How do you actually play this game?

[theOtherGuy]

I keep trying to join Normal games, and my instructions are always, "Don't ♥♥♥♥ up!" or "Don't do anything and just hide." I go and hide, and then alarms go off, and they keep restarting or just kicking me without me doing anything....

I can't figure out how to actually play. I don't have any friends to play with (though my intent was to play with people, but it never panned out).

Should I just uninstall?

[Stonepaq]

You go in solo, and you shoot at cops head and follow the objectives.

[fathermuck]

Basically what Stonepaq says. Level up a bit. Solo some missions. The bank ones are a lot of fun, try some stealth. Then when you have a bit of confidence jump into games. For some reason players are crazy scared of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up. A lot of perfectionists play Payday, unfortunately. Do not play with these people. A game should be fun.

[Watermelons]

♥♥♥♥, don't uninstall because of some of the terrible people out there. There's always good, understanding players who know new players need to actually get started, just as there are stupid people who think you should have learned instantly. You can friend me if you want and I'll be glad to give you pointers and help you get started.

[Raven]

get some practice with easy heists like bank, jewelry store, and vlad's missions like four stores and mallcrasher

once you feel comfortable enough you can try joining some of said easier normal missions and build up from there

Avoid Elephant missions like Election day or Framing Frame btw

[Sir. Lagsalot]

I say do some Solo for a while, get to level 25-30-ish so you can play on Normal and increase your chances of not getting kicked. The game is fun, but I swear some people judge you by your level. Learn some of the curves in the game, learn what tactics you will use in different missions, figure out what build you need in certain missions, all the sorts.
I wish the best of luck to you!

[theOtherGuy]

Yeah, I've been trying to do Bank. Apparently people are... "card farming?"

Solo itself is kind of hard I think? The AI doesn't really do anything.

[Watermelons]

Originally posted by theOtherGuy:

Yeah, I've been trying to do Bank. Apparently people are... "card farming?"

Those people are idiotic then, because Jewelry Store is the best place for that.

[drewbstar]

-Go on Hard/Very Hard. Makes the cops look better/more realistic, and makes the game more fun.
-Avoid Tech skill tree as a whole, save for faster drills.
-Just figure out how you like to play. If you want to practice stealth, do Jewelry store or Bank Heists. Both have <=4 guards, meaning you can kill all guards and dominate the map.
-Find someone to directly teach you.
-Jewelry Store. Overkill. Camp the back alley ways/back rooms, and you'll learn how to fight real fast, but without being over exposed.
AI does more than you think, they are tied to the level/how hard you're playing. Play Hard/VH and they'll do more.
-Just play more, you'll learn. The learning curve is a curve, but it gets real easy later on.

[Robotnox]

Avoid Deathwish jobs and Overkill pro jobs until you at least an infamy ( 1 - XX ). People don't like no-infamy players in their games.

As you play the easy heists and understand how to complete heists like Jewelry Store or Mallcrasher effective, try host the game yourself and set the difficult to Overkill for bigger cashs and XP. People joining your game are most likely to be friendly and help you complete the heist. Try get over level 50 and people will start to be more accepting to you.

Then when you are level 70 and 80, you should have no problem joining an Overkill game with a heist that you are confident in. Learn to survive and don't go down too much.

[[E12] Zeshi]

Originally posted by theOtherGuy:

Yeah, I've been trying to do Bank. Apparently people are... "card farming?"

Solo itself is kind of hard I think? The AI doesn't really do anything.

The AI works good for soaking up bullets, dealing damage and helping you up. But they can´t handle Swat Van Turrets and will get downed really fast. So I would recommend you play the mentioned Mallcrasher, Four Stores, Jewelry Store and Ukrainian Job first solo. The last two can be stealthed without a lot preparation.

For hosts being ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to new players: we hosted a bank job DW earlier and wanted to stealth it fast and a lvl 35 player didn´t react to our comments and just equipped a heavy armor and ran into the bank. It would have been a good payday for him but he was too stubborn or inexperienced to listen to us so we had to kick him.
I like to teach new players the game mechanics but some feedback would be great. The game offers little to no tutorial so you should listen to (good) hosts and players.

[Rokk]

Sounds like you were joining stealth heists. Try loud ones first.

[Rockfire ✘]

Pubs and stealth do not mix. Solo or get a crew, if you intend play in pubs, focus on the loud heists you'll have a much better time with them.

[theOtherGuy]

Yeah, trying to solo some now... if the game would stop crashing all of a sudden.

[Páv]

Do a normal solo one, it's quite easy.

[God Of Succ]

Crashing, Eh?

You tried verifying the game cache or deleting IPHLPAPI.dll ?