My feelings about the Helldivers 2: Omens of Tyranny update so far can be summed up in outbursts of “oh this car is amazing” and “are you kidding Illuminate are amazing”, but there was one surprise waiting for me in Helldivers 2: a morning that wasn’t content for me: Arrowhead no longer only sells armor in the shop tab, but also weapons.
Well, one weapon for now. The Stun Baton, one of two up-to-date melee options for the Marksman, can only be unlocked by purchasing it directly from the Superstore for 200 Super Credits. Unless I’ve been living under a rock, this is the first time Arrowhead has sold a non-armor item outside of war bonds – a progression system reminiscent of the battle pass in Helldivers 2. I’m concerned about the precedent this will set for the future of the game.
Over these first 10 months, the relationship between Superstore, War Bonds, and normal level-based progression in Helldivers 2 has been clear and consistent: you can unlock strategies and most weapons by simply leveling up, War Bonds offer optional expansions to your arsenal, and Superstore is even more a less essential cosmetics shop, offering more armor sets. I really liked this setup – I even called it one of the best monetization schemes in ages – because Arrowhead War Bonds are generally a good value, they don’t expire, and even the premium armor sets have the same benefits as War Bond armor and are only a few dollars.
However, Arrowhead has slowly expanded its boundaries on what and how it charges for non-cosmetics products. The Superstore-exclusive stun baton is the most recent example, but I first noticed a change to Chemical Agent Combat Bonds in September, which included the first premium-exclusive stratagem in the “Dog Breath” drone backpack. I then felt my foot slipping on a possible slope, and it happens again in Omens of Tyranny.
It could have been worse, but…
A stun baton is not worth raising the alarm on its own. It only costs 200 Super Credits ($2 credits), and Helldivers 2 still gives you a decent amount of free Super Credits by looting points of interest in missions. There’s an argument that selling weapons a la carte is actually more convenient than buying entire war bonds if you only care about one thing (especially if a la carte prices are so low), but there’s also the fact that Superstore inventory changes weekly. It’s likely that the stun baton will leave the store in a week or a month and then be completely unavailable for weeks or months.
It’s a bad setup that’s not unique to Helldivers – we really haven’t had live games worried about treating every microtransaction like a McRib – but it’s especially annoying when it starts to involve the most coveted items in Helldivers 2, which are players accustomed to receiving money for free or in the form of never-expiring war bonds. It’s a stun baton at the moment, but it would really suck if Arrowhead suddenly released a up-to-date vehicle that you could only buy for a week.
By the way, that stun baton is quite useful. It deals almost no damage, but it stuns hell from what you hit with it. In the blink of an eye, a few quick swipes can drive a petite mob of Voiceless off your back long enough to retreat, and can even stun larger Illumination soldiers forever if you keep hitting.
Is this better than having a gun for backup? Not in most cases. The pistol can kill attackers before they get into melee range, but the baton has unlimited ammo, so if you tend to ignore sidearms until the shit leaves the fan, like me, this makes more sense.
Also essential: Second up-to-date melee weapon, stun lance, Is about the up-to-date Urban Legends war bond. It is very similar to a baton, except it has a longer range and its stinging movement means you can only hit one target at a time. The advantage is that the lance does more damage and can even cut off the legs or head of the Voiceless in one hit – a solid “oh crap” tactic if you want to create some distance. If I had to choose, I would probably choose the lance now.
