Did DLC really "ruin" this game? The reviews make it seem like you are forced to buy all of it to continue playing...

Did DLC really "ruin" this game? The reviews make it seem like you are forced to buy all of it to continue playing. Should I get the first game instead?

First game is dead but played by people who are competent. PD2 could've been better but the base game is just L4D2 where people can shoot back, the DLC is cancer and locks content behind paywalls but there is a DLC unlocker because the DLC is just a token, the content's already in the game when it gets updated for the DLC.

you don't HAVE to buy it, but you're going to have a bitch of a time on the harder difficulties without them, and it doesn't help that Overkill has been nerfing the fuck out of everything.

PD2 was always a stop-and-go bag throwing simulation. PD1 is all but dead and it's hard to keep players around because they quit if you fuck up even once.

It contributed but it was mostly ruined by Goldfarb who has since fucked off to go ruin some other game.

It wasn't so bad at first but by this point i'm pretty sure there are more weapons locked behind DLC than there are weapons in the base game. Many of the DLC weapons are also essential for higher difficulties.

Just don't get it. It's like Warframe in that it was a good game but it's not worth getting into now.

Protip: use DLC unlocker.

Thanks guys. Do you know if Payday 1 has private/player hosted servers or do I have to rely on dedicated servers?

It's just player hosted.

Uses peer to peer connections so it's player hosted. Uses Steamworks for master server. Same goes for PD2.

This is literally "reddit: the game"

Not all of then.

Yes, there is some DLCs that are essential to the game, such as the Gage Courier Pack and the Medieval pack if you want to play One Down, but most of times you can use some non-DLC weapons and do some stuff with skills. Silencer boost skills are your best friends if you want to build a non-DLC build.

But I do recommend that, if you buy the game, buy the GOTY version. It comes with most of the more useful DLCs as well as some filler stuff. The heists are only for hosting, with you being able to enter games that you don't have the DLC normally, the only DLCs that you won't have are the Shotgun pack (if you like shotguns), the BBQ pack (if you want the Molotov Cocktail) and the Medieval (for the Corssbow) and the only character DLC that is good is Clover, that comes with the GOTY edition. Or you can use the DLC unlocker and have every DLC at the cost of a cheater tag that does nothing but shows that you hacked.

I do recommend the game, but only if you have friends to play with or if you REALLY want a horde game, since is one of the better ones. Otherwise, PD1 may be a better experience.

Anything above Overkill is not fun and heavily meta-reliant because of the ridiculous health of enemies. Also melee is now almost completely useless. Before with right skills you could beat a bulldozer to death in just few swings.

No. DLC unlocker all the way, and host your own lobbies or get a friend to do that for you. Most lobbies have "cheater kick" enabled because of salty fucks who paid for DLC.

It reeks of reddit. Something about it has always put me off from the series. Point Break masks make sense but a Sons of Anarchy tie-in is just gay.


lol will do

The DLC didn't ruin the game, the business practice of dividing and locking up new maps behind paywalls did it.

It's been a while since I played, but I remember there being weapons that acted as straight upgrades to base game weapons. There's also builds that are suboptimal at best and impossible at worst without DLC packs. If you really want to play it, buy the base game, then use the BLT unlocker mod that unlocks all DLC weapons. You'll probably get kicked from 90% of pub games, but it won't matter if you're playing with friends.

here's the thing a lot of the DLCs they created literally break and make the game extremely easy even at the highest difficulty (One Down). Now for One Down its almost essential to have the stupidly overpowered weapon but if you want to just play this for fun you can still get by the base game (Overkill, Mayhem). Problem is no so much the guns but really the community as a whole and the as one stated the maps being behind DLCs

I mean there are a few maps on its own in the base game but if you want the maps with the highest pay out, reward, xp and longevity overall you gotta shell out some cash which sucks because it takes out like a good 40% of the game without it.

The community within is just balls. If you are new and have never played you are going to get reemed so hard you'll never want to play the game ever again. It follows L4D2 logic in that you really need to play with Friends to make this enjoyable.

I've played about a thousand hours of PD2, own most of the DLC from sales and got the game as a gift. I've probably paid about 30bux for the game all up, and had a shitload of fun. There are some really, really good levels, but there's also some total trash. It seems like they're getting better over time in general, so I'm interested to see what they can come up with for Payday 3. They've got some serious problems with balance and power creep from DLC gear, which is pretty irritating. There are free guns that can be kitted up to be just as good as some of the DLC ones, but you miss out on some versatility for builds if you don't have a few important perk decks.

It's really good with friends, but pubs are generally terrible.

The game was fun until they ruined it with revamping shit and the blackmarket update, but yes it's jewish as fuck.
You don't "need" the DLC but that could be said about anything that is not food.
The DLC basically gives you weapons that are straight upgrades from the base game's own weapons, and attachments that go on otherwise unused slots so you also make existing weapons better. There's also DLC maps but you kind of get to play the DLC maps anyway if the host owns them

The first PD was great. The heists were long, grand and varied. While the base mechanic was the same (waves of enemies) the objectives were different between the heists. And even if you failed, you still gain xp, unlocked upgrades, so failing wasn't so painful.

The second focused on fixing on the main criticism of the first; little customization and nothing to spend the heisted money on, and they did a good job of that, but broke everything that made the first fun.
They made the heists shorter. The themes have been dumbed down (instead of robbing a big world bank, you rob a mum and pop bank). The objective is always fix and wait for drills, get the loot to extraction point. And if you fail, you get nothing! This in turn has fostered a cancerous community who scream and quit if you don't do everything perfectly.

I quit shortly after release, things have no doubt changed.

Use DLC unlocker as other anons stated, if you don't want a cheater tag grab it in the sale.
If you have the autism to play it enough you can buy new DLC just by selling found weapon skins.
I grabbed the 11€ Scarface packs without spending a single cent.

Most of the original heists are still just as shit as they always were, but a lot of the newer ones are great. Probably my favourite is Beneath The Mountain, where you assault a mountain stronghold full of mercenaries to loot vaults of highly valuable artefacts. It's got 3 main stages with different objectives (that all basically boil down to either waiting for a timer or finding certain items, or both) but it's really well put together and moves you through a bunch of set pieces to fight in. I think the only reason I've enjoyed PD2 so much is because I really like the combat. If it's not your cup of tea, you'll probably never really like the game.

The series went from 'serious insanity' situations to 'what stupid shit can we steal this time?' My favorite heist from the first game is Mercy Hospital, because even though it's the most unrealistic of the heists, it was intense from beginning to end and I didn't feel like I was being told Borderlands-tier jokes. Almost all the base-game or free heists in Payday 2 are small-scale, 5 minute in-and-out missions that they celebrate as much as robbing the worlds largest bank or rescuing a bunch of goats.

Actually you get xp rewards now for failing too. not a lot but you get some just no cash.

The Black Market Update was fixed though. They got rid of sort of.

But really its the community that's bad.

I wouldn't know, i'm from south america and the playerbase consists of hues and fellow spics which if you're any of them they're always bro tier.
Whenever i hop in pd2 i either fuck around with brs or play the game semi-seriously while making jokes