HELLDIVERS™ 2 News

[p]Freedom's greetings, Helldivers!

Release Captain Morris coming to you this democratic Tuesday with an update from High Command.[/p][p]Welcome to this “mini” quality of life update.
Below you will see some of the fixes the devs have been hard at work on over the past weeks. As always, we are excited to get your thoughts and feedback on how this improves your diving!

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Patch Highlights

[/h3][h3]🔧 Fixes[/h3][p]
Crashes[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Fixed a crash that could happen when alt+tabing or changing display related settings[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that would occur when the Hive Lord would hear noises coming from outside the map area[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur when leaving or disconnecting from a game[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash which could occur when changing graphics settings during some missions[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare crash which could occur when launching into city missions[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare crash which could occur when the Pelican lands[/p]

[p][/p][p]Miscellaneous[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where the SH-32 Shield Generator Backpack and the FX-12 Shield Generator Relay didn't shield those inside from the effects of Storms, such as Acid Storm, Sandstorm, and Blizzard[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare bug where all audio could cut out after extensive playtime[/p]

[p]
Optimizations[/p]

• [p]Improved the way environmental effects such as Sandstorms, Blizzards, and Acid Storms apply their status effects for reduced impact on performance[/p]
• [p]Optimized destruction on various tree assets to maintain performance when lots of trees are being destroyed
  Fixed Sandstorms and Blizzards no longer slowing Helldivers down.[/p]
• [p]We have addressed a gameplay/performance issue which allowed Bile Titans to traverse through areas they should not have been able to[/p]

[p]We also kindly ask you to put a “fiery” red circle around the date December 2nd!
As we will have some “buzzing” updates for you all![/p][p]

Known Issues[/p]

Anyone that's spent any amount of time playing Helldivers 2 recently will already know that the thing the game needs right now isn't new features, its fixes. A massive patch dropped last month bringing in over 200 bug fixes (you know, the technological kind of bugs), as part of the dev team's promise to get the game in running order again. That promise even extends to holding off on adding new stuff for the time being. When it comes to new stuff, however, one thing you shouldn't expect for the time being is cross progression.

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[p]While our engine team is working on both the engine and another blog related to the tech we use, our Production Director, Alex Bolle, wanted to share some of the processes the development team undergoes at Arrowhead.[/p][p][/p][p]Question: Alex, can you introduce the production role on Helldivers 2. Can you tell people what that role means to the game that they love?[/p][p]Answer: Absolutely. I see the producer as a chaos manager. We're here to make sure that the creative direction of my fellow directors turns into something concrete, a plan basically.[/p][p]What do we do with the features that they have in mind, with the improvements that we want for the game in a clear timeline with the people we need to make it happen and make sure that this is released on time, and in a state we know we need to be better at.[/p][p][/p][p]Question:
Timing and the cycles in the major updates are something that everybody gets excited about. How do you look at that internally?[/p][p]Answer:
Preparing an arc is a recipe that we’re always trying to improve, sometimes it’s too salty, sometimes it needs more salt. We’re constantly trying to improve the live service experience.
It usually starts with a very strong fantasy: “what do we want the players to experience?”, then from that we create a list of initiatives for the game, from features, to major orders, the warbonds and so on.[/p][p]In fact what’s interesting here is that for the longest time, our recipe was rather unbalanced, some would say way too spicy (but I’m from Corsica, I love spices). We were focused a lot on content. Listening to the players, we realized as a team that there is more than that. So we’re changing our approach. Some initiatives are all about cleaning our live features, introducing quality of life… We’re in the early stages of this, but so far when I look at future arcs, it’s promising and something I’m eager to let the community taste.[/p][p][/p][p]Question: So if we look at that, there's some progress that you and the team have been making towards the hardening, tell me more about that.[/p][p]Answer: So, hardening is our last step in the development process before release, and it’s been something that we’ve pledged to take as a main priority moving forward. We are currently addressing the issues and looking for more before we release more goodness for the players.
For the longest time our features would be considered ready and implemented in the release build at the very last minute. We’re working with the teams to stop that. We use the term “functional” as a minimum standard for when features should be in the game. For example, the Hive Lord, as functional, was a very rough version of what players experienced.[/p][p][/p][p]Question: How is the development team structured?[/p][p]Answer: We have big groups of teams that we call Areas, and I love to talk about these as the whole Helldivers’ experience.
Picture this: The first Area you experience as a player is Meta. Meta is responsible for the entire Galaxy’s systems, they define the rules of the whole game, and you’ll find your beloved Game Masters in this Area![/p][p]It’s time to Dive into the enemies lines, here comes GameWorld: they are world builders, a bunch of talented people creating new biomes like the Hive Worlds, and the missions the Helldivers will accomplish in the name of democracy. They have some of the “hottest” stuff cooking in right now, but not before we get things in order![/p][p]It’s time for combat! And we call the next Area… combat (don’t ask a producer to be too creative)! These teams are behind the mightiest enemies encountered, but you all know that you need some good firepower to stomps bugs, so yes, warbonds are done here!
There are two areas remaining, very important ones: The first one is what we call the Tech platform, they are running our game engine, and the tools that the rest of the developers will use.
Last but not least, our own Ministry Of Truth: The marketing and communication Area, it’s pretty self explanatory, this is our voice. Actually, I wouldn't write this if they weren’t here![/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for diving and we'll see you next time![/p]