Helldivers 2 is only a few weeks old and already players are kicking their teammates before games even get going because they’re not bringing so-called “meta” builds to the party.
As Helldivers 2 players level up and seek out the the rarest resources exclusive to harder difficulties, their loadout becomes an increasingly serious business.
The community has declared a handful of must-haves for higher difficulties, including the SG-225 Breaker Primary weapon, and the Railgun, Eagle 500KG Bomb, and Shield Generator Pack Stratagems. (Check out IGN’s best loadouts guide to see what we think).
One post on the Helldivers 2 Steam forum is gaining attention for declaring the need to “set the standard for 8+ missions.” “If they are using anything but the right Breaker gun, kick,” the post reads. “If they have worthless stratagems that are weak, kick. If they don’t have either Rail Gun or nade launcher, kick. Not using a shield, kick.
“We need to set a standard for high rank pug [pick up group] play. You can have your silly builds or weak guns on your own or friends’ time, but if you’re not using these things, you are trolling and should be kicked.”
While it’s unclear exactly how prevalent this kicking behavior has become in actual play, it’s certainly sparked a vociferous debate within the Helldivers 2 community. On one side, Helldivers 2 players who are playing to succeed see nothing wrong with kicking players they suspect won’t be able to handle the brutal battlefields of harder difficulties.
“I’m not saying meta-build or nothing, I’m just saying the people who don’t play on the helldive difficulty are the ones who seem to suggest others to not use the meta build,” suggested redditor Yesman868. “Trust me, there’s nothing fun about taking a shieldless, auto-cannon, liberator-penetrator loadout to helldive difficulty. Try that out one time and tell me you had fun.”
On the other side are players who think such behavior is shameful because, at the end of the day, Helldivers 2 is a co-op game about having fun above all else.
One such player is r00t4cc3ss, who took to reddit to express their disbelief. “Apparently people are already starting to get kicked in higher difficulties for not using certain loadouts,” they said. “Sounds absolutely ridiculous to me, you’re not competing on some kind of leaderboard against other Helldivers, it’s okay to not do a mission 100% or to fail a mission, just revel in the chaos and have fun playing the game. We’re all working together in the name of democracy.”
It’s fair to say this debate is approaching meme status within the Helldivers 2 community.
While there is a clear meta build within Helldivers 2 right now, developer Arrowhead will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the data and issue balance tweaks over time. Perhaps the developer will seek to nerf the likes of the Rail Gun. Perhaps it will instead seek to buff so-called weak Stratagems to make them more viable. Perhaps a combination of the two is in order.
Whatever the case, Helldivers 2 remains firmly rooted in finding the fun. Indeed, the game’s astonishing success revolves around this being the focus. One player, ks14555 on reddit, is even actively ignoring the meta as they play: “This is the first game where I’m content to enjoy the journey rather than rush to the destination and it’s so refreshing.”
Helldivers 2 is Sony’s biggest PC game launch of all time, with a peak concurrent player figure of 458,709 on Steam. Helldivers 2’s success has even sparked renewed interest in Starship Troopers, the film from which it draws quite a bit of inspiration. If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 guide.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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