Helldivers 2 Boss Shoots Down Transmog System

Helldivers 2 does not currently have a transmog system, and based on some comments shared by Arrowhead Game Studios boss Johan Pilestedt recently, it doesn't look like it's every going to get transmog either. The feature often used in RPGs and MMOs came up in a conversation on socials recently wherein someone suggested that a transmog system would allow people to mix and match armor styles and appearances so that they could have the stats they wanted and the preferred look, too. In response, however, Pilestedt said that's not going to happen.

The conversation kicked off from a fan-made Helldivers 2 graphic that showed an idea for converting the game's armor system into something more akin to classes. These Helldivers 2 "classes" showed armor sets bloated with tons of perks like a 200% buff to melee damage, but the armors at least fit what their perks were going for in terms of appearance.

In response to that, another user said that instead of adding all these extra perks to create "classes," a transmog system would allow people to have the best of both worlds by picking the armor with a preferred perk first and then just making it look however you want. Pilestedt was not keen on the idea.

"We are not doing transmog," the Helldivers 2 director and Arrowhead CEO said. "It doesn't make sense – equipment looks different because it has different effects. Swapping one for the other is like having an apple that tastes like bacon or the other way around."

That got a lot of responses ranging from "respectfully disagree" to "terrible take," but it seems unlikely that this decision will be walked back seeing how "we are not doing transmog" is pretty definitive. Pilestedt previously crowdsourced ideas for how to handle players who were kicking others because they weren't using the perceived optimal loadouts, so it's not like it's an issue of not hearing the community but rather a situation where the feature simply isn't happening.

On the one hand, the perks an armor offers are probably the least impactful of anything a player can bring when Stratagems, weapons, and boosters exist, so being able to change your armor set up would be a pretty inoffensive feature that lots of people seem to want. It's not like you really need to know what perks your teammates have either, so clarity is a concern their for appearance and authenticity, but not really when it comes to readability. On the other hand, there is something special about seeing a new Warbond that has exactly the kind of appearance and perk combination that you're hoping for, and a transmog system would undermine that and probably the Warbond system overall.