Payday 2

- Buy the Gage Mod Courier DLC first.

- HOLD F to do things, don't just press it.

- Get Transporter (in the Enforcer tree) aced as soon as possible. Payday 2 is a bag moving simulator.

- The AMCAR and Chimano that you have at first absolutely suck. Ditch them as soon as possible.

- The CAR-4 is a freaking Lego gun. Buy two, and mod one for stealth and the other for war.

- Playing offline is awful. Only play online unless you're grinding Four Stores or Jewelry Store for random drops.

- Stealth is pretty much learned by doing it. Don't be afraid to mess up--unless you terminate the contract or you're on a Pro job, you have unlimited attempts.

- After killing a guard in stealth, be sure to answer his pager. Otherwise, an alarm will sound.

- Practice getting headshots without ironsights. The more you can land, the more unstoppable you become.

- If you don't know what secondary to pick, bring the Locomotive unless you're heavily into pistol skills.

Specific Heists

- If your group's playing Shadow Raid and you're lousy at stealth, haul bags back to the van. Hug the fence and crouch.

- There's a decent chance of finding a folder in an Armored Transport heist. Do NOT pick this up without asking the host if it's alright.

- Don't smash cases in Diamond Store until you disable the alarms. You do that by getting a keycard off the manager, or off a desk, and using it in a slot upstairs.

- Day 1 of Rats requires coordination. When Bain calls out an ingredient, ask your teammates what he said to them--if two or more people got the same ingredient called out, dump it in.

- When doing a stealth Bank Heist, shoot the tellers and guard the panic button in the back hall with extreme prejudice. ECMs don't turn these off, and civilians can and will go right for them.