//this is the general format of the player savedata
local data = {}
game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
	local plrDat = DataStore:GetAsync(player.UserId)
	if plrDat ~= nil then
		data[tostring(player.UserId)] = plrDat
	else
		data[tostring(player.UserId)] = {
			['Tier'] = 1,
			['Level'] = 1,
			['EXP'] = 0,
			['Name'] = "John Doe",
			['Appearance'] = {//basically texture values and colors converted to hashes with integers here},
			['Genetics'] = {
				//redacted
			},
			['PrimaryTown'] = "Dragan",
			['Statistics'] = {
				['Aptitude'] = 1,
				['Intelligence'] = 1,
				['Power'] = 1,
				['Strength'] = 1,
				['Agility'] = 1,
			},
			['StatisticCache'] = { //stats earned but not redeemed yet
				['Aptitude'] = 0,
				['Intelligence'] = 0,
				['Power'] = 0,
				['Strength'] = 0,
				['Agility'] = 0,
			},
			['Abilities'] = { },
			['EquippedAbilities'] = {
				['Slot1'] = nil,
				['Slot2'] = nil,
				['Slot3'] = nil,
				['Slot4'] = nil,
			},
			['Perks'] = { },
			['EquippedPerks'] = {
				['Perk1'] = nil,
				['Perk2'] = nil,
				['Perk3'] = nil,
				['Perk4'] = nil,
				['Perk5'] = nil,
			},
		}
	end
end)

game.Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
	DataStore:SetAsync(player.UserId, data[tostring(player.UserId)])
end)

--alternatively with UpdateAsync but the problem still occurs and I don't think it's any better than SetAsync in this context
--[[game.Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
	DataStore:UpdateAsync(player.UserId, function(oldData)
		return data[tostring(player.UserId)]
	end)
end)]]