Instead of setting hearts blazing with democratic enthusiasm, the big Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update has become a hotbed of division, with many players grilling developer Arrowhead over a perceived heel-turn on weapon balancing in the run-up to Helldivers 2's Freedom's Flame Warbond. Sifting through the ashes, studio CEO Shams Jorjani says the devs are paying attention and "we'll tweak again" as needed.
The spark that truly lit this fire was tucked away in the Escalation of Freedom patch notes. Fire damage was adjusted, purportedly to behave more realistically, but the in-game effects of this change dramatically reduced the potency of weapons like the flamethrower. You know, the fire weapon, the one that players fell in love with post-buff as a solid anti-Charger option, and the one that was perfectly positioned to reach glorious new heights with the fire-themed Warbond packing fire-resistant armor. Instead, as countless white-hot Reddit posts excoriate, "they nerfed the flamethrower" and it's not very good against armored enemies anymore.
