Twinbeard says:
Helldivers!
As many of you have noticed, something has been off with patrols and spawn rate for some time now. This primarily leads to more enemies rearing their ugly heads than they're supposed to, indirectly to players feeling overrun, kiting, and subsequently less fun gameplay. This has been the case for all players, but predominantly for smaller teams and solo playing. We've been aware, but frankly, the past couple of weeks have been so hectic that we haven't been able to give this the TLC that it required. We now have, and we've concluded that it's not working as intended and we're changing it. There might be some minor tweaks, but overall we're reverting back to how patrols and spawn rate worked before the patch that changed them a few weeks ago. We believe that this is more or less how you currently want them to be.
We also know you want us to do things and changes properly instead of rushing them, and we do as well. Therefore, implementing this will take some time. We want to give it proper testing and review it ... ah heck, simply see that it works this time. Even if this means we're faced with more bugs and bots than even the bravest of citizens would deem realistic for a while longer, we hope you're happy with us fixing the problem.
Onwards and upwards!
For as much flack as the game is getting because of Sony, it's been really easy to like Arrowhead in general. Not everyone will be happy with changes to any game, but they're decently open with what they're doing and the intent behind it, and are willing to say when they may have introduced a bug and revert changes back.
Now if only Sony would stop being Sony...
It is super nice they they listen to feedback, I just wish they weren't so heavy handed with the changes to begin with. Their communication prior to this was "yeah we're basically making patrol spawns just about the same whether you're solo or 4-player, especially at higher levels" and thought that was a good move somehow.
Well at least my concern is addressed. Here's hoping.
Their initial communication was something like "if you're solo, patrols spawn at 1/6 the 4-man rate instead of 1/4 - so we're changing it." I don't think that was a good idea since the game doesn't scale linearly as you add more people.
But yeah, when they went from 1/4 to 100% on accident, that wasn't cool.
At the very least, communication is good and they seem to consider community input, even if they initially go against it, and will admit when they're wrong. It may be a low bar, but the candidness with how they communicate gives me hope.