TAC Reviews...The 10 Things I would Add/Change/Remove from GTA Online

Date Posted: 6/10/19

 

Once again my loyal reader I find myself having to apologies for the lack of a review last week, I had slight emergency that consumed my attention so was unable to put mind to monitor and post my weekly article. I won't bore you with the details but the crisis has now been resolved and I am once again able to enrich your lives with a new article.

 

However, as I have been busy and haven't played anything new and only managed to watch IT recently I wondered what to talk about. I could discuss the new version of IT as the sequel IT Chapter Two is out in cinemas at the moment but I think I might save that review for next week as there are things to talk about but it is not something that I really, really want to talk about.

 

 

As you know from an article posted a few weeks ago regarding the Oppressor MK II in GTA Online, I found it irritating that one of the massive benefits in using the MK II was not discussed by any YouTubers or people on Reddit. Which was why I decided to write my own opinions about the vehicle on this very site, and on the back of that article I have decided to write down my personal list of the things that I would  add, remove or change in GTA Online. Naturally I could just hack the Rockstar servers using my ship's computer and download these things into the game myself, but hacking into servers is what led to me being otherwise occupied last week so I'd rather not do it again for a while.

 

Right so let’s get cracking...

 

1. Pegasus air vehicles to custom aircraft...

 

When you buy certain vehicles they are only available through Pegasus and you need to call them to have the vehicle spawn in the lobby. If you own a Hanger you can call Pegasus get them to deliver a Buzzard or Cargobob, then fly it to your hanger and store it inside. This converts the vehicle into a Personal Aircraft. However, if you do this there is nothing that you can really do to the vehicle aside from give it a respray. If you have purchased the Insurgent Pick-up through Pegasus you can take it to your MOC or Avenger where you can  convert it into the Insurgent Pick-Up Custom (for a price naturally) which allows you to add armour, proximity mines, change the mounted gun and armour plating and so on.

 

So why can we not do the same with an aircraft??

 

The most expensive weaponised vehicle in the game is the Lazer jet which costs a massive $6,500,000 and if you buy it, then take it to your Hanger you get to repaint it...that's it. The vehicle is entirely useless and a waste of money because jets are all over Fort Zancudo which can easily be stolen. If you could turn it into a custom variant though, the Lazer Custom which changed its design so it looked more like the Eurofighter or the F18, which in turn gave it more maneuverability, countermeasures, and maybe a VTOL ability, then it might be worth getting.

 

Personally I use the Cargobob a lot when doing Import/Export missions because the NPCs are really annoying in those missions, however, with the Cargobob I can literally rise above them being able to return a vehicle to the warehouse or sell one with relative ease. Unless it is a mission which spawns enemy Buzzard Attack Helicopters. I am someone that likes to develop techniques for dealing with in-game problems. One of the things I really liked about playing Metal Gear Solid (the Playstation version) was that the majority of bosses could be beaten using different tactics. The Tank could be disabled using Chaff grenades preventing it from using its main gun whilst you got close enough to throw grenades into the open hatch, Vulcan Raven could be defeated by putting Claymore Mines or C4 around the warehouse which he'd trip as he tried to hunt you down...the list went on. I like creative ways that players can use to best their opponents. Buying the Cargobob was an investment because whilst the hook-up can be a bit fiddly, once you have a vehicle hooked enemy NPCs can do nothing to you. I use the Cargobob for Import/Export and any resupply mission in which I have to return with a vehicle. Why drive and get attacked by NPCs when you can easily fly back without getting attacked and it takes less time

 

Unfortunately if helicopters spawn then you are pretty much fucked because they are very fast, easily capable of catching a Cargobob, plus a few hits from their guns later, and your Cargobob is going to start smoking as the rotors begin to die. Sometimes you might be able to make it back to your warehouse before your aircraft drops from the sky, but more often you don't make it to safety. When the engines fail you have to drop your vehicle hoping that this doesn't cause thousands of dollars worth of damage that you have to pay to fix, and then you have to engage the Buzzards on the ground. Take 2 down, and 2 more spawn, destroy those, you get 2 more, and once those a flaming ruins and further two more will appear to wreck your day. You have to fight off 4 waves of helicopters which is ridiculous. As a side point, each of these helicopters in-game costs £1,750,000 to buy so these enemies are sending £14,000,000 worth of helicopters after you to recover a car worth a max of maybe £1,500,000. But, if could make your Cargobob into a Custom vehicle, improve its armour, speed, handling, add counter-measures in case griefers come after you, perhaps install weapons on board...then you'd be better able to defend yourself or make it to your destination. One of the issues I have with the Cargobob is that the hook can be quite tricky when trying to attach it to a vehicle, plus doesn't seem to be able to lock onto the Technical Pick-Up that features in one of the Bunker resupply mission. So why not give us the ability to attach a magnet to the chain rather than a hook? We know such a thing is possible because in the first heist, the finale features you being airlifted off a bridge by a Cargobob with a magnet attached to its chain. Maybe give us the option to make the chain longer so it is easier to pick up vehicles in tighter spots. The possibilities with this are endless and it would give players a reason to use their Pegasus-turned-personal aircraft. As it is I'll use Pegasus ones because when they get destroyed you get a replacement for free whereas you have to pay to replace your own.

 

I have a collection of Pegasus-turned-personal aircraft but they are mostly only for show in my Hanger as there isn't much point in using them when you can spawn an identical vehicle at no cost from Pegasus. If they could be customized then they wouldn't just be glorified paperweights which to me is what they currently are.

 

2. All homing missiles only lock onto NPCs...

 

When I was talking about the Oppressor MK II I said that it is the ultimate tool for grinding as it can go pretty much anywhere, fit into the tightest spots, is fast and health regenerates fully when riding it. I also said that it is the ultimate tool for the griefer and that is one of its major drawbacks as players are constantly getting attacked by it. I have watched countless YouTube videos in which players doing their own thing are set upon by Oppressor MK II's for no reason. I even saw a group calling themselves the MK II Griefers in one video. Dick-heads who play to grief love this bike and when I used to play in public lobbies these things were the bane of my avatar's existence.

 

Personally I like using the bike because the missiles lock on to NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and so using it do VIP work or a Client Job grants you around $50,000 for a few minutes work. But it will also lock onto players. I tend to switch the homing option off if I'm anywhere near other players because most are not going to be forthcoming with the benefit of the doubt when they hear the ping sound of a missile automatically locking on.

 

So what if all homing missiles would ONLY lock on to NPCs???

 

If Rockstar changed the weapons so that the missiles on the Ruiner 2000, Oppressor MK I and MK II, the Homing Missile Launcher, the Vigilant, the Deluxo and so on only automatically locked on to hostile NPCs then the constant MK II griefing would end. If players had to manually target others then shooting them down would be easy because they’d have to stay in one place to shoot at their target. Player Vs Player would change dramatically. If a MK II had to follow behind a vehicle it was trying to destroy it would give the driver time to fight back against them.

 

Twats would still find a way to grief because that is what Twats do, but it would be so much harder for them to use the MK II. This would allow the grinders to keep using the MK II for grinding but would take away the main tool of the griefers and equal the playing field if someone is trying to come after you with the MK II

 

3. Cycle Missile Lock-On...

 

I find the lock-on option to be a bit annoying, now when trying to kill your target in Headhunter for example the missile will lock-on to any enemy in range. It is pretty irritating trying to maneuver your vehicle (generally the Oppressor MK II) into a new position so it will lock-on to the target you want. The controller has enough buttons on it so why can't there be an option to switch targets??

 

Recently I happened to be in a server with another player (much lower level than me) when I was doing a Headhunter. The guy was following after my target and my missiles kept aiming him not the target. I don't give a crap about other players, and I was not interested in wasting missiles on him as the guy in the car was by my final Headhunter target and once he was dead I'd get $20,000. As it was I wasted my remaining missiles killing this random player and had to snipe my target from a rooftop.

 

If I could have cycled through targets (or as I said earlier if my missiles hadn't locked on to this player at all) I could have completed the mission without issue and rocketed away on my MK II leaving the Noob behind.

 

There are spare buttons on the controller which aren't being used when on or in a vehicle so would it be that difficult to give player the option of switching through targets so they don't give priority to shooting a random gang member or police officer over an armoured juggernaught with a minigun

 

4. Remove Business Raids...

 

I have stopped doing the MC businesses because of the Business Raids.

 

I could honestly put up with the crappy delivery options but the Business Raids eventually defeated me. I almost never activate my MC as I tend to be the CEO for grinding now. The MC businesses feed into my Nightclub and I leave them to it. In my GTA Online...An Angry Rant...I described an incident in which I lost an entire stock because the Police chased me wherever I went, my vehicle got jammed against the building and I destroyed it trying to dislodge it. I didn't mention that this is an armoured vehicle so should have been able to take a bit of explosive damage before being destroyed but it didn't and stock was lost.

 

I refuse to buy business supplies because it costs $75,000 to get a full bar. But that is not enough to fully stock the business and I get those people who say that they buy supplies because stealing them wastes time that could be spent grinding through missions but buying supplies also eats into your profits.

 

Buying Vs Stealing supplies is not something I am interested in. If people want to buy them fine, if they want to steal them then it is up to them, I'm not going to criticize either approach.

 

However, I have grown to despise the Business Raids. The last time that I did the MC businesses was during a double money bonus for MC sales (which is coincidentally this week's bonus), and the draw of double money did bring me back to them. Sadly within a couple of hours after I'd resupplied my Cocaine and Weed factories the stake was driven through the heart of the MC businesses for good when a Business Raid triggered. None of my businesses had anything near to full stock, plus I had just finished a Nightclub Sell and was up near the Sandy Shores Airfield so had to flog all the way back down to the city to defend my Business.

 

I am just done with the MC businesses because I have security, I get charged $30,000 every in game day which is 48 minutes of real time, for staff and security, yet the security do nothing to prevent these attacks. They don't help you to defend the business or do anything of any use. I don't think that there are many things that I would remove from the game entirely but this is one of them. I hate these Business Raids and I fail to see what they add to the game. Players have lost thousands of dollars worth of product and if you are one of those players that does buy supplies then you've lost money and if you grinded you've lost a time investment. I honestly have no idea who thought that Business Raids would be a good addition to the game.

 

Like I said this week there is a double money bonus on Biker sell missions but I'm not going to even try because any money I will make is not worth the headache of getting that call from LJT telling me a business is under attack.

 

5. Allow players to chose business delivery methods...

 

Okay so when I was doing the MC Businesses and the occasional Crate sell mission I was not a fan of the majority of the delivery options. In one of the articles in my GTA Online articles I described the methods. If the business raids were the metaphorical stake through the heart of MC Businesses for me then the delivery method was definitely a nail in the coffin.

 

When After Hours launched, the deliveries from the nightclub were done in one of three trucks depending on the amount of goods being sold. Players purchased two of these (one came free with the club) and could upgrade them with armour, speed and weapons to defend themselves during sell missions. I have seen YouTubers that complain about griefers constantly coming after them, but they sell in public lobbies because you get a bonus if there are other players in the session when you sell, but that paints a target on your face. Personally I'd rather sell in an empty lobby (I'm still using the MTU method) because it is far safer than running the gauntlet of other players.

 

What I don't understand is why we cannot chose our own delivery method, surely Rockstar could update the game with specific vehicles for us to use. Naturally they would charge for them but it meant that you'd always get the method you wanted, alternatively, give players the option to pay a fee $20,000 for example to pick which method. Hell, maybe have a bonus for harder delivery methods like the Post Op vans. When I was doing the MC businesses regularly I was always crossing my fingers as I waited to see what method I would be lumbered with. If After Hours gave us a single delivery vehicle why can that option not be introduced into the MC Businesses or CEO Crate sales???

 

6. Bullet-Proof/Resistant windows in vehicles...

 

The game has introduced so many customizable options for vehicles from suspension options, brakes, to livery’s and spoilers. But the only option for windows is to have the side ones tinted or blacked out. If we are able to put bullet-proof tires on a vehicle why is there not an option to install bullet-proof or at least bullet resistant glass??

 

I recently brought the Nightshark and when reading about it, the GTA Online Wiki said that if you put armour plating on then drive-by weapons would be disabled. The Nightshark has machine guns on the front which can't be aimed so I opted to leave the windows open so I could use drive-by weapons.

 

The thing it that there are plenty of weaponised vehicles which don't have bullet-proof or resistant windows. The Vigilante, the Weaponised Tampa, the Half-Track, the Deluxo to name but a few, all of these vehicles have offensive capabilities with missiles and machine guns. But due to the accuracy of the NPCs in the game, if you are in one of these vehicles then you can and will get shot out of it.

 

The Terrorbyte has bullet-resistant glass which will shatter under continuous fire but at least the driver has some protection. With the majority of weaponised vehicles there is none. I'd be more inclined to use the Weaponised Tampa in missions if I knew I couldn't get shot out of it. The final mission in the Casino Story involved fighting an army of enemies and took numerous tries because no vehicle was strong enough to offer protection without enemies managing to kill you. If you can give a vehicle bullet-proof tires then why can't it have bullet-proof glass?? If this could only be installed on weaponised vehicles, fine, if it had to be done in an MOC or Avenger, no problem, and if it locked out drive-by weapons so you couldn't use them if bullet-proof windows had been installed then fair enough.

 

I have and am continuing to acquire a collection of different vehicles, my facility is full of weaponised and armouered vehicles, I have numerous muscles cars, custom vehicles, bikes, helicopters and planes but generally I use only the Oppressor MK II because health regenerates on it. If the Deluxo could be fitted with bullet-proof windows I'd use that, or the Vigilante, or the Weaponised Tampa.

 

This feeds back to my earlier point about Pegasus to personalized vehicles. I have a Buzzard Attack Chopper sitting in my Hanger, all decked out in my colours obviously, but it just sits there because it is no more effective than the one you can spawn for free from the Interaction menu or the one from Pegasus. However, if you could install bullet-proof glass instead of the standard for the front canopy, suddenly it would become more effective, suddenly it would be much harder for enemies to shoot you out of it. Therefore I'd be inclined to actually use it. 

 

7. The accuracy of NPCs...

 

When you are happy to grind, steal supplies, do sale missions, contact missions and free mode activities in MTU setting lobbies it isn't other players you are going to be up against, it will be NPCs.

 

The problem with the NPCs in GTA Online is they have ridiculous accuracy and even if you are in an armoured car they are still able to shoot you out. You can be hiding behind something and yet if there is a single pixel of your body not in cover then you are going to get hit. Enemies can blind-fire (basically stick their gun out and shoot without looking) and will still hit you with perfect accuracy. I said in a former article that you could be looking through a scope of a high-powered sniper rifle, have set your sights on an enemy that is only just visible in your sights, take the shot, and instantly everyone  around your target will turn and fire their machines guns shredding your health in seconds. They have standard machine guns capable of hitting you from any distance, you might have the same gun but basically have to be close enough to kiss them to have a chance of killing them with it. 

 

This accuracy feeds into every aspect of the game from the ones that spawn when doing Import/Export missions, to those in Headhunter, the ones in Contact missions, and those in free mode activities.

 

Enemies can hit you if you're in an armoured vehicle from half a city block away whilst chasing you down. You could be in a helicopter and they'll hit you. It is so aggravating to be sitting in an armoured vehicle and have your health shredded as quickly as it would have been if you'd been standing out in the open. 

 

A particular mission in which this is pretty infuriating is a Supply mission for the Bunker in which you have to steal a Technical pick-up. Now for some reason a Cargobob doesn't seem to be able to pick this vehicle up so you have no choice but to drive it back to your Bunker. You might be lucky and get two Buzzards chasing you which use their machine guns and can still hit you, or you can get vehicles. If you get vehicles you are basically screwed because they will chase you down and shoot through the tiny panels in the windows of the pick-up. If you evade one set, more will spawn often right in front of you, cutting across your path and killing you before you can react.

 

It seems every NPC in San Andreas has received Arnold Schwarzenegger levels of training because like him, they never miss their targets. They could be bouncing around in a boat on the ocean, chasing on a bike or car, or in helicopters. They could be the passanger or the driver of the vehcile...and it doesn't matter they will hit you regardless of what you do. 

 

8. Use any vehicle in Heists...

 

As I said above I have got a wealth of weaponised, armoured, and weaponised armoured vehicles in my collection. Most of which in the Facility because they look cool in there beside the Khanjali tank, but sadly a lot of them cannot be used in heists.

 

What I don't understand is why some can be used and some can't.

 

You can use the Half-Track, the Vigilante, the Weaponised Tampa without issue but you cannot use the Scramjet, or the Khanjali in heists

 

If I have purchased a Khanjali or a Scramjet why can't I use them in Heists?? Imagine how easy it would be to do the Plane set-up mission if you could roll over to Sandy Shores in a bullet-proof tank. I have put the time and effort in to buy these vehicles so why am I not allowed to use them?? I did the Plane mission from the Prision Break Heist with some lower level players a few months ago and they just kept getting killed over, and over, eventually I quit after messaging the host because it was boring and tedious. A tank is slow, sure, but once it arrives on the scene it is going to capable of decimating all opponents. If I want to drive it from the city to the outskirts then why won't the game let me?? If a Half-Track can be used then why is the Khanjali locked out?? The scramjet is not too dissimilar to the Vigilante but the latter can use used and the former can't, why??

 

It reminds me of Yahtzee saying in his Zero Punctuation review of GTA 5 that it leads to the sandbox paradox, total freedom outside of missions, but very linier experience in missions.

 

If you own the vehicles then you should be allowed to use them, it doesn't matter if it is a supercar or a tank, or even a plane or helicopter, if it is a personal vehicle you own it so you should be allowed to use it.

 

9. Change the Pay and Fire of The Orbital Cannon...

 

I have the Orbital Cannon in my facility but I have never actually fired it, however, there is a glitch in which players can fire the cannon without having to pay the $750,000 to auto aim. It is similar to the Spin-the-Wheel in the casino and is rooted in the fact that the Rockstar servers don't save quickly. As a result if you fire the Orbital Cannon then close your application, the game doesn't register that it has fired, so you don't lose your money. As a result dick-heads will sit in their facilities firing the cannon at players doing deliveries and then quitting the session so they don't lose their money.

 

The Orbital Cannon was featured in the Doomsday Heist and it is cool to own it, but I have never fired it, and the only purpose of having it is to grief others. If the glitch was patched so people couldn't do it anymore then people would stop using it so much. I guess if you are getting griefed and want to end your attacker then you could threaten to fire it at them if they don't leave you alone so it might work as a deterrent but beyond that what is the purpose of having it in the game??

 

In the Doomsday Heist you used it when yiou fired it at Clifford's servers but why is it a part of free mode?? If there were Doomsday Heist free-mode missions added (like Ms Baker's Casino work) that required the use of the canon, similarly to some of the Client Jobs needing a Drone Station, then it would serve a purpose. But as it is, why is it in the game at all??

 

Admittedly I have never been hit by it, but it must be infuriating to be trying to do a sale and someone blows you up without warning.

 

I guess if you had to pay $750,000 to fire it then that is something because it isn't cheap to fire it, but because it is glitched griefers are attacking innocent players with it non-stop. The glitch needs to be fixed or the weapon needs to be removed from the game altogether because it doesn't really serve a purpose.

 

If it cannot be removed then how about changing the pay and fire rate. This would mean that you pay for a shot, $750,000 auto aim or $500,000 manual aim, then one minute later you are able to fire. It could be explained in game that the cannon needs to charge-up or something. If this was introduced the servers would be able to save the fact that someone has purchased a shot for the amounts above, and they wouldn't be able to instantly fire, then quit.

 

10. Remove players from the mini map...

 

If I could make 1 change to the game - it would be this one - I have saved the best for last

 

Okay now just hear me out on this one...in my opinion each and every one of the points above would improve the overall experience of GTA Online for everyone who likes to play it and not grief others. It would minimize griefing and allow players to have fair Player Vs Player combat if they wanted but also allow players to do their own thing and mind their own business.

 

However, if no one showed up on the in-game map with the exception of perhaps Friends then players could do their own thing without interference. Players that were griefing could be highlighted on the map so others know where they are and can avoid them. If you kill another player you pop up on the map for 1 minute. Just like how Passive Mode works now in which you cannot activate it for 2 minutes after you kill another player. Griefers can't attack then run and hide.  Alternatively the last player that killed you could show up on your map but not you on theirs so you can go after them if you want to.

 

Say Rockstar did change the missiles so they wouldn't lock on to other players, there would be those that would still grief, they'd use explosive rounds for the sniper rifle or whatever. But if no one else showed up on the map then players could escape from griefers far easier by simply turning a few corners, disappearing into an alley or something and they would have evaded their pursuer or forced their attacker to move cautiously.

 

This would work too because I saw a YouTuber saying that a MK II griefer was trying to kill him on the highway, but he [the YouTuber] activated a feature called Ghost Organization which hides your blip on the map for 3 minutes. The griefer raced down the highway thinking the YouTuber had gotten ahead of him and the YouTuber slipped away so he could finish the sale. But if no one appeared on the radar then no one would know if an NPC was an NPC or another player, again it would just make griefing so much harder to do.

 

Players could not sit on the Orbital Cannon at their facility attacking random players, a griefer could not fly around the map attacking anyone they came across. Deliveries couldn't be targeted.

 

As it is because players appear on you map you know where they are and can go after you, I occasionally get attacked by the people I have mentioned before that are on my Friends list and can join my MTU lobby because they know where I'm hiding. I can't escape because my blip shows them exactly where I am at any time. If players did not have location blips then it would make griefing much, much harder and would generally just improve the overall GTA Online experience.

 

Final Thoughts...

 

GTA Online is still going after six years (it was six at the beginning of October) and people are still talking about it, making videos, swapping tips and techniques to get the best experience from it. Sadly this great online game has a black cloud hanging over it constantly, people grief, and ruin the fun of others. I find it puzzling that apparently Rockstar has taken steps to ensure griefing doesn't happen in Red Dead Redemption 2 Online so why do they not do the same for GTA?? There is currently nothing like GTA Online which is why it is still going and people continue to play it. Rockstar supports the game with updates and additional content which is great.

 

It is sad that the few ruin it for the majority and with a few tweaks this great game could become fantastic...as Rockstar do keep bringing out new content and patches perhaps in time some of the issues will disappear. 

 

Yeah and maybe my people will pick up the phone before the end of this decade...a chap can dream...

 

So there we go, 10 things that I would Add/Change/Remove from GTA Online which I think would definitely reduce griefing, help in various missions and give players a few more vehicle options to play around with. Perhaps if you, my army of loyal readers forward this article to Rockstar then perhaps they will make changes. They are updating the game and have changed Passive Mode recently so it is possible that further changes will be made at a later date.