In Helldivers 2, you now look down from above at the nasty bugs, as a gadget allows you to soar high into the air since the update.
What kind of update was that? In August, Arrowhead, the development studio behind Helldivers 2, promised to fix the co-op shooter within the next 60 days. This was a response to the criticism from many players, who especially complained about the numerous nerfs to weapons and equipment in Helldivers 2.
Within those 60 days, the developers made numerous changes. Many weapons were significantly improved, and the most annoying enemies were weakened. On October 15th, the final update of the 60 days was released with several strong buffs.
One of those buffs improved a gadget for the backpack slot, which is now becoming a useful alternative in combat.
For Helldiver, the sky’s the limit now
How do you become a flying superhero? Arrowhead also brought a buff for the “LIFT-850 Jump Pack” with the recent update – that’s the jetpack you can carry as a backpack in Helldivers 2.
While the jetpack wasn’t completely useless before, it didn’t feel very powerful either. The jumps you could make with it were rather unimpressive.
Since the update, you can now jump significantly higher and further with the jump pack, giving you some breathing room when you’re overwhelmed by hordes of bugs. A player showcased the new capabilities of the jetpack in a video on Reddit, commenting, “The new jump pack is incredibly good.”
You can watch the Reddit video featuring the improved jump pack here:
What exactly did the developers change? The jump pack was improved on three fronts:
- The cooldown was reduced from 20 to 15 seconds
- The thrusters are stronger
- The thrust vector was adjusted
These changes aim to allow you to jump higher with the jump pack while also providing more forward thrust.
The numerous buffs from the recent updates have certainly had a positive impact on the player numbers for Helldivers 2. While in August there was an average of 24,574 online on Steam, in the last 30 days there has been an average of 32,343 players. The peak during this period even reached over 68,000, which is 20,000 more than in July.
The rising player numbers in September and October are also noteworthy because a strong competitor, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, was released, where players also cooperatively fight against bugs: Helldivers 2 vs. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Which game makes bug smashing more fun?
