Doomsday Heist Act 1: Server Farm setup is super frustrating

[Delta]

Now I know it's partly my fault for going with a small, low-level team (me and my friend, around level 40) but I really do feel like the final escape section of this mission is poorly designed as hell.

First you have to run back to the elevator, something we can do easily enough, but then there's no checkpoint before the hellish topside section which means you have to keep redoing the easy part. You then basically have to wipe out a whole crowd of police while more continually spawn in with no cover and climb multiple ladders up to the top of the building while new helicopters spawn in and start shooting at you.

I get that this is supposed to be hard, but I also think there's tons of questionable design that makes it more needlessly frustrating than it needs to be:
-No checkpoint before the tough escape bit
-Healing items don't get restored if you die (seriously, it's crap that without those you're stuck with a tiny lifebar), nor is armour
-Have to access healing/armour through a menu rather than a button.
-Environments seem to be designed more around how it looks than how it would be to play in, hence you end up in situations with zero cover.
-No easy mode option (why do some heists have it but not this one?)
-No difficulty adjustment to reflect the smaller number of players, e.g. less enemies or more extra lives (the game shouldn't penalise you for being in a smaller group when it expressly allows you to do that).

The game is just filled with petty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that could easily be fixed to improve the quality of life for players and it gets incredibly frustrating at times.

[Ian Eats Babies]

Originally posted by Delta:

Now I know it's partly my fault for going with a small, low-level team (me and my friend, around level 40) but I really do feel like the final escape section of this mission is poorly designed as hell.

That's the entire thing. You're too low level, the setup is designed fine.

[Kevlar]

I honestly don't see the issue with the topside part.That seemed like the easy part about it for me.Shoot the ones coming from the right,then the left,then you start moving forward,utilize some grenades and use a proper full-auto gun as you make your way to the ladder.The helicopters are downed easy enough,too,if you spent enough time in pursuits.

[Delta]

Originally posted by Ian Eats Babies:

Originally posted by Delta:

Now I know it's partly my fault for going with a small, low-level team (me and my friend, around level 40) but I really do feel like the final escape section of this mission is poorly designed as hell.

That's the entire thing. You're too low level, the setup is designed fine.

So consumables staying gone when you restart, having to faff with menus to use the things, no cover or difficulty/party size adjustment are all fine are they?

Should I really need to put in hundreds of hours just to get a bigger healthbar and armour pool?All to finally unlock a heist that can be done with less than four players?

Levelling up would make me fractionally more durable but I don't think it would stop the mission from being frustrating. I already have the weapons I need (modded up special carbine, mini grenade launcher and homing rocket launcher), the problem is not getting the chance to use them because you keep getting attacked form all angles. The playing area is just too exposed to allow for different tactics or approaches, which is exacerbated by the fact that even at higher level players are made of paper.

[Sovereign Star]

Oh boy, The ACT 2 Avenger one will surely burn up your mind if you think Server Farm is hard.

[kirkman]

Use a macro for healing and armor replenishing

[Xarathox]

Originally posted by Ian Eats Babies:

Originally posted by Delta:

Now I know it's partly my fault for going with a small, low-level team (me and my friend, around level 40) but I really do feel like the final escape section of this mission is poorly designed as hell.

That's the entire thing. You're too low level, the setup is designed fine.

Sort of. I think it's also partlty due to the OP not having the upgraded weapons introduced with the Gunrunning update. Hell, I did that set up with nothing but the Mk II hand cannon.

[Ian Eats Babies]

And learn to aim for the head, use cover and don't go Rambo. You'll make it.

[Delta]

Originally posted by Salty Snack:

I honestly don't see the issue with the topside part.That seemed like the easy part about it for me.Shoot the ones coming from the right,then the left,then you start moving forward,utilize some grenades and use a proper full-auto gun as you make your way to the ladder.The helicopters are downed easy enough,too,if you spent enough time in pursuits.

I've tended to use the mini grenade launcher on the cars and vans, though helicopters take slightly longer to down with the seeker than the normal rocket launcher (which unlocks stupidly late). The problem is if one of us focuses on blowing up the vehicles we aren't able to kill the soldiers quickly enough and end up getting flanked.

It's especially frustrating because this is the only heist we can do together and we did fine on the other setup missions. I'd have been fine with taking a massive pay cut in return for the lower difficulty but not even offering that as an option when it is one on other heists seems really odd.

Thanks to the people offering advice though, it's appreciated.

[Ian Eats Babies]

Originally posted by Delta:

Originally posted by Salty Snack:

I honestly don't see the issue with the topside part.That seemed like the easy part about it for me.Shoot the ones coming from the right,then the left,then you start moving forward,utilize some grenades and use a proper full-auto gun as you make your way to the ladder.The helicopters are downed easy enough,too,if you spent enough time in pursuits.

I've tended to use the mini grenade launcher on the cars and vans, though helicopters take slightly longer to down with the seeker than the normal rocket launcher (which unlocks stupidly late). The problem is if one of us focuses on blowing up the vehicles we aren't able to kill the soldiers quickly enough and end up getting flanked.

It's especially frustrating because this is the only heist we can do together and we did fine on the other setup missions. I'd have been fine with taking a massive pay cut in return for the lower difficulty but not even offering that as an option when it is one on other heists seems really odd.

Shooting down helicopters is easy: Shoot the tiny propellor on the tail out.

[Kosevich]

After you reach the surface you should go left (something about 2-5 meters). There will be 2 columns where you can hide. Just cover behind them.

[Julie Natalia E.]

I agree about the fact we have to go in the inventory for healing and armor, that's annoying. I seen someone speaking about making a macro.. so how you do a macro?
Otherwise all is fine, don't rush and you'll can deal it.

[Luxia]

Fun fact, this setup breaks if you've got someone that's loading slower than the rest of the lobby.
Everyone gets into the elevator to escape.
Two load in, wait for the third.
Suddenly, cops rush in and kill one of the waiting guys, while they're both paralyzed because the third player hasn't loaded in yet. And, what's better, it's always the same guy that gets targeted. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gold. This makes hard difficulty literally impossible, since there's no way of surviving that attack.

[Delta]

Originally posted by Raddenson11:

Fun fact, this setup breaks if you've got someone that's loading slower than the rest of the lobby.
Everyone gets into the elevator to escape.
Two load in, wait for the third.
Suddenly, cops rush in and kill one of the waiting guys, while they're both paralyzed because the third player hasn't loaded in yet. And, what's better, it's always the same guy that gets targeted. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gold. This makes hard difficulty literally impossible, since there's no way of surviving that attack.

Interesting, I found when we were doing it the characters would just stand still doing nothing for a second or two, you sorta had to hammer the forward button until it was ready to move.

I think in general the cover-based shooting in this game in general doesn't click for me as much as in other titles. I feel like in Payday 2, Overwatch or Mass Effect 3 multiplayer I had a clearer sense of where enemies were coming from and which cover was (relatively) safe, plus I wasn't quite as papery defence and the penalties for death weren't as punishing (as you could be revived or resurrect at the end of a wave).

Biggest example of that was the "Low and Slow" Lamar mission, where the game trapped you in a small open air carpark without proper cover, had enemies come from all directions and kicked you if you dared to try climbing a tower to get a better vantage point or ran round a corner to get better cover.

[Sharp Hand Joe]

The inside is the easiest part you just hug a wall and run towards the middle shooting all enemies in the way then you group up and go to the elevator at once shooting the people around and inside to minimize damage then above you take cover and shoot the people coming from the back and rushing you from the front then take care of the choopers after that all enemies are standart cops that should be a problem.

[Delta]

Originally posted by Rudolf von Stroheim:

The inside is the easiest part you just hug a wall and run towards the middle shooting all enemies in the way then you group up and go to the elevator at once shooting the people around and inside to minimize damage then above you take cover and shoot the people coming from the back and rushing you from the front then take care of the choopers after that all enemies are standart cops that should be a problem.

Yeah, inside's pretty easy, we usually got through that without damage or minor damage once we'd had a bit of practice. By take cover do you mean behind the big block in the middle facing the police forces, because we found it tricky not to be flanked there.