I've been playing Helldivers 2 since launch and lately I've only barely been hopping in and out of the game the past couple of months. I couldn't quite put my finger on why until recently.
Honestly, I don't have any really big issues with the state of balance or with whatever the latest monetization/warbond issue is. What I will say I am a tired of is the constant stream of middling major orders when they could be SO much better.
I was thinking the other day, what would make me hop in to Helldivers 2 this week? You know what it would be? A major order with a funny gimmick. Something like when they gave us 3 friggin railgun strikes with like 30 second cooldowns. That was some fun times. Or what about bringing back more enemy surges? They do have subfactions but there's only so many times I can play against even those before I just get bored. What about instead we have a major order against the terminids where the planet has the (new) sporeburst strain, but its also a scavenger surge? Could you imagine an army of tiny lightning quick scavengers running around all over the place like you disturbed a barn full of rats? Now THAT would get me to hop in that week. Also PLEASE bring back major order unlocked strategems, we haven't gotten something like the liberation of Tien Kwan in a literal year.
I don't even really care about endgame progression or having something to spend my samples and req on. I am just getting very exhausted by the mindless grind of major orders where this week its bugs, next week automatons, and the week after that we get some kind of illuminate M.O., the main issue is that NONE of these Major Orders actually effect my in-game experience. Why fight on this terminid planet with this specific subfaction, when I could just do the same thing at any other point of time. Why go fight some regular ass bots on this planet when I could go to a snow planet and get some free cooling for my scythe. If they made the Major Orders crazy, or have gimmicks you'd see a ton of hilarious clips and engagement from the community, and it wouldn't even cost much or even any development time. Have a specific stratagem that is mega buffed, or even a weapon type. What about we fight for a planet specializing in laser weapon production and while we fight on that planet ALL laser related weapons and stratagems are buffed in damage by 100%.
Seriously, think back to the best times the community has had with the game. Popli IX, where the bots threw EVERYTHING they had at us to try and take Malevelon Creek and we beat their asses.
Or the Christmas Event, where they gave us those modified stratagems (incendiary gatling barrage my beloved) to play with.
Or the lead up to the battle for Cyberstan with specific enemy surges on each planet leading up to the actual main event.
Its THESE kinds of things that would get people interested in playing the game week-to-week, not this constant drip feed of war bonds and content updates. This is a game that thrives on EVENTS, these events don't have to all be super dramatic, just fun.