Do you miss the old GTAO?

[RadiantEclipse2003]

2013-2015

[Lonely-Martin]

Yes and no, TBH.

 

I miss the simplicity of things back then, and the lack of all these toys that dominate (like the Oppressors and such- Not that there wasn't heavy hitters from day one of course).

 

I also miss those freemode things like security vans and taking down planes for Trevor etc.

 

Plus I miss that initial chase to a property and million dollars, my first expensive car, and generally just figuring things out as we go.

 

But I do love much of modern GTA:O too. The many heists, and other jobs, we have that not only make great money but are great co-op fun. Plus I absolutely love having a good few hundred personal vehicles and pegasus vehicles on tap, all tuned how I like where possible. And I enjoy many of the since added adversary modes too. Plus you be in a position to throw down 50m GTA$ on DLC day feels pretty cool, lol.

 

The game offers plenty of aspects I can get stuck into to chillout after a long day. So yeah, while I miss aspects of previous GTA:O, I think for how I play the game evolved well, aside that spell of 'public only' content with businesses in the mid-era that almost pushed me away. But hopefully soon that'll be a thing of the past.

Edited July 16 by Lonely-Martin
Wording.

[sonnyC]

Just out of curiosity, has GTA:O always been a mod cesspit? Or did it become worse over time? I only joined in when the pandemic kicked off as a means to kill time.

[Lonely-Martin]

13 minutes ago, sonnyC said:

Just out of curiosity, has GTA:O always been a mod cesspit? Or did it become worse over time? I only joined in when the pandemic kicked off as a means to kill time.

 

Oh, back in the PS3 days, it was hell! 

 

So glad it cleaned up on PS4 (and PS5) since. I was all but out until PS4 showed better form to get rid. I couldn't trust it on PC because of that. 

 

Better graphics, more flexible, fivem, all sound great. But my PTSD just couldn't shake that 'what if...' aspect of those that like to interfere or harass. 

[HamwithCheese]

5 hours ago, sonnyC said:

Just out of curiosity, has GTA:O always been a mod cesspit?

More or less the same, with a lot less destructive tools. 

[ambi3nt]

In 2016-2017 it was actually a lot worse. Cheaters could change your level in seconds, take all your money etc. Prior gunrunning dlc PC public lobbies were insane. 

[SM Grunge]

I miss that feeling of excitement over the new game, the map that I hadn't explore, the activities that I didn't complete yet. Granted, the DLCs were smaller back then if you compare them to the ones we got nowadays but since the game was so fresh it didn't really matter

[RonDutch]

Other then the fact we got 3/6 updates a year, not really no. 

[Spider-Vice]

13 hours ago, sonnyC said:

Just out of curiosity, has GTA:O always been a mod cesspit? Or did it become worse over time? I only joined in when the pandemic kicked off as a means to kill time.

It was a lot worse in some regards when it first launched, there was literally almost zero integrity checks, people had custom DNS servers that mimicked R*'s server structure and gave themselves money and all kinds of stuff without it ever being detected, PS3 and Xbox 360 had a plague of billionaires whose money all came from hacking like this.

To this day I still think that was one of the reasons everything started being so expensive so fast, because they probably lost control of people who had abused hacks and couldn't reset everyone.

 

Although there's some god mode glitches and some weird f*ckery on PC, it used to be A LOT heavier.

Edited July 17 by Spider-Vice
xbox 360 not one lol

[Mexicola9302]

It was a lot worse on PC in the past yeah. There were times you really had to be careful, to not lose all money, your rank could get manipulated very easily. I think it was shortly after the DLC with the Bunker, or shortly before the Hangar DLC, where it was dangerous to just be in a public lobby.

 

I was totally paranoid while playing back then, damn it was bad. Luckily i had a friend that somehow managed to keep a public session for himself, where no randoms could join. He really had his PC running 24/7 just to keep the session open for weeks nonstop, he played with a second computer and parked his host char in the yacht. That was the extreme grindy time for me, i mostly sold one full bunker, 2 times all MC businesses and some I/E cars in just a single real day playing up to like 14-16 hours straight, and this for a few months. Damn it was crazy how i was hooked playing back then. Sometimes there were like 20 ppl in the sessions this guy hosted, everybody helped each other selling stuff nonstop. Yeah those where the days.  

[Ser_Salty]

I do, sometimes. Of course there's a lot more to do now, and also most new stuff doesn't require going through the lobby system but can be done in free roam, but I miss those simple times. When we had no idea where the game was gonna go, what it was gonna turn into. When running Potshot, Rooftop Rumble and Coveted were the best money making methods. And I actually really miss security vans and smuggler planes. Those were so much more fun than so many of those freemode challenges barely anyone ever participates in because they're boring.

 

I sometimes wonder what other directions GTA Online could've taken. I think it would've been cool if it took a couple pages out of Chinatown Wars' book. You know, drug dealing, scratchy lotteries and stuff. I think modern GTAO can sometimes feel a little too... grandiose, I guess? Detached? Not very involved with the actual world it's in. Like the map, the city, is just set dressing, constantly zooming across it to arbitrarily kill or grab something.

I remember when you went to meet Lester and then Trevor and then you got missions from them and anytime you did a mission for Trevor, Ron, Gerald etc. you'd get a little cutscene at the end. I especially like the cutscenes for the Trevor/Ron missions. I hope those payout changes in the next update can bring me back a little bit of that. That old feeling.

 

Btw, that drug dealing system from Chinatown Wars would've been great for biker businesses and stuff. Have multiple sellers available, paying different amounts, at different locations. Maybe requesting different delivery methods or something. But I digress.

[DenjiChainsawman]

Nah

[The Artist]

Do miss the those days without the Oppressors and other over the top stuff. 

[clinical oppression]

Ah tank sniping . Or throwing 5 stickies on the front of your car ....go off radar .... hit the back of the tank and detonate . Funny how scary the tank showing up while caught on foot was back then 

[Lay]

Yes and no. I miss the buzz of online. Had a bounty? Running away from everyone in the lobby. Now no one gives a sh*t.

 

I miss things that I didn’t even overly like, like prison thugz fight, or rooftop rumble, coveted, original heists. Robbing stores because you needed every dollar you had.

 

it’s better now for sure but I don’t think the buzz is still there

[Snakeywakey389]

Some things I miss but other things I do not.

[Zaniness]

Nah. I miss those old experiences of trying out things for the first time and the excitement from buying those fancy toys and cars when all you had in the garage was a Sentinel XS.

 

But the game was much worse. Way less content, very slow grind, modders plague with way more abilities, passive mode Lazers and all that nice stuff. People that complain about Oppressors, modders and grind nowadays just expose themselves as new to the game. There always have been griefers abusing certain vehicles and game mechanics, there have always been modders and they could go as far as reset your account and playing several hours for 1 mln was not that fun in T20 and and Hydra times.

[GAUNTLET HELLFIRE]

I miss getting full lobby last team standings but that's about it. The Oppressor is bad but jets were worse and everywhere back then too. Prices are high now but so are payouts and there are a good amount of stuff to do to make decent money like payphone hits paying 85k for 5 minutes work that can be done in between heists and other stuff. A super car was under a million but contact missions payed 10k but now with 3 million super cars it is 3 Cayos solo and you have any super you want in under 3 hours. Public sessions are just as bad but at least now you have so much to do in invite only like heist preps, vip work, time trials, security contracts, payphone hits and soon business sell missions. I don't really enjoy the game anymore and I have a lot of complaints about it but it is still better than what it was years ago and hopefully if R* actually listens and does what the players really want the game will contine to get better.

 

We also have the Gauntlet Hellfire so of course the game is better than what it was before that. I loaded up the game the other day and drove that to the casino and I actually had so much fun driving it I played for almost an hour doing payphone hits and the Ms Baker freeroam missions. If the Hellfire wasn't in the game I would have closed the game after 2 minutes like I have been doing for the last few months when I do bother loading up the game.

[Big Molio]

I don't really remember the very early days that much. I do remember doing lots of "Coveted" missions with randoms, because that was the job to farm to earn money. Was great fun us all running down that hill together at the start and squabbling over who got to fly the Cargobob  That was before the Great Money Drop which pretty much set me up with all my stuff early on. Rockstar took back all the illicit billions, but allowed us to keep anything that we had already bought. It is how I afforded my first Buzzard.

 

I remember some of the user-created land races that seemed to dominate because they got Rockstar Verified. Races like "Long Haul", "Two-Lane Bridge" and "Jumps, Jumps, Jumps" spring to mind. They were a laugh, especially Long Haul which would get fraught in the last mile or so.

 

For me, things kicked off properly round about 2016, when Cunning Stunts and the stunt race creator props appeared. 

 

 

[dieseltech20]

Only played a few hours of the old game. Started my addiction when low riders came out. I don’t miss having to do the OG heists with randoms to try and make money at all. 

[Nutduster]

Yes and no, for sure. I'm happy for all, or at least most, of the new content they've added over the years. There is way, way more to do. But I miss the relatively stripped-down nature of it, and the better balance that existed at the time. Current GTA online, if you play in public sessions, is just a teetering house of cards. It's not real balance anymore, just a giant pile of overpowered things destroying each other. I particularly miss how you used to be able to drive around regular cars without fearing for your life! Those were the days.

[ilovefreebird]

On 7/17/2022 at 7:09 AM, SM Grunge said:

the map that I hadn't explore

 

Mostly just this. My favorite thing about every new GTA game was exploring a brand new map. Sure, there are glitches and issues with the game and Oppressors and plenty of annoying or negative things nowadays, but I really would just love a new map to check out.

[MaddenedGhost]

On 7/17/2022 at 12:13 PM, ambi3nt said:

In 2016-2017 it was actually a lot worse. Cheaters could change your level in seconds, take all your money etc. Prior gunrunning dlc PC public lobbies were insane. 

and in 2014 they were setting billion dollar bounties and block eclipse towers with windmills.

 

Modding has always been a thing in this game.

[BobyFrançais]

I miss not being able to kill the mechanic every time he brought my car back to me.

[hugh750]

1 hour ago, BobyFrançais said:

I miss not being able to kill the mechanic every time he brought my car back to me.

i miss killing the mechanic everytime he jacked my car or damaged it, i even had one time he delivered the wrong vehicle.

for each of those offenses i shot him with my pistol.

[R3CON]

It's an interesting question because ultimately you can't recreate the past, even if you truly do miss the vibes. We can't go back 9 years; 6-7 in my case since I started on the PS3 the Summer of 2015 and didn't get heavily into it 'til i got my PS4 in 2016. Life was different for all of us then and the circumstances of those times led to the experiences we had. Even in a perfect online scenario - gameplay wise - the circumstances that would best work for that might not exist today on a social level.

 

I agree with Lonely-Martin that GTA is indeed much more fully featured today. There's so many various ways to make money now and it takes less time, less hand-holding and less people. Starting from scratch then was a mountain compared to now. Although it was a lot easier to glitch and get money drops then too (but let's not go down that path). For those just starting out the Starter Pack is super helpful as is the ability to solo and easily complete big money jobs like Cayo Perico. Inflation and super unrealistic prices are still an issue. GTA's effort to price equation has been out of whack since Ill Gotten Gains, but at least it's much more manageable for a solo player. The new PS5/XSX launch screen and load times are a genuine upgrade and also help the user experience. GTA is ultimately a much more fully fleshed out game after dozens of updates over many years than it was in 2013-2015. 

 

But one thing I do lament is that GTA has too many overpowered vehicles and weapons. There's been many crusades about the wacky, unrealistic content that appeals to kids and leads to better MTX sales, but I really do think it has degraded the quality of the experience. It's pushed myself and many others away and it's degraded the overall feel of what GTA is and should be. Just like it's hard for a good book to compete for a kid's attention span when there's a big flashy tablet right there, it's hard for simple weapons and vehicles to compete for usage when you have flying rocket bikes at your command from the interaction menu. Sure it's still possible and there's many ways to skin a cat, but it does make a difference on the overall experience/outcome. If there's anything I miss, it's the times before the Oppressor, the Deluxo, CEOs spamming abilities for PvP abuse, etc, etc. I miss the more grounded aspect to the game, but I am glad to see the updates, jobs, missions and modes that have been added since that are still in the vein of the classic GTA theme and culture. 

 

It's better having lived it and been through the evolution, than it is to have started at either end. Now I accept GTA for what it is. I can easily not play it; and up until getting my PS5 this past week I've avoided it for a very long time. But the honeymoon is back again - for however long that lasts - and I'm enjoying the bits that brought me joy before, even if it's super fleeting now. Nostalgia isn't very productive, but I'm glad to have experienced GTA and by extension GTAForums when it was truly in it's prime. Hopefully, I'll meet new people and have new experiences on this new generation that inspires me once again in this vein. GTA VI can't come soon enough.

Edited July 19 by R3CON

[Grottomacy]

Was that the era where you have to rob stores like a caveman and drive caveman cars like the zentorno. Nah that was wack and by how red dead online is going I think waaaay more people reject the amish lifestyle.

Edited July 20 by Grottomacy

[Gettin up]

No I didn't play GTA Online back then. Started off early 2016 which was a good time imo, because most of the coolest stuff ingame came out in 2015 and CEO stuff in 2016.

[el carlitos]

Just miss the standard racing with a range of competitive cars.

[Valiant ENT CEO]

I never knew an old gta online per se after starting in 2019. After seeing a tv commercial for Doomsday I thought wtf is gta doing? I was kinda impressed. Doomsdays heists are one of my favorites with those bullet sponge enemies you can really tear into. The preps are all sorry as hell though.

 

Yall who started from way back are lucky! Realistic GTA? wTF?