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Helldivers 2 went from one of the most beloved Steam games to one of the most hated pretty quickly
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this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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Sony dropped an announcement requiring PSN accounts, even for PC players with no cross play enabled, presumably because it makes the numbers look better to their shareholders. Apparently it was supposed to be a requirement at launch but the PSN servers were busted and it was preventing people from getting in so they 'temporarily' disabled it.
Yeah bullshit on the technical issue, they got a whole lot of people playing who now are forced to make that account.
Something not rally being mentioned is that their monetization system has gotten predictably worse, for example nerfing a weapon in advance of a premium battle pass weapon that coincidentally fills the niche that was just nerfed away.
I mean, that's not really so bad considering you can unlock the battle passes without spending a dime past your initial investment. The timing of the nerfs might be coincidental - I do also seem to remember a Breaker - Railgun - Shield Pack monoculture being a pretty big issue.
Unlocking the battle pass with grinding takes forever. With over 40 hours I only just made enough to unlock one. Except I didn't because I spent a little along the way on armor. Playing normally does not get warbonds at a reasonable pace.
I mean, that's the game, isn't it? You either grind out the super credits, and the fact that's an option at all is the Hallmark of a good game, or you pay for instant gratification. Live service doesn't support itself.
"The scraps of barely available content is the hallmark of a good game" is something I'd be abjectly horrified to hear just ten years ago.
The game is not free to play. It's a paid game with abusive monetization practices on top. You've already paid for the service.
The overton window has moved so much now. Sigh.