Helldivers 2 sets out Galactic War Campaigns and a level cap of 300

Helldivers 2's development team used a June update on the game's Steam announcement channel to set out planned changes to progression, covering both the community-wide Galactic War and individual player advancement. The post was written by game director Mikael Eriksson.

Eriksson framed the work as a response to long-running feedback about the endgame, specifically requests for a higher level cap and more ship modules. He said raising the cap on its own would not address that feedback at a foundational level, and that the team wanted deeper progression offering worthwhile upgrades to players at every stage rather than only to those who have already unlocked everything. The cap is being raised regardless; a list later in the same post puts the new ceiling at 300.

Campaigns replace Major Orders

The central change is Galactic War Campaigns, which Eriksson said would launch in June as the successor to Major Orders. Campaigns are to run roughly one to three weeks, with the stated intent that the active Campaign, how it is going, what its outcomes were and what is at stake are all legible in game. Eriksson said the studio had struggled to communicate how much the community's actions actually shape the Galactic War, and that players joining part-way through a large event had found it hard to follow what was happening.

Each Campaign is meant to carry at least one reward when its conditions are met. Eriksson said rewards would extend beyond medals to include items and gameplay-altering effects, and named a new FRV as the first Campaign reward players would work toward.

Further out, the team is working on Planet Warfronts, described as the next major addition to the Galactic War and the system behind earlier studio comments about experimenting with roguelite mechanics. Missions would be grouped as "Defend" in liberated territory, "Frontline War" on the frontlines and "Behind Enemy Lines" in enemy-controlled ground, with squads pushing toward strategic locations such as cities that host different enemy variants in different areas. Eriksson said the finished version would attach consequences to liberation goals, such as reaching a city within a time limit or disabling enemy artillery in one location to unlock Operations.

Personal tracks, ships and fixes

Personal Orders are being reworked into what Eriksson called "Personal Campaign Progression," giving each Campaign its own personal reward track so a player can still make progress when the community misses a collective goal. He said the change would not arrive alongside Campaigns but was planned for deployment this year. Super Destroyers are also in line for work: an overhaul of the ship module system intended to add player agency and more to progress toward, plus customisation. A dedicated internal team is building the first new ship, with each future ship to carry its own progression paths, specialisations and customisation options. No release timing was given.

Eriksson closed with a non-exhaustive list of fixes and changes the team expected to ship:

• Assisted reload, usable when either the carrier or the reloader has the corresponding backpack
• Eight emote slots, up from four
• Reduced dead input when stimming
• Hellpod steering, and Stratagem bouncing, which a dedicated task force is prototyping fixes for with the aim of resolving it by the end of the year
• Improved enemy and player traversal, including environmental collision and reduced movement penalties on grass and vegetation
• A level cap increase to 300, alongside economy and resource improvements
• Warbond and Superstore menu navigation fixes
• Closed beta testing focused on stability and balancing, with feedback from the game's Propaganda Commanders