Fans of Helldivers 2 were left with questions after Arrowhead missed its standard weekly patch release last Tuesday, but finally got their answers on June 1st. The development team announced at the time that they would be reducing the frequency of updates going forward and focusing on getting it right the first time.
Patch 1.4.0 Analysis & MALFUNCTION in Helldivers 2
In a statement posted on the game’s official Discord server, Arrowhead Game Studios detailed future plans for the patch rollout, confirming what most fans have already noticed: there will now be a gap between content releases. “We have slowed down our patch cadence,” the devs explained, adding that the extra time will be spent smoothing out each update to “provide a higher standard of quality and reduce the strain on our teams.”
The developers also cited the mental and social pressure that these lightning-fast patches put on the team. "The cadence at which we were releasing patches left us with little time to engage with the community," the note read. As a community-structured game, more time to receive feedback and make adjustments accordingly could prevent patches from throwing weapon balances back and forth, and any schedule that gives hard-working and exhausted developers time to rest and relax will almost certainly lead to better results.
This comment was met with mixed reactions from some members of the community. Most players appreciated the forward-thinking way the developers explained the new schedule. However, the Operation: Enduring Peace Order mission remains plagued by bugs, from not awarding rewards upon completion to the Polar Patriots Warbond’s AR-61 Tenderizer doing virtually no damage.