I am very frustrated with a couple of aspects of a game I'm playing, I just need to vent, so excuse the big post.
Payday 2.
welp, I liked Payday. even though it was kind of small (few missions, even fewer options in available equipment), it could get really repetitive really fast, it was still fun as hell in co-op. some missions required preparation, careful planning and communication between players if you wanted to complete them. so when Payday 2 was announced I expected more of the same, but with a few improvements. and that's almost what I got. almost.
Payday had a bunch of missions that were a lot more than simply surviving several waves of enemies. you had to complete multiple objectives while staying undetected (disabling cameras, tying down hostages, answering phones to avoid suspicion). these missions were the most memorable, so the devs decided to make all missions in Payday 2 like that.
they did leave in a bunch of survival missions, they also added several mixed type missions that allow you to approach them stealthily, then switch to an action leg, then back to stealthy - divided into "days" that have to be completed in succession for the full reward. they also added several "Pro Jobs", that are longer, tougher missions. all in all, when it comes to missions, it's almost perfect. in this respect it's a brilliant 4-man coop game.
next, character advancement. in Payday it was completely linear: you had 3 + 1 classes you could level up. XP (in the form of earned cash) would accumulate on the currently active class (that you could change at any point), unlocking perks, new equipment and new abilities in that class. this system required you to plan your level up strategy well in advance, keeping an eye on newly unlocked things in order not to waste xp on things you don't want. in other words it was clumsy and not intuitive.
in Payday 2 they also have the same 4 classes and 4 skill trees associated with them, that you advance through by spending skill point you get each level and cash you get for completed jobs. again, you can level up all 4 classes at once, until you run out of skill points. it's a lot more logical and versatile system, so +1 to the devs on this as well.
and, finally, equipment. and this is where things get really weird.
in Payday you had a number of guns you could use (8 or 9 in total across all 4 classes including the default 2 for all of them). Payday 2 has an overwhelming number of new weapons. but not only that has changed.
when you buy a gun, you get it permanently, meaning it will stay with you as long as you don't sell it. maybe for this reason each gun costs anywhere from 100.000 to 1.000.000 dollars. yep, that's right, 6 zeroes: apparently in Payday's universe (which it shares with Left 4 Dead) buying a weapon from the black market costs a million bucks. and how much do you get for a successful job? from 60 to 150000. good luck grinding for that very expensive gun, I hope you really like it when you get it
but that's not all. oh no.
there are many modifications you can install on your gun, like: torchlight, optical scope, extended magazine, new stock etc. not only do they cost equally as much, they can't be unmounted without losing them. that means you have to pay close to 100000$ to switch from a reflex sight to an optical one and back. every. damn. time.
but wait! how do you get these modifications? do you unlock them with new levels? nope. do you buy them from a weapons dealer? no. you get blueprints for crafting them by playing cards. yep. there's a card game, it's even called "Payday", accessed after each successful mission, where you can randomly get a random modification for a random gun (even for guns that you don't own). or you can get a blueprint for a new mask for your character, or a new color for your masks, or a new pattern for your mask! and don't even look at how much it costs to paint a mask...
I know people that are close to the level cap and they still haven't fully modified their weapon of choice, after dumping hundreds of hours into the game, simply because it's a game of chance.
who in his right mind would develop such a convoluted system based on random outcomes? how the hell did it get past QA, lead designers, producers, project lead? it's almost as if they wanted to force people to spend more time with their game than it had to offer. but why? there are no microtransactions, this isn't even a proper MMO, it's a co-op session-based shooter for god's sake!
I'm done...
girl on the left doesn't know how to hold a gun properly. the other two, surprisingly, have good trigger discipline
