History VideoGame / Payday2

* AchievementMockery: Several achievements are based on things no player would ever think to do, such as "I'm Sure no one Heard That", which asks you to complete the heist in stealth, and then ruin the run by activating the metal detectors.

** The police would absolutely ''not'' [[IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon send wave after wave of cops to take down four crooks]], especially if they were being cut down like blades of grass (which even the cops will note at times, often complaining that "this isn't working"), and they would ''definitely'' hesitate to take action if they had civilian hostages (not hesitate as in "delay the next assault by X minutes", more like "surround the building until they have a solid attack plan to save the hostages"). On the other hand, normal people can't take several hundred bullets to the chest and still keep going, nor does body armor [[RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth somehow return to full effectiveness]] after stopping a couple dozen rifle-caliber rounds simply by not getting hit again for a few seconds, so the breaks come on both sides. Banks also ''do not'' have several hundred thousand dollars in cash, gold and other trinkets on hand, specifically ''because'' of the possibility of getting robbed, though Bain will often [[NecessaryWeasel explain why]] the banks in question have as much as they do and it's always an unusual circumstance[[labelnote:such as]]Temporary currency transfer, preparations for an influx of people cashing paychecks, wayward gold shipment, notice of "interesting" safe deposit box contents, etc.[[/labelnote]], except for Big Bank, [[BringIt which simply hasn't been robbed in 200 years]], and Brooklyn Bank, where the objective is [[spoiler:to get at a medallion buried within the vault of the bank]] rather than its money.

** More amusingly, in missions where either a character shouldn't be there (heists prior to Hoxton Breakout or characters not having joined yet), the only real character restriction is being unable to play the same character as another player, resulting in, say, rescuing Hoxton while playing ''as'' Hoxton - this is even a safehouse side-job, appropriately named "Spacetime Paradox".

** The Cloaker has several lines he says that break the fourth wall by insulting the people who kept complaining about the lack of safe house customization, assuming that the Cloaker itself would be DLC, or even that the developers did exactly as asked and added the Cloaker at all. The developers also knew people would complain about the Cloaker being "overpowered", so the Cloaker has a line telling those people to bitch on the forums. [[note]]And that's exactly what people did.[[/note]]

* LegacyCharacter: The Hoxton alias that originally belonged to the MeanBrit from the first game. After his arrest, the name went to Dallas' younger brother. The name went back to "old" Hoxton once he's freed from prison and "new" Hoxton is renamed "Houston". However, Houston keeps the design of Hoxton's old mask, while Hoxton himself wears his old mask that was horribly disfigured and warped due to the circumstances of his arrest.

** Averted in general for small emergencies, as each individual Day is fairly short (if done properly) and there are breaks in between that pauses the progress at the end of each Day. However, if you need to leave, you will have to forfeit your progress, as you do not receive your reward until the completion of the final day (even if it's an escape mission). Taken UpToEleven with Achievements and Stealth bonuses, as some will span across multiple days and require you to have started the heist from the beginning. Even disconnecting in the middle and rejoining the same lobby will disqualify you from netting the achievement. Lobby leaders also get hit pretty hard, as Payday does not allow you to pass the hosting duties to someone else, so if the lobby leader leaves, everyone is booted back to the main menu.

** The Art Gallery heist will have Bain mention how they robbed the gallery for the Elephant the previous year [[note]]2013 was the year the game launched and 2014 is when the Art Gallery heist was released[[note]] and this time, they are robbing the place ''again'' for themselves. Likewise, the Cook Off job, which is Rats day 1 as a standalone job, has Bain telling the crew that the meth lab they used for Hector's job is still intact and they can use it to cook meth again, but this time it's for their own gain.

* ChainsawGood: You can equip a Chainsaw as a melee weapon, but it's '''''anything but good'''''

** The aformentioned XP bonus for extra loot wasn't always in the game. Originally, the game would give a flat XP reward after completing a heist. This meant that the fastest way to grind XP on launch was to ''[[ViolationOfCommonSense purposefully fail the Rats heist)]''. You would intentionally blow up the lab on day 1, let the bomb codes get destroyed on day 2 and simply kill the cartel members on day 3. You would get little money due to not getting any of the loot, but the XP reward would be unchanged. Later changes made it so blowing up the lab killed every player on the map and failed the mission. And with XP being tied to loot, players now had an incentive to get every bag of loot that the map provided.

** The aformentioned XP bonus for extra loot wasn't always in the game. Originally, the game would give a flat XP reward after completing a heist. This meant that the fastest way to grind XP on launch was to ''purposefully fail the Rats heist''. You would intentionally blow up the lab on day 1, let the bomb codes get destroyed on day 2 and simply kill the cartel members on day 3. You would get little money due to not getting any of the loot, but the XP reward would be unchanged. Later changes made it so blowing up the lab killed every player on the map and failed the mission. And with XP being tied to loot, players now had an incentive to get every bag of loot that the map provided.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Averted. The game has two; The Flamethrower [=MK.1=] introduced in the [[DownloadableContent Butcher's BBQ Pack]]. The second; The MA-17 Flamethrower (blatantly modelled on the Boring Company's "Not a Flamethrower"), introduced for free later on. While they both doesn't set enemies on fire immedietely, they do damage over time, and it acts more like a short-ranged beam of destruction, in that whoever it hits will have all of their health sucked away in short order. Their range aren't too shabby either, being comparable to that of [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 the Pyro's flamethrower]]. The only Special Unit that can stand up to the flames is the Bulldozer, and even then if they're hit by the flames, it'll immobilize them. The latter has higher base concealment while providing the same damage as the former, as well as being a secondary weapon. The only downside to all this power is that it chews through ammo like nobody's business and takes an eternity to reload and the [=MK.1=] is incredibly impractical in dodge builds.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: The Bronco Revolver, Deagle, Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers, and any shotgun is capable of sending a mook ragdolling through the air.
** This is often a viable tactic for hiding bodies in stealth, specifically with the silenced Loco or Judge.

* GunsAkimbo: The Hitman perk deck is all about this. The perk deck allows you certain benefits if you decide to dual wield weapons. It was meant for pistols originally, but as of Day 5 of Spring Break 2018, almost every submachine gun in the game, including the Mark 10, Kross Vertex and Chicago Typewriter, can be dual-wielded, as well as just about every pistol in the game (with the notable exceptions of the 5/7 AP Pistol and the Peacemaker .45 Revolver). [[UpToEleven Shotguns]] can also be duel-wielded, though currently only three are capable of this, those being [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm the Brother Grimms]], the Goliath 12G Shotguns, and the Judge. You'll still suffer a significant stability penalty for doing it, however.

** Going [[UpToEleven even further beyond]] ''that'' is the One Down modifier. You can only be downed once (twice if you get a certain skill) before going into custody.

* MilitariesAreUseless: Although in [=GO=] Bank, Bain mentions that the National Guard is pursuing the Payday gang, none of them were even existing in locations that were already struck by said criminal gang. Not to mention for certain heists that may span more than an hour to complete. [[UptoEleven Not even a functioning tank]] sent in after the criminal situation already [[spoiler:bankrupt Washington DC]].

** ''Long Fellow"": Complete the Meltdown job [[UpToEleven within 7 minutes.]]

** UpToEleven in the "The Bomb: Forest" heist. This time, they derail the train by blowing up a bridge and raid the wreckage for a thermobaric bomb.

** Taken UpToEleven with the BBQ Pack, where one can ''incinerate'' civilians.

Following the success of ''[[VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist PAYDAY: The Heist]]'', Starbreeze (makers of the [[VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay Riddick]] [[VideoGame/AssaultOnDarkAthena games]]) decided to buy the previous developer and fund a sequel. A playable beta was released on July 24th, 2013 for players who pre-ordered the Steam version of the game. The game proper was released worldwide in 2013, on August 13th for Windows via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, August 16th for the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}} and UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, with [[UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} Linux]] getting a port on March 21st, 2016. In June 2015, the "Crimewave Edition" was released for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, including all DLC content from the Steam version up to the Dragan character pack and the Bomb Heists, with a "Big Score" edition coming later on September 7th, 2016, including the rest of the DLC up to the end of 2015, a "Most Wanted" edition releasing in 2017, containing all of the DLC released up to July 2016, and a "Master Plan" edition released later in 2017 including content up to May of that year.

** Doing heists in stealth on the ''highest'' possible difficulty (Death Sentence) is a good way to ensure some gameplay consistency in stealth, as guard spawns are locked to Mayhem difficulty, so players can make a note of the general routines, titan camera spawns, AI Behaviour etc. There is also nothing stopping you ticking the One Down modifier either, [[LoopholeAbuse which lets you get the achievements for doing the heist with One-Down enabled]] (despite the entire point of stealth being to ''avoid'' firefights).

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In the trailerfor The Diamond, it is shown that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was one of the owners of the cursed gem, being shown about to commit suicide as a Nazi officer [[spoiler:AKA, the latest incarnation of The Dentist]] looks on. The issue comes from the gun Hitler is shown to be using, which appears to be a Luger P08. Historical records have shown that Hitler actually took his life with a Walther PPK. Of course, this trope also applies to Hitler owning any cursed diamond.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In the trailerfor The Diamond, it is shown that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was one of the owners of the cursed gem, being shown about to commit suicide as a Nazi officer [[spoiler:AKA, the latest incarnation of The Dentist]] looks on. The issue comes from the gun Hitler is shown to be using, which appears to be a Luger P08. Historical records have shown that Hitler actually took his life with a Wlther PPK. Of course, this trope also applies to Hitler owning any cursed diamond.

** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by the Anarchist perk deck, which turns even a ''two-piece suit'' into a human tank suit, though at the cost that your health underneath that is reduced by slightly more than half. The idea is that, [[AttackAttackAttack so long as you keep killing enemies,]] the armor bar and health bar won't budge all that often.

* KnifeNut: If you own the DLC for them, you can become a knife nut. With proper use, it's possible to kill many enemies with a knife and save yourself ammo in the long run. Unfortunately, law enforcement can also use a knife against you and they hurt ''a lot''.

** Doing heists in stealth on the ''highest'' possible difficulty (Death Sentence) is a good way to ensure some gameplay consistency in stealth, as guard spawns are locked to Mayhem and above, meaning there's no downside in playing stealth this way

** The "I Have No Idea What I'm Doing" achievement, which is unlocked for completing Shadow Raid (a stealth-only heist) while bringing ''[[WithCatlikeTread a minigun and an RPG launcher]]''. The idea is you take it and sit at the van tossing in bags for someone else with a more competent loadout to do the heist.
** "The Turtle Always Wins" achievement, gotten by completing the Art Gallery heist in stealth [[SpeedRun in four minutes]] while wearing the [=ICTV=]; the heaviest armor in the game that basically makes stealth impossible, and the least painful manner of stealthing it in the allotted time involves abusing another loophole regarding what counts as breaking stealth; ECM rushing.

** The Harvest and Trustee bank (Random version). There's always a chance the vault is empty, meaning you have to break into the safety deposit boxes. Granted, it's easily done with a saw, but lacking one means [[FakeDifficulty you have to start picking into each and every one until the team can scrape enough together.]][[note]]If you just want to leave ASAP, there's a little-known workaround: once the outer vault door is open, all you need to do is pick up sufficient loose cash to trigger an exit. The cash lying around in the teller area is enough, or you can pop an ATM, but you have to wait for the door to open; if you got bored and cleaned up while waiting, you'll still have to pick. OTOH you don't even need the inner cage door open.[[/note]]

** The fastest way to secure the dance floor in Nightclub or the front lobby in Bank Heist involves '''grenades.'''

** Pre-2018 rebalance, Taking "Specialized Killing" from the Ghost tree made any weapon with a silencer deal more damage than ones ''without'' a silencer.
** Dodge Builds. They work by having less armor in favor of bullets not hitting you for a specific timeframe. Asides from Anarchist and Sicario Builds (the former benefits from ''some armor'', the latter uses dodge with a smoke grenade), this completely violates any sense one player can have (as logically, ''more'' armor is better).
** The Heat Street remake doesn't flood the first set of streets with large waves of cops like in the original, and instead has pre-positioned cops and [[SWATTeam SWATs]] waiting for you to pass by. One of the easiest ways of beating the first portion of the heist on Mayhem or below is to [[EasyLevelTrick simply ''run as fast as possible'' to Matt's crashed van]], ignoring the litany of cops shooting at you, as it's not worth the time dealing with them, and subsequently getting stuck in the first assault wave in the street with little cover. Armor builds make this difficult to do, but dodge/ anarchist builds should be fine.

* AscendedGlitch: Patch 11 introduced a bug where street cops had triple the amount of power than they normally have, which meant a cop using a pistol could easily shred your armor and health, even if you had obtained armor and health upgrades. Many people liked the bug for the challenge it presented, so the developers decided to create a variant of the street cop armed with the Bronco .44 a few patches later, which is a freakishly powerful revolver.

* AssholeVictim: It would probably be easier to list the people who DON'T deserve the Payday gang's wrath. Every other job involves the crew running up against someone who is, at the very least, involved with something very shady indeed. YMMV on whether banks count as asshole victims, but the Crew certainly thinks they do. Lampshaded on Shadow Raid, where Bain will comment that while the crew deals in drugs, counterfeit and smuggling, at least they're doing it the American way and not funding terrorists (which the Murkywater guards are implied to be doing).
** Framing Frame uses this as its ExcusePlot, by framing The Elephants' Democratic Party rival for drug trafficking. As opposed to the ''weapons'' trafficking he actually ''is doing'', which is instead revealed to the public if the mission goes loud. He can't even claim the moral high ground for not dealing with the Payday gang, as the first two days of the heist consist of him hiring the gang to steal art from a gallery for him, [[EvilerThanThou which the gang uses as an opportunity to bug his house]].

** Doing heists in stealth on the ''highest'' possible difficulty is a good way to ensure some gameplay consistency in stealth, so players can make a note of the limited guard spawns and their general routines, AI Behaviour etc. There is also nothing stopping you ticking the One Down modifier either, which lets you get the achievements for doing the heist with One-Down enabled (despite the entire point of stealth being to avoid firefights altogether).

** The Diamond Heist is one big nod to the heist with the same name in ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist''; both heists have you messing with circuit board wiring to disable the lasers where the main prize is located and if the heist goes loud, you'll have to hack the security systems to proceed. While the glass cutter in the first game was used only to extract the rare red diamond, the tool returns in the sequel to be used to steal optional loot without setting off the alarms. Another nod to the first game comes in the form of a puzzle you need to solve to obtain the diamond by carefully stepping on the correct tiles while stepping on the wrong one releases gas into the room, which is a reference to the secret vault in the First World Bank with a similar puzzle. To drive the point further home, the assault music for the heist is a remixed version of the original Diamond Heist's theme.

** In 2016, the game got a heist based off of ''VideoGame/GoatSimulator'' [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent of all things]]. Indeed, the loot that you're recovering in this heist is goats![[note]]specifically to recover cocaine hidden inside their rectums[[/note]] And they're in some potentially strange spots as well.

** The Locomotive, the aforementioned revolver-shotgun, is widely considered to be one of the best secondary weapon choices in the game. It has all the previously stated strengths of a shotgun, and it can also deal with Bulldozers very quickly due to its high stopping power and rather fast firing rate by shotgun standards. It is an excellent backup weapon for a sniper, machine-gunner or other heavy weapons specialist, and with the right mods it can achieve the same Concealment rating as a regular pistol at 26, so stealth players can get a lot of mileage out of it as well.

* SignatureMove: Every class has several signature abilities and playstyles as well as a [[WeaponOfChoice weapon of choice.]]

* GunsAkimbo: The Hitman perk deck is all about this. The perk deck allows you certain benefits if you decide to dual wield weapons. It was meant for pistols originally, but as of Day 5 of Spring Break 2018, almost every submachine gun in the game, including the Mark 10, Kross Vertex and Chicago Typewriter, can be dual-wielded, as well as just about every pistol in the game (with the notable exceptions of the 5/7 AP Pistol and the Peacemaker .45 Revolver). [[UpToEleven Shotguns]] can also be duel-wielded, though currently only three are capable of this, those being [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm the Brother Grimms]], the Goliath 12G Shotguns, and the Judge. You'll still suffer a significant stability penalty for going GunsAkimbo, however.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Having an itchy trigger finger around civilians not only instantly saps your spending cash as a penalty, but also causes you to have a higher chance of being forced to do an escape sequence after the heist. Thankfully, this is balanced out by [[ArtificialBrilliance making the Civilian AI much easier to handle]]: they stay on the ground longer after being yelled at, and can be BoundAndGagged with cable ties for a NonLethalKO.

** Doing heists in stealth on the ''highest'' possible difficulty is a good way to ensure some gameplay consistency in stealth, so playsers can make a note of the limited guard spawns and their general routines, AI Behaviour etc. There is also nothing stopping you ticking the One Down modifier either, which lets you get the achievements for doing the heist with One-Down enabled (despite the entire point of stealth being to avoid firefights altogether).

** Pre-2018 rebalance, Taking "Specialised Killing" from the Ghost tree made any weapon with a silencer deal more damage than ones ''without'' a silencer.
** Dodge Builds. They work by having less armor in favor of bullets not hitting you for a specific timeframe. Asides from Anarchist and Sicario Builds (the former benefits from ''some armour'', the latter uses dodge with a smoke grenade), this completely violates any sense one player can have (as logically, ''more'' armor is better).

** Also averted in Hoxton Breakout, where the only option is to drive through the streets while being shot at by police from every angle. Bain even lampshades it. The same goes for Day 2 of the heist [[spoiler: likely due to it being an improvisation on Hoxton's part]].

* TooAwesomeToUse: Rare masks and mask materials with absurd drop rates (one mask has a one in a ''million'' chance of showing up). Since you cannot remove materials or colors applied to a mask, you better make damn sure that the colors and patterns you want on a certain mask are the ones you want to stay. Most players will never use their rare materials. Likewise the Thanatos .50 cal rifle and the rocket launcher are usually saved for the bigger nasties since the sniper rifle requires more ammo pickups compare to a standard gun and the rocket launcher can only get ammo from an ammo bag.