to update: This still isn't an April Fool's joke, guys. The Helldivers 2 community has finally liberated Malevelon Creek, just hours after the besieged planet received a major targeting order. But the battle still continues. Players finished the previous one in a very short time, so today becomes a double day: the community must now defend Malevelon Creek, Draupnir, and Ubanea from an intense Automaton attack.
At the time of writing, Malevelon Creek and Draupnir remain 100% secure, with Ubanea being the focus of the defensive front. The bots currently have a slight lead, but the player base is just warming up, and Ubanea's defense still has over 23 hours to go.
The new main command itself has 2 days and 14 hours remaining, so it's going to be a long battle. “Despite desperation, if this re-invasion is successful, it could jeopardize our ability to destroy the robots in time to prevent their next invasion,” the in-game transmission reads, apparently referring to the approaching robot force that was teased in a previous game In-game message. “Hold your ground.”
Arrowhead is essentially throwing stubborn players a bone by presenting the creek on a silver platter, then immediately threatening to take it away as the bot population increases, which is totally on brand. The war goes on forever, now with the narrative threads from last weekend's failed main command woven back into the ongoing Creek story – a remarkable feat of improvised storytelling. What will Joel think next?
Original story:
In a confusing development, developer Arrowhead and Game Master Joel have seen following the will of the player base, Hell Divers 2The new Master's Order has placed a bullseye on Malevelon Creek to liberate the controversial planet once and for all.
“The Automatons have illegally occupied and mined Malevon Creek for too long,” the new main order read. “It's time to take it back.”
It's not an April Fool's joke either. This master only takes 24 hours and will net you 35 medals. There is an accompanying message from senior leadership as well:
“Several weeks ago, our fellow citizens watched in horror Malefon Creek also fell to the droids. Millions of brave heroes died trying to defend it. For too long, the robots have maintained their illegal occupation, desecrating the memory of the victims by rapidly depleting the planet's exceptionally rich rhodium deposits. This farce will not be allowed to continue any longer.
“Avenge and honor our heroes. Stop the theft of precious metals. Liberate Maleflon Bay.”
At the time of writing, the Creeks are already 91% liberated with over 107,000 active players contributing, thanks in large part to the band of dedicated Crakers who were already – indeed always – liberating the planet before this major order fell. .
What's interesting here is that this official Al Khor campaign follows it A failed major order was largely derailed by confusion more The creek. As you can see, players were previously supposed to attack Obania and then Tibet, but since Maleflon Creek was in the same sector, a neighboring planet, And Bearing the same “liberation” sign as the target planets, Many players – myself included – read it to be part of the system.
It became worse when the planet Drubnir, a connected planet in an adjacent sector, was suddenly attacked, cutting off the road to Obanya and leaving Tibet inaccessible. So we had Malevelon Creek available in the same sector as the current main system, but Ubanea and Tibit were gray with an easy-to-miss planet in a parallel sector blocking the path – again, all with the same release mark. This, combined with the steady battalion of Crakers, whose ranks make the planet appear active and important, seems to have diverted the forces away from Tibet and towards the Khor, which seem As if it were part of the main command.
The whole thing was at once a remarkable feat of emerging storytelling, now formalized by the day's major order that the creek be dismantled once and for all, and a glorious breakdown of communications. (Honestly, we probably need a new, distinct label by which planets are included in the main system.) Helldivers 2 players were so democratic that they were blindly going after anything that needed editing, orders be damned.
Best of all, tens of thousands of players were also fighting bugs on the exact opposite side of the war front the entire time, sparking debate over actively following key commands versus playing casually for fun. Obviously both approaches are valid – it's a game, have fun. Helldivers 2 now meets players in the middle by getting them out of Malevelon Creek – hopefully for good – and back to more pressing planets with what ironically seems like an easy boss quest.
Helldivers 2's new Quasar Cannon Stratagem has been a huge hitand you can tell players really like it because they're already begging Arrowhead not to dilute it.