Highlights

  • Downtime between Major Orders in Helldivers 2 is a growing concern, as it hinders community momentum and organization.
  • The community's best chance at winning the Galactic War relies on timely Major Orders and active player participation.
  • Arrowhead Studios is equally prioritizing bug fixes and QOL improvements alongside new content updates for Helldivers 2, but an increase in release speed for Major Orders could be beneficial.

Since its relatively recent release, Helldivers 2 has been met with an overwhelmingly large player base of dedicated fans to support the game. Meanwhile, Arrowhead Studios is committed to supporting the live-service game with new updates to keep Helldivers 2 fresh and meet the expectations of its growing player base.

One particular area that deserves to be addressed in a future update for Helldivers 2 is the downtime between Major Orders. This issue may be admittedly insignificant this early in Helldivers 2’s life cycle, though it's slowly and steadily snowballing into a larger issue that will become highly problematic if it continues to be ignored.

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QOL Fixes are just as Important as Content Updates for Helldivers 2

While Helldivers 2 has managed to offer a variety of post-launch content so far, the game still has its fair share of bugs and glitches. Fans have recently debated whether Arrowhead Studios should prioritize bug fixes and QOL improvements, or focus on developing new content for the game. This debate has caught the attention of Helldivers 2’s Game Director, who acknowledged that the game has some rough edges to iron out, while also assuring fans that both content updates and bug fixes are being equally prioritized for the sake of the game’s longevity.

However, if there’s one update for Helldivers 2 that arguably deserves to be a priority, it’s to address the downtime between players completing a Major Order and a new Major Order being issued. These in-game directives serve as the community’s active goal in the game, incentivizing specific planets and mission types in Helldivers 2 that need to be completed to influence the status of the ongoing Galactic War. As is evident by the community’s coordination in completing Major Orders thus far, players are committed to winning the Galactic War, which makes the timeliness of the Major Orders especially important.

Downtime Between Helldivers 2’s Major Orders is Bad for the Galactic War

No matter how short it is, the wait for new Major Orders in Helldivers 2 inevitably causes the community’s momentum and organization to be hindered. Over time, these short minutes and hours between each new Major Order have been adding up. If Helldivers 2 continues its current course for much longer without addressing this downtime, these minutes and hours will only continue to grow, whereas this lost time could otherwise have been spent making a difference in the Galactic War.

The playerbase has attempted to declare community goals on multiple occasions through social media platforms, like the Helldivers 2 Subreddit and the official Helldivers 2 Discord server. However, these initiatives rarely result in the levels of coordination that the in-game Major Orders inspire. So, by this point, it’s clear that the Major Orders are the community’s best chances at winning Helldivers 2 ’s Galactic War , which makes their downtime a valid concern.

How Helldivers 2 Could Improve its Major Orders

One such way that Helldivers 2 could eliminate the downtime between Major Orders is to schedule multiple at a time. There’s a running joke in the community of players being known as ‘Bugdivers’ or ‘Botdivers’ based on whether they prefer to fight Helldivers 2’s Terminids or Automatons, respectively. Yet most of the Major Orders so far tend to make players focus on only one of these two enemy factions, so it might be more efficient to give players the choice between multiple Major Orders at a time, at least one for each enemy faction in the game. While dividing the player base like this could have some negative consequences, it could also be worth experimenting with.

Otherwise, setting up Major Orders to release immediately after the previous ones get completed might be the best solution to addressing their downtime. At any rate, this problem should arguably be addressed sooner rather than later, before it reaches a problematic extreme.