I don't see why Overkill is considered easy

[Nino_Chaosdrache]

Basically the consens in the forum is that every difficulty below Deadthwish is easy, but I can agree with this. A friend and me played some heists on Overkill for the first time and compared to Very Hard, what we usually play, it was brutal. I guess the main reason for this was the higher spawn rates, but during our first few games we just got crushed by the police and even after we got used to it it was still a rough fight. The only time where the heist went pretty good was in Nightclub, when I used the Piglet with fire grenades and the Grinder perck deck.

Now I don't say that this is a bad thing and I actually expect the game to be hard when playing on such a high difficulty. But after this experience I can't agree that Overkill is an easy diffculty that can be played without any problem like the forums make it look like. I even used Grinder in one heist, because I thought it would be helpful, but it barely did anything to keep me alive.

When you already mastered Deathwish then it's understandable that you think Overkill is easy, but coming from Hard or Very Hard it's not in my opinion. It also made me hope that Overkill as a developer will always think about the not so good players if they release balance patches in the future and don't balance everything around DW.

[Sirsucksalot]

I don't get it either, welcome to Payday 2, I guess. :\

[pH]

It always seems more difficult jumping up to the next level. I personally play mostly on Overkill and do an occasional Deathwish heist. Overkill is really easy to be honest because it literally is just more of what you saw previously except they hit harder. That's exactly what Deathwish is. Overkill is the difficulty where you need to actually pay attention to aiming properly, what equipment to bring, how to avoid fights, how to use cover, lure targets; basically act as a team player and apply yourself at the game.

Grinder is stupidly easy to use and is too forgiving. Practice your headshots and use more cover. You'll see a huge difference in your past experience.

This is a good time to look at your skills, what armor you bring, your perk deck, weapon loadouts, equipment and the heists you play. You'll get the hang of it faster than you think and you'll be laughing so hard at yourself.

[gimmethegepgun]

Once you have weapons capable of dealing with overkill properly (instakilling greens, 3/2/1 shotting tans) there's barely any difference in difficulty by decreasing difficulty. Things die just as easily (instakill) and deal basically the same amounts of damage (greens and tans both have crap for damage, and cops and fbi will match them on lower difficulties). Also the spawn rates aren't that much higher. Overkill only has a few more enemies alive at a time than lower difficulties do, and a higher special cap.
If you have a 32, 42, or 80 damage bullet weapon overkill becomes far easier (becoming easier with each of those damage levels).

[Sirsucksalot]

Originally posted by pH:

It always seems more difficult jumping up to the next level. I personally play mostly on Overkill and do an occasional Deathwish heist. Overkill is really easy to be honest because it literally is just more of what you saw previously except they hit harder. That's exactly what Deathwish is. Overkill is the difficulty where you need to actually pay attention to aiming properly, what equipment to bring, how to avoid fights, how to use cover, lure targets; basically act as a team player and apply yourself at the game.

Grinder is stupidly easy to use and is too forgiving. Practice your headshots and use more cover. You'll see a huge difference in your past experience.

This is a good time to look at your skills, what armor you bring, your perk deck, weapon loadouts, equipment and the heists you play. You'll get the hang of it faster than you think and you'll be laughing so hard at yourself.

Hmm, the problem I have with the Overkill and the one or two Deathwish heists I ended up in is that armour seems to be made out of cardboard, which I guess makes it harder, but well, it sorta sucks. :o

[Stoibs]

Private profile, can't see your playtime.
A lot of us have been playing ever since the first game (Which was about 10x harder than this) and then been playing Payday 2 since the beta in 2013 (Of which we were playing Overkill even with the at-the-time level cap of 30 or 40 or whatever it was)

When you've a thousand or two hours under your belt and you've been here from the start constantly experiencing all the nerfs and crutches and OP equipment that the game is giving the players (Grenades,HE rounds, Snipers, Decks like Grinder/Rogue, The concept of Dodge being ridiculously buffed and made more mainstream with the inclusion of Fugitive, A plethora of weapon mods making even the vanilla guns leaps and bounds better than they use to be etc.) then you'll begin to see how much easier and boring OVK is by comparison.

[ReV0LT]

Originally posted by Nino_Chaosdrache:

When you already mastered Deathwish then it's understandable that you think Overkill is easy, but coming from Hard or Very Hard it's not in my opinion.

Umm... of course it will be hard if you transition from another difficulty, but look at it this way:

If you consistently find Overkill easy, then you know that difficulty is too easy. And that's what many people find with Overkill difficulty. If you find it hard because you just transitioned to another difficulty, then you have that adaptability factor to put into the equation, which I guarantee you will mask the temporary easiness of Overkill difficulty.

[Vinyl Scratch]

With Iron man armor + Bulletproof, I'm able to stand out in the street for 5 seconds not doing anything before I have to move on Overkill...even longer if others are with me.

Obviously, after having played enough you just get better, but it's actually hard for me to understand how Overkill is hard now. It's a concept I'm unable to imagine anymore because of my experience in the game.

The difference is so huge between Overkill and Deathwish.

But this kind of feeling is pretty normal for any game. If you play it enough you get better, and lower difficulties just seem that much easier.

[Jestersage]

Another issue is whether you are playing as Armor or Dodge/Grinder.

Even on OVK, Armor collapse when there are spike attacks (not damage, aka Sniper), since your armor cannot recover.

When you play as Dodge or Grinder, your dodge rating stay constant all the time, and since most dodge/grinders use low blow and stay within limit, their gun gain 1/3 chance of a crit, which is basically a Sniper without the shield piercing capability. Grinder trade soem of that dodge for heal over time, which can be quite powerful in its own right.

I would suggest you eventually try dodge, and see if it's better for you.

[crazy_alan1988]

I think it comes down to you and your group. A well set up group would find Overkill too easy, while more casual players may find it almost insurmountable. I remember finding Hard, even Normal, difficult.

[DOY]

I'm guessing i have no say in this since I usually just carry new players through overkill. But then again I usually just lobby in Deathwish.

[Forsakend]

I play my games on OVK, and I don't find any of them difficult. I haven't played much DW as I haven't had a team I deem capable enough to make a run on a non-stealth heist.

It just comes down to accuracy, weapons and how capable your team is. Despite how well I believe I play, I can't carry 3 people thru an overkill heist of any kind.

[SC]

The majority of enemies simply don't do enough damage to be considered that much of a threat. Same with their HP, you can just breathe on people and kill them. I'd love to see FBI Swat get their beta damage back, which was 2x what they have now.

Oh, and the stupid slow spawn rate could stand to be increased to PDTH's levels.

[Cherry]

Greens die in 1 shot and the tans die in 2 shots. Everything just dies too quickly. If you're new then of course overkill is difficult. But if you have around 200+ hours played then overkill shouldn't be a problem.

You have to challenge yourself. If you keep playing on Very Hard, you'll never learn to play on Overkill. And if you keep playing on Overkill, you'll never learn to play on DW. Play with a 20 damage SMG on Very Hard then use an assault rifle with 41 damage on Overkill, that would help you get better.

[XiaoXiaoMan]

When I first attempted Tabula Rasa, I had my own theory: the game is balanced around playing with no skills and only a suit. It started feeling a lot more like Overkill from PAYDAY: The Heist under those circumstances. But what would I know?

[Adze]

When you're used to Death Wish, Overkill becomes a loooot easier (DW is an absolutely ridiculous step up from OVK). I mean, consider that I did Dr. Miserable with nobody going into custody and pretty much no issues whatsoever while extremely inebriated. Nobody plays their best in that state, and it was still easy.