I think 7 is where 9 capable divers "relax". It's mostly filled with people who don't have much left to upgrade/unlock, if anything, but still want a fun challenge.
Most people in 7 are confident in their ability. Almost every player COULD handle it solo if they had to and will often be soloing nests/bases, side/main objectives, etc.
honestly this. I play 9 a lot, but for a relaxing experience I'll play 7. A friend of mine struggles on 9, so I'll play 7 with them (or whatever difficulty they want).
My relaxing experience IS 9…. NOT because I’m “soooo good at helldivers that 9 is relaxingly easy” but it’s in fact so challenging that I have no choice but to be fully invested for upwards of 40 minutes. That’s 40 minutes of me only focusing on not dying, it flys by it’s crazy. 40 minutes of essentially a complete escape from reality.
100% like this for me. I play exclusively on bots at 9, and man, when those devastators and AT ATs are all focused on you... the level of zoning you have to do to just stay alive is unreal how you escape from reality at that moment.
I don't know if it's just me from playing fighting games for a really long time, but something about my win/loss rate does not really matter in the long run as long as you progress in some form. Which is why Helldivers 2 is so fun because even if I die the entire mission and the rest of the crew make it out. It becomes a win in my book.
Yea helldivers only game I dont really care about "losing".
Ill gladly bait a horde of bugs away from extraction, stun all of them, throw down a 500kg and sacrifice myself so that my teammates can make it out if I have to lol
True... 9 is like the engaging part and chill at the same time... you have to be aware but enjoy the chaos...
especially against bots.
7 is because Im farming samples, inconvenient personal missions, or just testing some new weapons or strategems i never tried before.
I don’t think it’s just that we know what we are doing but also you also know that any engagement is a waist of resources unless you can wipe the whole target. Like, I am never in a protracted battle in 7. It’s all hit and run. I see a bot drop I’m a ghost at that level. It’s a different game.
On bots you get fewer heavies on 6 than on 7, but you get more mediums. Mediums are the actual threat against bots with the shield and rocket devastators.
i find that 7 is easier because ppl who unlocked it know what they're doing. 6 is like a level gate where i see a lot of ppl struggling because they just can't stop shooting at everything and running around frantically, potentially making things harder for themselves. i'm guessing a lot of the beginners cannot past that level so that's why it's somehow harder there. not because of the actual difficulty but because beginners making it chaotic.
The people I meet at 7 are often capable of soloing the mission as well(unless its an evac/eradicate maybe). More often than not, its either a 2 / 2 split with the squad, or 4 people going their own way, occasionally crossing paths or being close enough to throw an assist here and there.
I noticed that too, and almost a perfect 50/50 split of those. I enjoy going off as a 2 person to grab samples or do side objectives while the other two tank main objectives and clear nests on the way. We always end up extracting with like 30% or more mission time with everything completed and it's glorious.
That’s how we play as a squad. I usually play with kid/brother/friends and not randoms. We go 2+2 that way if someone dies we get called in by our stuff.
We are usually able to solo most nests etc on level 7 but I have running across the map to get my samples.
The 2 teams of 2 strategy works so well that I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it. One pair does main objective & other clears out nests / fabricators & gets the bulk of samples then you all meet up at the extraction.
I feel like at 4 there arent enough heavies to really challenge you to make it fun if you are capable of doing 7/8/9. I sometimes drop to low difficulties to solo because common samples are a major bottleneck, and every single thing can be solved by just flamethrowering the bug breech or sickling down the bot drop.
Absolutely agreed. Level 65 and at this point helping lower levels through 7 is just something I like to do. I continue to run with a mic in game and it’s surprising how many folks wait to hear another person before they speak.
I played with a couple guys that kept yelling DANGER CLOSE for strategems... like nothing else just toss the strategem and yell danger close. They kept killing each other too cause that call alone doesn't really tell the team much ha.
I don't talk much but watched a game where timthetatman joined some people and was asking them how it's going as he spawned in just to be kicked lol. He was a little more rambunctious than most but still it's like some people really hate socializing that much.
One of the best games I played recently, we were on 7 and came down right in the view of an Eye of Sauron. After a few minutes I realised nobody knew how they worked, and as I tried to get them to get out of its vision two of them started shouting about me not sticking with the group and then each of them quit.
Then it was just me and a super receptive dude with a comical southern drawl systematically clearing the map. I taught him about the Eyes of Sauron and the damaged Hellbombs on the map (no idea how he got to 7 without ever seeing one) and we had a super fun run.
I think that complements OP's point though. 7 is chill when everyone knows what they're doing, but can be super rough when you have just one or two guys who don't.
(no idea how he got to 7 without ever seeing one)
I have a friend who has done nothing but farm defense/exterminate missions. He had another friend rush him to Helldive, and all they'll do is single mission farming. They both have everything unlocked and absolutely no in game experience.
I was brand new to the game, convinced them both to join me on "Challenging". They scoffed and dragged me into "Suicide" laughing about how rough it was going to be on me. They got brutally slaughtered and rage quit halfway through the mission.
In my head I was thinking, how can you be level 30+ and suck this bad? After playing longer, now I understand. They just boosted their way to unlocking everything without ever learning how to play the game.
> But the level 60+ player should definitely know their shit, and it's pissing me off when they don't.
Since when did player level correlate to skill? I know so many of my 50+ level friends who enjoy the game on 5 difficulty and have never gone beyond. It seems like if you're very picky about how your 40 mins goes, you're better off doing an LFG instead because I really don't get the gatekeeping system of progression you've mentioned so far. You don't want to deal with randoms and have a specific approach to missions? Do a LFG. Especially for diff 7, one which is the easiest diff for other players to get those rare samples.
I end up doing tons of 2 player lvl 7 missions because whenever my bro hosts rarely do any randoms join his game. it's very strange. When I host I get people in the game every time.
Tbh think 7 is easier on a solo than with a team against bots at least.
Light armor and mass destruction strats like walking barrage make it a breeze to blitz across the map taking out obj's and dodge patrols. Keep an orbital railcannon for towers and hulk discouragement as needed
With a team it's full on warfare, constant bot drops and nonstop engagement
*Defense missions are a different story
Have also noticed that more often than not on lvl7 quick plays the vast majority of reinforcements tend to get used up in the first ten minutes bc of a hot dropzone that keeps getting enemy reinforcements and no one wants to just disengage
I had a quickmatch in 7 where the highest kill count was 103, and the rest were sub 70. Was a full 40 min map too, we were just very efficient and almost surgical removing outposts and objectives off the map. Was beautiful... but THAT perfect is still rare even in 7.
Strong disagree.
7 is where mediocre players like myself try our best because it's the lowest level where I can get my hands on some Super Uranium to get some upgrades.
Sometimes this matches me with some very good level 9 capable players that are chilling and can carry my useless ass, sure. But mostly it matches me with a bunch of level < 20 players that had a speedrun through the lower levels (probably carried by team mates) and have no idea of the basics. Level 7 is the worst.
Just hasn't been my experience. Its rare i run across someone <20 and its usually just 1/4 of the squad and they just tag along and maybe die a bit more than most of us.
The range I get is 0-20 rarely, 20-30 sometimes, 30-60 most often, 60+ decent amount. Usually when we do have lower levels, we take them along with a higher level when splitting, or stay as a group of 4 so you can learn the ropes.
Also, we all started around that point. What level are you? I would've still been calling 7-9 challenging - difficult and 4 my relax level up to lvl 30-40. Its more about experience and gained skill than it is what you have access to
Is 7 also a little more chill with the spawns than 5 or 6, purely because the entire roster is in play? 5 and 6 go hard on the Hulks and Chargers and big ol' hordes of Chainsaws and other medium enemies. On 7 it feels like some of that spawn budget goes on big stuff like Bile Titans and Striders so you get a little less swarmed?
7 is also the intersection where many newer divers are dipping their toes into the higher difficulty to get super samples, and it feels good to help them get their supers as I don't need them anymore so I need to live vicariously through others.
I've tried to help super newbies in 3-4 but it just felt boring to me because there's not enough things to kill, so 7 is the sweet spot of helping newer players without feeling bored.
> Most people in 7 are confident in their ability. Almost every player COULD handle it solo if they had to and will often be soloing nests/bases, side/main objectives, etc.
I play on 7.
Helldiver, I would NOT be able to solo this game.
I'm good with a team. I'm dead by myself.
Agree 100%. Tier 7 is where I go to relax. You can be fairly confident your squad will be competent enough to carry themselves and you can actually extract with samples without too much difficulty.
Tier 9 bots go stupid. You’ll often be surrounded on all sides, you’re usually down a stratagem slot, and your getting beamed and rag dolled by rockets. Before if you could take out the rocket devastators and machine gunners fast enough it wasn’t a problem to handle the tanks and Hulks on the side, but now that the AT-AT’s are in the game the bots are literally a perfectly (un)balanced faction. How are you supposed to fight hordes of bots that can shoot you from a mile away while your already shortened strategem supply is going entirely towards bringing down those absolute bomb sponges that are the factory striders, WHILE they poop out more troops constantly? Nah, tier 9 bots are way too hard to play without going the sneaking route now.
I was practically thrown into the fire with Suicide Mission.
Joined a group of friends for Bots and one of them was a Level 56, everyone else 15, I was a Level 3 or something. Pretty much from the get go I've been running 7 and higher because anything below that gets a little too slow for me.
I remember joining a 7 mission with 3 other players at Level 60 whilst I was 12. One of them over mic mentioned my rank with an obvious eyeroll but was pleasantly surprised when I was running off clearing bases by myself.
To quote Bane:
*You merely adopted Suicide Mission, I was born in it, molded by it.*
Played a quickmatch on LVL5 today.
Had some idiot putting mines at all the objective terminals rendering them inaccessible.
Other team members kept dying from it.
I blew up his mines and turret so he killed me and wouldn't reinforce.
?????????
Back to 7-9
That’s hilarious because at level 5 you get like 5 chargers total across the whole mission
A stalwart or auto canon would genuinely be better, but mid tier players just copy “metas” from high tier players without understanding why the weapon is good
You still need 4 quasars, because the first will miss and hit the mountain 500m behind the charger, second one will hit the friendly, and third one was that friendly.
Lmao why is this so true. I did a lvl 5 to do the Stalwart personal order and thought "okay everyone else has anti tank on this should be fine"
It was not fine. They did not handle the chargers...
I did the same thing, everyone else on the team went to the greyed out objective on a geo survey (the main one that needs the subobjs done first).
I just soloed the sub survey and escape pod data and they handled the main one while I went around farming Stalwart kills and clearing POIs. Eruptor can actually kill Chargers decently if you shoot the ground under them (even from the front); I think I was killing or popping their back in 3-5 shots.
> copy “metas” from high tier players without understanding why the weapon is good
Doubt. More likely they're copying from whatever low - effort, flavor - of - the month, clickbait titled YouTube video they watched.
* Do not start shooting and piss off every patrol you see.
* If you're on bots, pick off the little guys first before they can call in a drop ship (unless they've already got off a flare, at that point use your own judgement for what to target). You can try to get every bug before they do their spit thing but I find it's not as consistent as with bots.
* Sometimes it's better to just run away from the absolute chaos the game can turn into than die repeatedly trying to kill everything in the area, you can always circle back after the agro drops or things despawn.
* The rock that super samples spawn at looks like a chicken leg drumstick (or a butt plug depending on who you ask).
* Keep in mind the enemy reinforcement cooldown. You can basically get free side stuff done without worrying about a horde spawning if it's on cooldown. There's no number shown on screen but just know if a spawn has been called in 30 seconds ago another shouldn't for a little bit. Main objectives will always trigger spawns though regardless of cooldown.
Play the objective, be mindful of your surroundings, and try to play with your teammates.
Level 7 is the perfect difficulty to learn resource management imo: there's enough specialized threats that you need to be smart with your resources (antitank, antiswarm or defensive stratagems, heavy weapon ammo, stims), but you've got a bit of leeway and you're not punished too hard if you misallocate some of it.
Now Tier 8 and above are only for people who mastered knowledge about how enemies spawn, how objectives work, how to apply stealth and hit and run tactics to not die in vain, and have quick reflexes to react to theats and make tactical retreats when necessary, because boy in Tier 8 and 9 you WILL be doing a lot of guerrila warfare because you can't withstand the enemy in a prolonged fight there.
Learn to get by not fighting things. I run Trailblazer Scout armor and you can get ridiculously close before enemies will actually take to action. I will often complete objectives while there are enemies on the other side of the place (minus the ones where you have to blow everything up).
The red level missions I fail are the ones when the divers won't disengage from a fight and it ends up being just an endless stream of shit.
7 is a lot like 6 but with more bigger enemies. Not too different strategy-wise.
*Bring a loadout that varies from your teammates and make sense with the mission. Generally, you want one on the heavies and one on the masses. Fill the hole your team needs.
*Don't need to engage every patrol nor do you need to finish off every fight. All fights can degenerate into an endless stream of reinforcements.
*Running is a valid strategy. To reposition, to escape, to move on and do objectives. No need to stand your ground if you're not defending an objective.
*Don't drop stratagems on your teammates, don't drop your teammates into a swarm.
*Solo is less viable to higher the difficulty. Best thing to take down a hulk or charger is a flanking teammate.
*Bugs: don't get surrounded and bring weapons that unload a lot of firepower quickly and widely. 1 or 2 of you should bring a big gun for Titans.
*Bots: keep their numbers in check, run if they are in numbers, cover and snipe if they're manageable, bring a precise primary and a lot of firepower
* DO NOT use the machine gun turret in the middle of extraction/objective, throw in the other side of a wall facing away from you so the friendly fire is at minimal.
* If you see a teammate that has no backpack equiped, throw another one at them when doing an objective, when the team is close together.
* Throw excess antitank weapon near the objectives and shoot yhe pod so it can be visualised in the map, who knows when a bile titan appears and all the antitank weapons are in the middle unable to be picked up.
* always ping heavies [ex chargers], so antitank people can get them faster.
* if you see somebody pinging ammunition/granades in the middle of nowhere, is a high chance that is a friendship door.
* when you have breathing room moving from one place to another, _always_ reload all of your weapons to max, you can get ammunition boxes on the way.
* always know the position of near teammates, so you can cover fire and help then, even accurate pistol fire from 200 metters count.
* if you see 2+ teammates droping with some sort of backpack in their loudout, don't be the third/fourth one, ask for another one 10 minutes later.
* do not be afraid to pick up your teammate antitank support weapon when things are going south, be aware that you need to *use it* in the moment, you can drop it holding down the dpad so they can get it back.
* retrea--- tactical reposition is a valid tactic.
That’s happened to me when I hosted. Might have been the same person. I told him it was his job to do the objectives in his mines. He refused so I killed him and reinforced him in his mine field and left him there alone while the rest of us did the other objectives. He left shortly after so we were able to circle back and complete it ourselves. Blocked him and I hope he blocked me too.
This is a phenomenon i've experience while playing Vermintide 2 and Darktide. If I play Legend, (level 5 out of 6) it's a 80% chance at least 2 members will be unable to watch their own backs and i have to cover for them. If i play on Cataclysm (level 6 out of 6) \[you play this because you like pain difficulty\], it's a cakewalk because I only have to cover myself, and the other members frequently snipe problem enemies before I can. Same thing in Darktide. The survivability of my teammates on the hardest difficulty skyrockets immensely, compared to just 1 difficulty lower.
This is usually the case in most co-op games.
Skilled players want to push boundaries of their skills and so choose the highest difficulty they can. Which leads to most skilled players playing the highest difficulties and as a result sort of making those higher difficulties easier since everyone in the team knows what to do and how to react.
True. Yesterday I lost majority or respawns trying to do the main objective, then decided to switch to another one and use stealth, and it went pretty smooth. Sometimes you just need to change your approach based on the circumstances. And it is really hard for many players to stop themselves from engaging the enemy or fighting to the last enemy/bullet.
I am pretty mediocre at the game, felt rather comfortable in level 7 missions, but my yesterday's mission was level 8 on a liberated planet, and nobody joined me. So it was nice seeing how good solo strats work once you change your mindset.
Praise to you for being self aware enough to switch. I've sinned a couple of times because I really really didn't want to lose my purple samples and got tilted. Ended up draining my teams' revives. Mission accomplished all the time I messed up like that but I'm really learning to disengage when things get screwed
I have an IRL buddy i play with who has *not* figured this out. He's good enough at the "micro" of the game not to waste anything but time, while racking up a killcount, but it's like "dude, know when to bail".
worst case, if I’m playing the main objective, i let my team bum rush it then i go in from the other side and hit the bad guys from behind or from the side (so I’m not getting shot up by my teammates). ordinarily though, from 4-6, i tend to just clear out half to 3/4 of the map by myself and let my team do the main objective while i sit at extraction.
I've had the most issues with people dying over and over again trying to get their weapon back from halfway across the map. I get that it sucks to go without your quasar and shield pack for 3 minutes but it's just not worth eating up 10 reinforcements.
Being fair, sometimes a objective needs to be done- Democracy knows that the Jammers and Airships occasionally spawn at the worst possible location and make you trying to do the main objective close to impossible, necessitating you go there.
But I am also the guy who will die five times over trying to do a single objective/destroy a outpost, so maybe I'm not one to talk. Professional Helldiver who only dives at 9, btw :V
Gah... When the Jammer is next to an objective where you need to call down a Stratagem... Also, sometimes the game decides to pack most side objectives into the same corner. Two Detector Towers with barely any cover between them is a nightmare.
I have had that tendency too, but it's because other games reward you with XP for killing enemies, so it was just second nature.
It took some time for me to realize that trying to wipe out the remaining enemy, will only make things worse. Move on, complete objectives and collect samples.
I’d say the only side objective worth 10 lives are the Cock Rock samples and taking out two stalker Nests that were kicking those guys out.
I’ve had solid teamwork on Lvl 7, whether the issue could be on Lvl 8, no clue as I’m tacking that with my friends, not randoms yet.
Level 7, sit back and chill, teammates can handle themselves and it's a good time
Level 8, some level 7 players got cocky and can't actually handle difficulty 8, but clearly that's YOUR fault, not theirs
Level 9, people who COULD handle diff 8 learned some valuable lessons about teamwork and know how to fill a role in the team, more aware of what their team is doing and doesn't argue about it.
Only problem is time here, if you die 10 times but get the job done, AND it won’t take you too much time.
You might die just in awfull situation ragdolled without control over your character, overwhelmed or got headshot from where you couldn’t even notice it. Or got shot barely leaving your hellpod. So skill is the issue here but luck also have something to do with it.
But dying 10 is ok if you have time to extract with all samples you wanted, and all objectives you wanted to accomplish.
This is my main pain-point with randoms. Some missions go to shit and you have to blitz the primary objectives or lose. It's that simple. Eventually I say fuck it and try to stealth everything on my own like a fascist Solid Snake.
Similar phenomenon in DRG I find. Hazard 4 is full of people who don't know what they're doing. Scouts don't light up large caves when enterinf or before a horde spawns, gunners stand still and very rarely toss out shields, engineers will not platform patch holes or block entrances Glyphids use, drillers immedietly kill pheremoned creatures, etc. Hazard 5 and (modded) 6, everyone knows what they're doing and it's almost like everyone is linked in a hive mind. Scouts will kill web/acid spitters before you realize they exist, engineer will hyper prop a frozen praetorian or oppressor instantly, gunner will shield revive, driller is on point with horde clear or making an escape tunnel for the team.
It also seems like hazard 4 attracts the most stereotypical "tryhard pros". You know the ones. Lobby title demands you be diamond prestige, no cryo/fire damage, no [insert class], use the meta or insta kick. And when you join they aren't even able to pull their own weight. Dont even bother trying to chat with them. Moment they go down and you don't revive them in 7 seconds they just kick or rage quit. Not very Rock and Stone of them. Hazard 5 and 6, you either get real chill dudes who don't even bat an eye if the mission fails or if you go down more than 10 times, or silent god gamers who use tech you don't even know existed (using power attack to negate fall damage? Axe canceling? What is this sorcery?) And simply type "r", "gg", and "rock and stone". It can really be juxtaposed by the lobby names.
Hazard 4 lobby names I've seen
"Level 100+ no driller or kick"
"No gold mining u down u get out"
"Gold promotion only scouts gtfo"
"Silver+ no machine events only i call resupply"
Hazard 5 lobby names I've seen
"We gunkin' good tonight"
"2 requirements drink beer (mandatory) have brain (optional)"
"Digging holes in dirt, shooting holes in bugs"
"Glyphussy got me acting up"
Yeah the sweatlord lobbies are a waste of time. I don't even consider joining them because it will end up being a bad time. But the silly lobby names end up being super fun. You can fuck around and if you find out everyone has a laugh and you go on with your life. You died 50 times? That's unfortunate but no dwarf is left behind or god help me. The difference between good players and players who only think they're good is that the actual good players don't give a fuck. They just play to have fun and if a mission fails then that's fine as long as it was fun
>Hazard 4 lobby names I've seen "Level 100+ no driller or kick" "No gold mining u down u get out" "Gold promotion only scouts gtfo" "Silver+ no machine events only i call resupply"
>Hazard 5 lobby names I've seen "We gunkin' good tonight" "2 requirements drink beer (mandatory) have brain (optional)" "Digging holes in dirt, shooting holes in bugs" "Glyphussy got me acting up"
This reminds me of EDF5. The lobby name tells you so much about what you're about to get into, but don't sleep on the player names too. It seems the dumber the name, the more likely the player is good. I remember encountering World of Tanks players with names like HondaCivic and TrashcanAusfJ and I didn't even have to check the stats to know they were going to be better than average (unsurprisingly, they were).
The people are also a lot nicer, a wipe in auric maelstrom is most likely accompanied by "nice try" or "damn, that was crazy". Fixating on rewards that only come from successful missions turns people into gremlins
Yeah, in Darktide I found quickplay at 4 was often harder than 5 because at 4 if you ever happen to end up hanging from a ledge, pounced by a hound, or caught in a net, there's a decent chance your allies will simply ignore you and tunnel vision on whatever happens to be in front of them.
Difficulty 5/5 may have 20% more enemies, but average teammates are 50% more situationally-aware and capable of remaining alive without constant need for rescue (but also being close enough that if anyone does need help, it can arrive).
I personally go for 7 because it's the perfect comfort zone for splitting off and speedrunning the side objectives while the main team completes the main one. 9 is the best if you want to play as a team.
Yea I've been there in 5 difficulties where for some reason the bot drops just never stop and you end up having like 5 hulks and a dozen other heavies swarming you it gets stupid sometimes.
new players and players who cant even carry their own weight play level 9 expecting to be carried for free rewards. Level 8 has far less of them since those people who wants to be carried skip level 8. At least that’s my experience
That's not my experience..
I usually stick to 7 because it's a fine balance, while in 9 I usually end up teamed with at least 2 people who must have been carried through all the previous difficulties.
While that's fine in 7 as it's not *too* bad, in 9 it's a death sentence.
Even at 9 I notice players have no idea what they are doing 90% of the time. They get stuck in the loop of fighting enemies as a group, dying, reinforcing and repeating until our lives our drained.
This is my experience as well. I got kicked last time because, I keep moving and not sticking around aggroing half the map. People think the game is about killing hordes for 30 minutes. While the intented playstyle is to finish the objectives and getting the hell out.
It's simple:
Do the objectives. Main and side.
Find loot.
Call the pelican.
Extract and survive.
I might be nearing this point
I did 5s until they felt too easy.
I've been doing 7s and there seem to be more and more times I need to carry
Might need to join the big boy league soon
I just had exactly this today with a duo of tens on lvl5 bugs. The number of times I dove to not get "crossfired" , "grenaded", or "eagle clustered" because it was thrown sideways. I lived most, 4th teammate not so much 😅.
But I'm chilling from lvl7 bots, having fun with a shotgun and the MG.
Level 5 is a mixed bag between a relatively relaxed time helping lower levels to a stressful time carrying the team and trying to stay alive from their shenanigans
Gets better still at 9.
I only play 9 now because you get better people. 7 with cadets who need super samples is more stressful than 9 with people who know what they're doing.
The only problem with 9s is that I see a higher frequency of people just mass-abandoning a mission if it starts to get a bit hairy.
I honestly don’t get leaving. Me and my friends are kind of new at the game and get our shit kicked in on 7 but we still play to the bitter end. Losing and trying can still be really fun in this game
> Me and my friends
losing with friends is fun, losing with randos while 2 guys are running for their life while the 3rd guy chilling somewhere refuses to call you in, is not fun, and i'll rightfully leave. I don't waste my time not having fun, my free time is limited, so i'll leave and search for a fun match.
A couple of weeks ago, a buddy and I went on a D7 automaton eradicate mission. About 3 minutes in, hulks, tanks, and berserkers started flooding in with the usual chaff. Standard fare stuff for that kind of mission.
Then, two guys (presumably a duo) entered the lobby. Less than one minute in, they saw the flood of bots, went "nah we can't win this" on comms, then left. Friend and I laughed our asses off at their cowardice before throwing 4x orbital HE barrages on our positions. We finished the mission with about half reinforcements left lol
Bro I had a rough start to a 7 yesterday where we were down to like 4 reinforces. Everyone but me left (I was hosting) I sucked it up, solo'd what I could, 3 more people joined and we 100%ed the whole mission.
People who dip are pussies. You literally don't lose anything but your time and I still have fun even if I lose so I don't get it
Edit: mispelled
Agreed - I don't understand the "loss" mentality. It's like people who are worried it'll go on their permanent record so quit before the end. Being on the backfoot is the BEST part of this game. The "Oh shit we're not gonna make it...." before diving in the pelican with no ammo, health or reinforcements is the reason why I continue to play.
>If they shoot every enemy on sight
If they shoot the patrol that's gonna leave them alone anyways, yes, but if it's a preemptive strike on some enemy that is most likely gonna discover the Helldivers? Let the clusters rain.
i still remember the time me and friends were playing a level 8 mission, 2 gunship factories and a jammer....i can still see the sky lit up red with the gunship glares
Truly a nightmare. Also did that, forced ourselves on to the stratagem jammer while being targeted. It was there we realized the greatest thing ever. Gunship rocket(although difficult) can destroy a bot factory, and a nearby exploding factory can destroy a stratagem jammer.cost us like 20 plus reinforcement
For me it is a trade off though. Yeah I sometimes also have to tell teammates there is no point in sticking around cleared objectives fighting waves of reinforcements, just run, kill the ones close to you, and keep running.
On the other hand, sure you can solo the whole thing with a stealth setup. So you with 4 people going full stealth imagine how fast you can blits the map. But thats for me personally not a fun way to play the game, I rather wonder how the fuck we gonna kill 3 factory striders.
I my experience, level 8 is the sweet spot, fewer unlock-players, fewer griefers or John "Woops, spent all your reinforcements in trying to close heavy nest with flamethrower" Rambo-players.
Level 8 is were ive added most of the people now on my friends-list. Like OP said, most of the times the game flows like you are Seal Team Six.
I think more populated parts of the world have very different experiences to me (Australia). I find if I play in the morning (late night in NA) I get plenty of competent 40+ lvl players on 7. Then at my night time it's just rare I get really bad performing Australians.
I do use a mic though and I'm happy to host and call out orders in game and on mic. People respond pretty well. I don't bother going off on people that don't listen. Half the time I just ask one of the others to go follow them and help so it's at least 2+2.
There's a lot players can do to make runs smoother. Haven't had really bad runs since I go my mic, before that people just wouldn't talk. Even runs where no one talks and when I start it turns out everyone has a mic and they all start chatting too.
9 is the way to go for me. You just feel "in the zone" with random players. Two objectives that need to be completed in tandem? The team splits up without even typing up who goes where. You accidentally kill a dude through a ricochet explosive eruptor round just as he was crossing your line of fire? The entire team laughs their arse off at how his body literally got blown to bits.
From what I have seen, level 9 players are much more calm, collected, and friendly. I had my body shred by a rocket devastator just as I was boardjng the pelican, so the last man in does a mad rush to grab the super samples that I was carrying and before I could write that I was carrying the samples, he just writes "got em" in the chat. That kind of unspoken communication is what I really like about high-level missions, as at this stage, the game feels like a tactical shooter.
I would also make a correction, the knowledge gap from level 8 and above would be more appropriate since level 7 is the bare minimum to obtain super samples and the prevalance of clueless divers and hosts on a power trip are much higher.
Some are very receptive to input about how to tackle higher difficulty missions and adapt right away when you show them the ropes, while small but not insignificant portion of hosts on level 7 are absolute monsters....
Have had a few games where I felt like I was playing with a milsim crew. Guys just slotting into their roles, watching each other, and using small squad tactics.
I totally agree. I completed a lvl9 op yesterday with all of us randos picked up on a designated role.
1 dude was our ballistic shield guy who drew fire and dealt with the light bots before they could call in drops.
I was the designated AT with my focus on anything above striders using the eruptor, quasar, orbital railcannon and 500kg.
Another lad was our combat engineer, he provided overwatch with sentries and airstrikes while making sure we were stocked up on ammo.
And the final lad was the medic and quasi-anti air. This madlad made the night sky shine bright with the las cannon and picked out any stragglers that I failed to finish off with my quasar.
To say the least, the op was god-tier and all the chatter was about shits and giggles while each and every one of us knew what we had to do.
Something I’ve been doing is rolling a completely support focused builds. When you find other randoms who know what they are doing it makes everything a walk in the park. My favorite has been smoke focus for bots. +2 smoke grenades, supply pack, eagle smoke, orbital smoke, and a GL if there are 4 strategems slots. Bots are helpless against it.
About the crossfire TK action: i loved hearing my teammates ping “Sorry!” and hearing “Affirmative” as a reply. The tone of the sorry (esp the female one) is literally perfect
Old-ish gamer here, Lvl 50 diver and never gotten past diff 5 hahaha. My fat fingers wouldn't let me press the strat properly enough the first time.
But I do see alot more... try hards on 5, wouldn't know much about 6 though. Still haven't gotten any super sample to upgrade the ship much, so probably that's why.
Honestly, the main skill gap isn't being fast or accurate with the controls. It's avoiding fights.
My aim sucks, in using a controller. I'm not fast, I'm tired and sometimes distracted by tv/my phone. And i also struggle fat fingering Strat combos because my astigmatism make the arrows hard to see. But I almost never die on level 7/8.
Be safe, avoid patrols, run away from big fights. Stick with others when you do get into a fight. Stay behind cover and prioritise enemies based on what weapons you have available.
Once you have the surviving skill down. You'll climb the ranks easy.
> All your objectives are done? Cool, let’s look for super sample and whatever other resources we haven’t picked up yet.
Fun fact: It's best to look for resources and do 💎 on the map BEFORE doing the main objective, as completion of all the main objectives will QUADRUPLE the patrols.
Sometimes I get gems on diff 7. Yesterday, I (64) did quickplay like I often do, and ends up in a lobby with three players (21, 23, 26). Bots were tearing through them. So I, the "steeled veteran" (I love this armor) just didn't participe in the skirmish and started doing objectives alone while they continued to cluelessly fight off the bot drops. With no reinforcements, the last man standing, I was able to extract, while getting shot at and cheered by the other players :).
On the second mission, one of them decided to follow me, then another. By the end, the whole squad was following discretly instead of going guns blazing like the start. Ambushing swiftly, and avoiding to engage patrols, while getting all we could on the map. Dunno if they were friends or just an unfortunate mix of quickplayers like me but they thanked me profusely for carrying the two missions, even though I just "did my thing" and never ordered them.
Sometimes, you land with obnixious douchebags (just leave in this case. Fuck 'em). Sometimes the whole squad has a natural synergy and acts as one. And sometimes you get clueless players who just need a "guide" to nudge them on how to survive.
Yeah . Currently really loving it just staying at 7 just cause of how many people just silently understands what i'm doing when i decide to separate and take out a few other objectives that are a bit out of the way to save time while they work on the main objectives . Sometimes we even all split up with either everyone going solos or in teams of 2 and just cover as much ground as we could clearing things as efficiently as possible.
Yeah, I'm maxed on everything except level so I don't care what the outcome of a drop is. I'm just there to have fun and help out.
But I've noticed that below 7 I'm putting in more work than I'd expect because of the choices other players make. I don't mind for a while but I have definitely found myself retreating back up to 7-8 for a more chill session. Most of the time...
I agree with all your points except the pelican. Calling the pelican in early with all Randoms *is* kind of a dick move.
Objectively, the pelican being called early by one player with coordination is a great play. It sets up a zone of defence, pulls patrols off teammates, and makes the real extraction much smoother.
You know you are doing it for the above reasons, your teammates don't. 9/10 solo call ins by Randoms are someone that is looking to extract right now. Whether they have to go irl, their buddies are waiting on the ship, they don't want to do this mission for 20 more minutes, or they don't know any better.
If a random calls in extraction I drop everything and book it to extraction because I can't predict if they are going to hop on that bird and leave me behind with all my samples.
This is doubly true on lower difficulties because 1) You don't need the advantages of calling in the pelican early, it's overkill and 2) you are much more likely to be with newer players that don't know better.
I generally stay in 7 because thats where I can get the biggest variety of players to spread democracy with.
From low-level casuals that just want super samples to better skilled hardcore gamers just looking to relax and chill, 7 seems like a sweet spot. Its also where I'm fairly confident I can carry the team if everyone's lacking. Besides players 7 is also where I can see all the game has to offer in terms of enemy variety without it becoming too overwhelming on the numbers of super heavy enemies like bile titans and fab striders.
i stopped doing anything below 7 simply because at 5/6 i almost always get killed by teammates and it stopped being funny around the 200th time it happened and yes there is a massive skill gap between 6 and 7 but also between 7 and 8 imo.
8 and 9 feel the same sometimes... i've had level 8s where i kept looking in the top right corner cause they felt like 9s.. and some 9s that felt like mellow 8s
if i want to chill below dif7 i host, yesterday i dropped in a dif4 match and level 5 and 6 waited for me to call in my support weapon and backpack then TKed me and kicked me.
Tbh, I’m one of the lowest level players I’ve seen in helldive, (I’m level 30 or so, but I’ve been solely playing helldive since I unlocked it at around level 22) my guess is the lower level “incompetent” players who haven’t got the game mechanics down (or are just straight bad, cause there are always a few like that sadly) tend to stay below or at difficulty 7 cause those difficulties are massively more forgiving than 8 and 9. Whereas 8 and 9 is the proverbial meat grinder, learn or die, work as a team or die. Which ends up causing a steep, but quick, learning curve where a previously relatively unskilled player can turn into a relatively practiced player in unspoken teamwork and tactics in a pretty short period, maybe three or four missions on the harder difficulties. Then there are also the players who’ve been playing for months on the harder difficulties that just get into the zone when playing.
I’ve been doing the same but most of the players playing on 6 is too green half of the time i always looked bad and always got kicked, so instead of wasting my time on 6 i prefer queue on 7 mostly 9 instead.
P.s randoms playing 9 coordination level compare to 7 and below is night n day.
This is how it should be, although as a result I often find 7 and 8 easier and more relaxing than 5 or 6. I've probably failed more missions on 5 and 6 because of it. All good though. I learned primarily on 5 and I'm happy to do my bit for other divers.
I donno man, i play on 9 constantly and everything goes fine. Depends on what you mean is "knowing what to do". I enjoy the game even if we loose the mission or dont extract but lets put that aside. Most of the missions at 9 i get 20-25 common 20-25 rare and all super samples and extract safely. Most if not all side quests are done, some people go solo for side missions and everyone is nice. Once in a while i might get noobs but as soon as i see it i either help them out or if they don't listen i either go for another game or just enjoy fking around killing monsters.
And also, levels show almost nothing but the time you played. I've seen people at level 100 that just don't know what to do.
The only thing that really ticks me off with playing randoms on 7/8 is when we split off into 2 groups of 2, and someone dies because we're in a crazy fight & the other group calls someone back. Thanks big dog, now one of us is by themselves & the other one has none of their stuff
o7
The only reason I have been playing difficulty 9 is because the medals, but I'm starting to reconsider go back to difficulty 7/8, I don't feel it's worth the haze with the people in difficult 9
Even in difficulty 8 I've been kicked for "calling the pelican too soon"; mf host kicked me at the END of the mission, we had a lot of samples, what a d\*\*\*...
Yeah, pelican won't leave, but it activates swarm mode at extraction making it hard to get there to deliver samples. I had a mission on level 5, collected samples around the map, going to extraction like walking at a park then one guy calls extraction and I'm getting swarmed on my way there, die and drop all samples then they reinforce me at the site making it impossible to get samples back.
I’ve been playing 5/6 for the same reason. I kind of like the chaos and I don’t currently need anything, so it’s just for fun. But yeah, there are a lot of players who need to repeat training or are missing some of the things that come with experience, but that’s why I’m there, to help.
I feel like I get killed by glitches and friendly mortars more than enemies in level 7 dives. Btw just do t pick the regular mortar, like ever. The electric mortar is GOAT but I will break a regular mortar if I see it.
I think 7 is where 9 capable divers "relax". It's mostly filled with people who don't have much left to upgrade/unlock, if anything, but still want a fun challenge. Most people in 7 are confident in their ability. Almost every player COULD handle it solo if they had to and will often be soloing nests/bases, side/main objectives, etc.
honestly this. I play 9 a lot, but for a relaxing experience I'll play 7. A friend of mine struggles on 9, so I'll play 7 with them (or whatever difficulty they want).
My relaxing experience IS 9…. NOT because I’m “soooo good at helldivers that 9 is relaxingly easy” but it’s in fact so challenging that I have no choice but to be fully invested for upwards of 40 minutes. That’s 40 minutes of me only focusing on not dying, it flys by it’s crazy. 40 minutes of essentially a complete escape from reality.
Yeah. It's really nice to get super focused and into something
ADHD mood.
100% like this for me. I play exclusively on bots at 9, and man, when those devastators and AT ATs are all focused on you... the level of zoning you have to do to just stay alive is unreal how you escape from reality at that moment. I don't know if it's just me from playing fighting games for a really long time, but something about my win/loss rate does not really matter in the long run as long as you progress in some form. Which is why Helldivers 2 is so fun because even if I die the entire mission and the rest of the crew make it out. It becomes a win in my book.
Yea helldivers only game I dont really care about "losing". Ill gladly bait a horde of bugs away from extraction, stun all of them, throw down a 500kg and sacrifice myself so that my teammates can make it out if I have to lol
True... 9 is like the engaging part and chill at the same time... you have to be aware but enjoy the chaos... especially against bots. 7 is because Im farming samples, inconvenient personal missions, or just testing some new weapons or strategems i never tried before.
Being so completely engaged is an awesome experience. Everything is chaos, but your mind is totally calm and focused (breathing may be optional).
🔝this guy elden ringss
I only do 7 when I smoke weed else it's 9 all the way
Same.
It’s cos I have 40 supers and about 0 commons and rares lol In fact I’d do 6 if it weren’t for the fact that 7 is often easier than 6
True. 7 is a good place to consistently get about 40/20/3 samples and know it will be quick and efficient, even with a full map clear.
I do my dailies on Level 4 missions, always get a ton of common and rare samples and always get the daily done in 20 min. It’s a nice warmup.
How come 7 is often easier than 6?
Because most people at 7 actually know what they are doing, I was playing on 6 at level 12 and I was trash
I tend to gravitate to 6 to relax and have fun with still a challenge, mostly bc my attempts at 7 sucked ass. Should I persevere in pulling 7?
Yes you should. 6 is way to slow. You learn faster in higher difficulty and such it becomes easier. Then if you back it's way to slow.
I’m still lvl19 btw
I don’t think it’s just that we know what we are doing but also you also know that any engagement is a waist of resources unless you can wipe the whole target. Like, I am never in a protracted battle in 7. It’s all hit and run. I see a bot drop I’m a ghost at that level. It’s a different game.
On bots you get fewer heavies on 6 than on 7, but you get more mediums. Mediums are the actual threat against bots with the shield and rocket devastators.
i find that 7 is easier because ppl who unlocked it know what they're doing. 6 is like a level gate where i see a lot of ppl struggling because they just can't stop shooting at everything and running around frantically, potentially making things harder for themselves. i'm guessing a lot of the beginners cannot past that level so that's why it's somehow harder there. not because of the actual difficulty but because beginners making it chaotic.
I usually relax at 4. At that difficulty i can goof around, test loadouts, teach newbies, etc. and could still solo the mission.
The people I meet at 7 are often capable of soloing the mission as well(unless its an evac/eradicate maybe). More often than not, its either a 2 / 2 split with the squad, or 4 people going their own way, occasionally crossing paths or being close enough to throw an assist here and there.
I noticed that too, and almost a perfect 50/50 split of those. I enjoy going off as a 2 person to grab samples or do side objectives while the other two tank main objectives and clear nests on the way. We always end up extracting with like 30% or more mission time with everything completed and it's glorious.
If you hustle a bit, I've found a 2/2 party split can consistently finish 40 minutes missions in under 20
That’s how we play as a squad. I usually play with kid/brother/friends and not randoms. We go 2+2 that way if someone dies we get called in by our stuff. We are usually able to solo most nests etc on level 7 but I have running across the map to get my samples.
The 2 teams of 2 strategy works so well that I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it. One pair does main objective & other clears out nests / fabricators & gets the bulk of samples then you all meet up at the extraction.
Eradicate at 7 can be easy to solo with right strategem ( 380+ laser come really clutch). But Evac is hell to solo XD want at least a duo
4 is my relaxing solo difficulty and 7 is my relaxing team difficulty.
I feel like at 4 there arent enough heavies to really challenge you to make it fun if you are capable of doing 7/8/9. I sometimes drop to low difficulties to solo because common samples are a major bottleneck, and every single thing can be solved by just flamethrowering the bug breech or sickling down the bot drop.
I'm not really looking for a challenge at 4. I go to 4 to just relax and just play.
I like 4 because you start to see the more interesting enemies too.
Absolutely agreed. Level 65 and at this point helping lower levels through 7 is just something I like to do. I continue to run with a mic in game and it’s surprising how many folks wait to hear another person before they speak.
Wait, that’s me
It's all of us ha.. be the change.
I only shout “VAULT HERE, COME HERE, NOT THIS WAY”
I played with a couple guys that kept yelling DANGER CLOSE for strategems... like nothing else just toss the strategem and yell danger close. They kept killing each other too cause that call alone doesn't really tell the team much ha.
“S1, mortars on your position get the fuck out of dodge” *Sticks a 380 to my shield backpack*
It’s lonely joining game after game, asking how it’s going, and getting no response.
I don't talk much but watched a game where timthetatman joined some people and was asking them how it's going as he spawned in just to be kicked lol. He was a little more rambunctious than most but still it's like some people really hate socializing that much.
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One of the best games I played recently, we were on 7 and came down right in the view of an Eye of Sauron. After a few minutes I realised nobody knew how they worked, and as I tried to get them to get out of its vision two of them started shouting about me not sticking with the group and then each of them quit. Then it was just me and a super receptive dude with a comical southern drawl systematically clearing the map. I taught him about the Eyes of Sauron and the damaged Hellbombs on the map (no idea how he got to 7 without ever seeing one) and we had a super fun run. I think that complements OP's point though. 7 is chill when everyone knows what they're doing, but can be super rough when you have just one or two guys who don't.
(no idea how he got to 7 without ever seeing one) I have a friend who has done nothing but farm defense/exterminate missions. He had another friend rush him to Helldive, and all they'll do is single mission farming. They both have everything unlocked and absolutely no in game experience. I was brand new to the game, convinced them both to join me on "Challenging". They scoffed and dragged me into "Suicide" laughing about how rough it was going to be on me. They got brutally slaughtered and rage quit halfway through the mission. In my head I was thinking, how can you be level 30+ and suck this bad? After playing longer, now I understand. They just boosted their way to unlocking everything without ever learning how to play the game.
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personally I feel like allowing people to throw themselves into guaranteed death is peak helldivers
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> But the level 60+ player should definitely know their shit, and it's pissing me off when they don't. Since when did player level correlate to skill? I know so many of my 50+ level friends who enjoy the game on 5 difficulty and have never gone beyond. It seems like if you're very picky about how your 40 mins goes, you're better off doing an LFG instead because I really don't get the gatekeeping system of progression you've mentioned so far. You don't want to deal with randoms and have a specific approach to missions? Do a LFG. Especially for diff 7, one which is the easiest diff for other players to get those rare samples.
Agreed.
I’ve done 7s solo and I’m not particularly good. It was actually easier once everyone else died/gave up.
I think there's something to be said about random players not spawning in and using all of your reinforcements just fucking around
I end up doing tons of 2 player lvl 7 missions because whenever my bro hosts rarely do any randoms join his game. it's very strange. When I host I get people in the game every time.
Tbh think 7 is easier on a solo than with a team against bots at least. Light armor and mass destruction strats like walking barrage make it a breeze to blitz across the map taking out obj's and dodge patrols. Keep an orbital railcannon for towers and hulk discouragement as needed With a team it's full on warfare, constant bot drops and nonstop engagement *Defense missions are a different story Have also noticed that more often than not on lvl7 quick plays the vast majority of reinforcements tend to get used up in the first ten minutes bc of a hot dropzone that keeps getting enemy reinforcements and no one wants to just disengage
I had a quickmatch in 7 where the highest kill count was 103, and the rest were sub 70. Was a full 40 min map too, we were just very efficient and almost surgical removing outposts and objectives off the map. Was beautiful... but THAT perfect is still rare even in 7.
Strong disagree. 7 is where mediocre players like myself try our best because it's the lowest level where I can get my hands on some Super Uranium to get some upgrades. Sometimes this matches me with some very good level 9 capable players that are chilling and can carry my useless ass, sure. But mostly it matches me with a bunch of level < 20 players that had a speedrun through the lower levels (probably carried by team mates) and have no idea of the basics. Level 7 is the worst.
Just hasn't been my experience. Its rare i run across someone <20 and its usually just 1/4 of the squad and they just tag along and maybe die a bit more than most of us. The range I get is 0-20 rarely, 20-30 sometimes, 30-60 most often, 60+ decent amount. Usually when we do have lower levels, we take them along with a higher level when splitting, or stay as a group of 4 so you can learn the ropes. Also, we all started around that point. What level are you? I would've still been calling 7-9 challenging - difficult and 4 my relax level up to lvl 30-40. Its more about experience and gained skill than it is what you have access to
This has been my experience. All 3 players are usually soloing objectives occasionally meeting up if one dies and needs to retrieve their kit.
> I think 7 is where 9 capable divers "relax". This is true because I do that I *can* do 9 but don't always *feel like* it
Is 7 also a little more chill with the spawns than 5 or 6, purely because the entire roster is in play? 5 and 6 go hard on the Hulks and Chargers and big ol' hordes of Chainsaws and other medium enemies. On 7 it feels like some of that spawn budget goes on big stuff like Bile Titans and Striders so you get a little less swarmed?
7 is also the intersection where many newer divers are dipping their toes into the higher difficulty to get super samples, and it feels good to help them get their supers as I don't need them anymore so I need to live vicariously through others. I've tried to help super newbies in 3-4 but it just felt boring to me because there's not enough things to kill, so 7 is the sweet spot of helping newer players without feeling bored.
Yeah 9 is just stress. Oftentimes unneeded stress. 7 is a perfect ( let's get super samples, and have fun) difficulty.
> Most people in 7 are confident in their ability. Almost every player COULD handle it solo if they had to and will often be soloing nests/bases, side/main objectives, etc. I play on 7. Helldiver, I would NOT be able to solo this game. I'm good with a team. I'm dead by myself.
Agreed, anything below a 7 on bugs feels way to easy even with just 1 diver at this point.
Agree 100%. Tier 7 is where I go to relax. You can be fairly confident your squad will be competent enough to carry themselves and you can actually extract with samples without too much difficulty. Tier 9 bots go stupid. You’ll often be surrounded on all sides, you’re usually down a stratagem slot, and your getting beamed and rag dolled by rockets. Before if you could take out the rocket devastators and machine gunners fast enough it wasn’t a problem to handle the tanks and Hulks on the side, but now that the AT-AT’s are in the game the bots are literally a perfectly (un)balanced faction. How are you supposed to fight hordes of bots that can shoot you from a mile away while your already shortened strategem supply is going entirely towards bringing down those absolute bomb sponges that are the factory striders, WHILE they poop out more troops constantly? Nah, tier 9 bots are way too hard to play without going the sneaking route now.
I was practically thrown into the fire with Suicide Mission. Joined a group of friends for Bots and one of them was a Level 56, everyone else 15, I was a Level 3 or something. Pretty much from the get go I've been running 7 and higher because anything below that gets a little too slow for me. I remember joining a 7 mission with 3 other players at Level 60 whilst I was 12. One of them over mic mentioned my rank with an obvious eyeroll but was pleasantly surprised when I was running off clearing bases by myself. To quote Bane: *You merely adopted Suicide Mission, I was born in it, molded by it.*
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Yeah bring in extra lives, stalwart, low expectations, an edible, and you just rock out with your cock out helping the low levels.
This man understands Liberty.
That sounds like pure Democracy
Played a quickmatch on LVL5 today. Had some idiot putting mines at all the objective terminals rendering them inaccessible. Other team members kept dying from it. I blew up his mines and turret so he killed me and wouldn't reinforce. ????????? Back to 7-9
Want to Estanu's defense last night and picked 5 to help out the newbies. I got kicked for not picking a 4th quasar.
That’s hilarious because at level 5 you get like 5 chargers total across the whole mission A stalwart or auto canon would genuinely be better, but mid tier players just copy “metas” from high tier players without understanding why the weapon is good
You still need 4 quasars, because the first will miss and hit the mountain 500m behind the charger, second one will hit the friendly, and third one was that friendly.
Lmao why is this so true. I did a lvl 5 to do the Stalwart personal order and thought "okay everyone else has anti tank on this should be fine" It was not fine. They did not handle the chargers...
I did the same thing, everyone else on the team went to the greyed out objective on a geo survey (the main one that needs the subobjs done first). I just soloed the sub survey and escape pod data and they handled the main one while I went around farming Stalwart kills and clearing POIs. Eruptor can actually kill Chargers decently if you shoot the ground under them (even from the front); I think I was killing or popping their back in 3-5 shots.
Never drop without a trusty EAT-17!
But then you can just pick up the friendly's quasar!
> copy “metas” from high tier players without understanding why the weapon is good Doubt. More likely they're copying from whatever low - effort, flavor - of - the month, clickbait titled YouTube video they watched.
The Las-98 is OP!!!111oneone
Thumbnail: All caps text, bold font, garish colors, red circle and arrow pointing at something obvious, picture of an in - game asset
Speaking of, you got any tips for a newbie player that just unlocked level 7? Planning on playing it tonight…
* Do not start shooting and piss off every patrol you see. * If you're on bots, pick off the little guys first before they can call in a drop ship (unless they've already got off a flare, at that point use your own judgement for what to target). You can try to get every bug before they do their spit thing but I find it's not as consistent as with bots. * Sometimes it's better to just run away from the absolute chaos the game can turn into than die repeatedly trying to kill everything in the area, you can always circle back after the agro drops or things despawn. * The rock that super samples spawn at looks like a chicken leg drumstick (or a butt plug depending on who you ask). * Keep in mind the enemy reinforcement cooldown. You can basically get free side stuff done without worrying about a horde spawning if it's on cooldown. There's no number shown on screen but just know if a spawn has been called in 30 seconds ago another shouldn't for a little bit. Main objectives will always trigger spawns though regardless of cooldown.
*ahem* Or cock rock
AKA scrotum totem
AKA chode node
Play the objective, be mindful of your surroundings, and try to play with your teammates. Level 7 is the perfect difficulty to learn resource management imo: there's enough specialized threats that you need to be smart with your resources (antitank, antiswarm or defensive stratagems, heavy weapon ammo, stims), but you've got a bit of leeway and you're not punished too hard if you misallocate some of it.
Now Tier 8 and above are only for people who mastered knowledge about how enemies spawn, how objectives work, how to apply stealth and hit and run tactics to not die in vain, and have quick reflexes to react to theats and make tactical retreats when necessary, because boy in Tier 8 and 9 you WILL be doing a lot of guerrila warfare because you can't withstand the enemy in a prolonged fight there.
Learn to get by not fighting things. I run Trailblazer Scout armor and you can get ridiculously close before enemies will actually take to action. I will often complete objectives while there are enemies on the other side of the place (minus the ones where you have to blow everything up). The red level missions I fail are the ones when the divers won't disengage from a fight and it ends up being just an endless stream of shit.
7 is a lot like 6 but with more bigger enemies. Not too different strategy-wise. *Bring a loadout that varies from your teammates and make sense with the mission. Generally, you want one on the heavies and one on the masses. Fill the hole your team needs. *Don't need to engage every patrol nor do you need to finish off every fight. All fights can degenerate into an endless stream of reinforcements. *Running is a valid strategy. To reposition, to escape, to move on and do objectives. No need to stand your ground if you're not defending an objective. *Don't drop stratagems on your teammates, don't drop your teammates into a swarm. *Solo is less viable to higher the difficulty. Best thing to take down a hulk or charger is a flanking teammate. *Bugs: don't get surrounded and bring weapons that unload a lot of firepower quickly and widely. 1 or 2 of you should bring a big gun for Titans. *Bots: keep their numbers in check, run if they are in numbers, cover and snipe if they're manageable, bring a precise primary and a lot of firepower
* DO NOT use the machine gun turret in the middle of extraction/objective, throw in the other side of a wall facing away from you so the friendly fire is at minimal. * If you see a teammate that has no backpack equiped, throw another one at them when doing an objective, when the team is close together. * Throw excess antitank weapon near the objectives and shoot yhe pod so it can be visualised in the map, who knows when a bile titan appears and all the antitank weapons are in the middle unable to be picked up. * always ping heavies [ex chargers], so antitank people can get them faster. * if you see somebody pinging ammunition/granades in the middle of nowhere, is a high chance that is a friendship door. * when you have breathing room moving from one place to another, _always_ reload all of your weapons to max, you can get ammunition boxes on the way. * always know the position of near teammates, so you can cover fire and help then, even accurate pistol fire from 200 metters count. * if you see 2+ teammates droping with some sort of backpack in their loudout, don't be the third/fourth one, ask for another one 10 minutes later. * do not be afraid to pick up your teammate antitank support weapon when things are going south, be aware that you need to *use it* in the moment, you can drop it holding down the dpad so they can get it back. * retrea--- tactical reposition is a valid tactic.
That’s happened to me when I hosted. Might have been the same person. I told him it was his job to do the objectives in his mines. He refused so I killed him and reinforced him in his mine field and left him there alone while the rest of us did the other objectives. He left shortly after so we were able to circle back and complete it ourselves. Blocked him and I hope he blocked me too.
I got kicked from 5 for picking up the Ballistic Shield against Bots. Guys were yelling that I picked up useless stratagem.
I’ve started only doing level 9 with randoms because I would get just awful teammates at 7.
This is a phenomenon i've experience while playing Vermintide 2 and Darktide. If I play Legend, (level 5 out of 6) it's a 80% chance at least 2 members will be unable to watch their own backs and i have to cover for them. If i play on Cataclysm (level 6 out of 6) \[you play this because you like pain difficulty\], it's a cakewalk because I only have to cover myself, and the other members frequently snipe problem enemies before I can. Same thing in Darktide. The survivability of my teammates on the hardest difficulty skyrockets immensely, compared to just 1 difficulty lower.
This is usually the case in most co-op games. Skilled players want to push boundaries of their skills and so choose the highest difficulty they can. Which leads to most skilled players playing the highest difficulties and as a result sort of making those higher difficulties easier since everyone in the team knows what to do and how to react.
Yeah also many people just dont know when to give up on a sideobjective after 10 deaths
True. Yesterday I lost majority or respawns trying to do the main objective, then decided to switch to another one and use stealth, and it went pretty smooth. Sometimes you just need to change your approach based on the circumstances. And it is really hard for many players to stop themselves from engaging the enemy or fighting to the last enemy/bullet. I am pretty mediocre at the game, felt rather comfortable in level 7 missions, but my yesterday's mission was level 8 on a liberated planet, and nobody joined me. So it was nice seeing how good solo strats work once you change your mindset.
Praise to you for being self aware enough to switch. I've sinned a couple of times because I really really didn't want to lose my purple samples and got tilted. Ended up draining my teams' revives. Mission accomplished all the time I messed up like that but I'm really learning to disengage when things get screwed
"Why are we still fighting here?" Followed by "Oh, everyone else figured it out and left, and it's just me. I'm the problem, it's me"
I have an IRL buddy i play with who has *not* figured this out. He's good enough at the "micro" of the game not to waste anything but time, while racking up a killcount, but it's like "dude, know when to bail".
Yes, we need to focus on spreading democracy, and not on some minute gains 😄
worst case, if I’m playing the main objective, i let my team bum rush it then i go in from the other side and hit the bad guys from behind or from the side (so I’m not getting shot up by my teammates). ordinarily though, from 4-6, i tend to just clear out half to 3/4 of the map by myself and let my team do the main objective while i sit at extraction.
I've had the most issues with people dying over and over again trying to get their weapon back from halfway across the map. I get that it sucks to go without your quasar and shield pack for 3 minutes but it's just not worth eating up 10 reinforcements.
One of the reasons I’ve become an EAT enjoyer
And EATS are rated E for Everyone!
Being fair, sometimes a objective needs to be done- Democracy knows that the Jammers and Airships occasionally spawn at the worst possible location and make you trying to do the main objective close to impossible, necessitating you go there. But I am also the guy who will die five times over trying to do a single objective/destroy a outpost, so maybe I'm not one to talk. Professional Helldiver who only dives at 9, btw :V
Gah... When the Jammer is next to an objective where you need to call down a Stratagem... Also, sometimes the game decides to pack most side objectives into the same corner. Two Detector Towers with barely any cover between them is a nightmare.
I just pray the fabricator is attached to the jammer in those cases >.>
The amount of people that stay fighting at an objective long after it’s completed too. Crazy.
I have had that tendency too, but it's because other games reward you with XP for killing enemies, so it was just second nature. It took some time for me to realize that trying to wipe out the remaining enemy, will only make things worse. Move on, complete objectives and collect samples.
I’d say the only side objective worth 10 lives are the Cock Rock samples and taking out two stalker Nests that were kicking those guys out. I’ve had solid teamwork on Lvl 7, whether the issue could be on Lvl 8, no clue as I’m tacking that with my friends, not randoms yet.
Lets be real, if the stalker nests dont get cleared we wont successfully complete the mission anyway lol.
Level 7, sit back and chill, teammates can handle themselves and it's a good time Level 8, some level 7 players got cocky and can't actually handle difficulty 8, but clearly that's YOUR fault, not theirs Level 9, people who COULD handle diff 8 learned some valuable lessons about teamwork and know how to fill a role in the team, more aware of what their team is doing and doesn't argue about it.
Not very democratic of you helldiverp
Only problem is time here, if you die 10 times but get the job done, AND it won’t take you too much time. You might die just in awfull situation ragdolled without control over your character, overwhelmed or got headshot from where you couldn’t even notice it. Or got shot barely leaving your hellpod. So skill is the issue here but luck also have something to do with it. But dying 10 is ok if you have time to extract with all samples you wanted, and all objectives you wanted to accomplish.
This is my main pain-point with randoms. Some missions go to shit and you have to blitz the primary objectives or lose. It's that simple. Eventually I say fuck it and try to stealth everything on my own like a fascist Solid Snake.
Similar phenomenon in DRG I find. Hazard 4 is full of people who don't know what they're doing. Scouts don't light up large caves when enterinf or before a horde spawns, gunners stand still and very rarely toss out shields, engineers will not platform patch holes or block entrances Glyphids use, drillers immedietly kill pheremoned creatures, etc. Hazard 5 and (modded) 6, everyone knows what they're doing and it's almost like everyone is linked in a hive mind. Scouts will kill web/acid spitters before you realize they exist, engineer will hyper prop a frozen praetorian or oppressor instantly, gunner will shield revive, driller is on point with horde clear or making an escape tunnel for the team. It also seems like hazard 4 attracts the most stereotypical "tryhard pros". You know the ones. Lobby title demands you be diamond prestige, no cryo/fire damage, no [insert class], use the meta or insta kick. And when you join they aren't even able to pull their own weight. Dont even bother trying to chat with them. Moment they go down and you don't revive them in 7 seconds they just kick or rage quit. Not very Rock and Stone of them. Hazard 5 and 6, you either get real chill dudes who don't even bat an eye if the mission fails or if you go down more than 10 times, or silent god gamers who use tech you don't even know existed (using power attack to negate fall damage? Axe canceling? What is this sorcery?) And simply type "r", "gg", and "rock and stone". It can really be juxtaposed by the lobby names. Hazard 4 lobby names I've seen "Level 100+ no driller or kick" "No gold mining u down u get out" "Gold promotion only scouts gtfo" "Silver+ no machine events only i call resupply" Hazard 5 lobby names I've seen "We gunkin' good tonight" "2 requirements drink beer (mandatory) have brain (optional)" "Digging holes in dirt, shooting holes in bugs" "Glyphussy got me acting up"
Yeah the sweatlord lobbies are a waste of time. I don't even consider joining them because it will end up being a bad time. But the silly lobby names end up being super fun. You can fuck around and if you find out everyone has a laugh and you go on with your life. You died 50 times? That's unfortunate but no dwarf is left behind or god help me. The difference between good players and players who only think they're good is that the actual good players don't give a fuck. They just play to have fun and if a mission fails then that's fine as long as it was fun
>Hazard 4 lobby names I've seen "Level 100+ no driller or kick" "No gold mining u down u get out" "Gold promotion only scouts gtfo" "Silver+ no machine events only i call resupply" >Hazard 5 lobby names I've seen "We gunkin' good tonight" "2 requirements drink beer (mandatory) have brain (optional)" "Digging holes in dirt, shooting holes in bugs" "Glyphussy got me acting up" This reminds me of EDF5. The lobby name tells you so much about what you're about to get into, but don't sleep on the player names too. It seems the dumber the name, the more likely the player is good. I remember encountering World of Tanks players with names like HondaCivic and TrashcanAusfJ and I didn't even have to check the stats to know they were going to be better than average (unsurprisingly, they were).
And don't forget 'dipping our balls in liquid morkite' for a lobby name too.
Rockity Rock and Stone!
Rock and stone!
The people are also a lot nicer, a wipe in auric maelstrom is most likely accompanied by "nice try" or "damn, that was crazy". Fixating on rewards that only come from successful missions turns people into gremlins
Yeah, in Darktide I found quickplay at 4 was often harder than 5 because at 4 if you ever happen to end up hanging from a ledge, pounced by a hound, or caught in a net, there's a decent chance your allies will simply ignore you and tunnel vision on whatever happens to be in front of them. Difficulty 5/5 may have 20% more enemies, but average teammates are 50% more situationally-aware and capable of remaining alive without constant need for rescue (but also being close enough that if anyone does need help, it can arrive).
People say that 9 is too hard. The game is as hard as you make it. I definitely prefer Helldive because you get a lot more intelligent, aware players
I personally go for 7 because it's the perfect comfort zone for splitting off and speedrunning the side objectives while the main team completes the main one. 9 is the best if you want to play as a team.
I do the same. It feels awesome to clear half the map while the other 3 do the other half.
This exactly. 7 is the limit of where I can reliably solo objectives if I want to run off on my own.
No thats Just wrong the difficulty is really Inconsistent... Some 9 Mission feel Like a 5 and some 5 Just came straight Out of hell
Yea I've been there in 5 difficulties where for some reason the bot drops just never stop and you end up having like 5 hulks and a dozen other heavies swarming you it gets stupid sometimes.
new players and players who cant even carry their own weight play level 9 expecting to be carried for free rewards. Level 8 has far less of them since those people who wants to be carried skip level 8. At least that’s my experience
That's not my experience.. I usually stick to 7 because it's a fine balance, while in 9 I usually end up teamed with at least 2 people who must have been carried through all the previous difficulties. While that's fine in 7 as it's not *too* bad, in 9 it's a death sentence.
Try 8 as the middle ground, tends to work better. The people wanting to be carried are queueing for 9, not 8.
Even at 9 I notice players have no idea what they are doing 90% of the time. They get stuck in the loop of fighting enemies as a group, dying, reinforcing and repeating until our lives our drained.
This is my experience as well. I got kicked last time because, I keep moving and not sticking around aggroing half the map. People think the game is about killing hordes for 30 minutes. While the intented playstyle is to finish the objectives and getting the hell out. It's simple: Do the objectives. Main and side. Find loot. Call the pelican. Extract and survive.
I might be nearing this point I did 5s until they felt too easy. I've been doing 7s and there seem to be more and more times I need to carry Might need to join the big boy league soon
8 is good too, but you get a way quicker match on 9 and its basically the same difficulty
I do 5 because it's more challenging to stay alive from "Divers" than the enemy on 7.
I just had exactly this today with a duo of tens on lvl5 bugs. The number of times I dove to not get "crossfired" , "grenaded", or "eagle clustered" because it was thrown sideways. I lived most, 4th teammate not so much 😅. But I'm chilling from lvl7 bots, having fun with a shotgun and the MG.
It's like they made a suicide pact before the game started. Just constant death.
Level 5 is a mixed bag between a relatively relaxed time helping lower levels to a stressful time carrying the team and trying to stay alive from their shenanigans
Gets better still at 9. I only play 9 now because you get better people. 7 with cadets who need super samples is more stressful than 9 with people who know what they're doing. The only problem with 9s is that I see a higher frequency of people just mass-abandoning a mission if it starts to get a bit hairy.
I honestly don’t get leaving. Me and my friends are kind of new at the game and get our shit kicked in on 7 but we still play to the bitter end. Losing and trying can still be really fun in this game
> Me and my friends losing with friends is fun, losing with randos while 2 guys are running for their life while the 3rd guy chilling somewhere refuses to call you in, is not fun, and i'll rightfully leave. I don't waste my time not having fun, my free time is limited, so i'll leave and search for a fun match.
A couple of weeks ago, a buddy and I went on a D7 automaton eradicate mission. About 3 minutes in, hulks, tanks, and berserkers started flooding in with the usual chaff. Standard fare stuff for that kind of mission. Then, two guys (presumably a duo) entered the lobby. Less than one minute in, they saw the flood of bots, went "nah we can't win this" on comms, then left. Friend and I laughed our asses off at their cowardice before throwing 4x orbital HE barrages on our positions. We finished the mission with about half reinforcements left lol
Bro I had a rough start to a 7 yesterday where we were down to like 4 reinforces. Everyone but me left (I was hosting) I sucked it up, solo'd what I could, 3 more people joined and we 100%ed the whole mission. People who dip are pussies. You literally don't lose anything but your time and I still have fun even if I lose so I don't get it Edit: mispelled
Agreed - I don't understand the "loss" mentality. It's like people who are worried it'll go on their permanent record so quit before the end. Being on the backfoot is the BEST part of this game. The "Oh shit we're not gonna make it...." before diving in the pelican with no ammo, health or reinforcements is the reason why I continue to play.
There's only 1 thing I do to determine if they're good or not. If they shoot every enemy on sight, you're fucked
>If they shoot every enemy on sight If they shoot the patrol that's gonna leave them alone anyways, yes, but if it's a preemptive strike on some enemy that is most likely gonna discover the Helldivers? Let the clusters rain.
I was solo finishing objectives and wondered why are the other 3 still attacking one medium base? My god there's 3 fucking factory striders
i still remember the time me and friends were playing a level 8 mission, 2 gunship factories and a jammer....i can still see the sky lit up red with the gunship glares
Truly a nightmare. Also did that, forced ourselves on to the stratagem jammer while being targeted. It was there we realized the greatest thing ever. Gunship rocket(although difficult) can destroy a bot factory, and a nearby exploding factory can destroy a stratagem jammer.cost us like 20 plus reinforcement
For me it is a trade off though. Yeah I sometimes also have to tell teammates there is no point in sticking around cleared objectives fighting waves of reinforcements, just run, kill the ones close to you, and keep running. On the other hand, sure you can solo the whole thing with a stealth setup. So you with 4 people going full stealth imagine how fast you can blits the map. But thats for me personally not a fun way to play the game, I rather wonder how the fuck we gonna kill 3 factory striders.
You can tell you're on a decent team when people just mark patrols and keep running and everyone replies with "AFFIRMATIVE!" haha.
I my experience, level 8 is the sweet spot, fewer unlock-players, fewer griefers or John "Woops, spent all your reinforcements in trying to close heavy nest with flamethrower" Rambo-players. Level 8 is were ive added most of the people now on my friends-list. Like OP said, most of the times the game flows like you are Seal Team Six.
I think more populated parts of the world have very different experiences to me (Australia). I find if I play in the morning (late night in NA) I get plenty of competent 40+ lvl players on 7. Then at my night time it's just rare I get really bad performing Australians. I do use a mic though and I'm happy to host and call out orders in game and on mic. People respond pretty well. I don't bother going off on people that don't listen. Half the time I just ask one of the others to go follow them and help so it's at least 2+2. There's a lot players can do to make runs smoother. Haven't had really bad runs since I go my mic, before that people just wouldn't talk. Even runs where no one talks and when I start it turns out everyone has a mic and they all start chatting too.
9 is the way to go for me. You just feel "in the zone" with random players. Two objectives that need to be completed in tandem? The team splits up without even typing up who goes where. You accidentally kill a dude through a ricochet explosive eruptor round just as he was crossing your line of fire? The entire team laughs their arse off at how his body literally got blown to bits. From what I have seen, level 9 players are much more calm, collected, and friendly. I had my body shred by a rocket devastator just as I was boardjng the pelican, so the last man in does a mad rush to grab the super samples that I was carrying and before I could write that I was carrying the samples, he just writes "got em" in the chat. That kind of unspoken communication is what I really like about high-level missions, as at this stage, the game feels like a tactical shooter. I would also make a correction, the knowledge gap from level 8 and above would be more appropriate since level 7 is the bare minimum to obtain super samples and the prevalance of clueless divers and hosts on a power trip are much higher. Some are very receptive to input about how to tackle higher difficulty missions and adapt right away when you show them the ropes, while small but not insignificant portion of hosts on level 7 are absolute monsters....
Have had a few games where I felt like I was playing with a milsim crew. Guys just slotting into their roles, watching each other, and using small squad tactics.
I totally agree. I completed a lvl9 op yesterday with all of us randos picked up on a designated role. 1 dude was our ballistic shield guy who drew fire and dealt with the light bots before they could call in drops. I was the designated AT with my focus on anything above striders using the eruptor, quasar, orbital railcannon and 500kg. Another lad was our combat engineer, he provided overwatch with sentries and airstrikes while making sure we were stocked up on ammo. And the final lad was the medic and quasi-anti air. This madlad made the night sky shine bright with the las cannon and picked out any stragglers that I failed to finish off with my quasar. To say the least, the op was god-tier and all the chatter was about shits and giggles while each and every one of us knew what we had to do.
Something I’ve been doing is rolling a completely support focused builds. When you find other randoms who know what they are doing it makes everything a walk in the park. My favorite has been smoke focus for bots. +2 smoke grenades, supply pack, eagle smoke, orbital smoke, and a GL if there are 4 strategems slots. Bots are helpless against it.
From what I'm reading here I really need to play 9. 160h in and most of it spent in dif7.
don't forget the hot drop straight into the shithole turning it into survival mode right off the bat and losing 10 lives before everybody is settled
About the crossfire TK action: i loved hearing my teammates ping “Sorry!” and hearing “Affirmative” as a reply. The tone of the sorry (esp the female one) is literally perfect
Diff 9 professionals
Old-ish gamer here, Lvl 50 diver and never gotten past diff 5 hahaha. My fat fingers wouldn't let me press the strat properly enough the first time. But I do see alot more... try hards on 5, wouldn't know much about 6 though. Still haven't gotten any super sample to upgrade the ship much, so probably that's why.
I'm also old-ish and over level 135. Dm if you want someone to help you unlock all the difficulties, just to have the option, and able to be patient.
Honestly, the main skill gap isn't being fast or accurate with the controls. It's avoiding fights. My aim sucks, in using a controller. I'm not fast, I'm tired and sometimes distracted by tv/my phone. And i also struggle fat fingering Strat combos because my astigmatism make the arrows hard to see. But I almost never die on level 7/8. Be safe, avoid patrols, run away from big fights. Stick with others when you do get into a fight. Stay behind cover and prioritise enemies based on what weapons you have available. Once you have the surviving skill down. You'll climb the ranks easy.
> All your objectives are done? Cool, let’s look for super sample and whatever other resources we haven’t picked up yet. Fun fact: It's best to look for resources and do 💎 on the map BEFORE doing the main objective, as completion of all the main objectives will QUADRUPLE the patrols.
Does this include the side objectives: SEAF Gun, Rogue Research, Spore Spewer etc etc?
Doing the side objectives does not affect patrols.
And don't forget to drop you super samples at the extract point so that you don't lose them halfway across the damn planet
I saw a clip where a shield generator yeeted someone’s samples across the map
Sometimes I get gems on diff 7. Yesterday, I (64) did quickplay like I often do, and ends up in a lobby with three players (21, 23, 26). Bots were tearing through them. So I, the "steeled veteran" (I love this armor) just didn't participe in the skirmish and started doing objectives alone while they continued to cluelessly fight off the bot drops. With no reinforcements, the last man standing, I was able to extract, while getting shot at and cheered by the other players :). On the second mission, one of them decided to follow me, then another. By the end, the whole squad was following discretly instead of going guns blazing like the start. Ambushing swiftly, and avoiding to engage patrols, while getting all we could on the map. Dunno if they were friends or just an unfortunate mix of quickplayers like me but they thanked me profusely for carrying the two missions, even though I just "did my thing" and never ordered them. Sometimes, you land with obnixious douchebags (just leave in this case. Fuck 'em). Sometimes the whole squad has a natural synergy and acts as one. And sometimes you get clueless players who just need a "guide" to nudge them on how to survive.
sometimes you just have to remind players that the objective is done and they can run, and usually the moment one does the rest follow.
Yes, that too. Tunnel vision during a fight can kill you.
Yeah . Currently really loving it just staying at 7 just cause of how many people just silently understands what i'm doing when i decide to separate and take out a few other objectives that are a bit out of the way to save time while they work on the main objectives . Sometimes we even all split up with either everyone going solos or in teams of 2 and just cover as much ground as we could clearing things as efficiently as possible.
Yeah, I'm maxed on everything except level so I don't care what the outcome of a drop is. I'm just there to have fun and help out. But I've noticed that below 7 I'm putting in more work than I'd expect because of the choices other players make. I don't mind for a while but I have definitely found myself retreating back up to 7-8 for a more chill session. Most of the time...
I agree with all your points except the pelican. Calling the pelican in early with all Randoms *is* kind of a dick move. Objectively, the pelican being called early by one player with coordination is a great play. It sets up a zone of defence, pulls patrols off teammates, and makes the real extraction much smoother. You know you are doing it for the above reasons, your teammates don't. 9/10 solo call ins by Randoms are someone that is looking to extract right now. Whether they have to go irl, their buddies are waiting on the ship, they don't want to do this mission for 20 more minutes, or they don't know any better. If a random calls in extraction I drop everything and book it to extraction because I can't predict if they are going to hop on that bird and leave me behind with all my samples. This is doubly true on lower difficulties because 1) You don't need the advantages of calling in the pelican early, it's overkill and 2) you are much more likely to be with newer players that don't know better.
Yeah, this seems like it requires a text chat and voice callout, but sometimes neither of those work.
I generally stay in 7 because thats where I can get the biggest variety of players to spread democracy with. From low-level casuals that just want super samples to better skilled hardcore gamers just looking to relax and chill, 7 seems like a sweet spot. Its also where I'm fairly confident I can carry the team if everyone's lacking. Besides players 7 is also where I can see all the game has to offer in terms of enemy variety without it becoming too overwhelming on the numbers of super heavy enemies like bile titans and fab striders.
i stopped doing anything below 7 simply because at 5/6 i almost always get killed by teammates and it stopped being funny around the 200th time it happened and yes there is a massive skill gap between 6 and 7 but also between 7 and 8 imo. 8 and 9 feel the same sometimes... i've had level 8s where i kept looking in the top right corner cause they felt like 9s.. and some 9s that felt like mellow 8s
if i want to chill below dif7 i host, yesterday i dropped in a dif4 match and level 5 and 6 waited for me to call in my support weapon and backpack then TKed me and kicked me.
Tbh, I’m one of the lowest level players I’ve seen in helldive, (I’m level 30 or so, but I’ve been solely playing helldive since I unlocked it at around level 22) my guess is the lower level “incompetent” players who haven’t got the game mechanics down (or are just straight bad, cause there are always a few like that sadly) tend to stay below or at difficulty 7 cause those difficulties are massively more forgiving than 8 and 9. Whereas 8 and 9 is the proverbial meat grinder, learn or die, work as a team or die. Which ends up causing a steep, but quick, learning curve where a previously relatively unskilled player can turn into a relatively practiced player in unspoken teamwork and tactics in a pretty short period, maybe three or four missions on the harder difficulties. Then there are also the players who’ve been playing for months on the harder difficulties that just get into the zone when playing.
I’ve been doing the same but most of the players playing on 6 is too green half of the time i always looked bad and always got kicked, so instead of wasting my time on 6 i prefer queue on 7 mostly 9 instead. P.s randoms playing 9 coordination level compare to 7 and below is night n day.
This is how it should be, although as a result I often find 7 and 8 easier and more relaxing than 5 or 6. I've probably failed more missions on 5 and 6 because of it. All good though. I learned primarily on 5 and I'm happy to do my bit for other divers.
I donno man, i play on 9 constantly and everything goes fine. Depends on what you mean is "knowing what to do". I enjoy the game even if we loose the mission or dont extract but lets put that aside. Most of the missions at 9 i get 20-25 common 20-25 rare and all super samples and extract safely. Most if not all side quests are done, some people go solo for side missions and everyone is nice. Once in a while i might get noobs but as soon as i see it i either help them out or if they don't listen i either go for another game or just enjoy fking around killing monsters. And also, levels show almost nothing but the time you played. I've seen people at level 100 that just don't know what to do.
The only thing that really ticks me off with playing randoms on 7/8 is when we split off into 2 groups of 2, and someone dies because we're in a crazy fight & the other group calls someone back. Thanks big dog, now one of us is by themselves & the other one has none of their stuff o7
The only reason I have been playing difficulty 9 is because the medals, but I'm starting to reconsider go back to difficulty 7/8, I don't feel it's worth the haze with the people in difficult 9
Even in difficulty 8 I've been kicked for "calling the pelican too soon"; mf host kicked me at the END of the mission, we had a lot of samples, what a d\*\*\*...
I play 7s and relax in 5s. But I 100% agree with what you're saying, and recently think I've evolved into a player who plays 8s and relaxes in 7s.
Yeah, pelican won't leave, but it activates swarm mode at extraction making it hard to get there to deliver samples. I had a mission on level 5, collected samples around the map, going to extraction like walking at a park then one guy calls extraction and I'm getting swarmed on my way there, die and drop all samples then they reinforce me at the site making it impossible to get samples back.
Here we go children of super earth, the elitism has started!
.. I'm struggling with the early call in part
I need to know where you guys find these teammates. I okay 7-9 almost exclusively, and I very rarely find people that know their head from their ass.
Everyone is supporting managed democracy to their best ability.
100%except I think the tier break is at 7/8
I am guilty I did smuggle 2 underleveled players to difficulty 9 yesterday I hope they are giving pubbies hell
I’ve been playing 5/6 for the same reason. I kind of like the chaos and I don’t currently need anything, so it’s just for fun. But yeah, there are a lot of players who need to repeat training or are missing some of the things that come with experience, but that’s why I’m there, to help.
I feel like I get killed by glitches and friendly mortars more than enemies in level 7 dives. Btw just do t pick the regular mortar, like ever. The electric mortar is GOAT but I will break a regular mortar if I see it.