Red Dead Online Ditches ‘Beta’ as Huge Update Releases, Details Here
Red Dead Online has now left its beta stage and in doing so, Rockstar has ditched the “beta” tag. However, that is not all the news coming from the popular online Wild West world, because a new and huge update has released that adds a host of new modes, missions and even the much requested passive mode, of sorts.
From now, we will have new A Land of Opportunities co-op missions that will expand upon the Jessica LeClerk saga following the events of the Fort Mercer showdown. There will also be the opportunity to work with Samson Finch in the Outlaw strand to pull off some highly ambitious bank heists and a path that leads to a dangerous Blackwater adversary. There will also be new Freeroam missions that you have you encounter characters from the main game, as well as some lovable Pig Famers from Aberdeen (not Scotland). Additionally, more Dynamic Events will be added as you explore the frontier, so keep a look out for them as you might earn some bonus Cash, Gold, Honor, XP and more.
For something more competitive, then you can partake in Posse Versus Challenges, with Competitive Fishing now being available on demand, along with two other new Posse Versus Challenges, including the Bird Shooting Contest and the Herb Picking Contest. These events can be activated by the Posse leader via the Player Menu.
You can now also play a gentleman’s game of Poker either with your friends in a private match or a high stakes game on a public table. Poker tables will accommodate 6 players in total and will be available at Blackwater, Saint Denis, Tumbleweed, Valentine and Flatneck Station.
For those that demand control and domination, then the Overrun Showdown mode has you covered. Here you and your posse will be able to mark your territory by claiming your land, and then go behind enemy lines to claim your enemies land too, all while attempt to defend them from invading yours. When the match ends, whoever holds the most land, wins.
A highly requested feature to make its way into Red Dead Online is the Passive Mode from GTA Online. In GTA Online, this would effectively make you invincible from other player’s attacks and vice versa, however, it also restricted many of the modes in which you could partake. So instead, Rockstar has come up with a great way to balance this issue by giving the player the choice of either playing in Offensive or Defensive play styles.
Choosing Offensive will effectively change nothing from how you interacted with other players during the beta phase, as this is the default setting. Here you will be able to be as hostile as you choose, and opposing players can act the same way towards you, but players must be prepared to accept the consequences of the Honor and Bounty system.
However, choosing to play the Defensive play style, for those that would like to explore the Free Roam world somewhat more peacefully, you will have a much higher health gauge to that of Offensive players. Offending players will also be penalized with harsher punishments via the Hostility system; likewise, Defensive players are not exempt from equal punishment if they also act like pricks. You will also have a Shield icon above your avatar so that other players will know of your chosen play style. Defensive players cannot be target with auto-aim, lassoed, melee attacked or executed and you will also be excluded from being targeted in PvP modes such as Player Assassination.
Improvements have also been made to the Hostility System, for example, players who are shot at for no good reason, will not have a penalty against them for firing back, such as their Hostility and Bounty increasing for defending themselves. Hostile players will also become more visible on the map at longer distances and the more you kill none Offensive players, you will be respawned further and further away from the point of death, to the point that you could end up being in a different region. However, Hostility will not increase through organised events such as Free Roam Events, Missions, Showdowns or Races, unless you attack players not participating in your current activity.
It terms of items to purchase at the in-game shop, you’ll be able to pick up the Lemat Revolver, a 9-round chamber revolver with a secondary barrel to unleash a single buckshot round, and you can switch between the two barrels on the fly. There will also be more items of clothing available such as ponchos and patterned bandanas and much more, as well as a new emotes, including the Throat Slit.
As an added bonus, those that login into Red Dead Online this week, you will be gifted with 15 Gold Bars and a 25% XP bonus when playing A Land of Opportunities, Free Roam, Showdown modes, Races and Free Roam Events. There will also be a 25% extra Cash and Gold bonus found in chests for treasure hunters. Finally, Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate Edition owners will receive a gift of RDO$100 and the Throat Slit emote for free!
In the coming days, there will be exclusive early access content available for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Additionally those that own RDR2 that do not subscribe to PS+; you’ll be able to play Red Dead Online from now, until May 27th without a subscription.
Then coming in the summer, Rockstar Games has stated that players will be able to role play being a bounty hunter, a treasure hunter or a trader. So in a nutshell, you’ll be able to start your very own career in Red Dead Online, living your own life in the Wild West! Each of the three roles will come with unique gameplay aspects, outfits, weapons and rewards. It all sounds very interesting and it will be fascinating to see how well players (and even myself) perform in their newly found RDO careers this summer.
Well that pretty much concludes this coverage of this massive update, but below you’ll be able to find added information on the other improvements made to balancing and quality of life to Red Dead Online, as well as a trailer detailing the recent update.Oh and if you’re yet to play the truly amazing Red Dead Redemption 2, you can read our review here.
Are you excited about this big update? Let us know across our social media channels.
Balancing and Improvements
In order to improve the overall gameplay experience, we have made some significant changes to Red Dead Online:
Removed Auto-Aim Headshot Tracking (Enemy Players Only): This subtle but important change affects the way players can earn headshots against rival players. While auto-aim still tracks to the center mass of an enemy player, you will no longer be able to simply flick up on the Right Stick to gain a headshot. This makes earning headshots slightly more challenging, which in turn makes competitive gameplay such as Showdown series more rewarding and balanced.
Faster Weapon Swaps/Instant Projectile Lighting: We have increased the speed of weapon swaps across the board, including instant projectile lighting to make throwing fire bottles and dynamite faster.
New Control Scheme – “FPS2”: In response to community feedback we’ve added a new control scheme FPS2 (+variants). This follows our ‘FPS’ layout but moves sprint to [R1] and crouch to [X]. (This option is available in both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online).
Daily Challenge Updates: In response to your feedback, we’ve removed all PvP-related Daily Challenges from Free Roam and added a number of new Daily Challenges and Rewards, including Challenge Streaks with progressively increasing Gold rewards.
New Awards: Several new awards in Free Roam have been added including awards associated with the latest gameplay.
Global Signal Timers: Players tackling Free Roam Missions will have a bit more flexibility to operate with an increased global signal timer and a reduced range at which players are signaled.
Press Charges: When a lower Hostility player is killed without retaliating they will have an option to “Press Charges” during the respawn period, which will enforce an increase on their attacker’s Hostility and Bounty value. Press Charges is not available if you are a high Hostility player or marked as an enemy to the player who killed you.
Horse Specialty Selection: You can now use the Player Menu to preset which of your owned horses you would like to use in Free Roam, Races, and Showdown Modes while on missions.
Increased Gold Payouts: We have adjusted the economy to increase Gold payouts across the board, with most Gold-earning activities now awarding up to double the previous amount. Starting today for a limited time, players will also receive 1 Gold Bar per rank they progress.
To see a comprehensive list of fixes as part of today’s update including a new HDR cinematic mode for both Story Mode and Red Dead Online, visit the dedicated Rockstar Support page. And check out the new Red Dead Online official site which includes resources for new players including details on existing game modes and features, plus integrated tracking via Social Club and more.