PAYDAY 2: Difficulties & Sniper Update

Difficulties & Sniper Beta is now live in the main branch of PAYDAY 2

The Difficulties & Sniper Beta has been out for about three weeks and we have gotten a lot of response and feedback. Now it’s time for the final update and bring the whole thing into the main game. We still look for more opinions as all the changes come to its fruition. It does however mean that the “Open Beta feedback forum” will soon close down as we migrate back to using the “Suggestions & Feedback” as well as the “Bug Reporting” forum.

Changes to the Difficulties

The most prominent change is that the One Down mechanic is removed for the highest difficulty. It is now a toggle when you purchase a contract and the highest difficulty in the game has now changed name from “One Down” to “Death Sentence”. The One Down mechanic can be toggled on for any difficulty in the game, not only Death Sentence. However this won’t affect the reward or cost of the contract. One Down contracts won’t spawn on their own on CrimeNet, only other players contract will be available, if you activate One Down lobbies in filters. The AI has also been optimized to move faster through the level to avoid long pauses where the player is alone without opposition. The reaction time of the enemies will no longer be dependant on the hosts computers performance. This means that PAYDAY 2 will offer a equal experience regardless of how powerful the computer hosting the game is. Units on Death Sentence have gotten their health pools substantially reduced and will now have the same health as Mayhem and Death Wish. And even some Crime Spree specific units are now introduced within the original game on the higher difficulties, such as... Minigun and Medic Bulldozers The Minigun and Medic Bulldozers that you previously could only encounter in Crime Spree will now make an appearance in your regular heisting when playing on the Death Sentence difficulty. The Minigun Bulldozer can also appear on the Death Wish difficulty. Keep your eyes peeled since these boys don’t play nice! New and Old Achievements & Rewards Each level will now have an achievement for completing it on Death Sentence with and without the One Down modifier turned on. The old One Down achievements have been converted to Death Sentence with the One Down mechanic turned on. New achievements have been created for completing a heist on Death Sentence difficulty without the One Down mechanic. If you have completed a heist on the old One Down difficulty it will count as having completed it on Death Sentence with the One Down mechanic turned on (as well as with the mechanic turned off). Completing a heist with the One Down mechanic active, on any difficulty will award the achievement for the difficulty you played on and below. The old “One Down Skull” mask has been named as “Death Sentence Skull”. The achievement “One More Down, No More To Go” has been renamed to “A Heister of Legend”. If you already had the achievement and the mask. you will keep them both. A new achievement has been created that took over the name “One More Down, No More To Go”. It is rewarded when you complete all contracts on the Death Sentence difficulty with the One Down mechanic activated. Any who had the old One Down achievement prior to the update will