The latest Major Order in the Galactic War metagame of Arrowhead Game Studios’ co-op PvE shooter Helldivers 2 is well underway, but with just under a day and a half left to finish it, fans are struggling to accomplish its objective due to a lack of coordination.
The operation requires players to liberate the Automaton-controlled planet of Tibit, but to open a front there, the world of Ubanea needs to be taken as well. As Helldivers moved to invade it, though, the planet Draupnir that was keeping supply lines to Ubanea open was attacked by the robot menace — and since the community was ultimately split between capturing Ubanea, defending Draupnir, and fighting elsewhere, there weren’t enough space marines on either world to complete any objectives. As a result, the worst case scenario happened on Friday afternoon: Draupnir fell, cutting off the Ubanea liberation campaign at 95% progress just hours before it would’ve been successful.
Now, players are desperately trying to retake Draupnir so they can return to Ubanea before the Automatons recuperate their losses (cut off liberation attempts slowly lose progress over time). That effort is going decently well so far — as I write this, the planet is just under 69% liberated (nice) — but with the Major Order set to expire in under 36 hours, there may simply not be enough time to reclaim Draupnir, finish capturing Ubanea, and free Tibit, too.
Fans have been quick to attribute the situation to the community’s indecisiveness and insufficient focus (I’ve seen the word “traitors” thrown around cheekily), but they’re not the only ones to do so. Even Arrowhead itself is calling attention to the fact that the war effort has been hindered by hesitation, as well as large amounts of players opting to fight Terminid bugs or on planets that aren’t important to the Major Order like Malevelon Creek.
“Had our forces decided earlier what to do, or alternatively, managed to sway more of the roughly 35% of Helldivers active on the Terminid front, then today would have been cause for celebration,” wrote Arrowhead’s associate community manager Spitz in Helldivers 2’s official Discord server. “But victories need to be earnt in order to be meaningful, and victory has not been earned this day.”
“Another significant obstacle in our operations has been the ongoing support of expeditionary forces on Malevelon Creek,” they continued. “Malevelon Creek remains locked in a stalemate with an average 25% of our forces committed to its defense and eventual liberation, though success on Draupnir, Ubanea, and eventually Tibit seems unlikely with such a large contingent diverted elsewhere…”
Notably, players have been trying to take Malevelon Creek since Helldivers 2 released earlier this year, though the Automatons’ hold on “Space Vietnam” has proven to be extremely difficult to break. The hazy jungle planet is a fan-favorite, with its uniquely hostile environment inspiring thousands of players to fight tooth and nail to liberate it; right now, though, taking it would contribute nothing to the ongoing Major Order.
Undoubtedly, Arrowhead has hit the nail on the head with its indirect suggestions to focus on planets that actually matter. At the time of writing, roughly 120,000 Helldivers are duking it out with the bugs and 60,000 are on Malevelon Creek, with just 80,000 battling for Draupnir — the world critical to the Major Order. In other words, only about 31% of the folks playing the game are helping to progress the operation.
I blamed poor rewards the first time the Helldivers 2 community lost to the Automatons, but this time, I suspect what’s going on is largely a conflict between what players want to do and what the current Major Order wants them to do. Generally, it seems like most people enjoy fighting bugs more than bots, and many fans who do like the buckets of bolts are committed to taking Malevelon Creek from them before going anywhere else.
At the end of the day, games are played for fun, and Liberty’s finest will go wherever they have the most of it — even if that means some Major Orders are failed as a consequence. Whether or not the one to liberate Tibit ends in defeat remains to be seen, though I’m not getting my hopes up for victory; it expires the morning after the Easter holiday, which is when many will be spending time with family instead of blasting robots into scrap metal. How undemocratic of them.
Helldivers 2 is available now for $39.99 on both PS5 and PC, and so far, it’s one of the best PC games of the year. Notably, the game also supports cross-platform play between PS5 and PC.
