Helldivers 2 patch nerfs the best guns as designer says the balancing process will be "never-ending"

rockpapershotgun.com:

Arrowhead have released a new Helldivers 2 update - patch 01.000.100 - which designer Alex K describes as "the first round in a never-ending series of balance changes". The patch nerfs three of what were hitherto the best Helldivers 2 guns and gear pieces - the SG-225 Breaker shotgun, the RS-422 railgun, and the SH-32 shield generator backpack, all of which break Arrowhead's pretty straightforward golden rule that "each gun has its purpose and none is strictly better than another".

"Our goal is to give you a wide range of weapon choices, where each gun has its purpose and none is strictly better than another," Alex K wrote in a Discord post. "Sure, you will have your own favorite, but it should come from your personal preference, not from the universally agreed knowledge of which gun is the strongest. Generally, we balance each item according to its quirks, so if a weapon is very effective at what it does, it should come with significant disadvantages to balance its power.

"The AC-8 Autocannon is a good example of a well-balanced weapon," the post continues. "It packs a powerful punch, has a very good range, but requires you to carry an ammo backpack or have a friend assist you. The GL-21 Grenade Launcher is the opposite example. It's a good general purpose weapon that gives you so much flexibility, it obviously can't deal too much damage without becoming overpowered.

"But weapons that are both powerful and versatile become a no-brainer choiсe during the weapon selection phase. It robs you of your own agency, as stale 'meta' builds force you to make an unfair choice between a fun weapon and an effective one. In short: Powerful weapons can't be too versatile, versatile weapons can't be too powerful."

Of the aforementioned railgun, shotgun and shield generator, Alex K added that "all three of those were quite strong with too little downsides, overshadowing all other options on higher difficulty levels. So with this patch, they're getting significant downsides