Super Earth's dedicated defenders of democracy, the Helldivers, will be happy to know that defending and liberating planets in the Galactic War just got easier and more convenient in Helldivers 2 thanks to a new update.
In the midst of the Illuminate's full-scale invasion of Super Earth that began last week with the Galactic Emergency update, developer Arrowhead Game Studios has changed how completing missions contributes to community-wide efforts to defend or liberate a world under enemy attack or control.
Previously, players had to finish a full "operation" — a group of three missions — to have an impact on an ongoing campaign. If you selected a mission from a different operation before finishing your current one, you'd wipe all your progress. On top of that, failing to complete all three levels before a defense or attack campaign ended would also mean that you didn't contribute anything to the war effort.
Thanks to a new update, though, individual mission completions will now have an impact on campaigns, with successfully finished operations rewarding some bonus influence.
Arrowhead announced the change on the official Helldivers Discord server recently: "We are performing an update to our backend logic that will change the way 'impact' is dealt. Impact is the 'liberation' that players deal to enemy planets or defend events," wrote Baskinator, a community manager at the studio. "It used to be that Helldivers needed to complete an operation (usually 3 missions) in order for impact to be distributed."
"Now, each mission will deal impact, and completing an operation will then deal bonus impact," she continued. "This is primarily done to make sure that everyone performing missions can safely say that they have contributed to keeping the galaxy safe, without the need to have the operation complete."
Not only does this make understanding how to do your part for Managed Democracy simpler — Helldivers 2 didn't do the best job at explaining the operation requirement — but it also helps out "the casual diver" who doesn't have time to do multiple 40-minute long missions when they play, and can only dive once or twice during a campaign. And as a bonus, it rewards hardcore players that finish full operations frequently with extra impact.
This reworked version of the "impact" system is something fans have been asking for since Helldivers 2's launch period back in February of last year, and while it's a little disappointing the tweak took this long, it ultimately couldn't have come at a better time.
The ongoing effort to slow and weaken the advance of the Illuminate's massive invasion fleet as it approaches Super Earth will no doubt have a huge influence on how well we're able to hold the line later once we're fighting the squids on humanity's home world, so every last bit of impact matters. And now that the impact mechanic has been revamped, every single individual mission completion will give some.
Will it be enough to save Super Earth, in the end? That still remains to be seen, but the good news is that every Helldiver — from the most casual reservists to the most passionate frontline warriors — can now make a difference in the Galactic War. So get out there and fight, troopers (and consider using the best Illuminate loadout if you do); even if you only have time for a mission or two every once in a while, your contributions could be what brings us an ultimate victory in the face of a devastating defeat.
Helldivers 2 stands tall as one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to play if you're into co-op shooters, intense sci-fi action, goofy physics antics, and goofy satirical writing. It's typically $40, though you can often get it for less if you shop around for discounts. Right now, the best one is CDKeys' sale that shaves over $5 off the price, allowing you to get the bombastic title for under $35.
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