Major Patch, Minor DLC, No Charge

A new patch for cooperative smash-hit Payday 2 was released last night. Being of such large size, it was obvious that developer Overkill Software had added more than just bug fixes and general balancing.
Included in the update - which is free for everyone who own the game - is a brand new heist; the Diamond Store. There are also four new masks, patterns and materials, new weapon sounds, increased challenge with the Overkill difficulty setting, and a revamped economy system. What exactly is this system like now? The patch notes explain it clearly:
"Each contract now has reward dependant on the mission specifics. Some contract amounts can seem low but the REAL value is in stealing the LOOT BAGS. If you sling a lot of Coke for Hector he will compensate you greatly. The reward is different depending on the number of coke bags you clear."
It seems they have ramped up the rewards you get from actually being a bit greedy during robberies. Players have noticed that heists like Jewelry Store and Ukrainian Job (which are both variants of the same heist) give you little incentive to actually get every bag beyond the bare minimum, as the payout for these heists remains incredibly low no matter how high the difficulty setting is. Hopefully, this will make simpler and shorter heists like Jewelry Store more viable even for high level players.
That's not all, though. The list of changes, fixes and additions stretches far and wide. Here are some of the biggest ones:
-Much harder OVERKILL! Yes you got it - now dont cry.
-SWATS now have much better flashbangs - use the shades!
-More balanced single player sessions
-BULLDOZERS are now EVIL
-Added more and better run and walking animations for our dear enemies.
-We now display mission bags value on PAYDAY for both mandatory and additional bags in TAB stats screen during gameplay.
-Boosted Aced Combat Medic revive bonus from 25% to 40%.
-Added Inside Man Assets on almost all levels so that you can buy a EXPERT DRIVER that 100% takes away the Escape.
-Made sentry gun tier 6 more effective.
-Added EXP cards in the loot drop for fast leveling
-Added much better cash cards!
There are also improved and changed weapon sounds and animations, and tweaks for several of the maps. The Night Club heist now apparently has a secret area added to it!
"There is a rumour of a fight club, but we are not supposed to talk about that."
For the full changelog, check out Overkill's Steam post for the patch. Just scroll on down to the bottom.
Posted 15-09-2013, 22:56
Shotguns are OP? They're powerful, yes. Because they're shotguns. They're even more powerful if you're Enforcer and unlock the skills for it. But how is it OP? You have to dedicate skill points to get it powerful. Skill points you could've used to get sentry guns, saws, improved drill repair times, extra medkits, ability to bag bodies, intimidate and convert enemies, etc etc etc. You can make shotguns powerful, but at a considerable price. I don't consider it OP then. Far from it.
The Saiga shotgun always sucked, so it's good that they buffed it. It was pointless before.
Posted 15-09-2013, 18:17
Shame they screwed up the pay rates. Also shotguns are still OP.
Posted 14-09-2013, 22:56
The real question though. When will they add the seven day heists?
Posted 14-09-2013, 21:51
It's important that they do this, adding in new heists regularly and gradually rather than just waiting half a year before releasing a 4-heist DLC pack. By then, the game will die out if there has been no content to keep players occupied in the meantime.
Posted 14-09-2013, 20:53
Free content is free.
'Nuff said
Posted 14-09-2013, 20:45
No matter how small, it is rather nice to see them add in new free content, shame not a lot of others would do the same.