Summary
Overall, thePaydayfranchise has made great advancements with its stealth mechanics and features in the latest game. However, the franchise still repeats a silly tradition that can lead to players instantly ruining their stealth runsPayday 3.
Specifically, when it comes to using the default control scheme inPayday 3, players risk the chance of throwing a grenade that will immediately cause them to get detected. What makes this such acommon mistake for players to make inPayday 3is that the button to throw a grenade is also the same button used to perform a separate action.
Grenades Are Stealth Players’ Worst Nightmare in Payday 3
Throwing a grenade will cause players to be detected inPayday 3, regardless of whether any NPCs are near the grenade’s explosion. Even NPCs that are across the map will detect the player. This mistake can happen when players accidentally or purposely press this button in an attempt to remove their mask, which can’t be done. Since this isn’t something that the game explicitly communicates, many players are bound to try and remove their mask only to be met with a frustrating consequence that can potentially ruin their stealth runs and inflict friendly-fire damage on themselves.
Considering that players who are most likely to make this mistake are those attempting to remove their mask during a stealth run, this mistake is extremely unfortunate. While there is no option to unequip grenades from theirloadouts inPayday 3, players who plan on going stealth can still avoid making this mistake by equipping the throwing knife. However, this workaround places an unnecessary restriction on the equipment that players would normally have access to throughout a heist. Instead, players may want to consider changing their control binds to ensure that they don’t accidentally throw grenades inPayday 3.
Stealth in Payday 3 is High Risk, High Reward
What makes this mistake so frustrating is that stealth inPayday 3is extremely high stakes. Even with the expanded stealth mechanics inPayday 3, successfully pulling off a heist without ever being detected still requires a relatively high level of skill and planning. Not to mention, anyproper stealth build inPayday 3also requires a high investment cost to have the right skills and equipment for the job.
Players will earn increased experience for weapons and skill points inPayday 3based on how much of each heist is completed while undetected, which generally balances out the steep difficulty increase for this playstyle. Additionally, stealth is required for certain one-time challenges that players can complete to level up theirInfamy levels inPayday 3. Because of the increased rewards and exclusive challenges, making the mistake of accidentally throwing a grenade in a stealth run comes at an unfortunately high cost inPayday 3.
Should Payday 3 Allow Players to Remove Their Mask?
Stealth inPayday 3is a big improvement over the previous games in the franchise, thanks to several new QOL changes and features that come together. For example, more actions can now be done in Casing mode inPayday 3, which is the stage at the beginning of a heist before players have their masks and weapons equipped.
While many players are likely to try to take off their mask out of instinct, it’s arguably for the best that this isn’t a feature inPayday 3. Because of the way that stealth currently works, having the option for players to remove and re-equip their mask wouldn’t work without potentially calling for a major rework to the game’s stealth. Otherwise, being able to switch back to stealth mode aftergoing rowdy inPayday 3and engaging in combat would invalidate most of the rewards related to fully completing heists in stealth.
