As something I accidentally figured out today - make a save before you open a shortcut. Then you can reload the save and complete the mission without opening the shortcut.
You get the challenge, but the shortcut stays closed because reloading a save pre-unlock seems to overwrite it.
Nice! That actually makes sense. The challenges are all not tied to a completed mission (except for the classics like SA/SO) but the shortcuts must be tied to completing the level. I wonder if offline mode has them closed as well?
Can confirm: In my first playthroughthrough while i could actually connect to the server I opened the shortcut in Berlin that lets you bypass the frisk at the club’s entrance, but since then I’ve only been able to play offline and it’s always closed.
Is it just me, or are shortcuts locked in contracts mode? I’m almost certain I’ve encountered locked doors and ladders when making contracts that I’d opened in mission.
If that’s the case, I’m a little frustrated because then those become one way doors; you can’t choose to bring a lockpick or keycard, you just have to go the long way around.
Finally! One good thing about offline mode.
Yeah, they’re locked. I noticed that the Dubai elevators were closed again when I was doing a contract the other day.
But…I just started a couple of contracts in Dubai and the lobby door is wide open.
As is the infamous door in Berlin.
I haven’t been able to test because I’ve been unable to connect for about 21 hours but if people are getting different results maybe it’s based on if the original contract creator had the shortcuts unlocked or not.
Feel free to prove me wrong.
That would be cool! But, for the contract creators, it would have been nice to know in advance, since once they are open they are stuck open.
Can anyone confirm this?
disagree if that’s the case. the contract creator might not be aware of that limitation despite it being a more effective (and not necessarily easier) strategy which would limit creativity when figuring it out. at the same time, the author can’t lock such options to make the puzzle harder either. it’s a bad system no matter how you look at it
Well as I mentioned way earlier in this thread. I don’t like the short cuts.
They should not be there. I meant they should not stay open. The devs could either keep them locked at level start or change them for keycard doors ect.
When I said that would be cool it was a direct response to the posts above on the idea that they are open, only if, the creator had the open when s/he made the contract. It’s certainly better than “shortcuts are open/closed in your game if you have them open and open/closed in the the other players game if they have them open/closed.”
I guess I was assuming we already accepted that shortcuts are here to stay and so with that in mind, at least you can create a contract that doesn’t allow shortcuts by not having them open when you create it. Although knowing this in advance might have been useful to many of us. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
how if you’d already opened them in your game?
Half the shortcuts I’ve opened, I’ve never seen again. Like the roof in Dartmoor, the only reason I went up there was to open the shortcut. I’m not fussed about this stuff either way but it does strike me as a weird mechanic to add, especially now there are keypads as well. Just put the code behind the door?
that’s a great idea, actually
No! Why would 47 have those codes already? I don’t hate that in Dubai we don’t have to use the kiosk in order to “learn” the code each playthrough, but I think they put that there just so Grey can help you as part of the story. I’d prefer the short cuts go away.
@UnitedFyodor EXACTLY! That’s why I said the info would have been useful before we started opening the shortcuts. However if the short cuts are tied to a completed mission instead of the challenge pop then you might be able to delete the game data and profile locally along with your mid mission save games to reset the short cuts? I deleted those to fix MT can’t connect issue. It worked for a while, but I didn’t notice if the shortcuts were gone closed again and now the can’t connect is happening to me again, so I can’t check.
i can see ioi considering it a bug and removing in the future. but at the moment it’s indeed better than nothing
If there was something I wish IO could change about these shortcuts, is that shortcut doors are unable to be closed and can create a line of sight for NPC to find “hidden” bodies. I’m not talking about resealing the shortcut, but rather treat it as any other door that you can open and close.
@Norseman That’s a good point too! I still think many of them are far too unrealistic to be open. 47 is already the worlds best assassin. He doesn’t need wide open doors to secure locations as a bit of luck to help.
The more I see shortcuts, the more I think they are annoying and obtrusive. Shortcuts with their stupid binary behaviour do not do the maps a favor. It seems to me that locked shortcuts force awkward detours in some situations, and open shortcuts turn fortresses into more holes than cheese.
Doors that can and have to be opened with an item would be the perfect middleground.
The more I play the game, the more I find the inclusion of these short cuts baffling.
IO had a perfect system of shortcuts with the use of loadouts, unlocks, hidden stashes and starting locations.
What you have now, are levels that are forever changed after one use, and quite often for the worse.
It’s like IO felt like they needed a new feature for the game and this was the best thing they could think of.