Helldivers 2 is a live service game that does things a little differently from other always-online titles. Its battle pass Warbonds are permanent and can be unlocked by anyone at any time, and its ever-evolving story is told through little more than text boxes and the actions of the community.
However, it also receives regular updates and balance changes, not all of which are well-received, which has raised the question of test servers and whether Helldivers 2 should have them moving forward. I don’t think it needs them, though. The game is built in such a way and developer Arrowhead Game Studios is so involved with its players that I think test servers would just slow updates down and cause more problems than they’re worth.
Let me back up here for a second because I’m not saying that test servers, in general, are a terrible idea. In fact, I think Dead by Daylight‘s Public Test Server (PTB) works incredibly well. Developer Behaviour Interactive puts upcoming Chapters like Dungeons & Dragons, or major updates, live on the PTB for players to try out for 2 weeks at a time. Players submit their feedback; the developer watches what players do on the PTB and what the community is saying and adjusts its updates to bring them in line with its vision for the game.
I think the PTB is both good and bad for Dead by Daylight. It’s good because bugs and glitches are caught before updates are released, and balance changes can be tweaked before they go live if they’re over or underpowered in testing. But the PTB is bad when an upcoming change is nerfed because it’s too powerful or character behavior is altered for the same reason. Even balance changes that are made for the greater good of the game can come under fire because they don’t make one Killer much more viable.
With Dead by Daylight, the PTB is a constant tug of war between what players feel is best, and what the developer feels is best. But Helldivers 2 is near-perfect in its current state. When Arrowhead Game Studios issues an update for Helldivers 2, it goes out, and players jump into the game almost immediately to see how it’s impacted their favorite loadouts.
Sometimes, things go horribly wrong, like when the Punisher Plasma exploded players who fired it with an active Shield Backpack. Other times, balance changes just work. There will always be complaints about crash fixes not being implemented until they’ve been wiped out, but when tested properly on the developer’s side, balance changes don’t need to be a source of contention.
This is where my idea comes in. If Helldivers 2 had test servers, it would break the game in two ways. First, it splits the community. I play on PS5, for example, so I wouldn’t be able to jump in. That means that those who do play on the test server are a limited slice of the player base, and their feedback might not be representative of the entire community.
Second, in Helldivers 2, players are given Major Orders, which are objectives to complete together. Even if that objective is fighting Sony over PSN account linking, the entire community always bands together to complete these objectives. If you’re splitting the player base between live and test servers, you’re taking Helldivers away from the front lines. We need those bodies to complete our Major Orders, and no player is going to say less managed democracy is a good thing.
This would ultimately lead to rewards for completed Major Orders being missed because a percentage of players were fighting in proxy battles on the test server instead of helping out in the real war effort. While there are some hilarious storylines I’m sure could be weaved from those situations, I think it would do more harm than good.
My suggestion is that Arrowhead Game Studios spreads updates out more and gives players basic Major Orders to kill a certain number of enemies from one faction. At the time of writing, the Major Order is to kill 2 billion Automatons. That’s perfect! It’s uncomplicated, so players won’t feel like they’re handicapped while trying to complete complex missions, and it’s an easy goal to hit because it just requires fans to play the game.
After 4 or 5 days, which was the length of the time limit on this Major Order, enough feedback will have been accrued to help the developers make any necessary changes to balance and push them live. Of course, this could and should take as long as it takes to implement correctly, but I’d argue it’s better than almost daily balance changes for small issues that don’t look at the bigger picture.
Ultimately, my idea here is to keep the community together and make testing balance changes and updates part of the story and lore. It could be framed as Super Earth issuing new prototype weapons that are designed to help liberate planets more efficiently. Based on whether the balance changes are good or bad, you could have a fun explanation of how the scientists behind the changes were punished or praised, or both because this is Helldivers 2.
I don’t believe test servers are a good thing for a game like Helldivers 2. After all of us struggling just to get into servers when it was initially released, we now all can’t wait for the next Major Order. Every player wants to do their part, and making that part of testing changes that will either stick around for the foreseeable future or disappear because they’re awful and kill too many Helldivers is exactly what everyone in the community wants to be a part of. So make it part of the lore and let us kill billions more bugs, machines, and whatever else is lurking out there in the dark while improving the game together.
