Helldivers 2's loudest players go nuclear over another unpopular nerf, but Arrowhead CEO keeps calm: 'Some are going 'Buff everything!' Others are saying 'It's too easy!' Most are just playing.'

Helldivers 2 freedom's flame.

Helldivers 2 got its biggest update in months today: the Escalation of Freedom patch adds a new highest difficulty (Level 10), a swamp planet biome, new enemy types, and missions. It's a great day to return to what is still easily my game of the year so far, but in the loudest corners of the Helldivers 2 community, conversation around today's update has been dominated by two bullet points in the patch notes. The fan-favorite flamethrower got nerfed, and the subreddit has gone nuclear over it:

• Adjusted flame effects to work more realistically.
• It doesn't go through various bodies/objects where bounce off would be the expected behavior, like on armors and static objects.