Helldivers 2 is an online third-person shooter we can definitely classify as live service, but that doesn’t mean it’s light on narrative or limited by seasonal content drops. The game follows an ongoing campaign that happens in real-time, and fighting the galactic war at its center and moving the plot forward is a collective player effort. Here, we’ve collected everything you should know going in.
While jumping into the game is more than enough to stay up-to-date on every major event going down in the Helldivers universe, we highly advise players to follow the official social media channels, which may tease upcoming events in advance and drop information and bits of lore that you’d miss otherwise.
Again, Helldivers 2 isn’t a season-based live service game (at least not right now) in spite of the presence of both free and premium battle passes. Arrowhead’s latest game owes much of its popularity to how unpredictable the real-time development of the story is and how new content drops are often integrated into the operations and missions that Super Earth’s Helldivers are trying to complete. While Helldivers 2’s mission-based structure isn’t complex at all, the narrative and systems holding it all together can be.
The Galactic Map of Helldivers 2
In Helldivers 2, each player has a huge ship that acts as a base of operations. There, you can customize your soldier, equip new weapons and equipment, upgrade stratagems and the ship itself, and even socialize with other players as long as you’re in the same party.
The galactic map is hard to miss, as it’s right in the center of the main area you can access, besides the Democracy Officer who won’t shut up. As soon as you activate it, you’ll get a real-time view of how the war effort is going across the known galaxy and currently ‘open’ sectors.
Right now, the Helldivers are only fighting two enemy factions: the Automatons (think of mass-produced Terminators) and the swarm-like Terminids (think of the Bugs from Starship Troopers). This could change soon, however, as the community has been spotting a number of teases regarding the Illuminate, a third faction that appeared in Helldivers 1.
This directly shapes the galactic war, with troops being directed towards Automaton and Terminid-controlled sectors. Sometimes, Super Earth launches a huge offensive. But very often, mankind is fighting for survival and fending off enemy attacks on previously colonised worlds. It’s all unpredictable and tied to the secretive plans of Arrowhead and their ‘game master’ of sorts, who likes to throw curveballs our way.
While major and personal orders (more on those later) might encourage Helldivers to rally around certain worlds or push a specific front, the game typically allows players to choose from a number of sectors and planets within them. You might not help with the most pressing orders if you choose to drop on a relatively calm (but active) planet, but every active Helldiver is a welcome Helldiver.
Each active planet, no matter its unique characteristics and environmental conditions (pay attention to those as well), will show a percentage of liberation that represents how things are going for Super Earth’s soldiers on the surface. In most cases, the progression of these bars is linear and can’t be bumped back, but there have been some occasions in which enemy forces regained control and forced all active Helldivers to double down and focus on a singular target.
The planetary view also shows a list of updated info: Helldivers active, total enemies killed, Helldivers KIA, and bullets fired. Likewise, you’ll get a nice little description of the planet and the environmental conditions (if there are any), which directly affect the difficulty of the missions you’re about to embark on.
It’s also either here or on the sector view where you’ll decide the difficulty of the missions and operations, which tweak the number of enemies, the presence of advanced ones, how much damage they deal, whether things will get much more intense, and more importantly, the progress being added to the ‘liberation bar’ at the end of each mission in case of success plus the rewards and XP you’re receiving.
How Operations work in Helldivers 2
Operations are essentially groups of missions in Helldivers 2. They may contain defence missions, eradication missions, or more objective-based trips into enemy zones. While you can jump into them alone, your chances of success past a certain difficulty level are slim, since Helldivers 2 is 100% designed around the idea of co-op, whether it’s with friends or unknowns. Don’t worry, it all works quite well even if you don’t do voice comms!
The moment you open up the aforementioned planetary view, you’ll be able to select from several available operations or join active ones hosted by other players. No matter what you choose, you’ll get order progress and earn your rewards the same way, so helping out fellow Helldivers in need of filling their squads is recommended. This also means there’s literally no reason not to make your party public and matchmake if you’re not planning to play with only close friends.
You can also just play one mission and forget about all the operation bonuses if you don’t care that much. Just pay attention to the numbers and information available next to missions, as you might well be on your way toward completing an operation after a few matches without even trying!
What are Major Orders and Personal Orders?
Orders are Helldivers 2’s challenges. There’s nothing strange about them. Complete the tasks that rotate in and out and get extra rewards (warbonds to spend however you want in most cases). There are, however, some peculiarities worth keeping in mind.
Major orders aren’t always weekly, and there isn’t one of them active at all times. In most cases, they’re tied to the ever-evolving narrative of the game, and this is where the good habit of paying attention to Arrowhead’s social medial channels and the forums comes in. Helldivers 2, while simple at its core, isn’t a live service game asking all its players to go through the motions. Things happen for a reason, and crushing defeats might quickly lead to surprising wins. Players can affect individual outcomes, but Helldivers are in the galactic war effort for the long haul. Just try to do your best out there while having fun!
Personal orders are the game’s equivalent of daily orders, and while they typically line up for all Helldivers, there have been reports of not everyone getting the same on certain days. Furthermore, server issues can also mess these up quite a bit, so their behaviour can be unpredictable.
Personal orders are far easier to complete, as they’re tailored for individual soldiers and their squads (progress is often shared). You’ll get juicy rewards from these more often than from major orders, as they reward players for showing up as frequently as possible to help with the galactic war.
Current Major Orders Status for August 2024
Objective: Liberate the designated Planets - Wasat, Vega Bay, Wezen, Varylia 5, and Ustotu
Rewards: 55 Medals
Ends: 2 August at 4pm GMT / 5am PT
Previous Major Orders and Status for 2024:
- Wrestle back control of Choepessa IV - Successful
- Split the Automaton Forces in half - Successful
- Bug Hunt - Successful x 3
- Liberate Marfark and Vernen Wells - Failed
- Liberate the WASAT Planet -Successful
- Clear out the Terminid Infestation - Successful
- Destroy Meridia using the Dark Fluid - Successful
- Clear Terminid Supercolony upon Meridia - Successful
- Liberate the Pentafactory on Varylia 5 - Successful
- Liberate the Pentafactory on Varylia 5 - Successful
- Kill Three Billion Terminids or Automatons - Failed
- Designated Planets under Super Earth Control - Successful
- Decommission 2 Billion Automations - Failed
- Super Supercolony Outbreak - Failed
- Deactive the Terminid Control System - Successful
- 2 Billion Bugs Dead - Successful
- Save Brave surviving citizens on Penta - Successful
Current Personal Order - Updated Daily
Kill 100 enemies using the flamethrower.
Reward: 15 Medals
Ends: 10am BST / 2am PT Daily
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