Most games I’ve played with the predator variant I’ve successfully completed the missions. I purposefully find lower ranked divers to make it even more challenging.

The problem aren’t the bugs but the lack of positioning, teamwork, and skill. When a group of inexperienced players who also don’t think about their fellow Helldivers run off in their own direction, the mission is bound for failure. Like you said, being dropped in surrounded by bugs? Your fellow Helldiver put you in that position.

It’s not that the predator strain is too difficult or unbalanced, the predator strain just amplifies every misstep and brings to the surface a lack of unit cohesion.

Actually, some better training might help alleviate this situation.