Home Gaming What’s the point of the Helldivers DLC?

What’s the point of the Helldivers DLC?

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Helldivers support DLC

I reviewed Helldivers not so long ago. In fact, the game only released at the beginning of this month. I’m still playing it, which says something considering my backlog, and it’s become my go to game when I’m not busy with a review title. Now it’s getting DLC, and I’m not convinced.

Here is a trailer for the Reinforcement Packs:

Helldivers has obviously been doing well since launch with 53 000 people grabbing the Dancing Queen trophy. 9 million Helldivers have been killed, 2.3 million of which to friendly fire. The numbers are growing and the game is a ridiculous amount of fun. But the new gear DLC is rolling out from today and I’m not sure it’s worth the price tag.

Each pack contains a new uniform (which is purely cosmetic), a new weapon and a new stratagem. While some of these seem cool (I want that backpack repair drone) it is one way to alienate their community. Part of the appeal of Helldivers is that everything is unlocked through gameplay. Want an awesome tank like I’ve got? You’ll need to complete a bunch of suicide missions on a specific planet to get it done. Coveting that other player’s mech suit? Go find the right planet and you can get one of your very own. It’s the first time I’ve ever had gear envy in a game, and it works like a charm. Now, with new DLC, people will have cool equipment that can’t be unlocked in-game and will make other players frustrated rather than jealous.

It seems a bit strange to be releasing DLC so soon, especially of this kind. People are enjoying the game, despite some connectivity and camera bugs. Why is the studio releasing some irritating and unimpressive DLC at this point? I don’t mind all DLC – for a game like Helldivers it can help to keep the game fresh and interesting. But add unique planet types, or game modes, or special goals and achievements. This just feels like a cheap money grab. You can buy each pack for €2.99 or all three in the Helldivers Add-On Bundle for €5.99 – no, it’s not a ton of money, but considering that it’s about a third of the full game’s asking price, it feels disproportionate. While it’s not pay to win, it certainly feels like some bad DLC policy and I have to wonder who thought this was a good idea.

I will still be playing the game, but if they keep up with DLC like this, I might stop seeing the allure.

Last Updated: March 18, 2015

61 Comments

  1. ChronopandaZA

    March 18, 2015 at 11:14

    I was wondering the same thing about the DLC when I saw it to be honest. But, I’m not really surprised as Arrowhead developed Magicka which had about 4 billion bits of DLC, mixed between cosmetic additions to new maps etc. I think we’re going to see the same thing here, I just hope it doesn’t kill the fun of Helldivers.

    Reply

  2. Chaos Lord Norm

    March 18, 2015 at 11:14

    That friendly fire!

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      March 18, 2015 at 11:23

      It cant be helped. Most of it is because of orbital drops be it ammo, mechs, tanks or other players

      Reply

      • Chaos Lord Norm

        March 18, 2015 at 11:24

        And hatred for fellow players … lol

        XD

        Reply

        • Guild

          March 18, 2015 at 11:25

          We might have “accidentally” killed a few randoms that join us

          Reply

      • Guild

        March 18, 2015 at 11:24

        Like Sage using his shotgun to kill everything including team mates 😛

        Reply

        • Sageville

          March 18, 2015 at 12:00

          Surely you mean “….shotgun to save the day?”

          Yawl are giving me a bad rap here!

          Reply

  3. Gavin Mannion

    March 18, 2015 at 11:16

    I’d happily pay for some cosmetic DLC… but DLC that gives strategems annoys me.

    Where’s my Spongebob outfit?

    Reply

    • Guild

      March 18, 2015 at 11:17

      The only appealing add-on to me is the med bot but the rest….nah, not going to pay for any of it. The game is awesome fun without these so I see no value or need to buy it. Anyway, that med-bot won’t heal me Hammer keeps dropping in on top of me.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 18, 2015 at 11:18

        IRL too? Does it hurt?

        Reply

        • Guild

          March 18, 2015 at 11:22

          Lol, thankfully Hammer lives very far away. But in game when you have team mates like Sage and Hammer expect a lot accidental deaths.

          Reply

          • Pariah

            March 18, 2015 at 11:23

            Kids these days. If only they were less noob. Tsk tsk.

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 11:24

            Sage smokes everything in his path. I dive for so much cover when he lets loose that my square button is almost worn out.

          • Pariah

            March 18, 2015 at 11:26

            Proof that aiming on consoles is HARD.

            *Disclaimer: not really

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 11:27

            It’s not hard, just don’t get in between Sage and the enemies XD

          • Ir0nseraph

            March 18, 2015 at 11:28

            Well you can always crawl through the map 😛

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 11:29

            Rather drop a mech. The things a bullet sponge.

          • Sageville

            March 18, 2015 at 11:56

            Pfft, I’m training my fellow teamies to use the duck button…

            YOU’RE WELCOME!!

          • Ir0nseraph

            March 18, 2015 at 11:57

            LOL

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 12:03

          • Sageville

            March 18, 2015 at 11:58

            “accidental”

      • Hammersteyn

        March 18, 2015 at 11:24

        XD if only I could steer the damn thing.

        Reply

      • Jared

        March 23, 2015 at 21:25

        I love your attitude! If it doesn’t appeal to you, then don’t spend the money. It’s totally optional. Nothing here is significantly “better” just “different”. I do agree that it is somewhat of a poor decision but even with these new toys I still use mostly things unlocked in the standard game. I don’t see the big deal releasing cheap, optional, dlc for your community.
        If this continues, there is definitely a problem. I think this was just the first piece of dlc to hold people over who already unlocked everything asap cause this game is so fun until they come out with bigger dlc.

        Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    March 18, 2015 at 11:22

    Dropped in last night to play this a bit, too bad I dropped on top of someone….. Sorry Ronin 😛

    Reply

    • Guild

      March 18, 2015 at 11:23

      lol :))))

      Reply

    • ChronopandaZA

      March 18, 2015 at 11:25

      What gets me is when someone has a sense of humour fail – I got kicked from two matches last night for falling on the hosts head as I joined. It’s not like we can choose where we fall! Better just to laugh and carry on spreading democracy 🙂

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        March 18, 2015 at 11:26

        The people on the ground needs to look out for shadows as the pods comes down, and enemies, and samples, and other players…… the game is so much fun!

        Reply

      • Guild

        March 18, 2015 at 11:27

        lol 🙂 classic Helldivers. I had an incident last night, clearly threw out my pod for mech drop in the middle of the street. For some reason it decided to aim for Gavin in his mech in the connecting side street

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          March 18, 2015 at 11:29

          The streets are rather narrow. Did you manage to defend super earth?

          Reply

          • Guild

            March 18, 2015 at 11:31

            Ya about that, we couldn’t keep up with the advancing time so we kinda let it just burn

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 11:32

            XD

        • ChronopandaZA

          March 18, 2015 at 11:30

          I swear the ATVs and Mechs are a magnet for pod drops lol

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 11:33

            Maybe they’re magnetized?

        • Her Highness the Hipster

          March 18, 2015 at 11:33

          still better than @lazygamers:disqus continually shooting me, and driving over me… 😛

          Reply

          • Guild

            March 18, 2015 at 11:53

            Gavin was making me laugh with his constant Zoe-fire, his bullets seemed to be attracted to you.

      • Hammersteyn

        March 18, 2015 at 11:34

        Dropping on people is all part of the fun, I’d be disappointed if they patch it so that it doesn’t happen as often as it does

        Reply

        • Her Highness the Hipster

          March 18, 2015 at 11:36

          Best was when @disqus_VB0THghkAC:disqus called in his new mech and barely managed to escape his current mech it landed on. talk about a replacement suit. but agreed – friendly fire and accidental kills via drops are part of the fun.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 11:37

            He has four mechs he drops with, he can afford breakage costs.

          • Guild

            March 18, 2015 at 11:51

            Only time I stressed last night was that crazy evac where I got on as it was leaving. All the abandoned mechs and enemies didn’t make it easy getting on.

        • ChronopandaZA

          March 18, 2015 at 12:03

          Yeah, it would really take away from the experience in my opinion. But then you get those people who forget that it’s all about fun and make it all about the leaderboards…

          Reply

          • Guild

            March 18, 2015 at 12:04

            There are leaderboards???

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 12:05

            Yeah and on those boards are people who never sleep and never play anything else. Which begs the question. Where were they last night when the Earth burned?

          • ChronopandaZA

            March 18, 2015 at 12:17

            I LOLed, but I kid you not on Reddit someone was moaning about a “cheater” who wasn’t on the leaderboards but suddenly appeared, lots of crying and accusations of “Hax”

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 12:34

            Why are gamers such babies????

  5. Hammersteyn

    March 18, 2015 at 11:28

    *Sigh. DLC. I’m not really surprised. It’s the way things work in the industry. I’d say vote with your wallet and people did, just not the way I had hoped.

    Reply

  6. Axon1988

    March 18, 2015 at 11:30

    Sounds like the same thing with DLC on Payday2. However Payday2 has also given out a lot of free stuff to the community.

    Reply

  7. Hammersteyn

    March 18, 2015 at 11:37

    This should be a theme song for Helldivers
    *Dies as another drop lands on me

    Reply

    • Guild

      March 18, 2015 at 11:47

      lol I’m going to have this in my head every time a drop comes in or I’m running around in a mech suit

      Reply

  8. Dutch Matrix

    March 18, 2015 at 11:41

    Judging by the comments, this is something I should try and oh wait… PS4 exclusive????? (Refresh)

    Reply

    • Guild

      March 18, 2015 at 11:48

      Pity you can’t join us, such a laugh playing this game. Unless you decide to pick up a PS4 sometime?

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        March 18, 2015 at 12:01

        I’d rather pick up a hobo than a PS4 no wait. That came out wrong.

        Reply

        • Sageville

          March 18, 2015 at 12:03

          I’m pretty sure it came out right….

          Reply

        • Guild

          March 18, 2015 at 12:03

          XD

          Reply

  9. Guild

    March 18, 2015 at 11:54

    One thing they could do is drop the Escort mission or at least give us more points for shooting the crap out of the survivors

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      March 18, 2015 at 12:01

      Do you even fail the mission if they die?

      http://i.imgur.com/W3QLSNH.gif

      Reply

      • Guild

        March 18, 2015 at 12:02

        Nope, so whenever we had one we just killed them. Too much of a pain keeping them alive

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          March 18, 2015 at 12:04

          Yes! Who needs their silly XP points anyways.

          Reply

          • Guild

            March 18, 2015 at 12:05

            Exactly, and especially when you doing a HellDive mission that has 3 sets. We managed to save the closest party but the other 2 parties were to far away. So we killed them then moved on

          • Hammersteyn

            March 18, 2015 at 12:06

            Bwahahaha!

  10. Orichalkos

    March 20, 2015 at 16:31

    It’s made by the same people who did Magicka so it’s gonna have a lot of DLC like this if their previous game is any indication

    Reply

  11. Redeemer

    March 21, 2015 at 08:39

    The CEO of Arrowgame wrote an open letter in reddit about it:

    http://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/2zpnsu/an_open_letter_to_our_players/

    Reply

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