I've been away for a two years, what did I miss?

[ShadowScorpion99]

I stopped playing payday 2 around the time they were implementing lootboxes. I'm thinking about hopping back in but was curious about what has changed. Thanks.

[Stret]

many things

[Jet]

From 2016- to now

-Skill Tree Revamp
-More Character Packs
+Biker Rust, Sydney, and some others
-Difficulty Rebalance
-Sniper Update
-A bunch of non DLC weapons and character packs
-H3H3 Pack
+^That Pack was supposed to be a joke
-a bunch of heist packs

Note: it’s not a complete list of changes but, a small list of things that I find interesting or useful


EDIT: I forgot to mention that 2 more game modes are available.

Crime Spree and hold out

[drewbstar]

Originally posted by Stret1311:

many things

basically this

some more maps
even more annoying characters
cops now appear in 100+ crowds
assault phases got weirder (basically no fade)
another minigun
secondary flamethrower

[Sunk Cost Fallacy]

-more heists, weapons, characters, perk decks, enemies, masks, etc... (the usual)

-skilltrees have been revamped and overhauled

-two new difficulties and all difficulties have been revamped and overhauled.

-four new gamemodes: crime spree(endless), mutators, storyline and defend the hostage.

-payday story is progressing and going deeper, so play the storyline mode to find out everything.

-more graphic settings and better user interface, menu, and inventory changes, just some little nice minor stuff.

-skins are now free to get, no need for drill to open them.

thats all, literally.

[Sunk Cost Fallacy]

and i mean literally.

[🅷🅴🆇🅴🅽]

Completely Overkill DLC. It's not bad, because it's only masks and adds nothing of value but sure - don't hide it or move it to the "Event" section - let's sit it there for everybody to see and be reminded that yo missed it - ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! What a ♥♥♥♥♥-move to make it limited and don't have the curtesy to remove it after nothing is left.

[<3]

Haven't played in 2 years either...

[Bodhi]

DLC-related

All content released (save for the h3h3 Character packs) after May 11, 2017 will be free for all players

All DLC (except for COPack, h3h3 Character Packs and various promotional content) has been consolidated into one dynamic bundle as 'Payday 2 Ultimate Edition'

The price of the Ultimate Edition bundle depends on how many DLC was owned beforehand (USD$45 without basegame/DLC)
The base game remains purchasable for USD$10 to allow gifting of the game
PAYDAY 3 is confirmed to be in development; released 'when it's done'.

PAYDAY 2 content support is expected to end on 2019
Heists

Basegame/Community group-exclusive

Vlad: Aftershock, Santa's Workshop, Stealing XMas

New contractor: Classics: FWB, Slaughterhouse, Panic Room, Heat Street, Green Bridge and Diamond Heist remakes

Events: Lab Rats, Prison Nightmare, Cursed Killroom, permanent Safehouse Nightmare (Halloween event maps)

New contractor: Jimmy: Murky Station, Boiling Point (Hardcore Henry crossover)

New contractor: Locke: Alaskan Deal, Reservoir Dogs Heist, Brooklyn Bank, Breaking Feds, Henry's Rock, Shacklethrone Auction

The Basics: Meant for new players, 1 Loud-only, 1 Stealth-only

Occasional Safehouse Raid (happens once every 3 IRL days, awards 6 Continental Coins on completion)

Ultimate Edition only

Locke: Beneath the Mountain, Birth of Sky (Point Break 2015 crossover DLC)

Vlad: Goat Simulator (Goat Simulator crossover DLC)

Classics: Counterfeit and Undercover remakes (Wolf Pack DLC for PD2, Free for PDTH Wolf Pack owners)

The Elephant: Biker Heist (Biker Heist DLC)

The Butcher: Scarface Mansion (Scarface Heist DLC)

New contractor: The Continential: Brooklyn 10-10, The Yacht heist (John Wick crossover Heist DLC)

Notes:

Pro Jobs has been removed from the game since Oct 2016 as part of the difficulty overhaul; you might notice that you have missing achievements when you check your achievement progress.

Completing heists on higher difficulties now awards completion achievements for all lower difficulties now. (i.e Finishing a DS heist awards all difficulty completion achievements, etc)

When you log back in for the first time you will be automatically awarded Normal/Hard/Very Hard/Overkill/Mayhem heist completion achievements for any heist done on DW, if you are unfairly banned for these please contact the Steam Community moderators

Any heists done on One Down before March 2 2017 will be converted to Death Sentence + One Down active achievements, and awards a normal Death Sentence version of the achievement
Murky Station, The Yacht Heist and Breaking Feds are Stealth Only heists

Inventory

Basegame/Community group-exclusive

Primaries: Galant, Union 5.56 AR, Ksp 58 LMG, Platypus 70 Sniper rifle, XL 5.56 Microgun Special weapon, multiple new Akimbo pistols/SMGs/shotguns (refer to note 3 below)

Secondaries: White Streak, 5/7 AP, Castigo .44, Parabellum, Crosskill Guard pistols, Goliath 12G, Grimm 12G shotguns, Heather, MP40, Signature SMGs, Compact 40mm GL, MA-17 Flamethrower

Throwables/Utility 'throwables': HEF, 'Concussion', Incendiary, Smokebomb (Sicario perk only), Matryoshka, Stoic Flask (Stoic perk only), Pocket ECM (Hacker perk only) grenades

HEF Grenades have same stats as HE Grenades in Gage Weapon Pack #1 DLC

Matryoshka Grenades are statistically the same as the HE Grenades in the Gage Weapon Pack #1 DLC
Stun grenades can stun most enemies for 1-2 seconds at the cost of dealing no damage
Incendiary grenades do not detonate on impact or allow area denial unlike Molotovs; on detonation after 2 seconds causes surrounding enemies to be lit on fire and can be thrown around like regular grenades
Various weapon attachments for other weapons (most notably a gadget that adds zoom and stability when active and a usable LMG bipod)

Various melees, most notably the Electric Brass Knuckles (free counterpart to Buzzer melee)

Perk Decks: Ex-Presidents (based on health regen), Maniac (based on resisting damage for self and team), Sicario (based on dodging enemy fire using smoke grenades at the cost of no conventional throwables), Stoic (based on reducing damage taken at the cost of no armour and conventional throwables), Hacker (based on increasing survivability using Pocket ECMs at the cost of conventional throwables)

Ultimate Edition only

Primaries: Bootleg, Little Friend 7.62mm, AK17 ARs, Breaker 12G shotgun, Desertfox, Contractor .308, Grom Sniper Rifles, Akimbo Contractor pistols, Airbow Special weapon

Secondaries: Baby Deagle, Contractor pistols, CR805, Jackal, Tantoka SMGs, China Puff 40mm, Arbiter, Commando 101 GLs, GSPS 12G shotgun

Throwables/Utility 'throwables': Throwing Axe, Throwing Knives, Injector (Kingpin perk only), Gas Dispenser (Tag Team only)

Various weapon attachments for other weapons (most notably magazines that decreases weapon reload speed by half)

Various melees, most notably the Ice Pick (high damage and conceal but slow swing)

Perk Decks: Anarchist (based on increased armour and more armour regen on hit at the cost of health), Biker (based on regenerating small amounts of health and armour on kill), Kingpin (based on damage tanking via a booster at the cost of no conventional throwables), Tag Team (based on working together with another player to get health from kills)

Note: The Arbiter GL, and all mask items in the Gage SpecOps pack require players to collect keys and a crate from 4 basegame jobs on any difficulty to unlock. This guide can help with finding these items. When complete, redeem them as with any other side job.

Note 2: The Galant AR, Parabellum pistol, MP40 SMG, and all masks in the Aldstone's Heritage pack require players to complete various tasks found on the Sidejobs tab on the Safehouse function. When complete, redeem them as with any other side job.

Note 3: All available secondary pistols/SMGs/shotguns including pre-U78 weapons, except Peacemaker .45, 5/7 AP pistols, Locomotive 12G, Street Sweeper shotguns. Weapons that were DLC in their individual forms are available in Akimbo form regardless of DLC ownership.

Misc/non-meta

8 new heisters; Bodhi, Jimmy, Sydney, Rust, Scarface, Sangres, Duke, Joy

2 playable Youtubers: Ethan, Hila
Armour skins

Most skins are awarded as a random reward from Crime Sprees, higher-end skins are obtained from Armour Safes (acquisition is similar to other safes, also free to unlock), all armour skins do NOT have wear conditions/affect player stats
Reload speed is now shown in stats screens; shows time taken to reload from a dry mag

Various masks, materials and patterns from other DLCs/joining the Dead by Daylight/Solus Project Steam Community groups.

Most notably: Mega masks of Clover, Sydney, Rust, Duke and various 'normal' masks (Mega Rust is an achievement reward for hitting Crime Spree level 250, Mega Clover is obtained via Steam keys, Mega Sydney is a reward for donating to a charity, other Mega Masks are unlocked for reaching certain achievement milestones)
Difficulty changes

Added 2 new difficulties: Mayhem and Death Sentence

Mayhem: The transitional difficulty between Overkill and Death Wish; health values similar to Death Wish values, damage values similar or close to Overkill values
Death Sentence: New highest difficulty; increased enemy spawn rates/health/damage
NOTE: Death Sentence replaces the old One Down difficulty as of Mar 2 2017
Other difficulties (VHard, Overkill, Death Wish) have various changes to enemy health and spawns.

Examples: Cloakers on DW and above drop smoke grenades on kick, enemy reinforcements spawning alongside Specials, etc
Current breakpoints guide
Spreadsheet of enemy HP, damage, also includes damage values for player AI weapons and current ammo pickup values by Frankelsner
Added a 'One Down' toggle in the contract broker which only allows players to go down once before custody regardless of base difficulty

New Special enemy: The Medic

Can revive nearby cops who are close to death, including Specials except Cloakers and Captain Winters
Spawns on Overkill difficulty and above, share health values with Tasers, common spawn
'New' Bulldozer variants: Minigun Dozer and Medic Dozer

Minigun Dozer: larger magazine size than Skulldozers, doubled health values from standard Dozers to make up for inability to sprint and slow movement speed, spawns on Death Wish and above (25% chance per Dozer spawn on DW, 20% on DS)
Medic Dozer: acts similarly to normal Medics, but with a larger health pool and weaker weapon, spawns only on Death Sentence (20% per Dozer spawn)
SWAT turret 'reworked'; destroying it's shield temporarily disables the turret (can be done up to 3 times), tear gas deployed instead of flashbangs when going too close to active turret

Ceiling turrets in Beneath the Mountain/Boiling Point function almost similarly to pre Crimefest 2015 SWAT turret; helicopter turrets in Biker Heist Day 2/Green Bridge function similarly to van turrets albeit with more mobility
All enemy AI are no longer dependent on frame rates; expect more active cops even on low-performing computers

The meta-game (Consult /r/paydaybuilds for example builds)

Most popular DW/DSOD builds use the following: LMGs, secondary grenade launchers, shotguns, akimbo weapons, DMRs, highly concealable ARs/SMGs for meta weapons, Armorer/Rogue/Stoic/Anarchist for meta perks, Stun Grenades for throwables, skills such as Inspire, Swan Song, Nine Lives, relevant armour/dodge skills such as Iron Man/Sneaky Bastard, relevant weapon skills such as Overkill/Shotgun CQB for shotguns, Ammo Efficiency for DMRs, Low Blow/Berserker/Frenzy for low damage(and/or highly concealable) weapons.

Total overhaul of skills system; each skill tree has 3 sub-trees for each of the existing 5 skill trees (i.e Enforcer is split into 3 sub-trees for shotguns, armour and ammo management, etc), and putting points into skill tree no longer cost spending cash

Perk decks are also 'rebalanced', notably Grinder has a cooldown on how long it's effect can proc, Hitman's armour penalties are removed and armour regenerates after 1.5s regardless of state, Muscle regenerates 3.5% of health every 5 seconds, Armourer gives 2 sec invulnerability when armour is broken, etc

Weapon rebalance has slightly changed; most weapons deals more damage, pistols have reduced damage, assault rifles got a small accuracy and pickup rate buff, DMR pickup rates are reduced to 1 bullet per box. Accuracy and Stability uses new values (old accuracy x 5 = new accuracy, old stability x 4 = new stability)

Players can use PD2Tools to gather weapon data before and after modding and the More Weapons Stats BLT mod to view exact weapon stats in-game
The Long Guide is back.

Miscellaneous

General improvements (Advanced video settings, Leg hitboxes, Loadout profiles, Persistent gadget state, in-game coin system to unlock Safehouse features/weapon mods ala Goonmod's Gage Coins feature, Mutators ala Goonmod Mutators function, in-game achievement tracking)

Online improvements (Character preference list, Joining player indicator, Banlists, Drop-In prompts, Desync fixes for clients/hosts, modded lobby filters/mod list for clients when joining, Discord integration)

Offline improvements (Bots able to trade players out of custody, staying in position if ordered, and carrying bags, being able to use more weapons, can no longer be stunlocked from high damage, higher health/regen rate, provide player bonuses when bots are active such as faster reloads, higher health/armour/dodge/concealment, etc and uses bot abilities such as Inspiring players, piercing enemy shields regardless of weapon, faster interaction times, etc)

...and other minor improvements (not) easily noticeable in-game

Linux and VR support for Payday 2

VR mode is free to existing PD2 owners, has various tweaks to skills for balance, and can be played online with other PC players
New Safehouse added; Players above Lvl 25 can check out the new safehouse, and customise it

Each of the 21 heisters' has a room that can be upgraded twice and can be accessed even without the relevant DLC. Some rooms has a function when upgraded (i.e Upgrading Wick's room unlocks a shooting range and a time trial range at higher tiers)
You can interact with the heisters/butler and they will 'talk' to you (extra dialogue can happen if interacted with as certain heisters)
Completing certain requirements under the Trophies can unlock visual trophies in the safehouse for decoration
Completing Safehouse Dailies/Safehouse Raids gives Continental Coins which can be used for various features (see General improvements tab)
You can also show off your safehouse with friends/public
New 'Gamemode': Crime Sprees

Gamemode which strings together series of one-day heists/individual days from multi-day heists non-stop and offers money, Continential Coins, and multiple card drops for mask and armour customisation. Difficulty is locked to OVK only.
For every 20/26/50 spree levels (levels increase as players finish heists), players are forced to add modifiers to increase difficulty (every 20 levels = 1 loud modifier, every 26 levels = 1 stealth modifier, every 50 levels = forced +15% health/+30% damage boost on enemies; other modifiers available include unique enemy behaviour/spawns, less pagers answerable, etc)
Players can pay 16 Coins to apply a Gage Boost to all players in the lobby for the duration of the heist, which does not carry over (boosts include extra health, one more down before custody, one more deployable, etc)
No in-game restarts; players need to pay a high penalty (in Continential Coins) to re-attempt/resume
Requires players to be at least Level 66 or Infamous I to begin, also requires Coins to start out from a higher spree level (Spree level 0 can be started with no cost)
Sprees can be cashed out regardless of progress/failure; rewards include cash, masks/materials/colours, weapon attachments, experience, Continental Coins and unique cosmetic items such as armour skins and unique Mega Rust mask (obtained on unlocking achievement for reaching Spree Level 250; not tied to Crime Spree rewards itself)
NOTE: Securing additional loot on Crime Spree does not affect final payout
New 'Gamemode': Storyline Mode

Gamemode which chains certain requirements/heists in-game as a pseudo-campaign mode and give newer players a basic outline of the Payday 2 story/checklist on what to do
Rewards cash, continental coins, EXP for completing each mission
Offline Storyline Mode allows players to try out DLC heists they do not currently own
New 'Gamemode': Holdout

Gamemode which requires players to protect a hostage for 9 waves which increase in difficulty over time using modifiers similar to Crime Spree
Rewards cash and XP dependent on how many waves players successfully hold out - no rewards if hostage is freed or a player goes into custody regardless of progress
1-2 card drops and a unique mask can be obtained from holding off 3, 5 or 9 waves respectively on successful Weekly Holdouts
Reworked achievement page which include Mega masks, an exclusive armour/weapon skin set awarded for reaching major milestones, in-heist achievement tracking

Community-relevant changes:

All mods need to be redownloaded due to Payday 2 being updated to use the LuaJIT format; latest version of BLT can be downloaded here

Custom content such as weapons, enemies, heists and music are available (requires the Beardlib add-on to function)

Most popular mods to use include WolfHUD/Void UI for HUD mods, Iter+More Weapon Stats for quality of life improvements, Full Speed Swarm for difficulty enhancement, Lobby Player Info for easier cheater detection, SuperBLT+Beardlib for more powerful modding capabilities

Official Workshop support allowing submission of fan-made weapon/armour skins for use on future community safes

Unimportant crap: (Ignore)

[Sir Tontonolous]

Originally posted by centumetocto:

-skins are now free to get, no need for drill to open them.

Not exactly. All the old safes that used drills still use them. The new safes, however, are free from this requirement.

[unknown]

While at first it was stab boosted skins now you can simply get stat boosts as an attachment so the skins are cosmetic only now as you can simply just add a stat boost onto yoru weapon. I prefer the default skins myself as they look like actual guns rather than ugly toy guns

[Sep]

Here is a few highlight, hope it help.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1388761402