The Day GTAO Support Died

[fw3]

A couple of things I was wondering about and thought I'd post here to see what other's might be thinking.

Instead of creating a poll, I'll just pose "open questions:"

 

1. Do you think Rockstar continues to fully support all aspects of GTAO, ranging from issues with Shark Card problems, DLC, hackers & griefers, to technical support, report submissions, etc?

 

2. Do you think Rockstar may be slowly letting go of the GTAO ball in favor of other projects, while just allocating a bare-bones team to continued support of the game?

 

3. Just for the sake of discussion, let's say it's a day in the not-too-far-distant future, and Rockstar simply pulls the plug on support of the GTAO (GTAV version), yet continues to let the game exist on its own, much like they did with GTAIV: Multiplayer, which to my knowledge, is still up and running. Jobs, Races, Survivals, Golf, etc. all continue to be available and playable. Money can still be earned and clothing, weapons, apartments, vehicles, etc. can all still be purchased – it's just that Rockstar will no longer support any of it. 

Shark Cards are taken off the shelf and are not being sold anymore. No new DLC will come and if you've got an issue with someone and try to report them, it goes into the abyss. If you accidentally spent your last million dollars and want Rockstar to put it back, then you're out of luck. And if you're character went from looking pretty decent, but is suddenly missing his/her head, there's no one at Rockstar to help you out.

The question here is, would you continue to play the game, as it is, with the existing community in-tact and no changes to your existing account(s)?

4. Do you think most current players would continue to play, unabashed by the lack of support? Would new players likely be drawn into the game, even if it were being sold as a Platinum Hit-type game for a significantly reduced price, like $19.99?


I'm always thinking about the longevity of this game and wondering at what point will it meet the same - or similar - fate as its predecessor, GTAIV.
Curious to know what others might think. Cheers!

[Rumblebud]

Hell, R* couldn't care less about technical support. Every support ticket is closed with repetitive, obvious suggestions in an attempt to brush me off their back.

[Standard Deluxe 59]

1. I think they support the shark issues because well others money is at play here, I think they still support dlc because of shark card sales. Though I think reports against hackers, griefers, and technical issues that don't involve money glitches get neglected. 

 

2. I think they originally were going to put GTA online on the back burner until they saw how red dead is floundering on the micro transaction front. 

 

3. If they stopped support all together but I could still play I still would, I'd just milk whatever money glitch came out and buy whatever and basically do the same thing I do in this game now. 

 

4. I think they would have a good few of players continue to play but over time the numbers will decline. 

[MsBrandi]

1. Of course they will keep a support for GTAO but without a good fix/response lol

 

2.The only one thing that would keep them stop milking GTAO is the start of GTA VI, there is no way RDRO can keep up with GTAO, i didn't hate RDR just think about it, what can they sell about wild west? Not much that's why things are so desperate around there, selling emote for real money? Damn that's called lack of ideas, but they can add some cowboys and aliens stuff with kind of heist story mode which is big, but not everyone is interested in it, GTA is R* milking money they will stop GTAO when GTAVI arrives

 

3.Nope games are just like a fast food, just like McD, Burger king etc fast serve fast eaten and pfft it's gone when you reached your goals unless there's a decent update

 

4.some of the OG players are still playing but eventually we will get bored, because the lack of content, maybe just pop in on weekends just to do some missions or heist, it just like fast food, cook some half assed flagged cars, dripfed until the next dlc arrives, and the cycle goes on and on.....

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by MsBrandi

[Paddyofurniture]

We've had no DLC at all for GTAO.  DLC is optional additional content.   Rockstar provide updates that if you don't install you won't be able to play GTAO.

 

If I could roll back to pre Doomsday I'd happily go back there. When the game was best in my opinion. 

 

R* support is a joke.  I'm 100% against the glitches and have since unistalled and traded in GTA V because of the amount of low level MK2 griefers who've appeared.  However that said they patched the glitch pretty fast, especially when compared to the fact I spend more time in the cloud and the titan glitch (warehouse job) still exists.    Why haven't these been fixed? Couldn't be that they in no way impact the sale or shark cards.   

[Sanches]

4 hours ago, fw3 said:

Do you think Rockstar continues to fully support all aspects of GTAO

Well, the thing is, that Rockstar don't do it anymore. They gave up on support maybe somewhere after PC release. And everyday it's just getting worse.

[REXX]

From my past experiences with Rockstar Support, it seems they're picky with who they help. It may sound odd, but its borderline true. Every issue I have semt to Rockstar Support, I have only once in the 5 years of playing had the ol' "bullsh*t response". Other than that, all the rest were more like an actual conversation.

 

If Rockstar Support disappeared, issues and exploits would still most likely be patched/fixed as the big mouths on YouTube or the site that shall not be named usually blab about them there.

[whywontyoulisten]

People still play on last gen, that pretty much answers question 4.

[IceDree]

1. R* will continue supporting GTAO 1.x until GTAO 2 comes out.

 

2. Everyone assumed that when RDRII came out, but if the rumors about RDRO player numbers & whatnot are correct, GTAO 1.x will continue being priority numero uno until 2.0 comes out.

 

3. That depends, is the new GTA out? If Yes, I'll most likely phase out GTA 1.x. If not, I'll continue playing as if nothing happened. R* support is useless anyway.

 

4. See @whywontyoulisten post above me.

[Lonely-Martin]

1. DLC and shark cards, yes absolutely they do. Technical support, yes, but no way near at an acceptable level. Hackers, not enough Especially on PC. Griefers, not at all, they cater to them and make things to deliberately appeal to those players, I feel it's to slow progress too. Report submissions, nope. They will tell you to use the in-game report function and it appears that does very little other than give a BS point.

 

2. I already think they use a bare bones team. RDR2 took all effort to create, goes to reason that their next project - Be it Bully 2, Agent, GTA next, or something new - Has full attention as it takes a lot of time and effort to make a game like RDR2 and future games, they need to focus on those fully and though GTA V/O and RDR2 have made billions, I don't think they've invested too much in a bigger team. Possibly to minimise secrets leaking, partly because the shareholders got theirs, lol. (I don't really know much of how all that works, pure speculation on my part).

 

3. I would keep playing. Until R* creates stuff that puts me off and removes options like invite only, or things like 'on call' die out and stuff like races are abandoned, there'll always be varied fun to be had until a new GTA/game comes from R* or elsewhere to grab my attention like this game did. RDRO didn't come close to scratching that itch, far too limited in content, and being forced into a predominantly PvP environment just isn't me. Such a shame though as the story mode was a gem and I'll still play that like I do older R* games of course, but as it stands, RDRO can fail, and fail hard. I hope. R* went too far with that!

 

4. New players will definitely thin out and be less and less. The more hardcore fan will stick around for a spell at least, especially those looking to complete aspects or hit their personal goals. Players that enjoy stuff like on call with racing, DM's and the like have a huge amount to play, so as long as there's randoms and crews/teams enjoying those, many will stay until another game like this comes that offers so much and so many ways to play.

 

Honestly, looking at GTA:O, I'm amazed R* are keeping RDRO so simple. This game had so much more content on day one and the variety of ways we can play here is so vast that it baffles me why RDRO isn't trying to appeal to all playstyles. Though I'm mostly a PvE/ player, I love co-op and PvP too, but in doses and this game allows me to thrive. Because RDRO is so heavily a more PvP experience with no freemode peace at times, it puts me off completely from the PvP modes. By the time I think to play them, I've already had enough from players forcing their playstyle on me. The game saw me getting angrier and more fed up, not getting caught up in that bollocks, this game had its moments, but I've an invite session if it gets too much - Still not been killed by the broomsticks, lol.

 

It does disappoint me to feel I want RDRO to fail so badly as it stands, but it's just such a sh*t game I can't not. I do hope this 'feedback era' proves a good step forward, but if RDRO is anything to go by, I'm cautious. I believe R* do what R* do, and if anything it's outside bad press that see's certain things addressed. Time will tell.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Lonely-Martin

[Pedinhuh]

11 hours ago, fw3 said:

 

1. Do you think Rockstar continues to fully support all aspects of GTAO, ranging from issues with Shark Card problems, DLC, hackers & griefers, to technical support, report submissions, etc?

Shark Card problems? Yes as it affects their bottom line greatly

 

DLC? Eh, seems like they have been winging it lately.

 

Hackers? LOL!

 

Griefers? LOL R* encourages griefing in this game.

 

Technical support? It's outsourced, so they don't give a crap to it anyway.

 

Report submissions...Did that ever worked?

 

11 hours ago, fw3 said:

2. Do you think Rockstar may be slowly letting go of the GTAO ball in favor of other projects, while just allocating a bare-bones team to continued support of the game?

That seems to be the case, given how lackluster the last 3 updates have been in general.

 

11 hours ago, fw3 said:

 

3. Just for the sake of discussion, let's say it's a day in the not-too-far-distant future, and Rockstar simply pulls the plug on support of the GTAO (GTAV version), yet continues to let the game exist on its own, much like they did with GTAIV: Multiplayer, which to my knowledge, is still up and running. Jobs, Races, Survivals, Golf, etc. all continue to be available and playable. Money can still be earned and clothing, weapons, apartments, vehicles, etc. can all still be purchased – it's just that Rockstar will no longer support any of it. 

Shark Cards are taken off the shelf and are not being sold anymore. No new DLC will come and if you've got an issue with someone and try to report them, it goes into the abyss. If you accidentally spent your last million dollars and want Rockstar to put it back, then you're out of luck. And if you're character went from looking pretty decent, but is suddenly missing his/her head, there's no one at Rockstar to help you out.

The question here is, would you continue to play the game, as it is, with the existing community in-tact and no changes to your existing account(s)?

I'd leave it, the abandonment of last gen was the biggest contributor to me buying a PS4...Modders were out of control, chances are any of them could wipe my character's progress, making every day I played thus far pointless.

 

11 hours ago, fw3 said:


4. Do you think most current players would continue to play, unabashed by the lack of support? Would new players likely be drawn into the game, even if it were being sold as a Platinum Hit-type game for a significantly reduced price, like $19.99?

Well if last gen is any indication, the player base will start to dwindle and then eventually the game would become a proto ghost town with modders running rampant.

[Rumblebud]

I should probably keep in mind that EA's customer support is bullsh*t, so Rockstar gets saved a few bad reviews from me in this case.

Edited March 3, 2019 by CanadianMuscle

[gtafan26]

I feel calling what R* offers as support a bit of a stretch.

Edited March 3, 2019 by gtafan26

[aquahaze2]

gta online is being supported now more than ever. I can only assume youre new to the game and figured they actively supported and communicated with the community before, but no none of that sh*t ever happened. Them updating the race creator and even asking for feedback might be the most they've ever done

 

which is hopefully a good sign after the massive amount of bullsh*t red dead online has pulled and the for that matter the arena system.

[CarimboHanky]

1-while they have made it kinda harder to send in support tickets, now not only the send ticket option is kinda hidden and yoy have tp jump through some hoops to finally be able to send a ticket, overall from my experience, their support have gotten better, specially when it comes to replies. back in the day it would take 2-3days for a support agent to reply to a ticket, now im getting replies within hours. most of my tickets are about "missing items", so dont know how it goes for getting support for other issues.

 

2-i have no doubt in my mind that we now have less people working on the game. what the rest are working on? i dont know but its evident they are not working on content for rdo

 

3-yes, i would continue to play the game as is, til it becomes a wasteland like gta4 and gtao ps3 version. at that point i'd move to other game, which would probably be gta VI .

 

4-no i think most players would move to other games once dlcs stop.

[kcole4001]

I can see a day when the next big thing is announced, and along with that, the final date being posted for active support of GTAV/O.

It'll happen someday I'm sure, all games are abandoned by their devs eventually.

And naturally the vast majority of players will move on right away.

 

Also, I'm sure some players will continue to play regardless.

I have games dating back well over 10 years that I still play when the mood strikes, and i can't see that ever changing regarding the games that scratch a certain itch, at least until something comes along that's better, and that something has to cover all the important bases that the old game does, not just add some flashy new graphics.

 

I'm a wargamer as well, both board and PC, so graphics are not the determinant in game selection, the game has to hold up to repeat playings while still maintaining interest and offering challenge.

I will still on occasion play a game that was published for the C64 because of the gameplay, the blocky graphics are long, long outdated, but the core game is still relevant.

Edited March 3, 2019 by kcole4001

[Mokuakae]

Support was alive once? That's news to me!

[fw3]

1 hour ago, CarimboHanky said:

2-i have no doubt in my mind that we now have less people working on the game. what the rest are working on? i dont know but its evident they are not working on content for rdo

I think that might be the $24 question: what is Rockstar working on next? If you visit the Take Two Interactive site, they're busy with Sid Meier's Civi 6 and the upcoming Outer Worlds release, so it's tough to say what their interest is in the future of GTA, which I'd gather is pretty high, but something they won't let leave their tightly sealed lips.

In my searching, there's just no indication where GTAO is going. Nothing.

And those of us who've been with the brand since III or IV, have never seen this before. There was never this kind of social media or cyber-attention accessible until GTAO, so rumors and speculation usually flood about now... but again, there's nothing.

Even on TechRadar, they make their "best guesses" which are more of the same that we've seen here, already. But still always fun to hear: https://www.techradar.com/news/gta-6-release-date-news-and-rumors-mapping-the-path-to-grand-theft-auto-6

 

[Snoopbr]

They will always give priority to shark card, billing related issues.. I think If you use to buy a certain amount of $hark cards then you become a VIP client in their data base for X months.

Unfortunately player's experience issue will be labeled as low priority.

[Rumblebud]

1 hour ago, Snoopbr said:

They will always give priority to shark card, billing related issues.. I think If you use to buy a certain amount of $hark cards then you become a VIP client in their data base for X months.

Unfortunately player's experience issue will be labeled as low priority.

I can see that as understandable to a certain extent, since it's likely real money on the topic; but for genuine experience issues, I don't particularly like the priority hierarchy they're creating.

[fw3]

21 hours ago, CanadianMuscle said:

I can see that as understandable to a certain extent, since it's likely real money on the topic; but for genuine experience issues, I don't particularly like the priority hierarchy they're creating.

It's an à la carte world, nowadays. Sell us a piece of chicken for $20 bucks, then sell us the sides for $5 each.

Apple went from including accessories in the box, but then decided to sell them separately to make more money.
Not surprising that software companies figured out how to do it, too, right?

Sell us a big piece of chicken, then offer us the risotto and spinach as add-ons, for a price.
It's a cross between priority hierarchy and supply & demand. I think.