The weapon balance changes that came with the arrival of free upgrades to Hellraiser 2 earlier this week were followed by a backlash from players over some fire damage nerfs, causing the game’s recent Steam reviews to drop from “Mostly Positive” to “Mixed.”
To be fair, Arrowhead obviously didn’t respond to criticism from those who felt that the tweaks to the firepower weapons made the game less fun, and they’ve previously stated their dislike for the game by burying their heads in the sand.
Manage Cookie Settings
First, if you look at the game’s Steam page , while its overall reviews are still mostly positive, recent reviews have been mixed, as over 2,000 new negative reviews have appeared since August 6th.
As I said, Arrowhead certainly isn’t shying away from this and the complaints it’s received via Reddit, Discord, and these comments.
“We’ve heard your feedback regarding our changes to fire and how it affects the flamethrower, and we appreciate our community continuing to be honest about how they feel about Hellraiser 2,” community manager Baskinator wrote in announcing the launch of Free Fire War Bonds today. “We’re having a lot of internal discussions right now about the best course of action.”
“At the same time,” they added, “we don’t want to break our promise of new war bonds. So here we are, flames and all…”
Beyond that, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani continued to address the controversy via Twitter. “I’ve received over 200 tweets today with suggestions, opinions, and thoughts,” he wrote in a post. “We’ve had a lot of discussions internally at the studio while evaluating this update and planning ahead.
Manage Cookie Settings
“Our approach is that we look at different things and adjust them over different time spans. There will be a hotfix/small patch at some point that will focus on fixing bugs and may include some balance changes. Other things will take more time to brew.”
He also added that such a feature is “on the wish list” in response to a player’s idea for a test server, which would allow groups of players to test changes or additions to the game before they go live.
Despite the ongoing nerf controversy, are you planning on jumping into Helldivers and checking out the Freedom’s Flame War Bond today? Let us know below!
