The war for democracy is going through an evolution. Progression across Helldivers 2 is getting revamped, changing how players level up and earn rewards on both personally and as a whole community.
"We have consistently received feedback around our endgame progression plans, with players asking about level cap increases and additional ship modules," Mikael Eriksson, game director, says in an official blog. "Simply put: we feel like previously seen progression elements, like raising the level cap in silo, aren’t enough and wouldn't address your feedback on a foundational level."
The first part he runs through involves Major Orders. Many of the greatest moments in Helldivers 2 come from players rallying together to serve Super Earth, but, as Eriksson puts it: "It's never been clear if the actions of the community actually lead to different outcomes, or if it's all just smoke and mirrors."
Likewise, where we are in any given objective can be hard to discern if you weren't there as soon as the latest battle started. Thus, Major Orders will become Galactic War Campaigns - these are one-to-three week long objectives, with a more easily readable breakdown of what's happening, what needs doing, and how you can jump in quicker.
Then, a feature Arrowhead wanted to implement at launch, Planet Warfronts, is now coming to the shooter. These are essentially territorial skirmishes, and they'll operate in three ways: Defend, Frontline War, and Behind Enemy Lines. Each will come with their particular struggles, and completing them will impact the complexion of whatever planet you're on.
But the idea is to make it more rewarding and fun to operate as a squad. For individual players, then, Personal Orders are becoming Personal Campaign Progression, a parallel pathway alongside the campaign goals. The level cap is going to 300 in tandem with this.
"The intent is for every Galactic War Campaign to come with a personal progression reward track," Eriksson writes. "That way, even if the community fails to reach a larger goal, players can still do their part toward their personal goals and get rewarded with cool things to mark their participation in various Campaigns. This change won't happen with the launch of Galactic War Campaigns, but we are planning to deploy it this year."
On top of all of this, ship customization is getting better as well. Arrowhead now has a dedicated team for your Super Destroyers, but that's still in flux for now. Liberation is about to get that much more efficient. Exciting times.
