Helldivers 2 players divided as Malevelon Creek’s meme status dooms other planets

With the Major Order finished, players are whittling away at each front to try and make some progress in the battle against the Terminid and Automaton menace. However, Malevelon Creek’s absurd meme status has left other Automaton planets high and dry.

Malevelon Creek was the site of Helldivers 2’s very first Major Order, and it’s a front many won’t soon forget seeing as it was a loss for Super Earth.

However, as the time has come to fight for other planets dominated by Automatons, players have been sticking around on Malevelon Creek. It’s at the point where Draupnir is in danger of being lost for a time.

Considering how difficult it’s been to motivate players to go to Automaton planets rather than Terminid ones to begin with, the effect of that first Major Order has made lasting waves among Helldivers 2 players in more ways than one.

Malevelon Creek memes have long-term impact on Helldivers 2

When Helldivers 2 was initially exploding in popularity, Malevelon Creek’s Major Order was the first real challenge for players. Most didn’t have the armor-piercing power to get through Automatons at early levels, leading to the first big Major Order being a complete failure.

In the weeks following, tales of this defeat were told, selling to many just how difficult it was to fend off mechanical forces in comparison to the bug ones. Many are still working fruitlessly to try to retake the planet.

Players’ experiences spawned countless fanarts and clips from when they were first coming to grips with how to take out Automatons and the challenge of playing on higher difficulties, but news hasn’t gotten to everyone that there are more important fronts to focus on.

With only 25k players fighting for Draupnir at that time, Super Earth’s forces began losing ground. And, though much of this is due to people preferring to play Terminid missions after players’ nightmarish first experience with the Automatons, it’s also partially because players are sticking around on Malevelon Creek.

Since calls for help on Draupnir, the numbers have shifted a bit. At the time of writing, Draupnir has around 50k players fighting for it, with only around 10k on Malevelon Creek. However, considering those fighting on the Creek are skidding their tires and making no progress, things could be going better.

What’s more, the Terminid planets have a drastically higher player count on them than Automaton ones.

Just one Terminid Sector has over 250k players, with the other having well over 100k. There seem to be anywhere between 5 and 7 times more players fighting Terminids than there are Automatons at any given time. And the leaked Automaton raid boss enemy will only make these missions harder.

Some argue that they have more fun playing against bugs due to not having their Stratagems blocked by jammers or that those who stuck around on Malevelon Creek because they want to fight back for the planet they lost.

Either way, Malevelon Creek and the experiences players had there seem to have cemented it as a pillar in the community. For better or worse.