As Helldivers 2 players call for an extension to the latest Major Order following tracking errors and game crashes, others say losing the battle is part of winning the war

It's been a turbulent few days in the Helldivers 2 community. Arrowhead Game Studios (and the Ministry of Truth) has finally admitted that flying bugs are real, and the airborne critters are currently running wild in the game. We were also given a seriously tough Major Order from galactic game master Joel, which tasked us with liberating five planets in just three days.

This was already a big ask, but things were made even harder after it was found that the war wasn't being tracked properly. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for this to be ironed out, as Arrowhead called the inaccuracies shown in the game "dissident misinformation" and said that "the parties responsible have been identified, arrested, tried, and executed."

Amongst all this, though, many players have also been struggling with crashing issues, for which the developer says a fix will be ready "early next week." Needless to say, the odds were firmly stacked against us when it came to completing Joel's big bad Major Order, which ended earlier today - unsuccessfully or successfully, depending on who you ask.

It might not be our first potential Major Order loss, but the circumstances of it have left some annoyed. Right up until it ended, numerous frustrated players had been calling for an extension to the deadline based on how much time had been lost due to crashes, with one saying it'd be "the least Arrowhead could do." Meanwhile, though, many others are embracing the situation and insisting that not every order needs to end in victory.

"There are no extensions in war, just wins and losses. We did not liberate hard enough, just means we dust ourselves off, wipe off the oil and bug goo, and liberate harder, and harder," one dedicated Helldiver on Reddit says.

"I’m OK with the operation failing and you should be, too. [...] We’re playing a game that is simulating a military campaign. Not every order will be sane and not every goal will be achievable," another writes. "I don’t think we need to know the math behind the liberation mechanics, either. It should be fun but I disagree that every goal should be easily achievable. Why do people want that?"

As it happens, even though the planets weren't liberated successfully, some players have reported that their game has informed them that the Major Order was successful. This notice hasn't appeared for everyone, so it seems very likely that it's a bug rather than Arrowhead taking pity on us. The developer doesn't appear to have addressed that situation at the time of writing, so it'll be interesting to see how that one works out in the game's lore.

Be sure to check out our Helldivers 2 beginner's guide for some tips to get you started in spreading liberty.

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