Payday 3 slammed on Steam by players forced to wait in server queues just to play by themselves

pcgamer.com:

Launch week server headaches have rankled everyone trying to play Payday 3, but the most frustrated are those who don't even want to play the new co-op heist shooter online. Payday 3's always-online construction means that solo players still have to connect to the matchmaking servers to start private heists, which has subjected them to the same errors and long queues as multiplayer heisters.

When I first launched Payday 3 today, I struggled just to get to the main menu, receiving an impassable «Nebula data error.» After relaunching a couple of times I was eventually able to start a private, invite-only heist, waiting through about 30 seconds of «matchmaking» despite playing with bots.

30 seconds of waiting isn't a devastating inconvenience, but players have been reporting more frustrating queue times this week. On Steam, Payday 3 currently has a «Mostly Negative» user review rating, and discontent over its always-online design is the primary thumbs down motivator. A sampling of the reviews:

Some of the more comprehensive Steam reviews also focus criticism on the progression system—it's not popular at all based on my survey of user comments and a quick check-in with our Payday 3 reviewer, who broadly likes the game, but also isn't a fan of the progression systems (or server errors).

Server problems are hardly unheard of during multiplayer game launches, and are often resolved when demand settles down in the weeks after launch, although Payday 3's always-online infrastructure will still disappoint some players for other reasons. 

I also think Payday 3 may be afflicted by another modern syndrome, where a sequel initially suffers from comparisons to a predecessor that had years and years to expand and change and acclimatize