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SPOILERS for payday 3

[what-yadoking-likes]

Hoxton sinking back into his paranoia after he meets up with Shade. He'd been betrayed, ratted out before - it cost him 2 years of his life and freedom, and damnit history just has a way of repeating itself with him, doesn't it?

[pd3thoughts]

If Rust comes back then things are gonna get awkward real fast

The gang looking back and forth between them: 😅

[redtartpi]

secret santa gift for @pd3thoughts! I thought about the gang taking one of those polaroid pictures with bain, where he actually makes it for christmas! I hope you like the gift! :D

[pd3thoughts]

THANKS

[pd3thoughts]

Irreplaceable

Or, Chains thinks about Houston.

(Hi @neomineom ! I was your secret Santa! Sorry for taking years, it wasn’t canon compliant so I scrapped it and restarted. Among other real life things. it was totally my fault! I hope that I got your boys right and did them justice 👀)

written for @paydaysecretsanta

// canon compliant fluff with a bit of angst :)

Chains remembers Houston from before they both were in the PAYDAY gang. It was back in the early 2000s, when Houston would unlock the back door every morning so that they wouldn’t bother any customers while talking. The younger man didn’t really speak all that much, but Chains hadn’t minded. He’d met much worse, and the glint in Houston’s eye hinted to his amusement.

Houston was stoic from the beginning, forced to grow up in a household that had no place for a kid. Chains could put two and two together just by the way he mentioned his brother, those glimpses into complex feelings caused by years of neglect. He “had no chill,” as Joy used to say. It might’ve looked like that, but she didn’t know how he was back then.

The Ghost was almost completely silent, immediately getting down to business. He made no time for small talk, finding every conversation meaningless if it didn’t have a point. Chains admired the way that Houston was serious about his work, but it wouldn’t have killed the guy to loosen up a little. Chains had—for lack of a better term—annoyed Houston into relaxing every so often. When the younger man would roll his eyes, the veteran counted that as a victory.

At first, Houston was visibly irritated by Chains’ antics, having half a mind to kick him out of the range. Chains’ disrupted his usual quiet, but Houston began to grow used to it. He didn’t know when it happened, but he had started to expect his presence.

Chains started off by looking at the merchandise, then moved on to talking about other weapons and what Houston used to clean them out. The Armorer, knowing full well how to do it by himself, watched the younger man dismantle a desert eagle with deft fingers.

…When Bain chose Houston as a stand-in for Hoxton, Chains had agreed to it. He had seen Houston’s potential in how he applied himself and in the way he handled his weapons. (It was a mistake. He didn’t regret working with Houston, but Chains never meant to hurt Hoxton. He had always seen the two as separate people despite their similarities.)

Chains would keep it on the lighter side, but he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. Houston wouldn’t judge him for any of it, sometimes agreeing with what he said. Likewise, Houston had no qualms with asking him for advice.

———

Asking people for help was weak… but with Chains, Houston felt different. This was just two friends talking to each other.

It didn’t stop him from feeling a bit dumb for asking Chains for ideas about what sort of Christmas present to get Dallas. It’s not like he could stroll up to the guy and go “so is there anything you need other than me forgiving you for every time you weren’t there when I needed you?”

…Because that would be distasteful. Probably.

But it could definitely throw a wrench into their operations. With a heavy heart, Houston goes back to the drawing board.

“Would he… actually want anything?” Houston asks his partner in crime. He can’t really keep his eyes on the other man, pretending to work on something. The Ghost tightens screws on a spare ECM, but not enough to strip the thread.

“Heheh, yeah. The guy doesn’t go around screaming his love for Breaking Bad… except when he does,” Chains replies lightheartedly, knowing the Crew Chief’s love for old men getting punched in the face. (They never miss a chance to tease Dallas for being a decade older than the rest of them.)

Houston doesn’t think that Dallas does meth. It wouldn’t be professional. If he did, Bain would fire him… on second thought, maybe he wouldn’t. But Dallas’ level of methness is beside the point.

“He wouldn’t like that,” he says with a slight grumble. Houston could get him something related to the retirement home show, but Dallas would be too embarrassed to actually do anything with it. Houston doesn’t blame him. He’s gonna act like he does, anyway.

“…Well, he likes money,” the Armorer shrugs, “but you should be the one to decide, you know? Can’t do it for you. But I’m sure he wouldn’t mind either way.”

The Ghost can tell that Chains is listening to what he’s saying, and he appreciates the sentiment. No, he’s always appreciated the way that Nicholas understood him. The younger heister turns to nod at his friend and is greeted with a smile, as always.

(Houston ended up getting Dallas a pair of ugly Christmas sweater socks with tacky dollar designs emblazoned across them. Dallas acted polite about the gift as if he didn’t like it, but Houston noticed that his brother wore those stupid fuzzy socks with each subsequent holiday.)

———

Chains sometimes tells stories about how him and Houston used to work in the same room—something that the latter never rarely did by choice. People would take his stuff without asking or get things dirty without cleaning up afterwards and it irked him to no end. Chains was someone who respected Houston’s boundaries, and there’s the fact that they’d known each other for over a decade… that’s gotta count for something, right?

Eventually, the Armorer taught Wolf how to behave himself around Houston as well, slowly helping his friend branch out. Houston learned how to trust a select few, settling both Wolf and Chains into his close circle of friends. Still, the older heister was different to him than the rest. He had bad experiences with Dallas, and Wolf was sometimes unpredictable. They were each unique in their own ways.

Houston was uptight, rigidity mellowed out with time. He knew his own boundaries, pushed them and even went to open a bar in Mexico with the crew’s support. Sure, Chains had shown him the way, but how much he changed was all on him. Chains helped Houston get a foot in the door, allowing him to meet new people. To see new things. To be independent again—apart from both Hoxton and his brother. Just because the gang was apart hadn’t meant that they cut all contact—they met every now and then just for the sake of spending time together.

Chains had sent letters to the former heister between his shoots, talking like they did back in the old days. He would light up whenever he found a reply in his mailbox, putting it elsewhere for safekeeping. Houston never completely chilled out, but he built his own life over there, at his own place! Chains was proud of the younger man. Houston updated his friend on the things that were happening… until he couldn’t.

Chains wasn’t able to save anything from his house when he was attacked.

Which is why when Dallas looks out the window for someone who will never arrive, Chains can put a hand on his shoulder. That’s why he doesn’t have to say a single word. He’s able to show the Crew Chief that he understands. Hoxton is his own person, and Houston never could’ve replaced him. He didn’t have to. Hoxton can’t replace him, either.

The two of them wait for an impossibility until after the sun sets.

[what-yadoking-likes]

I am very shy di about sharing this because I desperately want to do better with my art but haven't the resiliency to deal with criticism at the moment 🤡

ANYWAY IT'S JOY FROM PAYDAY FELLAS.

3rd artpiece made with Ohuhu markers (Xmas present from my partner)

I might add a background? Idk? Idk.

[evenmoreshitposts]

I guess SINS has all the data of the Payday gang members? Luckily I recorded about Sokol one. I want to collect all of the dialogues but the stupid server won't help me

[retphienix]

Anyways, since I'm rambling payday 3, some thoughts.

Does anyone else feel like Payday 3, in terms of replay value, is EXACTLY the game people who don't understand Payday 2 think Payday 2 was?

Because I remember the naive opinions I heard when Rock city or whatever came out from youtubers who never played Payday.

I remember hearing repeatedly "The game is repetitious, but I guess Payday fans who replay the same missions over and over and over again won't mind" because these dolts don't understand the randomization / pre-planning / alternate conditions etc that added together to give Payday 2 INSANE replay value on nearly every heist BEFORE you consider the decade of content shoved into that game or the plethora of ways you could build your character to play.

Anyways, playing a good amount of Payday 3 feels like playing the "assumption" version of Payday 2 those youtubers spoke into existence.

There's nothing meaningful that changes on repeat plays- and this feels minorly exasperated by the fact you can't get new seeds unless you quit to the main menu entirely. And majorly exasperated by how gutted pre-planning is with all the insane combinations and alternative heist experiences of Payday 2's system cut to shreds and replaced with.... do you want a shitty alternative entrance? How about a keycard? What about a dumpster to loot into? Pick ONE.

Funny fact on that- why the FUCK can a solo player only pick one? You SHREDDED fucking pre-planning to the most soulless shitty thing it could possibly be- and then punished solo players with the new system too???? why??? Fuck off

Also god fucking damn it do I miss multi-day heists.

Pre-release I said I wanted more "small scale" heists like 4 stores and I was not gifted a single interesting mission like that one (Give me my silly shoplifting missions!!)

And I said I wanted them to further explore multi-day heists that divert based on your actions- like fucking up the election heist and having to "fake" a bank robbery- that's an entire heist track a ton of people never experienced!!!!!!! THAT FORMULA RULES!!!!

WHERE IS IT~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are a ton of problems with this fucking game, there really are.

Progression is shit on MULTIPLE levels

Weapon xp is tied to mission objectives and not anything to do with using the weapon???

XP is 90% weighted towards challenges which are not interesting in the slightest- with highlights like "Do each heist 150 times, kill 1000 enemies with every weapon, and slide 5000 meters (all 3 of these are real and for every weapon and heist btw)" WHERE IS THE CREATIVITY OF THE PAYDAY 2 ACHIEVEMENTS??>????

IF YOU WANT TO UNLOCK ALL THE SKILLS TO ACTUALLY MAKE A FUCKING BUILD YOU WILL SPEND YOUR FIRST 50 INFAMY LEVELS JUST RUNNING A SKILL POINT IN EVERY SKILL TREE- MEANING YOU WILL HAVE NO BUILD AND NO IDENTITY BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO GET XP FILLED OUT SO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE LIST OF SKILLS. WTF IS THAT STUPID NONSENSE.

Also, the feedback loop of this game is non-existent. You do things over here to get progress over there, you play your heart out and get pennies, you fumble with your belt buckle and level up 9 times and unlock 50 challenges. The game has like no weight to what you're doing and "trying" to progress feels... bad!

Like, you figure it out, sure, but the feedback of "do thing get reward" is just fucking JANK!! The fact the fastest way to level weapons is to speedrun heists ASAP because objectives > everything else is ????? what????

The fastest way to level up your infamy is to camp in a corner spamming deployables and kill grinding???? what????? Not weapon xp???

Hell, what else. C-stacks are bugged to fuck in the most mind-boggling way- the way in question is that they Don't List The Correct Price for some fucking reason.

$1,800,000 for 10 C-stacks is actually $2,700,000. Why? Because managing a simple table of data is really hard :(

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

Cosmetics are fucking dog shit across the board- the first paid DLC has some cool stuff coming that was sourced from amazing fan-artists who have been commissioned to help (what a surprise! The talent is coming from OUR side of the table!)

Builds in 3 can be fun! But are not in any way interesting. Like, that's maybe the worst part of it. You can make something "fun" but it's also just.... soulless more often than not. A shotgun build. A throw build. A rifle headshot build. A hipfire build.

The MOST interesting builds are just "I refresh my throwables so I throw a bunch of grenades" and "I use grit and edge to become stagger immune and then hold a hostage".

And again, those can be fun, but man do the list of "interesting" options feel.... nada.

They cowered away from the wacky stuff in 2 and it "works" but where is the new identity? Where's the new "payday"?

I'm being bitchy but look at this rant, I have things to bitch over and plenty more than what comes to mind here.

And all that comes to make the game mid! Just! Mid!

I WANT it to be great as fuck and I don't know if it can when the foundation is so... this! Add pre-planning, expand heist variety IN THEMSELVES (ONE HEIST DOING MORE THINGS ON DIFFERENT RUNS), Multi-days, skills, fucking anything man just give this damn game a chance but hey

that's the operative word ain't it.

There's a chance it's great in a bit of time.

I hope so.

At least Payday 2 is right there still.

[pd3thoughts]

Yeah and don’t even get me STARTED on crossplay. It’s basically non functional! I like how the characters interact with each other and I like the way there’s a coherent story, but there’s nothing to replace the charm that PAYDAY 2 had. That, and it’s pretty unforgiving. Shade doesn’t tell you where anything is.

I want to support these people but Deep Silver is known for ruining franchises. A lot of people are being rude about it but you said it perfectly—the game is mid. It’s great at its core, but the execution is terrible. They’ve strayed away from more sci-fi themes but there’s no meat! There’s just no meat!

You could say that the change in Mission Control is the reason why everything is serious instead of goofy, but now there’s no soul :(

I trust that eventually it’ll be better but it’s gonna take like. A year. It’s sad

[pd3thoughts]

bain, has this always been your wallpaper

[pd3thoughts]

Imagine the og 4 walking into the new Cook Off and the chemical smell bringing back memories of a simpler time

[paydaysecretsanta]

The First Annual Payday 3 Secret Santa is Open!

Welcome to the first annual Payday 3 Secret Santa heisters. There's been a minor change as we have a new game but I have decided that not just Payday 3 applies here. All heisters from prior Payday games are allowed as character inspo as we all know and love them and who could really let them go? But I wanted to include the newbie Pearl, don't haze her too hard guys.

I cannot update the carrd currently, but will post it and put it in our description as soon as possible.

Click here to join!

Happy Heisting! 😎

[pd3thoughts]

If the FBI has the gang’s actual likenesses then why haven’t their faces been shown to the general public?

[pd3thoughts]

Dallas kept the mask he had in PAYDAY 2…

But he ends up getting a new one in PAYDAY 3. During the assassination attempt, Dallas lost the mask that Bain handmade for him. He’s lost everything.

[pd3thoughts]

Gonna write something about this… hehe hoo hoo

[pd3thoughts]

Chains is so funny actually

[pd3thoughts]

Shade actually on McDonald’s wifi as the gang runs around trying to get a better signal

[pd3thoughts]

A very lonely Dallas

[daphrona]

[pd3thoughts]

Fun fact: Bain wanted them to get out of heisting and be free so his death is in vain either way

[pd3thoughts]

Dallas kept the mask he had in PAYDAY 2…

But he ends up getting a new one in PAYDAY 3. During the assassination attempt, Dallas lost the mask that Bain handmade for him. He’s lost everything.