Hot fix incoming from High Command

• Performance
  
• Crash Fixes
  
• General Weapon and stratagem fixes
  
• Social menu
  
• Miscellaneous fixes

Crash Fixes

• Fixed crash that would occur when you or another player selects a new weapon while on the ship.
  
• Fixed crash when booting the game after saved monitor was disconnected.

General Weapon and Stratagem Fixes

• Thermite grenades no longer make the orbital cannon objective incompletable.
  
• Mines can now be shot and blown up while near a dangerous object.
  
• Fixed a bug where flamethrower weapons bounce off energy shields, making them useless when firing within shield generator relay domes.

Social Menu Fixes

• Even more social menu fixes

Miscellaneous Fixes

• General performance improvements. Some pertaining to fighting large swarms of bots.
  
• Fix bug where "Evacuate High-Value Assets" mission stops working then the host leaves.
  
• Fixed infinitely loading thumbnails on low Texture Quality setting.

• Game may display an infinite loading screen if a player disconnects during the deployment cutscene.
  
• Players may not receive Friend Requests sent from another platform.
  
• "Invite only" games created by a friend can still be seen on the Galactic War map but cannot be joined.
  
• “Conduct Geological Survey” mission may become incompletable if a player calls in “Seismic Probe” and immediately leaves the game or disconnects.
  
• Bile Titan sometimes does not take damage to the head.
  
• Enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions.
  
• Most weapons shoot below the crosshair when aiming down the sights..
  
• Chain-link fences block flamethrowers’ fire.
  
• Stratagem beam might attach itself to an enemy but it will deploy to its original location.
  
• “Guard Dog Rover” does not overheat when firing continuously.
  
• Players are able to pick up empty expendable weapons like EAT-17 or MLS-4X
  
• Reinforcement may not be available for players who join a game in progress.
  
• Wrong decal displayed for the B-27 Fortified commando. We have a fix and plant to implement it soon
  
• Service Technician on the ship cannot be interacted with - they complained they were bothered too much and could not do their work efficiently

We hope you’re excited for the latest additions and updates to the biggest Helldivers 2’s update yet, Escalation of Freedom!

We believe that a game thrives when it evolves alongside its player base, and your ideas and suggestions are a critical component of that evolution, allowing us to make adjustments that we believe will enhance the overall fun factor of the game. Our goal is to create a dynamic and engaging gameplay experience that remains challenging yet fair, rewarding your strategic thinking and teamwork.

Today, we would like to provide you with some context and reasoning behind the latest weapon balance changes!

SG-8S Slugger:
By increasing the stagger force of the Slugger, we hope to restore its identity that was lost after the previous change back in patch 01.000.200. The increased spread and drag should compensate for the improved stopping power and enhance the fantasy of a powerful shotgun firing large caliber rounds, while limiting its viability beyond medium range.

SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary:
After multiple changes to the fire damage, the Incendiary Breaker quickly became one of the most powerful weapons in the game, as it absolutely dominated the Terminid frontline and is a bit too reliable when facing the bugs, overshadowing the other weapons. By increasing the recoil and reducing the maximum number of magazines we intend to make Incendiary Breaker more demanding for good ammo economy, while keeping its immense power intact.

GP-31 Grenade Pistol:
The original version of the Grenade Pistol was quite inconsistent compared to other weapons. It essentially tripled the amount of grenades available to the player, but required 4 ammo boxes to be fully refilled. By reducing it ammo capacity we want the choice of the Grenade Pistol to be more deliberate, and we think that restoring more grenades from a single box will compensate for the loss of ammo and will make the Grenade Pistol more reliable for any mission type.

CB-9 Exploding Crossbow:
Since the last patch, the Exploding Crossbow still struggles to find its own niche as it has to compete with more reliable weapons. By making the crossbow a one-handed weapon, we hope to increase its versatility and offer new and interesting uses that will help it stand out from other options.

MLS-4X Commando:
The ability of Commando's missiles to destroy Automaton fabricator buildings from any angle was unintended behavior. However, the community clearly voiced their enjoyment of this particular bug. We do plan on fixing this but have decided to take some time to think this through and not make any rash decisions on how best to rebalance this weapon.

AX/AR-23 Guard Dog:
Since release, the Guard Dog has been outclassed by its laser counterpart due to the fact that it ran out of ammo too quickly and could not be refilled from ammo boxes found on the map. We believe that increased ammo capacity along with the fix to the ammo crates will improve its viability as a support companion.

Orbital Walking Barrage:
Originally, the Walking Barrage was intended to suppress enemies during an advance. However, given the chaotic nature of orbital barrages, the Walking Barrage had no definite application as it felt too unreliable at times. The increased duration of the bombardment in combination with reduced movement speed should make the Walking Barrage saturate the area better, while covering about the same distance as before.

Orbital 120mm HE Barrage:
Similarly to the Walking Barrage, the 120mm HE Barrage felt too random at times if salvoes missed the target or hit the same spot multiple times. With decreased cooldown, the 120mm HE Barrage will be accessible more often and should make randomness less punishing.