Helldivers 2's loudest players go nuclear over another unpopular nerf, but Arrowhead CEO keeps calm: 'Some are going 'Buff everything!' Others are saying 'It's too easy!' Most are just playing.'

Helldivers 2 got its biggest update in months today: the Escalation of Freedom patch adds a new highest difficulty (Level 10), a swamp planet biome, new enemy types, and missions. It's a great day to return to what is still easily my game of the year so far, but in the loudest corners of the Helldivers 2 community, conversation around today's update has been dominated by two bullet points in the patch notes. The fan-favorite flamethrower got nerfed, and the subreddit has gone nuclear over it:

What this means is that the flamethrower's flames no longer penetrate the thick armor plating on Chargers. That's a shame, because the flamethrower's penchant for melting Chargers in seconds was considered one of the best reasons to bring it as your support weapon—its power justified the risk of burning yourself and teammates in the process.

The nerf is already very unpopular on the Helldivers 2 subreddit and on Twitter, where Arrowhead's CEO Shams Jorjani has been fielding feedback from fans all day.

«Words cannot express how disappointed and angry I feel right now. MORE NERFS? REALLY?» wrote Reddit user Gn0meKr.

It's worth noting that this reception isn't what I usually expect from a single change to a gun in a videogame—people aren't just annoyed about this, they're furious in a way that's disproportionate to the offense. The flamethrower isn't as good anymore, and I think Arrowhead should probably reverse this weird change, but some people are using this as a jumping pad to declare that Arrowhead is once again out of touch with its fans, doesn't actually play its own game, or just enjoys being the fun police.

It seems like these people aren't that mad about the flamethrower, a weapon I hardly ever see Divers using in the wild, but are angry that Arrowhead has the gall to consider more nerfs after that whole dust-up over balance in June. That controversy resulted in a well-received patch that buffed guns and stratagems across the board, but as we're seeing now, it also