Arrowhead boss is not bothered by the latest Helldivers 2 imbalance uproar: "I'd rather have this than nobody giving a sh**t"

Helldivers 2 players have done it again. Arrowhead nerfed their fan favorite flamethrower with the recent Escalation of Freedom update, and the community did not take it well. Shams Jorjani of Arrowhead CEO says it could have been worse.

Jorjani recently said, "I'd rather have this than nobody giving a sh*t," while chatting on the Helldivers Discord. "And, to be clear-I have no issue with what's going on now. We want people to tell what they like and don't.

Jorjani said, "What's going on now" is a pretty intense blowback from flamethrower nerfs which have drastically reduced its effectiveness in combating Chargers. PCG Diver Morgan Park said yesterday that the flamethrower before the nerf was a great choice for a support weapon, because "its power justified risking burning yourself and your team" during combat. This is no longer the case. It has led to a flurry of negative Steam user reviews, including more than 2,500 in the last three days.

The discontent is likely a flare-up from the anger that followed the Helldivers 2 balance change in June and the meltdown in may over plans to require players have a PSN Account in order to play. While the nerf doesn't seem to warrant such a reaction, it's just one change made to one weapon, the Helldivers community seems, shall we say, a bit touchy right now.

Jorjani says that while some players may be unhappy, the vast majority are not abusive. "People are very vocal right now, but I'm fine with that," he wrote. "People are very civil and make excellent points on many topics."

Jorjani said it is not as easy as it seems to balance Helldivers 2 so that it is "fun," "because fun is subjective for different people." He said Arrowhead also needs to "categorize different playstyles" and communicate its intent to players. This will be done via "regular stream, more blogs and videos in the near future."

He also stressed that Arrowhead, despite what some may think, is working hard to make Helldivers 2 as good as it can be.

He wrote: "At the end, it's not just one wizard behind the scene pulling the strings. It's different people, different teams. Sometimes things lean in one direction, and other times they do the opposite." "Our intention is that every patch moves things in the right direction. This patch has tons other improvements that did. That's not being talked about so much because the Nerfs are overshadowing them. But that doesn't imply that we aren't working in good faith, or that we will stop. It just means that we are human and sometimes we stumble."