Payday 3: Update 2 Patch Notes - Is Progression Fixed
Patch notes for patch 1.0.2, also known as the infamous update 2, are finally out in a sense. Community manager Elizabeth and lead producer Andreas have just run through their update presentation on the payday channel, touching on the most major content beats. Landing when it finally goes live means we don't have any specifics on in-depth bug fixes yet, but we do know a lot more about the update as it stands.
As I mentioned when I covered the first Dev Update article, it's looking like this patch is going to be broken up into three primary categories: quality of life, new content, and system changes, with the game's first post-launch Heist finally releasing alongside the highly requested progression overhaul.
I now know a few more details I can share with you guys as far as these additions are concerned, so let's dive right in and start by taking a look at the reimagined versions of Cookoff and Murky Station joining Payday 3's roster of heights. First of all, a few corrections from my initial speculation when these were announced: They will, in fact, be taking place in New York, not their original locations.
Merely, these are just Deja vuis as opposed to actual on-site revisits; unfortunately, that also means that Lock is only returning as a contractor for these, with Shade retaining her role as the handler and primary instruction giver. I don't necessarily have an issue with this; it just seems like a wasted opportunity to not have lock step in for an even greater nostalgia trip, although from what Andreas mentioned, this will still be a trip down memory lane as Shade is reading from Bane's own method cooking instructions during cook-off, which sounds like it could be a nice touch.
Speaking of the iconic Cabin in the Woods, it's also had a bit of a glow up both visually and in terms of objectives, although I think one change will be considered quite controversial. The heist looks brilliant and should have a little more combat depth, bearing in mind that it has been expanded with the addition of scaffolding providing more entrances and a newly built garage area located just outside of the basement.
The goal in primary gameplay Loop Remains the Same cook math by adding specific ingredients to enact a powerful chemical reaction that can't go wrong if you make a mistake although now it's possible for you to add further value to your loot by managing your cook time to not underdo or burn the product, no one likes Dr meth after all but where I think some will be disappointed is in how this Heist is no longer an endless one instead having a hard 19 bag cap reportedly for game economy balance reasons, this feels like the wrong reason to limit our fun although I'm still fairly certain that cooking 19 bags is going to take a lot longer than any other heist in the game also from what we've been told the final charge will begin after cooking 10 bags meaning the final nine will need to be secured whilst under the pressure of an endless assault including frequent dozers, which actually sounds like a decent challenge that might finally threaten those meta armor Builds on Overkill.
Of course, we'll have to see how this one plays and if the cap does limit our fun with it, but for right now, Cook Off looks very promising. The second Legacy Heist in this update is a murky station now known as a turbid station set in an almost identical Riverside location, just in another state.
While Cookoff will remain loud, only the turbid station is confirmed to be releasing as Payday 3's first ever stealth-only host, which makes a lot of sense. We won't be stealing EMP parts on this one though, as instead the payload appears to be a pair of satellite prototypes, which is logical as I don't imagine there are any plans to drop emps on remote Siberian labs for the gang at least at the moment.
Looking at the map changes here, there has been a clear focus placed on climbing in verticality as the train cart roofs are now accessible, as well as being able to slide under the train carts, which wasn't always possible in Payday 2's version again. I'm happy to say this heist looks brilliant and atmospheric, although not for the first time.
Payday 3 does seem to have defaulted to that green Capital Wasteland Fallout 3 filter, which is not something everyone will appreciate. Also in the new content category, we're receiving some budget SeaStack cosmetics in the form of the Lyen, a preset version of the Compact 7, which will only cost 25 SE stacks to buy, as well as the Underwrap Mask, which looks a little like a mummified grin from Payday 2 and will reportedly come with movement physics, costing just 10 SE stacks.
Of course, we're also receiving the Transporter skill line, which I think will become an interesting addition to Edition. Although, as I've said before. I'm predicting it'll either suck or become a meta skill line there is coming in between being able to carry multiple bags could be a game changer for solo players, and I'm also interested to see how carrying extra deployables works out from the deep pocket skill.
Unfortunately, I'm expecting even more armor bag spam after the patch. That's it for new content, but only a fraction of the update, as the most major quality of life edition is coming in the form of brand new animations for virtually every action in the game, from opening doors to reviving teammates.
These look phenomenal and add a ton of personality that I think was really missing. I know this is something they plan to actively work on and iterate on in the future, so my request now would be to see some unique character-specific animations for certain actions, particularly when it comes to inspecting weapons or your own gloves.
My only complaint here is that these haven't been in the game since launch. Honestly, how Payday 3 went live without them, I simply will never know, as they just added such an easy air of Polish to the game that has been sorely missing up until now. I'm hoping their addition is another sign of turning a corner, though alongside these massive first-party additions, there are a number of name quality of life changes coming in this update, including the addition of Lobby Chat for PC players, which is excellent, but the console is in even more need when it comes to communicating with teammates, so that desperately needs sorting too.
Apparently certain skills are being rebalanced somewhat; we don't know which or how yet, but if I were to guess. It sounds like this is going to be standard across all difficulties, so expect them to be almost immortal on very hard and below now, but that's probably worth it if it just makes Overkill Solo less of a campy snoozefest.
