i love this game but it has SERIOUS flaws, and is lacking crucial quality-of-life components that Payday 2 shipped with 10 years ago.

the progression system is tied specifically to challenges that end up feeling like grindy busywork even though you do end up getting them naturally while playing. at higher levels it'll be more tedious when you hit a plateau and be restricted to certain playstyles in order to complete challenges. it feels contradictory to what made payday 2 so engaging and i'd have preferred certain weapons/masks/weapon mods/patterns be tied behind challenges instead of the main progression, like how it was in payday 2.

the matchmaking/lobby system is completely broken. there isn't a crime.net system and you can't stay in lobbies with randoms after the heist. there's also plenty of matchmaking errors that impede getting into heists.

no pre-planning and you can't change loadouts in between restarts of the same heist. you have to back out of the lobby to make any modifications and it really impedes on pd3's incredible gameplay flow.

the skill system feels very barebones as it is, and most of the skills don't have a huge impact on gameplay, which is a drastic reduction on the buildcrafting system payday 2 had, and which only grew more and more advanced throughout the game's lifespan. there was nothing more satisfying than creating incredibly powerful and synergistic builds to tackle the Death Sentence difficulty, and managing to succeed despite the fearsome opposition the game throws at you. there are a few skills in payday 3 that scratch that sort of itch, and ways to combine different skills into very unique playstyles, but it's not nearly as advanced and intuitive as payday 2, and it doesn't feel like there is as much creative design that went into them compared to the skills and perk decks of its predecessor.


until these are addressed, which i'm sure they will be, i'd say giving it a few months to implement feedback and it'll be really worth playing long-term like payday 2 was.

i love this game but it has SERIOUS flaws, and is lacking crucial quality-of-life components that Payday 2 shipped with 10 years ago. the progression system is tied specifically to challenges that end up feeling like grindy busywork even though you do end up getting them naturally while playing. at higher levels it'll be more tedious when you hit a plateau and be restricted to certain playstyles in order to complete challenges. it feels contradictory to what made payday 2 so engaging and i'd have preferred certain weapons/masks/weapon mods/patterns be tied behind challenges instead of the main progression, like how it was in payday 2. the matchmaking/lobby system is completely broken. there isn't a crime.net system and you can't stay in lobbies with randoms after the heist. there's also plenty of matchmaking errors that impede getting into heists. no pre-planning and you can't change loadouts in between restarts of the same heist. you have to back out of the lobby to make any modifications and it really impedes on pd3's incredible gameplay flow. the skill system feels very barebones as it is, and most of the skills don't have a huge impact on gameplay, which is a drastic reduction on the buildcrafting system payday 2 had, and which only grew more and more advanced throughout the game's lifespan. there was nothing more satisfying than creating incredibly powerful and synergistic builds to tackle the Death Sentence difficulty, and managing to succeed despite the fearsome opposition the game throws at you. there are a few skills in payday 3 that scratch that sort of itch, and ways to combine different skills into very unique playstyles, but it's not nearly as advanced and intuitive as payday 2, and it doesn't feel like there is as much creative design that went into them compared to the skills and perk decks of its predecessor. until these are addressed, which i'm sure they will be, i'd say giving it a few months to implement feedback and it'll be really worth playing long-term like payday 2 was.