No, you aren't losing it: Helldivers 2's last patch seemingly did come with some changes that didn't quite make it into Arrowhead's notes
Hey, when you're delivering so many tweaks, it's easy to miss or not quite fully explain a few.
While the notes for Helldivers 2's most recent patch were longer than some books, it seems there were a few changes that flew under the radar and didn't quite get a mention, for various reasons.
As the studio has been starting to reveal/tease some of the weapon and equipment changes it might include in the patch that'll follow Patch 1.001.100 at some point down the line, players on the game's Discord server have been asking about some changes they think they've found while playing after this most recent patch got deployed that don't seem to have been mentioned or explained properly by Arrowhead. Well, until now.
"Regarding the frequently asked question about intended changes or "stealth" nerfs in the latest patch, my esteemed colleague and I dug around a little, and managed to find some more info on this," Arrowhead community manager Twinbeard wrote a recent announcement post on the server, adding that what he's be going on to cite included some sections written by developers.
"As you know, there were a lot of changes in this patch." the post reads, "That means that the risk of some hits and misses will inevitably increase. Some of these are things we failed to mention in the patch notes, some are intentional, some are poorly explained, and one or two things were changed unintentionally. Also, remember that all things in the game are subject to change and never set in stone. As always, holler back with your thoughts on these. All feedback is greatly appreciated!"
Twinbeard then went on to outline a list of changes, with comments as to whether they were intential on the devs' part and whether they made it into the notes for Patch 1.001.100:
- Heavy Machine Gun angle and durable damage nerf [from] 50 [to] 35. "This one was intentional, but wasn't in the patch notes."
- Railgun AP bonus removed from overcharging (no longer climbs to AP7 at 90 % charge). "This was intentional, and if so, we forgot to add it to the patch notes. The reasoning behind this was to not make the Railgun too good vs tanks and Factory Striders. However, armour on tank fronts getting changed didn't jam with that change. We still didn't want the Railgun to bounce off front armour, so maybe we need to take a look at this."
- Anti-Tank Mines damage reduced 1 000 [to] 800, explosion radius increased, stagger force increased 30 [tp 50, demolition force increased 30 [to] 40. "This was intended but was missing in the patch notes."
- Laser Cannon does not cool down faster despite what is stated in the patch notes. "This was something we were doing at first but later removed and simply missed addressing in the patch notes."
- Guard dog Rover sets targets on fire faster. "Also intended."
- Fire dot damage durable damage increased 25 -> 50. "Yup, you guessed it: intentional as well and missing from the patch notes. We will look at this to see if this should be kept as is or not. It did make the Incendiary Breaker and Cookout better as well, which as we know are two appreciated weapons."
- Hellpod impact damage increased 200 [to] 2 500; doesn't affect the Firebomb Hellpods. "This is intentional and a part of the 'damage scaling' that we mentioned in the patch notes. We didn't convey this very clearly, but because we increased heavy enemies health we needed to increase the Hellpod damage so it would still be able to kill them."
Finally, the post concludes with a note that "For the Fire Hellpod, we missed increasing the damage of that one."
Are any of there things you thought you'd noticed and hadn't been able to find after leafing through Helldivers 2's recent patch notes? Let us know below!