this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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Helldivers 2

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I know, I know, I'm posting this on a community dedicated to Helldivers 2, statistically the answer I would get just from the title is "yes".

Circlejerk aside, I can't think of any other live service game that is a fair comparison.
The closest one I can think of is Deep Rock Galactic, which (ATTOW) I've played for 1.2k hours, compared to HD2 (1.001k).
But then, even though I think DRG is a qualitatively equal game AND technically also a live service game, if we're simply judging the live–serviceness(?) of either game, HD2 comes out on top: I bought the game way after the Malevelon Creek plotline, and even though I was late to the party, it still feels like shit keeps happening every month or two, while I haven't played DRG in 2 years and AFAIK it's still... there (mad respect though, rock solid game).

The other three LS games I've ever played for significant time spans are Team Fortress 2 (1270h), Destiny 2 ^(holy^ ^shit^ ^so^ ^many^ ^2s)^ (170h) and Sea Of Thieves (160h (I've got a friend with >3k h? wtf?)).

TF2 is... I mean, it probably holds up, idk I haven't played it in 6 years or more but I'd hardly consider it an ongoing game (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong);
Destiny 2 is, as far as I know, the most relevant AAA comparison with a reasonably strong season–spanning story and MEH, my brother gifted it to me (two seasons, in fact) and they both felt like a chore to keep up with;
Sea Of Thieves is... have you played it? It's jankier than the Spear was 6 months ago.
I never even considered playing Marvel Rivals, a currently popular game, but...

HD2, on the other hand, ~~never misses the mark~~ misses the mark quite often but in a funny or spectacular way.
Maybe it's just me playing every other evening and having warbonds and events not too hard to keep up with, with eventual SC farming every now and then, but off the top of my head I've been through:

  • The appearance of the Jet Brigade (at the time I just thought jetpack commissars were simply regular enemies (maybe they were idk));
  • The gloom;
  • The DSS construction;
  • The DSS perpetual 380 (underrated af idgaf fite me 1v1 Rust snipers only);
  • Meridia ~~(I was born there in 2117, honestly I'm excited to get back home and hug my wife)~~;
  • New fire warbond (where they nerfed fire? wtf?);
  • New warbond;
  • New warbond;
  • ~~The predator strain actually nvm I genuinely refuse to ever play against them, not fun, gg bb, these guys are bullshit~~
  • HOLY SHIT A COMPLETELY NEW FACTION ATTACKED OUR PLANETS THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNEXPECTED AND I MUST UPDATE&BOOT THE GAME IMMEDIATELY ~~(I looked up the first game's lore beforehand and I knew 100% this was going to happen, but still)~~, also new warbond;
  • New warbond (idgaf I'm bringing the One True Flag on a Super Helldive and you ARE going to put up with me);
  • Flame brigade (idr when they were born but I loved them)
  • ... Super Earth? Seriously, I honestly did not see this coming, maybe I should have, but I didn't.
  • New warbond;
  • New warbTHAT IS A FUCKING HALO: CURSED EDITION BLUNDERBUSSond;
  • The steam rewiew bomb cape
    • The Steam review bomb cape
      • The Steam review bomb cape
  • Xbox recruits (finally my brother and I can play together with something that isn't Sea Of Thieves or Destiny 2)

... and we're still going.

The point is, in an age when the pre–StopKillingGames videogame industry defines "live service" game as a non–government owned legal money printing machine, to me Helldivers 2 is the only working example of an actual living game, and... a bit of a miracle.
A Sony funded live service gold rush miracle, but hey, even God™ got gotta earn that bread.

... relevant to the last paragraph: EU citizens, go sign the SKG petition right now. Super Earth demands it.

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[–] vikingtons@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I feel that, generally speak against live service at great length, I feel like it's popularity as a model today has fully bastardised gaming as an industry (love using games like Destiny 2 as an example) but, Helldivers 2... seems to do it right. well, even.

you don't even need to buy the fucking warbonds if you play semi regularly. I feel compelled to just to support AH sometimes.

[–] archonet@lemy.lol 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There's those of us who remember being sold complete products for our entertainment and don't like being milked, and those of us (unfortunately) who grew up only having ever known incomplete games that the developers drip-feed back to the consumer in the form of DLC.

Some games are going to fuck you over, some quite badly, and some games will not. Helldivers 2 and DRG don't, or at least, don't yet. Enshittification comes for everything, eventually, especially with Sony and Tencent having their fingers in the pie; so get in while the gettin's good. The day HD2 starts making the microtransactions painful, I'm outta here.

[–] vikingtons@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago
[–] GhostlyPixel@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I feel compelled to just to support AH sometimes.

I feel like I’ve robbed them blind with 350 hours and only buying the base game for $40, not paying for anything else and just unlocking through gameplay. When they make it so the super citizen upgrade gives you the ability to unlock a Warbond of your choice at the end of August, I’ll finally pick up that upgrade, AH has beyond earned it imo and I hope they continue to work on it for a long time

[–] tiberius@lemmy.ca 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Disclaimer: HD2 is the only live service game I play regularly.

I think in terms of most friendly game to wallets, HD2 is up there.

In terms of content, HD2 is no where near games like FFXIV, Destiny 2, or Warframe.

[–] Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I haven't played FFXIV (perhaps one day I will), so no comment there; I did play Warframe for quite some time (forgor 💀), and... fair enough (I still feel like HD2 has a higher mass/volume ratio, in a way).

But... Destiny 2? The two seasons I've been through had me considerably less hooked on what was going on, compared to the very first change of pace HD2 had since I enlisted, despite the difference in (production_value / event) if that makes sense.

A D2 season was basically a small storyline gated by chores; on the other hand, my pre–lvl150unlockedeverythingthegamehastooffer HD2 experience was "hey I'm directly part of this neat event I can participate in right away" rather than "I need to play for 2h every evening to get my level up so that EVENTUALLY I can get to the stuff that was paid for (unless I take too long, in which case lol sucker)".

Hell, I grew up on Bungie's Halo, so if I wasn't aware of the studios' full history (which I wasn't) brand loyalty alone would've had me favor my time with D2 over HD2. But it wasn't enough.

[–] Mister_Feeny@fedia.io 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

While I haven't played D2 in years, I think you're missing a LOT of the content that it does have. Sure, a seasonal storyline may be small, with a proper expansion campaign being a little longer, but if you really get into Destiny, finishing that stuff is just were the game starts. From there you have raids, dungeons, crucible, gambit, trials of the 9, whatever the seasonal activity is, grinding out long weird questlines to get a particular exotic, doing hidden jumping puzzles to get a different exotic, etc. etc.

Definitely fair that it hooked you less and thus you didn't get into all that other content, but objectively, Destiny did have a fuckton of content.

[–] Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

There's also the content I actually couldn't get into at all, because they decided to just pull it from the game *_*

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

HD2 hits the right level of content for me, as I don't play the same game every day. It hits a pretty good balance of having something interesting every few weeks that I can spread over that time period enjoying.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

I am fairly certain there are other live service games that are doing it right, but this is the only one I have played that hits all the right notes for me.

  • The speed of content release is reasonable.
  • There is monetization BUT none of it is FOMO because everything cycles back around.
  • When they screwed up they did listen to the player base and made things right (balancing, fucking up the pricing on the crossover stuff).
  • The additional content over time feels like an ever escalating war and not just pumping out content after release. Like even if they had everything ready to go before launch I would hope it wouldn't be released more than twice as fast as it has.
  • Starting gear is still competitive with all the gear released since.

Plus they gave us a cape for the review bombing due to the Playstation network fuck up by Sony. I am guessing it took this long to get Sony to agree to it.