Are the Payday Gang somehow the GOOD guys in-universe?

[Z3r0_]

Here's my arguments in a nutshell:

-FACT: The Payday gang only goes after people who can afford to get robbed. There's a reason Bain gets♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥when you kill civvies and won't let you steal stuff out of their pockets or stuff like phones (though the latter could be explained as activated phones being possible to track, whereas you can steal ones in electronics stores that presumably don't have sim cards in them). Also, the speech on FWB.

-The Department of Homeland SURVEILLANCE is a thing, with a level of overreach that'd make the NSA when the Patriot Act was signed green with envy and its own paramilitary units.

-The WPD SWAT and Federal Bureau of INTERVENTION is able to call upon what are basically special forces infiltration specialists (Cloakers) whenever needed. The latter agency apparently won't do part of their real-life counterparts' job (rooting out corruption at the federal level) unless you have their director by the balls, and even then solely to steal something for said extortionist rather than to actually prosecute anybody.

-High society in American in the Payday universe is almost hilariously corrupt, especially politicians (remember, Bob McKendrick was giving out free Chimano Custom pistols to anybody who'd vote for him - even the most desperate Pro-Second Ammendment Politician irl wouldn't have the balls to try this, and that's not even getting into the events of Election Day). Don't get me started on the Elephant - the FBI didn't even bother to go after him until the Kataru demanded that they rob him and even then it seems that they let him go with a slap on the wrist once they got what they really wanted. Despite them KNOWING he's corrupt and that he has connections to CrimeNET (surprising, considering Commissioner Garret's single-minded hatred of said organization and Bain in particular).

-The very fact that CrimeNET can exist points to there being something SERIOUSLY wrong with the legal and justice systems.

-Everything involving the Kataru, 'nough said.

-Murkywater and the nukes in Meltdown. 'nough said.

So this all begs the question: are the powers that be so hopelessly corrupt/incompetent/impotent in the face of an international conspiracy that a bunch of bank robbers are the GOOD guys in this setting!?

[Stret]

are you sure harvest & trustee can afford to be robbed 30 times a day?

also, dragan once robbed an innocent man's car

[Vaakalintu]

Also bain blows up a bridge full of civilians in their cars so...

[Z3r0_]

Originally posted by Stret1311:

are you sure harvest & trustee can afford to be robbed 30 times a day?

also, dragan once robbed an innocent man's car

Originally posted by Scorch:

Also bain blows up a bridge full of civilians in their cars so...

Those seem to be pretty tame compared to smuggling nukes into the middle of downtown DC (not to mention allowing it to happen in the first place - SOMEBODY in Customs didn't do their job).

[lil blade]

hi

[lil blade]

[Sir Tontonolous]

Originally posted by Z3r0_:

So this all begs the question: are the powers that be so hopelessly corrupt/incompetent/impotent in the face of an international conspiracy that a bunch of bank robbers are the GOOD guys in this setting!?

I love this storyline so much.

Oh, and they did save the world from cyborgs that one time.

[Z3r0_]

Originally posted by Doomie™:

Originally posted by Z3r0_:

So this all begs the question: are the powers that be so hopelessly corrupt/incompetent/impotent in the face of an international conspiracy that a bunch of bank robbers are the GOOD guys in this setting!?

I love this storyline so much.

Oh, and they did save the world from cyborgs that one time.

Yeah but that was a movie tie-in, so I don't know if that really counts.

[Hyper Realistic Silly Gibs]

Congratulations, you cracked a case that was already open and shut.

[Clancy McFancy]

And don't forget, at this point it's the gang vs the fbi attempting to summon alien gods.
PayDay gang are unintentional heroes every time.

[Z3r0_]

Originally posted by Clancy McFancy:

And don't forget, at this point it's the gang vs the fbi attempting to summon alien gods.
PayDay gang are unintentional heroes every time.

Almost makes you wonder if we're going to get one of the FBI's agents going postal some time and joining the gang as a heister. I vote for an ex-cloaker, with a perk deck revolving around melee-dodge (the existing melee decks work better with armor/armor gating)

[Sir Tontonolous]

Originally posted by Z3r0_:

Originally posted by Clancy McFancy:

And don't forget, at this point it's the gang vs the fbi attempting to summon alien gods.
PayDay gang are unintentional heroes every time.

Almost makes you wonder if we're going to get one of the FBI's agents going postal some time and joining the gang as a heister. I vote for an ex-cloaker, with a perk deck revolving around melee-dodge (the existing melee decks work better with armor/armor gating)

A melee build with crits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrMawW5J6NU&pbjreload=10

[Z3r0_]

Originally posted by Doomie™:

Originally posted by Z3r0_:

Almost makes you wonder if we're going to get one of the FBI's agents going postal some time and joining the gang as a heister. I vote for an ex-cloaker, with a perk deck revolving around melee-dodge (the existing melee decks work better with armor/armor gating)

A melee build with crits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrMawW5J6NU&pbjreload=10

And I'm thinking that the main advantage of the perk deck, other than dodge and increased melee damage, is increased chance of knocking enemies down. The FINAL rank of the perk deck will make it so that, on a LONG cooldown (which can be shortened by getting kills), you can launch yourself forward in the cloaker's signature flying kick and instantly take out the first cop you hit with it, which also instantly restores your health. There would be exceptions though:

-Dozers (and their variants). HOWEVER, successfully hitting them with this WOULD instantly break their visor completely and stun them for a couple of seconds, making them easier to kill with gunfire.
-Captain Winters, unless you hit him from behind, and all this will do is knock him down, then he'll get back up and retreat.
-SWAT Turrets. Unless you're the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Hulk, you're not gonna kill a turret by kicking it.

Alternatively you can use it to jump gaps on certain heists like Brooklyn 10-10 and Undercover more easily.