The developers of Payday 3 have announced that they will be making "a bunch of changes" to the game's progression system shortly after stating that they had no plans to do so

Payday 3 faced challenges early on, and one of the primary sources of player dissatisfaction was the progression system. Heisters were unhappy that unlocking new weapons, cosmetics, and other items relied solely on completing in-game tasks. This meant that players aiming to acquire new gear often ignored heists and focused on taking down as many cops as possible to fulfill objectives like "kill 20 enemies with this weapon." This approach seemed unusual for the Payday world.

Despite protests from the gaming community, Starbreeze, the company behind Payday 3, stated in a livestream nine days ago that they had no plans to change the progression system. However, during an updated livestream on September 25th, Andreas Penninger, the lead developer of Payday 3, disappointed fans by stating that Starbreeze "currently has no plans to alter the progression system," while focusing on user interface issues.

However, today, in another updated livestream (reported by MP1st), Starbreeze has come to the conclusion that reevaluating the progression system might be a good idea. In a new statement, Penninger confirmed that the Payday 3 developers "hear you" and are "working on numerous changes to the progression system." This seems like a reasonable course of action. Based on what was said, it can be inferred that the Payday 3 progression system requires a more substantial overhaul than just minor adjustments.

Penninger didn't specify the exact changes that will be made but assured players that Starbreeze is "working on it" and plans to test and verify them to ensure they meet their expectations and take player feedback into account. Penninger also mentioned that once the studio finalizes the changes, they will provide more detailed information to players.

As of now, this is all that Starbreeze has announced regarding changes to the progression system in Payday 3. However, this represents a significant shift from the statement of "no plans" just a week ago and appears to have sparked cautious optimism within the game's community. A user with the username Thedarknight725 on the Payday subreddit said, "Despite the rocky start, it seems like they're listening to the community." Another player with the username Allheartnobrains added, "I don't like that games are released 'unfinished' these days and 'improved later,' but this game could become truly amazing when they refine it."

This is undoubtedly a more positive development compared to the flood of complaints the Payday 3 subreddit has seen since its release.