So, Grand Theft Auto V release September last year, with GTA Online launching in October. GTA Online, in many ways, was exactly what the gaming community and fans of GTA have wanted for a long time. But, did Rockstar deliver on their promises?
Before I begin, I just want to say, I love GTA V and GTA Online. I’ve put in endless hours, and have to say Rockstar did an amazing job in building such a stunning world. The game, at it’s core, really is great. Rockstar always delivers an amazing experience with GTA games, providing endless hours of entertainment to any who pick up the game.
But, did they actually deliver on their promises? The short answer is, no. They didn’t. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick the game up if you haven’t already, but the hype that built up to GTA V and GTA Online’s release was not met in the final game.
Before I begin, take the time to watch the original announcement trailer for GTA Online.
As you can see, Rockstar seemed to make a lot of promises regarding GTA Online, and activities within the stunningly vast open world. And they definitely delivered on a lot of it. But, even now, about 7 months after GTA Online’s launch, it still seems lacking in many ways.
To start off, Heists. In the trailer, Rockstar suggests that Heists will be ready and playable at launch. And, as you probably know now, Heists still are not available. Many gamers, including myself, are still holding on to the hope that Heists will be released soon. But at the same time, I’m outraged that they haven’t been released yet.
If you still play GTA Online, you can easily see that most missions or jobs have a terrible payout of both GTA Cash and “RP.” And the missions that do pay well have been “fixed” with an upped difficulty to make players spend more time and ammo. And that is not okay in any sense of the word. Any decent vehicle will run you at least $150,000 in GTA Online, and that’s not even counting the prices for upgrades, which can easily add up to be more expensive than the car itself. Clothing is expensive, hitting an upwards of $20,000 for a mask. Haircuts can cost as much as $3,000, which you will lose anyway because of a persistent glitch that causes your character to go bald.
And on top of this, the most recent “I’m not a Hipster” update adds vehicles that classify as Sedans or Sports cars, but upgrades cost as much as Super Car upgrades, making 2 upgrades for a car cost more than the car itself. And why is this? Well, the answer is fairly simple.
Micro-transactions.
When gamers found out about GTA Online’s Micro-transactions, it was mostly shrugged off. Because in all reality, micro-transactions are not as bad as some put them out to be. Especially in GTA Online. I understand that a person may not have much time to pour into grinding missions, the only easy way to get GTA cash is through the game’s “Shark Cards.”
But, with the exclusion of Heists, “fixing” of commonly grinded missions such as Rooftop Rumble and Coveted, it’s getting to a point where GTA Online’s micro-transactions are growing into a bad thing. And it’s not fair to the users who bought GTA V and expected all of these promised things in the online multiplayer portion.
I know that five of my own friends bought GTA V for GTA Online and Heists. Because it really does seem like a great idea. But at this point, the lack of Heists is getting to be unacceptable. They were implied to be available at the launch of GTA Online, as well as other features such as the Content Creator, but were absent on October 1st. It’s almost July 1st now, and it’s just not acceptable that not a single Heist has been added to the online.
As some may already know, a Heist was leaked in February, and it was indeed playable. A video of it can be seen here. So, is it believable that this isn’t ready for release 4 months later? Not really.
So, all in all. No, Rockstar has not delivered on everything promised for GTA Online. It’s not to say that GTA Online isn’t a success, because it is. Rockstar has already given out 8 free DLC packs, which is almost unheard of in today’s Gaming Industry. It still doesn’t make the lack of something implied to be available at launch okay. Especially not when it hasn’t been added in 6 months after launch.
But, in it’s current state, GTA Online is not acceptable. High mission payout are lacking, a lot of items are far to expensive, Hackers and Cheaters are still around, mechanics of the game are broken or missing, and Rockstar doesn’t seem to like to talk about anything they are working on. And normally, this approach is okay. It allows for the players to discover things on the release. But, in this case, a clear cut statement of what is going on with heists for GTA Online from Rockstar would definitely ease the situation.
If you haven’t already, the update for Heists and a new “Independence Day” update for GTA Online were leaked recently, the article on that can be found here.
To end this, I would like to say that yes, I don’t necessarily agree with the state of GTA Online. But, it doesn’t mean it’s not fun. If you haven’t done so already, pick the game up, because the singleplayer alone is worth the $60 price tag. And GTA Online, even with it’s current faults, is a great experience and is worth a try. Currently, GTA V is on Xbox 360 and PS3. But, this fall GTA V arrives on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
So, what do you guys think? Do you agree? Do you think it’s okay that Heists are still not available? Do you still play GTA Online? Leave your thoughts below. And stay tuned to Gamer Headlines for all of your GTA Online and gaming news!