What is your favorite and least favorite "era" of GTA Online?

[Ser_Salty]

Feel free to divide the time up however you want, personally, I'd divide it something like this:

 

The Beginning/Waiting for Heists Era:  2013-2016 (before Further Adventures in Finance and Felony), updates consist mainly of smaller content additions. Cars, weapons, apartments, small missions and gamemodes, with the main event being the Heists update and the switch to PS4, X1 and PC.

 

The Business Era: 2016-2017 (before Doomsday Heist), updates consist primarily of Business related features. CEO offices and warehouses, biker businesses, import/export, gunrunning and smugglers run, with Cunning Stunts and smaller updates inbetween.

 

The "Crazy" Era: alternative title: The Weaponized Era 2017-2018, updates are inconsistent as to their content. Anything goes from futuristic vehicles and world saving heists to nightclubs and Arena War. Almost all updates will include some weaponized vehicles in the wake of the Gunrunning update and its popularity.

 

The "Serious" Era: 2019-present, updates have a more grounded focus, very little in terms of weaponized or futuristic vehicles. Updates will often focus on expanding what players can do in freemode and provide social spaces, e.g the Casino and Casino Work, the Car Meet and its various races for freemode (Time Trial, Scramble, Head to Head, Sprint), new Business Battles

 

Now, The Beginning of course holds a special place in my heart. Back then, everything was very "relaxed", with almost all the grinding taking place outside the freemode. But I feel I may only like this era for nostalgic reasons. I think it comes down to either the Business Era or the Serious Era for my favorite era. I did really like Bikers and Import/Export, the clubhouses are cool and so are all the bikes, but I gotta say, I really like gambling virtual money, robbing a private island, chilling on the casino roof or at the car meet, and driving around in a riced out tuner. Auto Shops are also probably my favorite property added to the game. They're just so many things in one. The mini heists are fun, tuning customer vehicles is a very relaxed way of earning some money and a nice change of pace, the Exotic Exports are another nice addition to freemode, and the thing just looks cool as hell and gives you a discount on car mods. I think the Serious Era comes out just ahead of the Business Era for me.

 

Least favorite is easy for me: The Crazy Era. Now, I don't really mind weaponized or futuristic vehicles, after all, I don't gotta use them (although the Op Mk2 is really annoying in freemode, but that's a different topic), for me it comes down to Doomsday Heist missions often being either tedious, incredibly difficult and sometimes both. The facility is also just way too big, making it a tedium to walk through. I like Nightclubs, but apart from being a good way to earn money passively, they don't provide all that much content, especially not content worth replaying or otherwise interacting with. And, well, Arena War was a nice idea, but executed very poorly. It's pay to win and a very, very long grind.

[MayoChiki]

I'm gonna go for DNS days back in December 2013 and then 2015 when Heists dropped for the simple fact that EVERYONE was playing. Game was simpler back then but it also had people with more time on freeroam and mayhem was acceptable unless a jet was around. For third place I'd place late 2020 because Cayo Perico made invite only sessions busy on their own which I appreciate considering I don't have any friends who still play.

 

Least favorite would be After Hours because the MKII breaking the meta forever and then Doomsday for introducing the Deluxo (another meta breaker) and also ruining PvE with the random rapid fire npcs. Another least favorite for me would be Smuggler's Run because it made me quit the game for at least a year just because how repetitive and boring it was

[paperbagdude]

The game definitely had another vibe somewhere between 2013-2016. While we were working harder by grinding missions and the first generation heists like crazy, there was a sense of achievement by ranking up, saving up for that particular cars, buying the upgraded apartments etc. More people were playing, thus the overall community was richer. People would actually join crews to take part of their communities and participate in planned events just to hang around members and have fun. It was also the era when me and the boys would boot up our consoles and spend whole nights just fooling around.

 

The game has certainly benefitted from all the added content through the years and it's pretty cool with all the stuff you can do, but the community spirit disappeared long ago and by that the soul that made the game interesting.

[Verstappen]

Ooooh... Good question! But I think i'm gonna have to go with The "Serious" Era. Since I'm a car guy the newer 'more real' cars that came after Arena War (the toe problem and such on Vamos and such ruin those amazing cars) and their theme's certain have been by far my favorite as they're true additions to the game map. That is aside from the racing as some newer car have been one of my favorites like the Peyote Gasser, Gauntlet Hellfire and other cars like the Zion Classic that you can make from a base model to a track racing monster to a true rally car. I've never been one for outragous supercars. I dont think I even own 10 supercars even though all my garage spots are filled.

 

Sure the Casino is a Casino to make money for R* but its the only place I know people generally actually go to even though its just to spin the wheel. Sometimes you just join friends and even randoms to see what they get. Also I like the 'legit' money we can make now where we can just deliver some car and letting the Arcade generate some I can just pickup. Too much work to do that with the Nightclub.

 

Also the newer missions aren't as restrictive. I don't need EXACTLY 4 people to do them, some are shorter if I don't have too long and then there's the generally slightly outrageous but fun and different Cayo Perico which doesn't pretend you're saving the entire world by a shouty and 'sweaty mess in a gaming chair'.

[D T]

The first month was a god tier online experience because it felt incredibly grounded; dying had consequences as missions didn't pay much and hospital bills drained your bank account fast. Friendships were naturally formed as a result of robbing liquor stores together or being invited to random apartments for drinks. No one had sh*tty setups or cargo to gather so players were forced to use their imagination and impromptu meet ups would arise in the most random spots. Car chases were intense and could last ages since almost no one was high enough rank to use sticky bombs. Calling a mechanic actually felt like you were calling someone, rather than telling the game to spawn your vehicle through a glorified debug menu. I could go on for ages but it was the sh*t.

 

I'd say this feeling lasted roughly until the jet meta rapidly kicked off sometime in late 2014, but things completely died when Heists dropped. It was at that point Rockstar realized weaponized vehicles could bait players into buying shark cards and it was over.

[Ser_Salty]

22 minutes ago, D T said:

The first month was a god tier online experience because it felt incredibly grounded; dying had consequences as missions didn't pay much and hospital bills drained your bank account fast. Friendships were naturally formed as a result of robbing liquor stores together or being invited to random apartments for drinks. No one had sh*tty setups or cargo to gather so players were forced to use their imagination and impromptu meet ups would arise in the most random spots. Car chases were intense and could last ages since almost no one was high enough rank to use sticky bombs. Calling a mechanic actually felt like you were calling someone, rather than telling the game to spawn your vehicle through a glorified debug menu. I could go on for ages but it was the sh*t.

 

I'd say this feeling lasted roughly until the jet meta rapidly kicked off sometime in late 2014, but things completely died when Heists dropped. It was at that point Rockstar realized weaponized vehicles could bait players into buying shark cards and it was over.

Oh yes, the first few months of Online were absolutely glorious and some of the most fun I've had in a video game. Back when everyone was still playing deathmatches, contact missions, versus missions and stuff and when the armored truck was the most exciting thing to get in freemode. I miss it sometimes, but I don't think it could hold for a long time, realistically. Eventually, players would rank up, get RPGs, miniguns, sticky bombs etc. and then those would be all you'd see in deathmatches or missions, just like today.

[Astafjevs]

I actually found the first few months boring after a while. I didn't play for that long. There just wasn't enough interesting content imo. Heists were promoted from the start, but it took a while for them to land. Meanwhile you had a bunch of contact missions which lost novelty after a while and were quite difficult at that period, where you could just about afford a mini SMG. Was alright for a while but the game needed a lot of the extra stuff they've added over the years.

[Mexicola9302]

I liked the business era the most, ppl had to team up a lot to earn lots of money. But the newest DLC is also okay. I hate that they added the Oppressor MK2 and the Deluxo, the regular Oppressor was still okay, but the really flying vehicles made everything annoying with their ultra accurate homing missiles.

 

I hope rockstar finally changes things a bit, when E&E is released, i hope they finally let us do all business activities in friends only sessions. It's annoying having to play with the scum of the earth, if not using any tricks (lag out etc.) but this will probably not happen, because what do these MK2 ppl do then, if they can't attack random ppl anymore. It would sell less shark cards, and rockstar can't let that happen.

[Commander S]

Curiously, I was thinking about this the other day, and I'd group the eras more like this:

 

Late-2013 to Mid-2015 = The Early Years (everything on the original roadmap, building up to Heists, then rounding out with Ill-Gotten Gains as an 'encore')

 

Late-2015 to Early-2017 = A New Direction (next-gen-only, Freemode Events, drip-feed releases, SecuroServ, an emphasis on stuff that either can't be done solo or must be done in Public Freemode, and the beginning of Businesses as the primary focus)

 

Mid-2017 to Late-2018 = Gunrunning Theft Auto (endless gimmicky weaponised Business clones, in the form of Gunrunning, aerial Gunrunning, Gunrunning heists, Gunrunning tacked on to nightclubs, and then the singularity happens: Gunrunning Adversary Modes )

 

2019 to Present = A Return to Form? (no weaponised stuff, grounded/realistic themes, social spaces, activities that flesh out Freemode in a realistic way, oft-requested things added, mission structure bringing back ideas from single-player GTA V, more solo-able gameplay, and the curious move towards ...real-life musicians and labels coming to GTA?)

 

 

And with each of those, there's often something that hints at things to come: Heists added military-grade power-creep and expensive vehicles, missions that needed several players at all times, and Adversary Modes. At the end of the pre-Gunrunning era, we got the first weaponised gimmicks with Special Vehicles (or even earlier in Bikers, with the TRON-inspired Shotaro) - and near the back-end of the Gunrunning Dark Age, the nightclub part of After Hours (not the Terrorbyte Gunrunning-y part) felt more like the modern era updates, with grounded social spaces, solo-able activities, and real-life DJ cameos.

 

 

Personally, I'd rank them as follows:

 

1. The Early Years (they might have been simpler times, but that was part of the appeal - you were left with a decent amount of room to make your own fun)

2. The Modern Era (you can't un-ring the bell of Gunrunning, but there's still a lot to like about how things are more recently)

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3. The Next-Gen Shift (the move to making everyone a property magnate owning the entire map started to lose me - and stuff like Freemode Events marked the start of wacky gimmicks replacing the original "living online world" feel of the game, in hindsight)

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99. The Gunrunning Apocalypse (if things like Benny's in 2015-2016 had me hopeful about the future and potential of GTAO, stuff like rocket bikes and cyborg juggernauts killed my interest in the game stone dead, and it's only recently that I've started to enjoy the game again - and even then, I'm much more jaded about how R* handles both it and RDO than I was back in the early days as a result)

[Standard Deluxe 59]

Favorite: 2014-2016 Things were still fairly grounded in reality, heists and lowriders became a thing and we got a grand slam of 60 garage spaces with Import Export. Updates were pretty common, even if they were smaller. 

 

Least favorite: 2017-2018 Push for weaponized sh*t, tons of tacti-cool gear, douchecanoe MKII became a thing and most of the semblance of reality was blown away. Only bright spots were the new aircraft, car modelling improvements and the gradual increases in garage space. 

 

Better than sucky: 2019-present More solo-able content, overall pretty great car modelling, addition of long time requested update themes and few new weaponized vehicles. Two updates a year with such a long gap between the Christmas time update and following update sucks though. 

[El Zodape]

I think the game's better than it's ever been currently. Lots of fun vehicles, missions, heists and grinding money has never been easier.

 

However I do miss the early days of GTAO, everything was simpler and more grounded. Definetly it was GTA in it's purest form. I still would't go back to that time because there was barely any content, so without any friends you'd get bored really quickly.

 

Give me the current era without the stupid weaponized vehicles (don't delete the Scramjet/Stromberg/Toreador/Deluxo/etc, just deweaponize them), remove the Mk 2 and we're good.

 

The standard military vehicles (Chernobog, Insurgent, Khanjali/Rhino, Helicopters, Jets) are fine. They aren't exactly balanced but they don't f*ck with the style of the game and they definetly aren't as braindead as spamming missiles from a broomstick.

[Big Molio]

My favourite era was probably 2016 and the arrival of Cunning Stunts and the Stunt Race creator.

[Shadowfennekin]

Favorite: hard to say

 

Least Favorite: 2021 easily. f*ck that rep system!

[Hécate-II]

I started playing in 2016 and it was the best period for me. Good freeroam PvP, abusing Valkyrie passive method to wreck the Hydra passive kid, join a random PacStand, get your noob car, make money, and fancy some coke delivery made from infinite supply glitch. You could make 1 Mio easy like that in one hour. It was a lot back then. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spectre "2K"]

2016 era for the criminal mastermind memories and that in between period of having drum mags on weapons but no mk2 weapons to worry about. Your biggest problem was some Hydra that you could take out relatively easily if you knew what you were doing. Benny's was still getting stuff, getting rich by yourself was just blooming, and better detailed cars were being added. Least favorite is the era right after that when gunrunning came out, which did enhance the solo grind some, but decimated freemode pvp in a way that still hasn't recovered

[Fidzy]

My favourite is just after launch, when we got the beach bum update and everything for free until rockstar realised they were missing out on good money, all my mates were playing. The stunt update in 2016 is my second favourite.

 

My least favourite is the one that started off the flying cars, bikes and stupid amount of armoured cars and supercars.

[Paper Mario]

my memory is really terrible, but it was interesting when gta online first launched. i played a lot with my friend and loved game modes like parachuting and i believe random races and whatnot. getting stuff sucked though. everything was hella expensive and i didn't enjoy playing for so long to get tons of money. i wasn't in the mood for grinding and was quick to go back to other games that allowed me to have fun without needing to level up.

 

i never was into heists really. the whole set-up just confused me, and i didn't have enough friends to play with. strangers kept ruining the heists. that's why i am glad i can do the cayo heist solo.

 

i don't mind the flying car/bike, but it should stay a bit more realistic in future gta games. Just have better aircraft. that's what it is there for. 

[Tomtomsengermany]

The current time.

 

I mean griefers were always there, even in 2013.  all these fake deathmatches,  the rhino who took 20 rpgs before he got nerfed. The lack of weapons for lowlevel who couldnt fight back when a lv 100 with his MG was after them.

 

 

[WesternRev]

The crazy era

[zBiglucky]

for me its 2013 until the original heists in 2015. since then online felt different i preferred it when it was more simple but it is much easier to make money than before!

[Quinn_flower]

Billionaire bounty area 

 

When bounties were fun. 

 

Kill a guy he doesn't care and moves on with their day and you get your money.

 

Everyone is happy 

 

Least 

 

Ask 2015 me what I'm not happy about 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Quinn_flower

[Lonely-Martin]

From day one until heists was a great adventure. Marred by the mod menu abuses though.

 

The weaponized toys/businesses stuff just ground me down. Some decent elements and cool cars, but I was pushed away more and more by the forcing of players into public. Nearly killed the game outright.

 

The modern era has really drawn me back in though. Not without flaws of course, but the more we get content available in invite or elsewhere, and both solo/crew friendly with options to go either way is a huge improvement on the previous ways.

 

I'll go with the modern era. It has all the good of the older eras with more cool stuff.

[Veleno]

The Business Era.

[Geisterfaust]

For me, early days were the best. Not only the map and the game itself were new to experience and technologically modern, but the mechanics was actually closest it was possible to get to GTA game. Although with forced car ownership and limited traffic spawns, it never felt like a true GTA, that was better than the direction that game took from late 2014 and I have zero interest in the game now.

 

DNS days, storing Hydras and tanks in the garage, @scubadave and havoc. Oh, and @Quinn_flower, negative bounties are the best, still having a laugh remembering that time when I was banned in Xbox voice chat.  Freeroam was never friendly nor good, but I liked the simplicity of the game. GTAO now is viex jeu, a relic if you ask me. Online have lost its identity with flying cars, doomsday scenarios, submarines and other stuff.

 

A lot of people loved IV MP and mode like that should exist in the next Online too: no properties, only picked up guns, nothing to own. I love that in games and I miss that. GTA for me was always the game when you don't have 'your own car', because it's a god damn oxymoron. You either know the spawns for the good ones or you steal, the best you have is your garage and in case the thing is destroyed, you're done with it. Insurance sucks, property sucks, business activities.... you guessed it. I miss IV and EOLC as probably the best 'modern engine' GTA and I miss SA as the most feature rich GTA. V was neither and Online was working with that base, which makes it inherently mediocre.

 

[Gettin up]

The Business Era. 2016 was the best year of GTAO in my opinion.