big chunk of content is locked behind some stupid starbreeze nebula secondary account thing that doesn't even work. Even after I did get it to work it just took my stuff back the next time I opened the game

Started playing in 2018 and have my fair share of hours from playing on and off, I can confidently say that while the game is very fun-- The devs are so unbelievably money hungry that it makes supporting them a chore. Base Payday 2 is a quarter of a game that can only be realized through hundreds of dollars worth of DLC. You can only play DLC content if someone else hosts it but new players are hard-handicapped because of the amazing weapons, perk-decks and attachments being gatekept by DLC. It straight up makes so many builds or guns less-optimal or unviable because you haven't shelled out more money to the company. It's a disservice to both new and returning players to need to pay so much to be on the same level as others on higher difficulties like Death Sentence. I understand that people have gone out of their way to beat the highest difficulty in the game without any DLC however, people with all the DLC have far more agency and creative freedom with guns and builds compared to the same 3-4 Hacker/Crew Chief/Ex Prez builds that you can assemble without DLC.

On the specifics of DLC, I purchased what's now known as the "Legacy Collection" bundle for Payday 2 back in 2018 with the promise that all future content such as heists, weapons and attachments would be added in as well upon my purchase. Now returning to the game, they scrapped that promise and funneled a bunch of new content into a separate bundle that (without a sale) costs nearly 200 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dollars for nowhere near as much content. I can't in good faith continue to support a company that takes advantage of it's playerbase in this way.

I have been thinking of writing this critics for a few months already. Since I have decided to pause a bit, it's high time to do so.

If u ask for my honest opinion, this game is a bit sucks. U're gotta face some bugs that would put all of ur efforts down the drain. The game sometimes would crash and u can do nothing to save ur efforts. As u can see from how ♥♥♥♥♥♥ PD3 are right now, Starbreeze is nothing but a money fraud company (I hope I can say that I was wrong someday, but I guess most heisters would agree with me right now), so it has no intention to fix all the well-known malicious bugs.

Worst still, when some people from the public sucks. Sometimes, u're gotta meet some trollers who think screwing up others' efforts is a funny thing to do. When u're get familiar with this game, newbies will irritate u in unimaginable ways.
Let me list a few that I think some heisters may ring a bell, running and getting spotted like we turned Silent Assassin on, putting keycards on the hanger cages in Border Crossing, igniting train plates with blowtorch without disabling the sensor in Lost in Transit, cutting fences in Firestarter day 1... The more irritating thing is, they would still do it even u told them not to do so.

BUT why would I recommend this game? It's because of the community and the sense of achievement. I have met more gd people than bad people. I began my heister life a yr ago. I went on solo and struggled a lot with completing the heists. I can still remember how I spent two nights just trying to complete Border Crossing, but when I finally got on board, oh god, I'm smiling for that right now. When I began to play online, I met veterans who didn't care about how dumb I was. They taught me lots of things, guided me to complete the first DSOD and the last. Some of them even became my friends :) I think I would have quitted already if its a solo journey.

So, I think what makes Payday 2 addictive is the community, and u're definitely going to enjoy it after some struggles.

Thanks for reading my comments, stay cheeki breeki mate.