What's with Payday 2 recently?

[Igor-Rowan]

If something's popular or good you're bound to find it at some point, if that's the case I wonder which category the 2013 game Payday 2 fits in, as I am hearing about it only now.

First it was featured in an Honest Trailer this year.

Then it was a port on Nintendo Switch.

Then it gets a trailer for VR [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTwSQLkJy5Q], of all things.

And now the PC port gets an ultimate edition, even though I've heard there are two already.

Edit: Add to that a mobile game [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LS6o2h0rVw] with PvP

My question is: what gives? Either this game is the sleeper hit of all sleeper hits, or it's something Overkill really wants to push, and going by the comment sections on the trailers, the people who picked up the console ports got the short end of the deal.

 

[happyninja42]

I wouldn't call it a sleeper hit, it's been damn popular and successful for many years, ever since it was released.

It's getting a lot of new traffic due to some significant changes with Overkill regaining control of the property, and making changes to try and improve the product. This is their biggest cash cow, and the fanbase for this game is very devoted and rabid. Hell the actors they got to play the main characters, that star in their live action videos and stuff, are equally big fans of the game.

They had a lot of bad press recently, due to some shitty business model decisions. Of which I am lead to believe, most was due to the company that bought the property, and not so much from Overkill themselves. Could be wrong though, it's been a while since I read that article.

Basically, the company have made major effort with the product to improve it for the dedicated fans, present it to new fans on new platforms (and thus increase the fan base), and in general, make it a good product worthy of purchase and play.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

It's not a sleeper hit at all, everyone knows what Payday is and almost everyone I know played it at some point (Even I have 100 hours on it). It's a very popular franchise but like previously said the developers/publishers made some very questionable things lately that affected the game in a negative way.

Anywho, I'm pretty sure they're developing PayDay 3 as we speak.

 

[American Tanker]

I'll tell you what "questionable" shit happened. It's the reason I bailed on Payday 2.

October 15th, 2015. The "Black Market Update". Crates, that you had to buy keys for, that had skins in them. And a VERY slim number of those skins had Stat Boosts on them.

Fucking lockbox cancer. Microtransaction bullshit. I'm glad that shit's gone, but I've just never been willing to pick the game back up.

 

[Ryotknife]

I love payday2. One of the few multiplayer games i can think of where playing against bots (which is the only opponents you face) is challenging and satisfying. While it is better to be playing with friends, the AI bots that are on your team are actually not too bad. Sometimes better than actual people due to them being damage sponges, having infinite ammo, and (usually) helping you out when you go down. It is still better to play with at least ONE other person though.

 

[Qoajo]

the AI bots that are on your team are actually not too bad.

the bots have done literally nothing in assisting me. They're actually some of the worst I've seen.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'll tell you what "questionable" shit happened. It's the reason I bailed on Payday 2.

October 15th, 2015. The "Black Market Update". Crates, that you had to buy keys for, that had skins in them. And a VERY slim number of those skins had Stat Boosts on them.

Fucking lockbox cancer. Microtransaction bullshit. I'm glad that shit's gone, but I've just never been willing to pick the game back up.

You're forgetting the part where the developers explicitly stated multiple times that they would NEVER add microtransations into the game, and even joked at the absurdity of such an idea, after which point they added microtransactions into the game.

So yeah, I had 300 hours in the game and had bought a decent chunk of DLC (one of only a handful of games I've ever been willing to buy DLC for) and the moment that microtransaction bullshit happened I dropped that game like a vomiting plague rat.

Now it looks like they're trying really hard to get people back on their side after ripping the microtransactions back out of the game. I'm not going to bite though, because they've proven that their word means absolutely nothing so I have no reason to support them.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Now it looks like they're trying really hard to get people back on their side after ripping the microtransactions back out of the game. I'm not going to bite though, because they've proven that their word means absolutely nothing so I have no reason to support them.

I get the sentiment, but in retrospect it is pretty obvious it was the publisher that forced the mircotransactions, loot crates and what not onto Overkill. This is especially obvious since the first thing Overkill did once they bought out the publisher was to remove as much of it as they could. The developers probably meant what they said about microtransactions, but the publisher has the final say in those matters.

 

[Igor-Rowan]

Basically, the company have made major effort with the product to improve it for the dedicated fans, present it to new fans on new platforms (and thus increase the fan base), and in general, make it a good product worthy of purchase and play.

That also seems to be the case with Starbound and 7 Days to Die, the developers promised a lot of content, but it had to be rushed out and people panned it because of everything they promised it was missing. However the hardcore fans seem to keep it alive.

My issue is, from 2013 up until now, there wasn't a single mention of this game in the media outlets I follow, didn't even land in any Top 10's list, so that's where my doubts stem from.

 

[Frankster]

As one of those who completely lost interest in Payday 2 after they introduced RNG lootboxes and crates... I really need to see if game is any better now.

But damn did them microtransactions leave a sour taste. I was actually introducing some friends to payday 2 when they implemented that bs... And when my friends would only get lootboxes after a heist that you need to buy keys for... Well let's just say we stopped playing pretty damned quickly and left a sour taste for all involved.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Now it looks like they're trying really hard to get people back on their side after ripping the microtransactions back out of the game. I'm not going to bite though, because they've proven that their word means absolutely nothing so I have no reason to support them.

I get the sentiment, but in retrospect it is pretty obvious it was the publisher that forced the mircotransactions, loot crates and what not onto Overkill. This is especially obvious since the first thing Overkill did once they bought out the publisher was to remove as much of it as they could. The developers probably meant what they said about microtransactions, but the publisher has the final say in those matters.

If they didn't have the power to make those promises then they shouldn't have made them. They made a big deal about how they hate microtransaction culture and how their game would never have that. It doesn't matter who forced them to put microtransactions into the game because no one forced them to make those promises on the first place. Their word is now worthless and I will never support another product from them.

There are plenty of developers and publishers that stoop to shitty business practices, but they don't try to hide it and you know what to expect from them because you don't trust them in the first place. Overkill made me lose faith in them and their product utterly.

 

[happyninja42]

Basically, the company have made major effort with the product to improve it for the dedicated fans, present it to new fans on new platforms (and thus increase the fan base), and in general, make it a good product worthy of purchase and play.

That also seems to be the case with Starbound and 7 Days to Die, the developers promised a lot of content, but it had to be rushed out and people panned it because of everything they promised it was missing. However the hardcore fans seem to keep it alive.

My issue is, from 2013 up until now, there wasn't a single mention of this game in the media outlets I follow, didn't even land in any Top 10's list, so that's where my doubts stem from.

*shrugs* I don't follow much in the way of games media, so I can't really talk about it, but in general, they don't talk about games older than 6 months as I understand it. So a game that is 5 years old not getting coverage doesn't seem that weird. And it has been getting some coverage here and there. Jim Sterling has made a handful of videos about it over the years, especially when they introduced the microtransactions stuff. In fact, it got a lot of coverage at that time, but like everything else in the games industry, it was quickly replaced with the new hotness.

Every time they introduced a new bit of content, I'd see at least 1 article about it on this site, and since they gutted the microtransactions, it's again, in the spotlight for the next 15 minutes. So, yeah I'm still not sure what else to say. It's hardly a sleeper. It's been swimming around under the surface of the gaming waters, happily doing it's thing, with it's loyal fanbase supporting it. Only occasionally do we see it surface and make a splash. This is just the most recent splash.

And to those who didn't go back after the microtransactions were removed...as someone who did, it's perfectly fine. I haven't really noticed a difference, since i quit playing before then, and came back after. It's basically the same game, just with a few extra bits to it.

 

[TrulyBritish]

Didn't Payday 2 have some thing where people complained about the state of the Xbox One(?) port and a developer was like "Well that's what you get for buying it on an inferior system" or something?
Apparently it was "If I was playing a game on a platform and it wasn't working, I'd find a platform on which it works and fucking play it there".

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

the AI bots that are on your team are actually not too bad.

the bots have done literally nothing in assisting me. They're actually some of the worst I've seen.

I used to play it with a friend of mine, but the bots proved to be so monumentally useless that the game became tedious to play, and we quit.

 

[American Fox]

All I wanted was Sydney, now you have to buy all the dlc. Screw that.

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

I get the sentiment, but in retrospect it is pretty obvious it was the publisher that forced the mircotransactions, loot crates and what not onto Overkill. This is especially obvious since the first thing Overkill did once they bought out the publisher was to remove as much of it as they could. The developers probably meant what they said about microtransactions, but the publisher has the final say in those matters.

I think in some ways the Lootcrates were kind of the right kick in the butt to wake people up to a lot of the other problems the game had from the start. The RNG card drop system for weapon customization, the exhaustive list of premium DLC after premium DLC, the cash and XP grind, bullet-sponge gunplay, and just how infuriating some of the stealth mechanics were, especially when Overkill kept making it even more difficult almost every update...

It just added up, and the lootcrates really made it easy to realize just how unfun all of that made the game, no matter its plus sides.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Lootcrates was an ineveitability after all those custom skins. The worst isnt the safes but the fact that you had to pay to open. Nowadays safes felt like a milestone reward for playing the game to spice up my gun

As for RNG drops. Offshore payday is now a permanent feature so you can get any drop you want.

 

[laggyteabag]

Picked up PAYDAY 2 when it came out, and I really enjoyed it.

Then DLC came out and it was awesome
Then DLC came out and it was cool
Then DLC came out and it was nice
Then DLC came out and it was okay
Then DLC came out and it was starting to get really expensive
Then DLC came out...
Then DLC came out...
Then DLC came out...
Then DLC came out...
Then DLC came out...
Then DLC came out...
Then DLC came out...

Even though all of the DLC has been rolled into one fairly inexpensive blob, the game is just so daunting now, I wouldn't even know where to start even if I wanted to get back into it. The level of post-launch content has been amazing, and it is great to see a company really support a game, but I don't think I even have the time to get to learn any of it.

Never thought it would be like, the 6th most played game on Steam, though. Thats impressive.