Helldivers 2 players will soon have the chance to test balance changes, seasonal releases, and content updates as Arrowhead Game Studios begins work on a staging server under the shadow of near-continuous complaints.
The idea of bringing early testing servers to Helldivers 2 in a similar style as the famed Public Beta Environment in League of Legends or Blizzard’s Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft Public Test Realms has topped the playerbase’s wishlist for nearly as long as fans have been fighting the Galactic War. Despite that, Arrowhead’s developers were originally reticent to work on anything beyond the live game.
Plans have now changed behind the scenes, with the Helldivers 2 team turning its development focus to a testing server—though no date for its release yet.
Dot Esports understands this backflip was, in part, due to the loud complaints that have swept the Helldivers 2 community after nearly every update and season in recent weeks and months. While the third-person shooter started life with near-universal praise, things have turned southward throughout the year.
Most recently, Arrowhead has found itself starring down pitchforks, brands, and angry gamers following its Escalation of Freedom update, with the biggest complaints focused on surprise Flamethrower nerfs. The drama sparked a fresh round of review bombs from the angry fandom; Helldivers 2 players had previously slammed the game across Steam for changing Sony account rules.
The Helldivers 2 devs haven’t confirmed what this testing server would look like when it arrives. Players have a clear vision for it though: Any kind of dev-to-player channel where they can simply share “a final round of feedback.”
Unsurprisingly, fans have welcomed the test server idea with open arms, though some suggested it’s going to be tricky to build quickly and maybe a long time away.
On that front, it’s simply going to have to be patience in the trenches; Arrowhead will likely announce a Helldivers 2 test server date once it’s nearly complete.
