Word up people of the internet who still come here for this weekly WRUP for some reason. I've been sick AF with a really gnarly sinus infection so I haven't felt like writing much, but today I'm going to (surprise) editorialize a little about this whole Sony, Helldivers 2 sich.
So unless you've been hiding in a closet you've probably seen something pop up in your news feeds about folks being angry that suddenly they've got to link their PC copy of Helldivers 2 to a PSN account by the end of May. I was little confused by this at first because I and my friends had to that when we bought the game. Then I remembered at some point during all the server access and cross play issues and so on that the account linking was temporarily removed. Also stipulated was that at some point this account linking would return. That time is now.
Okay, so not exactly a secret, but I can't really say that this has been well communicated for people who have purchased the title in that space until now. Of course you can imagine people have really been up in arms over the whole thing since the announcement of reinstating the mandatory account link in the last few days. Even Johan Pilestedt himself (lead creative director and CEO of Arrowhead Studios) advocated for down voting the game while this is going on. I've seen conflicting information on those who will be affected by the change. I've read that folks who refuse to link won't be able to play, but that people who live in regions around the world without PSN access wouldn't be denied the ability to play. However I've also seen more recently, and perhaps more believably, that Sony has simply removed (or will do) Helldivers 2 from Steam in those regions without PSN access. In fact here's a link to the article that mentions such action from TheGamer.com. Inside you can see Pilestedt's response to the question - My county doesn't support PSN, what do I do? being - I don't know. This is concerning because one would think the lead director would have something more to say than "I don't know". But it's also concerning because I believe him. I don't think Sony is communicating a path to a solution. One thing Pilestedt was clear about is Arrowhead's stance being with players on this subject and stating that changes like this are completely out of Arrowheads hands. Here's more from Windows Central including further statements and apologies from Pilestedt.
Why is that? Well, Arrowhead is the studio that made Helldivers 2, Sony is the publisher and distributor but is also the source of game servers. This means that Sony basically has all the cards. When you log in to Helldivers 2 you're logging in to Sony's servers. Those servers don't actually function as game play servers though, instead they act as telemetry servers that track player stats: helldivers active and where they are in the various places the galactic war rages, planetary percentages, bullets fired, helldivers killed, enemies killed, the dispatch of global messages and orders, the tracking of those orders etc etc. Game play itself is peer to peer. But logging in to those servers is necessary for the core game play loop to work communally. Thus Arrowhead is completely beholden to Sony for server access and is essentially powerless to push back on Sony changing the rules.
Now I'm not here to defend companies because companies are not our friends. Brand loyalties are unfounded in all cases and every company or corporation, even those that make their bones by serving individuals, will throw those individuals under the first bus that comes by when it suits them to do so. However I do believe in this case the anger over the events transpiring is wrongly aimed at Arrowhead. Yes, they should been more communicative of the return of account linking, but I actually believe if it were up to them there wouldn't even be account linking. If they had their own servers this would be a non-issue.
Arrowhead created one of this years most popular games in Helldivers 2 with about as friendly a live service system as one could have. Premium currency is found while playing and not uncommonly. War bonds (battle passes) are released every month and accumulate rather than replace each other, meaning there's no FOMO when it comes to attaining items because eventually you'll just get them all just by playing. There are regular patches and balance fixes that are responses to the community and there's an ever evolving global campaign that's run by a game master who sets up conflicts for players including new mission types, enemies, weapons, strategems and upgrades that cost nothing to the players except non premium currencies. It's a shame things are going the way they are now but it really doesn't seem to be the fault of Arrowhead, rather it's Sony that has decided to exert control and this will likely hurt everyone. Here's hoping there's a solution coming and those affected will be compensated for the inconvenient and frankly scummy move.
What are we playing?
AJ: Recently downloaded Truxton II on GOG and Rastan for the PS4 so I may play those a bit.
Greywolfe: i'm going through the story of midnight suns as fast as midnight suns will allow. which is to say, "not very fast at all" because at EVERY TURN, midnight suns just piles garbage on the player. [now, do THIS! social thing. etc.] the game is fine. the social half of it is very draggy.
Scrooloose: Helldivers 2 and maybe even finally getting into Burning Shores in Horizon.