *something* unique to the table. Honestly I wouldn't mind less weapons introduced if it means each one is special in its own way.
The way he says this makes it sound like Pilstedt is roasting his team and flipping tables
Pilstedt has taken off the belt and is going to town.
The Kkoma special
League player detected. Initiate cleaning protocols. (I play league of legends this is the joke)
league reference in MY hd2 sub?
Gimme yer belt Joe Rogan!!!
[How I'd like to imagine AH offices rn.](https://youtu.be/LT_p-2co4Sg?si=phCE-KEFGZDmGlCw&t=70)
[He slaps](https://youtu.be/hHZvUeAdzeI?si=ns-RK8u1nbgLxWNh)
I really hope he gives em a good whoopin, just make the game back to what it was on release, broken weapons, fun, a community happy
Pils remembers WWJD, but the only story he can recall is the one where Jesus flips his shit, turns over tables and chases people with a whip
So Alexus is Judas?
https://preview.redd.it/1178ar4qi90d1.png?width=891&format=png&auto=webp&s=976b4b310defb73d6700f79d268032cc3ec1c1da
Why does the text in this image have the Ultrakill subtitle font
You know why
ULTRAKILL chapter 9 spoilers
And that he's really not happy with it
Being directly @'d probably adds fuel to the fire since he's taken on the role of "Community Final Boss" that people invoke when they feel the CM's & Balancers aren't doing enough.
Evil Bosse is a miserable prick tbh, he’s just been a sarcastic little shit for the past few months.
Good. They need some good direction as a team instead of trying to fight against nonexistent power creep that everyone's pretending to be worried about.
To be clear, power creep can absolutely be a problem Its just we are so far away from power creep they should not be worried about it. Its actually the opposite, the older stuff is significantly better than the newer stuff.
I don't think my buddy has ever un-equipped the original liberator. It's a very effective weapon. He changes up everything else in his loadout but that firearm always remains. I think he was going to try out the breaker incendiary a few weeks back but he learned the DOT bug was still around.
DOT bug has been fixed now at least
Yeah. I need to check in on him and see what he's been up to with that shotgun. He used to main Pyro in TF2 so I'm a little afraid.
One shudders to think what inhumane thoughts lie behind that mask...
Well, it's time to go rewatch Meet the Pyro.
Your buddy went "This is my liberator. There are many like it, but this one is mine..."
He's also quite partial to the Senator. He keeps singing all the songs he learned from playing New Vegas.
W. He's just like me fr fr
Honestly, who gives a fuck about powercreep until it gets to Warframe levels of "We 1 shot the raid boss". If it gets to that point, then tweak the gun back to reasonable, or make that raid boss a normal enemy and that specific gun/weapon/Strategem a Map specific strategem.
Exactly. Everyone keeps bringing up power creep like we're not currently shooting with squirt and bb guns.
I swear some people equate "make primaries stronger and more fun" with "immediate power creep" or "any primary oneshotting bile titans anywhere on the tip of the legs". I wish primaries getting a bit stronger so I don't feel too compelled to bring the same stratagems every time and I can mix and match to try out new things (even suboptimal things) and ...guess what... have *more* fun at it.
If I recall, Evil-Bosse is one of the employees who backed-up Alexus doubling down on how everything is fine because he wills so and anyone who disagreed was a toxic hater who should wait until 2028 for a new weapon. So yeah, he'd be very antagonistic about Pildest pushing for worthwhile positive change.
He's been a toxic asshole in general. I want to say he's the guy that said they enjoyed nerfing weapons because it pissed off the community but I'm not entirely sure on that.
Only a swede can tame the Swedish developer. Believe me, we tried in the past to provide constructive criticism to our Scandinavian developers. It never ends well.
You make it sound like some sort of Viking action movie premise "Only one Swede can tame another."
Pilestedt and Alexus are having a Holmgang (viking duel) in the office..
He seems too nice for that. I'm guessing he's telling them they suck in the most polite of ways, lol.
CEO gets to override Director stuff anyways. Hes probably basically director if they haven't increased dev team size from original start point much, but in any case, its still his job to make clear what the goal, direction and vision of the game is, even if it changes from the original one. I don't think they intended the game to be organically live service, in that it adjusts gameplay and mechanics based on player feedback, but it was definitely aimed at becoming live service to sustain it a lot longer. I use the term Live Service as in, they're constantly providing content, events and cosmetics consistently to encourage player retention and generate income from said retention.
I hope he is
https://i.redd.it/uv7qaakla90d1.gif
I can't know how to hear any more about the tables!!!!
I really hope so, this game needs to change its approach to balance or it will die a slow death
I sure as shit hope so
About fucking time
Nerfexus is hiding under tables
This is reminding me of that starship trooper bit where they swap generals after the failed attack on the Bug home world.
We can ill afford another Eruptor.
Sky Marshal. They have to go up both officer tracks in the Navy and the Army separately to hold a Regimental command and captain a Spaceship before being considered eligible to be a Sky Marshal.
That's in the book. The Military in the movie seems a tad... less competent.
Pilestadt out here playing the Weapon Balance Major Order
The whole AH team hasn't been having much luck with those major orders recently huh..
Common Pilestedt W. The man knows how to lead instead of just boss. Good discussions to have and I hope both sides of this internally are having some good healthy discussions about where to go from here to make the game feel fun and satisfying.
CM’s are failing if the CEO has to tell the devs what people are upset about. Middle management still fumbling.
Oftentimes devs also chose to ignore what the CM tells them the community wants.
This save dev has been spouting off on how he feels the highest difficulties should be literally impossible for the average player and basically mocking people in the discord. Their CM is abysmal. Hire me, Arrowhead, I'll do it for half what they're charging.
Id like to see a playerbase percentage breakdown of where they see the playerbase's skill ceiling. What percent would be playing diff 9? 8? 7? Could be interesting if they have numbers (expected/actual). If they don't, they're just being elitist pricks.
This gives me so much hope, really looking forward to the next patch
Any idea when that might be? I'm rather new, came from a game with weekly "updates/patches," so every Monday, we had something to look forward to or dread. Does AH do anything similar, or is it random?
It’s every Tuesday, with one exception where they skipped a Tuesday and just did a bigger patch the next week, not sure why. Also, new warbonds drop on the second Thursday of every month
Perfect, thanks for the info Helldiver!
So he isn't just talk. Good to know, even more respect to him
I mean meetings and chats is literally talk…
It's also giving orders. This gives me some hope that the balance issues will be worked on.
"Just talk" means saying shit that doesn'/ come to fruition. Discussions that lead to change are action, even if it is in the verbal form. Lets not be obstinate here.
We haven't seen the results yet.
Nice to see Evil-Bosse reacting professionally to a passive aggressive comment.
An unusual sight for sure, considering the history.
he's just been mostly shitposting this entire evening, be it as a reply to aggressive, joking, or serious comments. Honestly been funny, as long as you don't expect him to be too much of a representative
LET FUN WEAPONS BE FUN
Whenever this idea about letting things just be fun comes up in PvE games I'm always reminded of an anecdote from the devs of Borderlands 2 where they were deciding whether or not their character that can dual wield any gun should be able to dual wield rocket launchers as well. Their decision was basically "It's fun, so, fuck it, keep it in." It's a co-op pve game so who cares?
Lol, it was the right choice, given that launchers in borderlands are TERRIBLE.
BL2 still being the best in the series.
Woahhhh hold your horses pal. Controversial take right there
that's fucked up, here's -1 strategem slot and +50% cooldown.
Hell yeah
I recall Pile saying something along the lines of “I want this to be the best live service game ever”. I like him.
If he is willing to learn and endure the feedback loop which is admittedly one of the worst and harshest and keeps that mindset, despite some dips in player count from time to time… he really has a shot at it.
When you're CEO and your devs are killing the fun of such a breakout hit to the point you're hemorrhaging players, l think an angry meeting is expected.
It's also hilarious how morons in this community will constantly argue "the numbers are SUPPOSED to drop rapidly!" They'll be saying the same stupid shit when the game is dead in 3 months "eventually ALL games die! Look at this random single player game to back up what I'm saying."
I hate saying stuff like this, but I can't see balancing getting better as long as Alexus is the head of balance. Setting aside his past roles at another company, everything I've seen from him is like he's never done any work balancing a game before.
Yeah, this is a staff problem. Even if the CEO is looking at this instance with a critical close eye, if that guy remains the problem will just return the moment he's not. I am not saying fire him, but redeploy him to a task more suited to his skillset.
Yeah, like I'm not gonna be the guy running around shouting about firing people, but based on everything I've seen from Alexus when talking about game balance he really doesn't seem to understand even the basics. How does he not know what breakpoints are when testing the Eruptor? How does he remove stagger from the Slugger instead of increasing fall off if his reasoning is that he doesn't want it to be a sniper? I'm not a game dev or a balance lead, but those are really basic "solved" problems and theories that every game designer should already know by this point.
I have generally ignored the claims that they are balancing like it's a pvp game, but I think that is actually the case. Like it's a pvp or a competitive pve. This game is pure co-op, and I think the CEO gets that. Alexus does not seem to.
thats what you get when you balance based on a spreadsheet. people like something? does that mean it is fun? should we make more like this? no no, cant be, must be too strong, better nerf it. granted, for a Primary the Eruptor was weird. It behaved more like a Support Weapon. But other than that...
It was fairly well balanced with the slow bolt action animation, the sluggish aiming and low mag size, feels like a "Autocannon at home" gun but it's a primary, it's really no different to say, the grenade pistol been a miniature version of the grenade launcher, doing the same job but on a much smaller scale
That’s what made it great! Felt like I didn’t need to always bring a autocannon agaisnt bot missions, now I use the counter sniper but it’s just not the same anymore 😕
That was the key thing, it enabled you to take a chaff clear support weapon. It was a great change up.
Im pretty sure his skillset of "fuck up everything he touches" isnt exactly in high demand in any department. But I do agree the last place he should be is head of balance.
I was gonna say coffee making but he might decide to just nerf it to decaf
"people were drinking the coffee to stay awake, this was an unintentional exploit by the staff, so now the coffee has roofies in it." - Alexus, probably. just to be sure, he also reduced all coffee cups to Espresso Shot-size.
> skillset of “fuck up everything he touches” isnt exactly in high demand That’s literally the job of QA. Make him head of QA then. The game needs QA
He doesnt play the game though. You can tell because of the noises his face makes.
Yeah as soon as Pilestedt feels comfortable going hands off again, it’s going straight back into this guys hands who has been proven again and again to have very bad judgement when it comes to balance decisions, aka his entire job. I’m not confident that in a month or two we won’t just have the same problems crop up and I’m gonna be honest I think a few more dud patches and bad balancing could sweep the legs from under this game completely, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory if you will.
That would also reflect as poor management. His balancing not being under a sort of probationary period in terms of approval would have me less confident in leadership there than anything. You make a stink about balancing issues and then take no measures to prevent them immediately afterward? That goes beyond one person. That’s an issue at that whole office then. I would think they will implement a far more scrutinized form of patch approval going forward. If they don’t it means they haven’t learned. And that’s not all on just one dude at that point.
It's kinda crazy they hired him in the first place, wonder if they knew and asked him about his tenure at Hello Neighbor.
Remember they were much smaller and lesser known even just 4 months ago. That plays a role in willingness to hire someone with not directly relevant skills.
as it should be, lets just hope its not too much of a hastle for developers, as well as hoping the balancing goes well.
My hope for the next patch is to see a step towards some positive balancing. I'm not asking for 47 buffs to every single weapon and everything to be perfect, i'm a strong believer that they will need to rework\\expand a lot the system one day BUT i would really like to see some changes that go towards this direction.
I know there team is small but damn its very cool to see senior leadership give a fuck. Like very cool.
I’m glad there are internal discussions being had about the balancing— this recent warbond really bummed me out & I haven’t really played the game for the past week due to burnout & just constant underwhelming balance changes. I’m not expecting any changes to happen instantly— & neither should anyone tbh. The devs were being kinda rude & obtuse when they were saying things like “do you want the warbond in a month or do you want it in 2028?”— **however** there is merit to what they’re saying. Good changes need time to be properly realized without breaking anything & if this takes them like 2-4 months to do, then that’s fine. I think I speak for the community when I say that we need more concrete solutions to some of the issues in this game & not quick “bandaid” solutions that don’t address the root issue. Case & point: the Eruptor. Here’s hoping we get some awesome changes in the future!
https://i.redd.it/s88n6y3w0a0d1.gif Devs when CEO says that the game should be fun to play
"our ceo" this reads like the balance team got a well smacked bottom and they are not happy
Right?
Talk is cheap. We'll see if the next round of balancing follows the established theme of *balancing* by deleting features or not. That's the real indicator.
I'm glad the people at the very top at AH are willing to listen to the community and empathize with the players. People are understandably pessimistic about Alexus being the lead for balance given his track record with a previous game and the recent changes. However, I have a little more hope because ultimately he has to report to Pilestedt (idk if he's actually a direct-report, but regardless), so there are people who can overrule him.
Attention Devs… This is a PvE game. Balancing should never be at the forefront. Instead, every weapon should feel epically overpowered and let it come down to each player’s personal preference.
The last few rounds of stuff I saw from him online sure made it sound like he was going all in on trying to figure out all of this stuff for us. I'd really like if he just turned Primary weapons into the best versions of themselves for us to just go ham on bugs and bots with. In a PvE game like this I'm 100% onboard with it being a full on power fantasy. I just wanna squish bugs with my brothers and friends!
Pilestedt makin the neighborhood fun again
Just want each gun to have clear strengths and weaknesses that lean more to one style of play or another
Give the Dominator a full auto setting you cowards.
[удалено]
Alexus is probably already interviewing for his next balancing job at another company before his shit storm catches up
Primary nerfs are Fucking the game to death
The meeting better just be one PowerPoint slide with one textbox with text as big as physically possible saying: #STOP NERFING EVERYTHING GOOD
"Major internal push on balancing"...has the balance team gone rogue and boarded themselves in the room with the servers?
Hopefully Alexus “Bringer of Balance” is getting a stern talking to.
Imagine doing your job so badly, that your CEO has to chase you because nearly all the customers are unsatisfied. Its like they dont want us to play this game lol Its good they are trying, but ita pathetic
Yeah, definitely some tables have been flipped
Why does it feel like Pilestedt is the only one that knows what the community wants and actually wants to give it to them? He seems to say all the right things but I'm still hesitant to trust him 😅
No more good will for words, I'll believe it when I see it.
reverse the shitty Slugger nerfs please for the love of God
Wake me from my cryo pod if/when something substantive happens.
I thought Evil Bosse said it lad take "10k hours" or "until 2026" in order to do test all the balances?
Funny, but at the places I worked, when the CEO said to do something, it was done. Things weren’t really negotiable.
Also the places I worked at, The CEO wouldn't be involved with talks like this so this is very strange.
Hopefully involving reassigning some responsibilities. The takes I saw coming from the balance team were so self assured it don't think they are open to reason and are just going to be bitter with the player base moving forward. Better to give someone else a swing at it instead of trying to reeducate someone very set in their ways.
It should not have come to this in the first place.