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11 (non technical) design flaws with Helldivers 2...

Which of the following design issues would you like to see improved? (Multiple votes allowed)

  • 1. The objective variety is weak.

  • 2 The terminal puzzles are bad.

  • 3. The weapon & strategem balance is rough.

  • 4. The mission drop map could be improved.

  • 5. The difficulty is too easy.

  • 6. The enemy variety is weak.

  • 7. The game feels "one note".

  • 8. Cooldowns should be replaced with usages.

  • 9. The "end game" isn't rewarding.

  • 10. Objectives should impact the mission.

  • 11. Geographical variety (elevation, range, distance) needs to be improved.


Results are only viewable after voting.

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Helldivers 2...huge success...but those servers...yadda yadda yadda. We've all heard it before. It's time we shift the conversation to the game itself and unpack the actual design shortcomings that prevent it, IMO, from being a truly great multiplayer game.

helldivers-2-pc-game-steam-europe-cover.jpg



PROBLEMS:

1. The objective variety is weak. They all boil down to "shoot bugs and machines in a specific location". They're so vaguely uninteresting that all the missions blend together in a hazy mess that you can't differentiate between your last 10 drops. For a game that does a good job at allowing the player to play "movie moments" the objectives are very uninspired.

2. The terminal puzzles are bad. This is an 80's/90's style action movie game. Every single one of those movies this was inspired from, has a nerdy, tech genius who tells the heroes to shut up and give him/her time. Wouldn't it be more interesting if the terminal puzzles in this game were designed to be longer and more fun? Right now, it doesn't matter which one of your teammates gets to a terminal because they're all so braindead easy. The puzzles should have enough depth and variety to them that you want to get the Neil Degrasse Tyson of your group to the terminal. Solving a terminal puzzle in 22 seconds gives you obvious advantages over solving one in 98 seconds.

3. The weapon and stratagem balance is rough. You can unlock around 50 strategems but only 10 are actually useful if you want to win. If you're not playing with the Breaker Shotgun, what are you even doing?

4. The mission drop map your team sees prior to mission launch is an awesome idea, and terrible in execution. The only interesting information the game gives you are your objectives, vague red enemy presence clouds, and your extraction point. There is nothing fun, strategic, or worthwhile about looking at this screen longer than the 4.2 seconds it takes your cursor to start at the opposite side of the map. Wouldn't it be nice if your team could look at that map from anywhere between 0 and 10 minutes and come up with a literal strategy? "You and Mike drop near the Mech facility. Felicia and I will grab the radar tower. We'll meet at the stronghold outpost and see if those mechs can break us in." To which Mike replies "No, I can grab those mechs by myself. You guys are going to need Mike at that heavily guarded radar tower. Just trust me on this." Wouldn't that be fun social banter between you and your friends?

5. The difficulty level is too easy. I'm not great at games by any stretch, but I've beaten numerous Helldive difficulty missions without anyone on my team talking. Call me crazy but the hardest difficulty setting should really incentivize teamplay, coms, and strategy. Right now, it doesn't.

6. The enemy variety is weak. The bugs have 5 or 6 enemy types. The machines have 5 or 6 enemy types. Obviously they're going to add a 3rd faction soon, but having 8 - 10 enemy varieties per faction would be superior.

7. The game feels "one note". It's pretty boring game until **** hits the fan. When **** hits the fan, everyone just sprints around doing their own thing for the most part. Occasionally you'll bump into a teammate and help him or her out but all too often you're left dealing with your own set of enemies chasing you.

8. Cooldowns should be replaced with usages. If you only have 3 or 5 Eagles, Orbitals, Turrets etc...you're going to spend them more intelligently. This is a war game that mentions strategy all the time. Usages would make the game more strategic. It would also help Arrowhead balance their stratagems even more. "All I got left are 2 more Anti Personnel Minefields. You think we can tackle this last objective?" Wouldn't that make for a better movie game...because you know...depleted resources are frequently a scene in these movies? It would also help with gameplay variety as you'd be forced to tackle missions in more creative ways.

9. The end game isn't rewarding. Most of us know that in about 6 weeks, we're going to be subject to headlines that read "Helldivers 2's player count is crashing on Steam!" These headlines are inevitable because there's nothing designed for the end game loop. The games current grind for weapons, emotes, skins, and strategems is good enough for hours 1 through 50. It's not good enough for hours 100 through 1,000.

10. Every objective in the game should impact the rest of your mission. If you take out a bug outpost, the map should reduce enemy AI by 3 percent. If you take out a radar tower, the Automatons shouldn't be able to call in dropships. If you take over a weapons outpost, your ammo capacity should be increased for the rest of the match. They do this a bit with the spore tower, the SEAF gun, some radar towers and a few others but it feels like 1 tablespoon of sugar in a cake recipe that requires 2 cups of sugar. This would make replaying missions more fun and it would make looking at that drop map more fun.

11. The geographical variety needs improvement. Go to your strategems tab at Ship Management and scroll down to ORBITAL 380MM HE BARRAGE and take a look at the screen on the right. That kind of elevation and distance isn't played with in the game. It should be.

I'll finish this post by saying I still think this is a fun game. A fun game that will be improved upon over the many coming updates.
 
I've only played a handful of missions, but like the first game, it reminds me of a very fun, casual co-op experience and doesn't need to be more than that for me.

That said, criticisms that aren't nitpicking, which I feel OP has some fair points, could lead to improvements that maybe some didn't know they wanted. I look forward to watching this game evolve, and Emperor willing, finding more time to play with friends and family.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
You can tell most people who are playing this didn’t play the first one. The stratagems and the terminal puzzles are all straight from the first game. As much as I’m enjoying it I think I might actually like the first game more. Rolling around in the tank with the boys was sick.
 
I think your teammates let you down here. Working together absolutely helps progress quicker, and you can give each other weapons, which especially helps when you have underleveled players. I think some of these complaints are valid though, but maybe a bit early. I think we might see a DLC / Megapatch or two really add value to the game.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
I think your teammates let you down here. Working together absolutely helps progress quicker, and you can give each other weapons, which especially helps when you have underleveled players. I think some of these complaints are valid though, but maybe a bit early. I think we might see a DLC / Megapatch or two really add value to the game.

I'm sure they do. I've only matchmaked with randos thus far but I don't think we should be extracting from missions the way we're doing it.

It does seems like the game gives you too many objectives to accomplish in 40 minutes playing it the way I am. Still, games can do a wonderful job at incentivizing mic play with total strangers. This one does not.
 
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Alebrije

Member
I'm sure they do. I've only matchmaked with randos thus far but I don't think we should be extracting from missions the way we're doing it.

It does seems like the game gives you too many objectives to accomplish in 40 minutes playing it the way I am. Still, can games can do a wonderful job at incentivizing mic play with total strangers. This one does not.
As always depends of the team , been playing with randoms SO somotimes just do the basic mission and others collect all the stuff on the map. The time is enought if the team fights well even with no mic.
 
It kind of reads like one of those negative steam reviews with 2000 hours played. I'll take your word for it on endgame stuff but I have played every moment possible that I could since launch and I am not close to being close to the end of the first warbond. So I just can't relate to people already running out of content.

Every mission has also felt unique and even sort of roguelike at times because the terrain and enemy locations change. The game is just so reactive, you really never get the same experience twice, even if the main beats are largely similar.

Mission variety: Hey, you're not wrong. But I'm not sure it can really improve. It's how the game is designed. There is a huge difference between refueling shuttles, and launching ICBM's, but they feel similar because at the end of the day you go to a terminal and kill aliens. They weren't trying to make super complex or different missions. The simplicity is something the game has going for it imo.

To that end I just simply disagree with making the mini games harder and stuff. No thank you.

If you are playing toughest difficulty without much issue, props to you. I see no reason they can't keep scaling higher difficulty levels in the future. But again, you are an extreme outlier here.
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
I'm sure they do. I've only matchmaked with randos thus far but I don't think we should be extracting from missions the way we're doing it.

It does seems like the game gives you too many objectives to accomplish in 40 minutes playing it the way I am. Still, games can do a wonderful job at incentivizing mic play with total strangers. This one does not.
What do you mean by "too many objectives in 40 minutes"?

You have one main objective. That's all you basically have to do.
 

ZehDon

Member
Since most games have hundreds of bad decisions, looks like Arrowhead really delivered a fucking knock out if they only have 11. Thanks for highlighting that!

Hopefully other PlayStation studios can learn from this for their own GAAS, and we get a string of absolute bangers!
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
What do you mean by "too many objectives in 40 minutes"?

You have one main objective. That's all you basically have to do.

The game gives you main objectives, optional objectives, outposts, and green / pink samples to collect. They do give you enough stuff accomplish in 40 minutes where playing with a coordinated crew would help.
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
The game gives you main objectives, optional objectives, outposts, and green / pink samples to collect. They do give you enough stuff accomplish in 40 minutes where playing with a coordinated crew would help.
Yeah, but you only really need to do the main objective.

You don’t even need all 4 people shooting all the mobs first, if time is of that much concern.
Lots of side-objective are often a matter of one single strategem as well.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Yeah, but you only really need to do the main objective.

You don’t even need all 4 people shooting all the mobs first, if time is of that much concern.
Lots of side-objective are often a matter of one single strategem as well.
I agree. I'm just saying a coordinated team would help you accomplish all the objectives.
 

Hibs

Member
The bughole breakthrough shit is dumb. It's the biggest snowball effect that never ends. It's why I don't leave orbit without my shield, railgun and nuke because anything else seems subpar when I'm usually the only one running around trying to get the objective done in a sea of chargers and big spider boys.

The difficulty on 9 needs to stay, but they need to tweak this so there is some cap on chargers, spider boys etc.
 
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Raonak

Banned

1 (non technical) design flaw with this thread​


1. You have too many points in your thesis. Should've only had 1-3 of them. Currenty there's too many options and it really limits the discussion points.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman

1 (non technical) design flaw with this thread​


1. You have too many points in your thesis. Should've only had 1-3 of them. Currenty there's too many options and it really limits the discussion points.

You are indeed correct. I think NeoGAF, and many places online really, struggle with topics that can't be consumed in 25 seconds or less. No doubt social media has effected our attention spans.

That said, the 10 who contributed to the poll seemed to read everything as the vote distribution looks healthy. I'm shocked that only one other person thought the terminal puzzles are designed to a satisfactory level. That makes no sense to me.
 

Tomeru

Member
If it's not weak, why are they adding more?
So every addition in every game means it was weak before?

Edit:
Sounds like you are dpent with the game, which is fine. Your critiques confuse the player element with game elements, and some shit you just want to be different. I'm sure it sounds grest in your mind, but as you know, reality can be different.

What if you take that element that I think is boring, and just make it awesome? What you find as flaws doesn't mean they actually are. How do you know that solving puzzles in 98 seconds would be more fun than doing it in 24 seconds?

You say you are not good at the game, but you find helldive to be easy. If that wasn't a self pat on the back, than maybe you actually are spent with the game?
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
If you're unable to make friends to play with in a coordinated fashion, it's not a design flaw of the game, it's an implementation flaw of your personality.

Nope. Some games encourage teamplay and social interaction much more than others by design.
 
On the top of my head I just counted 11 different enemy types for the bugs. I think that's a pretty fair amount?

I think it would be cool if they added more difficult puzzles on higher difficulties, but the easy 'puzzles' are fine with me, it's more about the shooting anyway and it probably would otherwise be really frustrating with random players who don't know what to do.

If you replace cooldowns with usages than everyone saves them for the extract probably and you'd have much less strategem action in the game. It's like me finishing a RPG with 70 major potions, because I saved them all for a rainy day..

The game feels "one note"? Yes, it's about shooting things with other people...

About #10: Didn't you just complain about the game being too easy? (I just think you are too skilled or something, because the game kicks my ass on difficulty 5). This would mean that the mission would be hard in the beginning and a cakewalk at the end. Which would be realistic, but not much fun. It's actually the other way around now: the longer you stay on the map, the more bug breaches will happen around you. Which works better imo, since it makes the actual extract and flying away from the planet a relief instead of a *shrug*.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
On the top of my head I just counted 11 different enemy types for the bugs. I think that's a pretty fair amount?
This weird website says there's 8. I still think it could use a few more Bile Titan class enemies that forced teamplay more.


I think it would be cool if they added more difficult puzzles on higher difficulties, but the easy 'puzzles' are fine with me, it's more about the shooting anyway and it probably would otherwise be really frustrating with random players who don't know what to do.
Shoving an idiot off the terminal with your melee because he's been working on the puzzle too long and he's going to get everyone killed would be hilarious and very much provide players with more "movie moments". The Mexican Standoffs that would result would go viral.

If you replace cooldowns with usages than everyone saves them for the extract probably and you'd have much less strategem action in the game. It's like me finishing a RPG with 70 major potions, because I saved them all for a rainy day..
This strikes me as the type of game you're not reaching the end of without a certain degree of effective stratagem use. You're holding onto those 70 options in RPGs because those games are too easy.

The game feels "one note"? Yes, it's about shooting things with other people...
I think it's more about having fun with friends and strangers by playing out scenes from action movies.

About #10: Didn't you just complain about the game being too easy? (I just think you are too skilled or something, because the game kicks my ass on difficulty 5). This would mean that the mission would be hard in the beginning and a cakewalk at the end. Which would be realistic, but not much fun. It's actually the other way around now: the longer you stay on the map, the more bug breaches will happen around you. Which works better imo, since it makes the actual extract and flying away from the planet a relief instead of a *shrug*.
This would just require balancing and proper implementation. Mechanics can influence the map in all sorts of ways that wouldn't be considered overpowered. Plus, the longer you stay on the map the more your reinforcements are dwindling.
 
This weird website says there's 8. I still think it could use a few more Bile Titan class enemies that forced teamplay more.
Yea, they are definitely missing a few. Like the little bugs and the ones with the armored front.

3. The weapon and stratagem balance is rough. You can unlock around 50 strategems but only 10 are actually useful if you want to win. If you're not playing with the Breaker Shotgun, what are you even doing?
If you want to win, sure. But is that the actual goal all the time? I mean, I think lots of people are not that focused on getting the best result, but just having fun.
Which you actually agree on with this quote:
I think it's more about having fun with friends and strangers by playing out scenes from action movies.

I'm using a jumppack and a flamethrower. Am I the biggest asset of the group? Probably not even close, but I'm having fun and I'm not in the way usually. (sometimes a bit :)).

I can't comment on the end-game, because I'm just level 11 atm. And I assume they'll be working on the weapon balance and adding more content (be it more biomes, enemy types, weapons, missions, etc.).
 
Game has some content problems but it’s a $40 game. There have been endless extraction horde type shooters like this that cost more and have way more gameplay/content issues. It’s a fun $40 game.

But it came in broken and they need to worry about fixing that before they add more stuff for us to spend money on in the game.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
If you want to win, sure.
WTF? Who doesn't want to win when they play Helldivers?

The problem is that this game can easily cater to players like you (relaxed) and players like me (competitive) since it offers 9 difficulty levels. Creating a more balanced weapon and stratagem landscape doesn't hinder you at all. It only improves the game by making each drop feel more unique than the last.

The subreddit has already caught on to this problem...

 

GymWolf

Gold Member
Point 1 is whatever, you play these games for hundreds if not thousands of hours, any combo of objectives is gonna get long on the tooth sooner or later.

I disagree with point 2, more complicated\involved puzzles are not required in a game like this, they already have peculiar stuff that can be considered annoying like the multiple inputs to call stuff or the reload mechanic where you lose bullets, let's not make the game even more annoying with elaborate puzzles in the terminal when you are fucking swarmed by dozens of units at once.

Point 3 is spot on, especially for weapons, it make unlocking new stuff absolutely unexciting.
And the stratagems are too easy to unlock, you should not be able to unlock everything at level 20, more like level 50 or higher.

I have no problem with point 4, who gives a fuck about it?

I can see the argument for being a bit easy, yesterday i tried my first 3 missions on suicide and if you have a decent squad (and believe me we were not more than decent) it's not that hard, elite players can probably smash this game, but you are not always with a good squad and the game is hard enough for the average to good player, also the difficulty feels pretty random a lot of times, it's not a fixed experience.

Enemy variety is a bit weak, sure, but i saw much worse tbh, and the enemies have charm, this is not a suicide squad situation where they were also dull af, they should add more medium and high level enemies, bile titans tanks and hulks are not nearly enough nor hard enough.

I can see the one note critic but the gameplay is super good so even when it's one note it's still more fun than more varied games with worse gameplay quality, also, any game get one note when you play hundreds of hours of it, i take helldivers being one note with wonderful combat over minecraft incredible variety with dogshit combat.

No problem with the cooldown system.

I can see endgame being a problem, maybe the incredible success is gonna change their plan on how often they are gonna release new content, the devs are already talking about new enemies and the mech coming soon, but i'm not an expert on gaas or how an endgame should be made, i usually don't stick long enough with gaas to be worried about endgame.


The objective change the mission dude, if you destroy more nests you get less enemies during the extraction, if you destroy the automaton antenna your stratagems are not locked anymore, if you chose the right missiles to fill the cannon it does something against the bugs (not sure what), if you unlock a particular structure you can see all the secrets in the map etc.
They could do more but i think it's already more than your average cod game.

Number 11 is true, i'm still waiting for that type of situation where those large barrages can be useful (but it's also a matter of the barrages being shit, not only missing an elevated place to use them)


I would add climbing and vaulting being more random than my erections being a worse problem than 3\4 of your list.

I thought i was alone, but i watched too many people dying like morons because the game sometimes just doesn't want to vault an obstacle or climb a surface because there is a slightly irregular edge, last game with similar finnicky climbing was horizon 2 but this feel even more random.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Point 1 is whatever, you play these games for hundreds if not thousands of hours, any combo of objectives is gonna get long on the tooth sooner or later.
F*** no. You don't play games for "hundreds, if not thousands of hours" if the gameplay variety is lacking. You quit those games early.

Objectives that inspire player creativity and produce a wide variety of outcomes would only help people stick around.

I disagree with point 2, more complicated\involved puzzles are not required in a game like this, they already have peculiar stuff that can be considered annoying like the multiple inputs to call stuff or the reload mechanic where you lose bullets, let's not make the game even more annoying with elaborate puzzles in the terminal when you are fucking swarmed by dozens of units at once.
I can't understand this perspective either. One of this games biggest problems is the repetitive, samey nature of the gameplay loop. The terminals, as constructed, are an afterthought. Making them fun to solve would help break up the gameplay flow and cater to different player types.

I also think being on the terminal should force the game to spawn enemies nearby. Too many times we're all just standing around waiting for our terminal guy to get through his screens.

Point 3 is spot on, especially for weapons, it make unlocking new stuff absolutely unexciting.
And the stratagems are too easy to unlock, you should not be able to unlock everything at level 20, more like level 50 or higher.
I actually think the unlocks are a pretty lame way to keep people engaged. I've played Fortnite for years, and unlocked countless Battle Pass levels because the game was fun to play. Tying gameplay items around unlocks feels like a cheap way to keep players on the hook. People are giving this a pass because it's PvE and because it's the honeymoon period.

I have no problem with point 4, who gives a fuck about it?
Again, making this aspect of the game fun, rewarding, and a bit more time intensive would help keep the framerate loop fresh. Like the terminals, it's too throwaway. It doesn't support longevity.

I can see the argument for being a bit easy, yesterday i tried my first 3 missions on suicide and if you have a decent squad (and believe me we were not more than decent) it's not that hard, elite players can probably smash this game, but you are not always with a good squad and the game is hard enough for the average to good player, also the difficulty feels pretty random a lot of times, it's not a fixed experience.
I've yet to lose a Helldiver mission when everyone in the squad is over lvl 20. 4 railguns + 4 guard dog drones makes the Terminids a pretty boring fight. The robots are admittedly significantly tougher, so I feel like I was pretty off there. I could also see them playing with the difficult balance each season to get players engaging in planned ways.

Enemy variety is a bit weak, sure, but i saw much worse tbh, and the enemies have charm, this is not a suicide squad situation where they were also dull af, they should add more medium and high level enemies, bile titans tanks and hulks are not nearly enough nor hard enough.
Agreed completely. I mostly just want more boss type enemies that encourage teamplay.

I can see the one note critic but the gameplay is super good so even when it's one note it's still more fun than more varied games with worse gameplay quality, also, any game get one note when you play hundreds of hours of it, i take helldivers being one note with wonderful combat over minecraft incredible variety with dogshit combat.
I'm not suggesting that they make the "action shooting" parts worse. I'm suggesting they make the parts between the "action shooting" better.

No problem with the cooldown system.
Perhaps a planet modifier would be interesting to see?

I can see endgame being a problem, maybe the incredible success is gonna change their plan on how often they are gonna release new content, the devs are already talking about new enemies and the mech coming soon, but i'm not an expert on gaas or how an endgame should be made, i usually don't stick long enough with gaas to be worried about endgame.
The only solve for this I can see is to have players bank currency for "MISSION CRITICAL" drops. Almost like a ranked mode you have to grind for.
The objective change the mission dude, if you destroy more nests you get less enemies during the extraction, if you destroy the automaton antenna your stratagems are not locked anymore, if you chose the right missiles to fill the cannon it does something against the bugs (not sure what), if you unlock a particular structure you can see all the secrets in the map etc.
They could do more but i think it's already more than your average cod game.
I don't think the objective should be "more than your average CoD campaign, therefore it's fine". The objective should be "Wow, that was smartly implemented and adds a lot of fun factor and replayability to the game."

As it stands right now, I think it's poorly implemented. The drop screen should have actual strategic value on it. You should want to go after certain objectives due to your team and weapon comp. It should be fun and impactful to go with one strategy and think about the 5 other strategies you could have come up with.

As it's implemented now, the mission altering objectives are randomly scattered around the map so when you run into one you're like "I guess we should go blow it up?" To put it another way...When your team sees the Spore Tree there is never a viable choice to make other than blow it up. Good strategy games make choices more interesting than that.

Number 11 is true, i'm still waiting for that type of situation where those large barrages can be useful (but it's also a matter of the barrages being shit, not only missing an elevated place to use them)
Hopefully they keep working on the procedural generation and can flex a bit more scope into these maps.
I would add climbing and vaulting being more random than my erections being a worse problem than 3\4 of your list.
That's a truly crazy statement. No one is going to quit Helldivers 2 after a couple of weeks because the clambiring is cumbersome. They're going to quite for the 11 reasons listed in the OP.
I thought i was alone, but i watched too many people dying like morons because the game sometimes just doesn't want to vault an obstacle or climb a surface because there is a slightly irregular edge, last game with similar finnicky climbing was horizon 2 but this feel even more random.
I agree with you that it's clunky but it has 0 effect on long term enjoyment.
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
my biggest problem with the game is that while I’m playing with my friends I end up getting too drunk and have no idea what’s going on anymore besides shoot bugs.

Solid drunk game, 8/10.
 
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