Helldivers 2 devs confirm grinders aren’t helping Automatons—but they aren’t spreading democracy either

The Helldivers 2 grinders who cannot stop farming XP and Requisitions on the “kill Automatons” missions, deemed by some as treasonous behavior, aren’t actually hurting Super Earth’s cause, developers have confirmed. Players had previously expressed their anger with those who keep abandoning operations, believing it’s helping the enemy.

As Helldivers 2 has gotten bigger, it has attracted a particular type of player who finds sustenance in endlessly grinding for XP and currencies in video games. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if there wasn’t a full-scale Galactic War happening in the game between Super Earth and its tyrannical and socialist enemies, the Terminids and Automatons. Failing operations in Helldivers 2 contributes to the enemy’s war score, which could lead to planets falling into hostile hands. However, the developers have now confirmed in a Feb. 26 Reddit thread that’s not actually the case. Abandoning an operation does not help the enemies, but neither does it contribute to Democracy’s spread, said the devs.

Confusion and anger primarily arose from one developer’s mistaken comments in the game’s Discord server, where they were asked to explain whether or not abandoning an operation increases the enemy’s bar during planetary struggles. “Yes, quitting after only half the operation counts as a loss for Super Earth,” developer Evil-Bosse claimed, prompting the surging Reddit thread. After some time and a lot of discussion and name-calling, Misty from the Arrowhead Game Studios’ community and support team stepped in to clear up the confusion. “I can confirm that abandoning an operation does not progress the enemy’s percentage, so people who leave operations do not negatively affect a planet,” she explained.

Evil-Bosse, the developer who first said grinders and medal farmers inhibit Super Earth’s progress, apologized in a reply to the thread. “I was accidentally spreading false information, you have my humble apologies,” they said.

Misty elaborated in the game’s Discord server where she claimed that, though grinders do not negatively affect the progress bar, they don’t contribute to it either. So it’s a very neutral thing to do, it seems, even though we’ve got a war on two fronts going on and all hands on deck would be more than welcome.

It remains relatively unclear what makes the progress bars tick, but it could be something the devs do in the back end, or they just statically fill up and players have to keep up with them. Planets under invasion have large timers that tick down, and whoever has more progress gets to keep the planet in the end. Either way, don’t forget to call your local Democracy Officer to enlist now, join the Malevelon Creek defenses, and stop the Automaton advance.