Payday 2 Microtransactions Are Here to Stay, Says Dev

[Areloch]

And yeah, I do think the "pay to win" argument is a little odd, considering it is a coop game.

Then let's the "insta-win"-button DLC. Use it and you instantly win. Must be totally fair because it's coop, right?
It's the same logic - even in a Coop game, you NEED some resemblance of balance. And DLCs, for the most part, did have some balance as while you got some advantages, you also had some downsides. For example, the cavity 9mm - great concealment out of the box and good damage. But horrible ammo capacity and locked to semi-automatic (basically the only assault rifle in the entire game).
These skins? Straight up stat boosts at ZERO drawback.
Want one more concealment for you Judge? One of the two skins does that (The Pixel skin, specifically) Meaning just by using the skin, you're at the concealment cap while you weren't before. Which can make a HUGE difference.
One more damage? Can get you above a breakpoint to one-shot enemies you couldn't kill before.

To make a more generalized hypothetical on why Pay-to-Win is bad even in cooperative games, imagine you and your friend are playing a coop campaign, such as Halo or maybe the new Zombies mode in the new CoD. However, your buddy paid money to get upgrades that significantly make it easier for him to fight the enemies, and as a result he completely overshadows you. You go to shoot someone, and your buddy snipes them from across the map. Sudden horde of enemies around the corner, you finish off your first and he's already killed the rest of them.

Do you think that'd be fun to be completely overshadowed like that for hours at a time? I don't know that PayDay 2's Pay-to-Win elements are that extreme yet, but I do know that the game is already crushingly difficult on the higher scales, and if you're struggling and all the other people playing grabbed Pay-to-Win upgrades and are completely overshadowing everything you're doing, I know I'd have a much less enjoyable time.

Even worse if Overkill were to continue to raise the difficulty to compel more people to opt for the paid advantages in order to be relevant.

 

[JLF]

Microtransactions Yay! It's free to play why nobody tell me? Wait... You have to pay for it? Eh!? Are people really that gullible??

INSERT BETTER ALTERNATIVES HERE: (Give people a choice in games that have similar mechanics)

- Team Fortress 2 (free to play)

 

[Trunkage]

Well they are at least somewhat honest, i.e. the parts where they want to make extra cash and that microtransactions are their permanent feature now, also that they have a pro bullshitter on board.

Which is good to know when making informed purchasing decisions, and I will make sure not to purchase based on this information.

Honesty is the best policy!

They've clearly been desperate for extra money for some reason with the crowdfunding programs they've had, many of the DLC cost you etc. This has been a long time coming

 

[Bindal]

INSERT BETTER ALTERNATIVES HERE: (Give people a choice in games that have similar mechanics)

There, done. Full list.
Notice how it is empty?

 

[Hawk eye1466]

Well good now I can finally uninstall it for good, I was starting to dislike how much dlc they were just throwing out like candy and it's nice to see they dropped the pretense and have just flat out admitted they want microtransactions, I played the hell out of the game and now I'm done with it, probably forever since they are going to push the safes and all that crap real hard but I don't care.

Congratulations overkill you managed to prove all those people right who always bitched about the dlc being a cash grab totally right. Don't expect me to buy anything you put out again.

 

[Sarge034]

Just because of the lie they have lost my trust forever. I don't even give a fuck if the microtransactions were done well or not or if they end up fixing the system or even taking them out of the fucking game. You all lied to us straight to our faces, fuck you Overkill.

 

[truckspond]

Well, all of my curiosity for this game is gone

 

[JLF]

INSERT BETTER ALTERNATIVES HERE: (Give people a choice in games that have similar mechanics)

There, done. Full list.
Notice how it is empty?

There aren't any other good team based games on the market!? Yikes!
.
.
.
.
Or were you referring to participation?

In either case disinterest in how "service providers" promise one thing then change the product (even for valid reasons) is not a good practice for the consumer/other companies. It's dishonest/unethical marketing. This would not be a problem if the product was sold as free-to-play or as a time-limited service where one's contract comes to an end (e.g. WOW or a anti-virus program).

 

[FoolKiller]

Do people still play this that much?

I gave up before all the DLC ruined the game. It was fun for a while but I would only play once a week and each time I would need an hour of updates done before I could play. That was simply unacceptable as I can't waste 1 hour each time I wanted to play for a couple of hours.

 

[Bindal]

INSERT BETTER ALTERNATIVES HERE: (Give people a choice in games that have similar mechanics)

There, done. Full list.
Notice how it is empty?

There aren't any other good team based games on the market!? Yikes!
.
Or were you referring to participation?

I was referring to game mechanics. Just "team based coop game" isn't the only reason why I play Payday. There are also things like the theme, the objective focus, the amount of enemies I get to kill... I am pretty sure there is no other game out there that offers anything similar.

And just "Team based game" is even less accurate - as that would ALSO include competitive games. And I wouldn't play Payday if I was looking for a competitive game, now would I?

 

[JLF]

INSERT BETTER ALTERNATIVES HERE: (Give people a choice in games that have similar mechanics)

There, done. Full list.
Notice how it is empty?

There aren't any other good team based games on the market!? Yikes!
.
Or were you referring to participation?

I was referring to game mechanics. Just "team based coop game" isn't the only reason why I play Payday. There are also things like the theme, the objective focus, the amount of enemies I get to kill... I am pretty sure there is no other game out there that offers anything similar.

And just "Team based game" is even less accurate - as that would ALSO include competitive games. And I wouldn't play Payday if I was looking for a competitive game, now would I?

So technically they have a niche when it comes to Payday. Now I understand what you meant.
That also explains why they dare to take such an insane chance with their player base. If there are no alternatives people can not choose and will have to adapt to a disfavorable situation if they want to play.

 

[laggyteabag]

" From an economical standpoint however, completely based on statistics, we can already see that the Black Market update is working as we intended", ah yes, spoken like a true businessman.

I cringed at that part. When you're trying to downplay the fact that you've lied to your fanbase in the name of profits, and are now nickle-and-dimeing your customers, it's probably a bad idea to flash your cash in their face.

"You all hate this update, and you hate us for putting microtransactions in, but we made money from it, so as far as we're concerned, that is a win for us at Overkill!"

 

[Frankster]

I wouldn't have minded so much if it wasn't for fact these loots and drills take the place of normal loot now..

Between this and the addition of those lame swat van turret enemies (because taking on an inanimate object is sooo much fun) I just dunno wtf they have done to my payday2.
It's even worst for my buddies who recently bought the game and have to deal with this BS, unlocking parts for the guns you want is just unfeasible now.

And worst part is I hear they broke mods, thank god at least goonmod seems to be still active (emphasis on "seems", ill have to check this for myself).

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

I don't play FPS.

I don't play P2W.

It seems like I have more reason not to play it.

 

[Headsprouter]

Okay, if Overkill weren't greedy scumbags who went back on their promise, have a needlessly convoluted unlock system and a stupid amount of dlc, I would be willing to accept this if the crates were like TF2 crates, in that they drop separately from regular loot. That is: you get a number of weapons a week, say between 6 and 12 and up to 3 crates which you can purchase a key to open. If you want.

In terms of Payday this would be end of heist loot, plus a chance to get a bonus crate!

Sadly though they went down the "pay to win" route of trying to give people as much incentive to buy their shit as possible and are trying to cover it up with "it's harmless to the community because everybody wins! (as long as somebody pays money on top of a game they already paid money to own)" BS. So I don't want to be so reasonable.

Also, safes, drills whatever.

 

[Kwak]

Metacritic has spoken....
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/payday-2/user-reviews

 

[Strazdas]

And Payday 2 is staying off my hard drive. your loss.

<added microtransactions to the game - something Overkill explicitly stated that it would never do.

I think its worth mentioning that the people that stated it no longer work in the company.

we can already see that the Black Market update is working as we intended

doesnt matter what you intended. no, really, it does not matter at all. what matters is only what actually happened. and what happened is pay to win. if that was your intention then ill never buy anything from you again.

 

[Battenberg]

<added microtransactions to the game - something Overkill explicitly stated that it would never do.

I think its worth mentioning that the people that stated it no longer work in the company.

Almir Listo (the dev from the AMA) previously said "We've made it clear that PAYDAY 2 will have no micro-transactions whatsoever (shame on you if you thought otherwise!)". Plus even if those people had all left they spoke on behalf of Overkill and nobody made any effort to clarify that what they said wasn't true/ representative of the company's intentions.