Helldivers 2 help is coming: Updates focused on fixing 'login, matchmaking, and server load' problems will begin rolling out tomorrow
If you've been struggling to get into Helldivers 2, you can at least take some small measure of comfort in knowing you're not alone. Servers are crushed, matchmaking isn't working properly, and some clever diehards are trying to avoid the queue issues by simply staying logged in overnight, a strategy enabled by the lack of an AFK timer (and which of course also makes things worse for people who actually want to play the game).
Developer Arrowhead Studios capped the concurrent player count at 450,000 over the weekend in order to help alleviate the worst of the troubles, but that's obviously not an ideal solution when you've got more than 450,000 people who want to play Helldivers 2 at the same time. Fortunately, more help is coming soon.
"We have improvements rolling out this week focused on the most serious problems in the game: login, matchmaking, and server load," Helldivers 2 production director Alex Bolle said on Discord. "You will see one update for PC and PS5 tomorrow, though please keep in mind that no single update will solve all the issues. Rather, we will be making continuous improvements over the days and weeks to come."
Bolle is clearly trying to manage expectations but it's good to know that at least one step in the right direction will soon be taken. I spent a lot of time staring at Helldivers 2's "servers at capacity" message last night, and while I never felt an urge to flip out on Arrowhead (okay, I never acted on the urge to flip out on Arrowhead), it was frustrating. "Suffering from success," as some players put it, isn't the worst problem to have, but it is a problem, and the sooner developers can get it cleared up, the better it will be for all of us.
Ironically, this weekend's troubles may have been at least partially self-inflicted. Helldivers 2 was dropping double XP from Friday through Sunday to make up for a different problem that was preventing some players from earning XP. And as the saying goes, hindsight is 20-20:
(That's Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt, who's probably not being entirely serious, but yeah, he's at least partly serious.)
For now, if you are able to get into the game we've got some good advice that will (hopefully) help keep you from dying so quickly, horrifically, and often: Check out our guides to the best Helldivers 2 loadouts, the best weapons, best armor (yes, it makes a difference beyond just a fashion choice), and 20 things (9 here, 11 there) Helldivers 2 doesn't tell you that you really need to know.