PAYDAY 2: Difficulties & Sniper Update

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.

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 also get this achievement. The achievement offers a new mask for anyone who unlocks it.

A new skill, called Graze, have been added to the tier 4 of the Sharpshooter subtree to give a boost to Sniper Rifles and make them more interesting to play with. On its Basic level, a successful hit from a sniper shot will deal 20% of the damage on any nearby enemies, within 1m of the bullets path. On the Aced level, the bullet can deal 100% of it’s damage to nearby enemies if the shot managed to kill its target via a headshot.

Ammo Efficiency is moved from tier 4 of the Sharpshooter subtree to tier 3 to take the place of High Value Target. Specialized Killing has been removed from the game to be replaced with High Value Target.

All weapon tweaks from the beta are now released and can found below in the changelog. We have also removed the reward reductions on almost all mutators. Clone Army will have a 35% reduction instead of 50%. Creeps will keep the 50% reduction.

Do you dare to brave the Death Sentence?
OVERKILL_Tobias
OVERKILL – a Starbreeze Studio.

Update size: 112.7 MB

General Changes

• AI has been improved to be faster at navigating on all the levels
• AI performance will no longer be dependent on the host computer’s performance
• Levels should be less cluttered by enemies
• Player’s Team AI damage will no longer increase past Mayhem difficulty
• Maximum amount of enemies allowed on the map for the Assault to end has been reduced

Developer notes: The above mentioned changes will translate to better performance from the AI and that regardless of the host’s computer power.

Mayhem

• Enemies will take 33% more headshot damage
• G36 SWATS should do OVERKILL Damage instead of Death Wish damage

Death Wish

• Whenever a Bulldozer spawns, there is a chance that it will be a slow-moving Minigun-wielding Bulldozer
• One additional Taser is allowed into the level

Death Sentence (old One Down)
Developer notes: Our intention with Death Sentence is to have it as difficult as it currently is on the live version of the game without the extra health and One Down mechanics The combination of those two elements was drastically reducing the amount of viable builds available for One Down.

• Renamed One Down to Death Sentence
• Whenever a Bulldozer spawns, there is a chance that it will be a slow-moving Minigun-wielding Bulldozer
• Whenever a Bulldozer spawns, there is a chance that it will be a Medic Bulldozer. A Medic Bulldozer counts as both a Medic and a Bulldozer
• One additional Taser is allowed into the level
• One additional Bulldozer are allowed into the level
• Bulldozers will have 100% more health than the Death Wish bulldozers
• Specials will no longer spawn alone and will have a few SWATS accompanying them
• The numbers of time a player can go down before getting into custody is no longer reduced to 1
• Enemies health is reduced by 333%

  Developer notes: Death Sentence units will now have the same health as Death Wish and Mayhem units

• The black Zeal Bulldozer will now use an Izhma 12g Shotgun as a weapon
• The white Zeal Bulldozer will now use a KSP Light Machine Gun as a weapon
• Cloakers will now also drop a smoke bomb when they charge and kick down a player
• Due to an issue, Cloakers will use their normal model instead of the Zeal Cloaker model

One Down

• The One Down mechanic is now optional in the Game Settings when you buy a contract

• Graze
  • A new skill has been added as a Mastermind – Sharpshooter – Tier 4 Skill
• Specialized Killing
  • The skill has been removed and replaced with High Value Target
• High Value Target
  • The skill has been moved from Mastermind – Sharpshooter – Tier 3 to Ghost – Silent Killer – Tier 3
• Ammo Efficiency
  • The skill has been moved from Mastermind – Sharpshooter – Tier 4 to Mastermind – Sharpshooter – Tier 3
• Trigger Happy
  • Basic: Damage boost has been increased to 120% (up from 20%) and will now only stack 1 time (down from 4)
  • Aced: The damage boost increased duration has been reduced to 4 (down from 10)
• Joker
  • Basic: Converted units are having their damage reduced by 35%
  • Aced: Converted enemies damage is no longer reduced

  Developer notes: Due to the improved reaction time of the AI, converted enemies became deadlier than they need to be. Because of this reason we have reduced the amount of damage they can deal

Developer notes: Due to the introduction of the new skill and the removal of Specialized Killing we have adjusted the damage and stats of certain weapons to make sure they stay viable after the update

• Dragon’s Breath Rounds
  BETA ISSUE – Fixed that Dragon’s Breath does not ignite enemies
• Repeater 1874
  BETA ISSUE – Fixed an issue with culling objects on the scope
• Car-4 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 52 (up from 38)
  • DMR Kit damage decreased to 108 (down from 120)
• MP9 SMG
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 36)
• AMCAR Rifle
  • Damage increased to 42 (up from 36)
• AMR-16 Rifle
  • DMR Kit damage decreased to 66 (down from 80)
  • Damage increased to 94 (up from 80)
• Para SMG
  • Damage increased to 55 (up from 38)
• AK Rifle
  • Damage increased to 56 (up from 40)
  • DMR Kit damage decreased to 104 (down from 120)
• AK762 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 97 (up from 80)
  • DMR Kit damage decreased to 63 (down from 80)
• Krinkov Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• Akimbo Krinkov Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• AK5 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 56 (up from 38)
• UAR Rifle
  • Damage increased to 55 (up from 38)
• JP36 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 36)
• Kobus 90 Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 56 (up from 38)
• Compact-5 Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 40)
• Akimbo Compact-5 Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 40)
• Mark 10 Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Swedish K Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• Commando 553 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 42 (up from 35)
• SpecOps Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Eagle Heavy Rifle
  • Damage increased to 98 (up from 81)
• Falcon Rifle
  • Damage increased to 98 (up from 80)
• Gewehr 3 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
  • DMR Kit damage decreased to 61 (down from 80)
  • Reload animation has been updated
• Gecko 762 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 57 (up from 42)
• Clarion Rifle
  • Damage increased to 41 (up from 35)
• Cobra Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 36)
• Blaster 9mm Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 36)
• Uzi Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 40)
• Patchett L2A1 Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 42 (up from 36)
• Chicago Typewriter Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Queen’s Wrath Rifle
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Lion’s Roar Rifle
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Jacket’s Piece
  • Damage increased to 57 (up from 40)
• Valkyria Rifle
  • Damage increased to 41 (up from 36)
• Kross Vertex Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 42)
• Micro Uzi Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 36)
• Heather Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Akimbo Heather Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Bootleg Rifle
  • Damage increased to 40 (up from 38)
• CR 805B Rifle
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• Jackal Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• AK17 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• Tatonka Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• Signature Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 39)
• Akimbo Signature Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 44 (up from 39)
• MP40 Submachine Gun
  • Damage increased to 99 (up from 80)
• Union 556 Rifle
  • Damage increased to 58 (up from 40)
• Grom Sniper Rifle
  • Damage decreased to 160 (down from 300)
  • Total ammo increased to 40 (up from 30)
  • Rate of fire increased to 150 (up from 60)
• Contractor Sniper Rifle
  • Accuracy decreased to 60 (down from 72)
• Lebensauger 308 Sniper Rifle
  • Rate of fire increased to 150 (up from 120)
• Repeater 1874 Sniper Rifle
  • Damage increased to 246 (up from 160)
• Rattlesnake Sniper Rifle
  • Damage increased to 246 (up from 160)
• Nagant Sniper Rifle
  • Damage increased to 480 (up from 300)
• Platypus 70 Sniper Rifle
  • Damage increased to 480 (up from 300)
• R93 Sniper Rifle
  • Damage increased to 480 (up from 300)
• Desertfox Sniper Rifle
  • Damage increased to 480 (up from 300)
• Compact 40mm Grenade Launcher
  • Reload animation has been updated

• Clone Army will now reduce Experience and Money by 35% when active
• Alternate Arsenal will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Because of Training will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• BFFs will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Extraterrestrial Heisters will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Friendly Fire will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Hurt Me More will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Hydras will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Over Dozed will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active
• Waking Nightmare will no longer reduce Experience and Money gained when active

• Added new Death Sentence Achievements
• Updated all One Down Achievement icons with the new One Down Flag
• Updated all One Down Achievement descriptions to fit the new difficulty changes
• Renamed the “One Down Skull” Mask to “Death Sentence Skull”
• Added the new “One Down Skull” Mask
• Added the 950 Achievements Milestone
• Added the “Mega Greed” Mask
• Added Difficulty Achievements for the “Cursed Kill Room”
• Update some Achievement icons on Steam to match their in-game versions

Via: Steam Community