Want to start playing GTA Online but don’t know how to deal with so much content? You haven’t entered in a while and you have no idea where to start? These tips will help you.
Manu Delgado ·11:09 8/3/2021
Playing GTA Online almost eight years after its release can become quite a challenge for those who have been disconnected from its evolution throughout this time: the online mode of Grand Theft Auto V opened to the public in 2013 , shortly after the base game was launched on the market for PS3 and Xbox 360. Since then it has been reaching new platforms such as PS4, Xbox One and PC, and will soon do so with a modernized version for PS5 and Xbox Series X / S, although you can play it on next-gen consoles thanks to the backward compatibility of both.
Since its launch, Rockstar Games has fed GTA Online new content on a regular basis: today the multiplayer mode, which is almost an independent entity, has received a total of 36 free updates of which four have been new hits , while the rest have added game modes, buildings, vehicles, weapons, characters, outfits and a host of additional content that has revitalized the formula to the point that its validity has recently made it exceed the figure of 140 million copies sold .
With all this dance of figures it is normal that new players, as well as those who want to return to GTA Online after a while, feel saturated by so much content: is it possible to start playing GTA Online now without having played the updates? previous? What do I need to know to start a new game with a new character? Where is it better to start?
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First steps in GTA Online
As soon as we start playing GTA Online, which we access through Grand Theft Auto V, the first thing they ask us is that we create a new character if we don’t already have one. Once customized to our liking, this avatar will arrive in Los Santos to be picked up by Lamar , one of the secondary characters of the story mode. He will be the one to guide us in the city, giving us a series of missions that serve as a tutorial.
Although it may seem useful, our recommendation is that you forget about the GTA Online tutorial : they are very, very basic missions that will not teach you how to function in the game as it is now, since they are the same guide missions from eight ago years and GTA Online has little to do with that. In addition, until you complete them all, not all the possibilities of the game will be unlocked, such as going to buy clothes, acquire properties or enter the casino, something that can make the first steps in the game tedious.
On the contrary, we recommend that when you start you go directly to do basic missions, such as Gerald or Lamar , but on your own. It is important that you go on doing these types of activities in the story because this way you will level up before facing the big blows, as well as getting the controls and the rhythm of the games. The good thing is that there are always some of these missions open by other players , so open your phone, join any game and start earning your first GTA $.
In ‘GTA Online’ there are always missions to do and without the need to complete them in a specific order.
It is also very important that you do not let yourself be overwhelmed by the incessant amount of invitations, calls and messages that the game characters will send you during your game. It is true that entering GTA Online is almost stressful because stimuli that you do not understand keep coming to you: someone wants you to join their SecuroServ group, someone else rebukes you to buy a nightclub now, suddenly they send you the coordinates of a treasure to email … At first it can be a bit tiring, but in the end you realize that most calls, messages and emails can be ignored because they do not contribute anything, they are just reminders that you can do certain missions or invitations to groups of players that you can accept or not, as it suits you.
As a general advice, we also recommend that you get hold of the Interaction Menu : pressing the M key on PC, holding down the touch panel on PS5 and PS4 or the View Button on Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One we will display this menu in the that we can carry out several quick actions such as marking an objective on the map, healing our health, activating body armor, changing our style or entering passive mode , something especially interesting when we do not want other players to bother us during the game.
The Interaction Menu will be of great help to you during your game: although at first it may be difficult for you to control its controls, in the long run you will not know how to play without it.
Headquarters, offices, hangars, submarines … What is all this?
Precisely all those characters who do not stop calling and sending you messages are usually looking for a very specific thing: that you buy properties . Some will tell you that they have found arcades, nightclubs, hangars, offices, or even submarines that are ideal for setting up a hit. What is this all about? Basically each of these properties is what allows you to start the missions of each great heist, such as the Heist to Cayo Perico , which starts when you acquire the Kosatka submarine, or the Heist to The Diamond Casino , for which we need to have owned a recreation room. Here is a list of all types of properties and their use in the game:
- Houses:A home in which to sleep, shower, watch TV or change clothes. They usually have a built-in garage.
- Garages / Hangars:They serve to store vehicles on property. They have a limit depending on their size. Some vehicles cannot be saved, but appear when we request them via mobile phone.
- Luxury Apartments: Luxuryhomes that may have a heist planning room needed to do the Lester heists.
- Venues:Having one allows you to found your own biker club. You can store motorcycles, throw parties, play darts and billiards and access a new range of businesses with new properties for sale.
- Nightclubs:Party places that passively offer you money while you play. The higher the reputation of the club, the more money you will earn.
- Offices:They allow you to found your own company, which gives you access to a series of illicit businesses for which there are also special properties, such as warehouses for the export of vehicles or merchandise.
- Bunkers:This is a type of base of operations that allows you to plan hits and carry out arms trafficking missions.
- Arcade Rooms:A property needed to plan the Heist at The Diamond Casino.
As we told you before, forget about these insistent messages until you have the necessary level to start considering giving one of these blows. Until then, business can be a huge waste of money in the early stages of your departure . Focus on doing the most basic missions and then work your way up until you finally need to buy one of these to carry out one of the four great robberies that are available today.
GTA 5 Premium Online Edition extras
If you have purchased the ‘Premium Online Edition’ of ‘Grand Theft Auto V’, the standard edition found today in all digital and physical stores, remember that it not only includes a million GTA $ for free, but also clothing , vehicles and properties that we recommend you redeem because they will give you a significant boost in your first steps in GTA ‘Online’.
Other properties, such as venues, bunkers, offices or nightclubs, also allow you to carry out more or less illicit business in Los Santos : at motorcycle club venues, for example, a new website is unlocked that It allows you to acquire properties in which to carry out activities such as drug manufacturing or money counterfeiting. GTA Online is a very free game in which you can have many daily routines; If you choose this route, every day you will have to pay 3,000 GTA $ of daily maintenance for each business, carry out resupply missions and invest to improve the premises you own. It is an entertaining way to play, even if it is not the most profitable .
Bumps: what are they and how do they start
Since the Grand Theft Auto Online Heists update , a good part of the objectives of GTA Online are based on these great robberies. This patch brought with it several more or less quick heist missions , including preparatory ones, but later new DLC dedicated to hits with much more importance and, of course, a better reward arrived. These missions are a good way to earn money quickly as well as having a gameplay much more similar to that of Story Mode than other activities in Online Mode. Above all, Lester’s blows are good options, which not only give good rewards that we can choose once we reach level 12 and have a luxury apartment that has a planning room. These are the robberies that we recommend doing the most:
- The Fleeca Heist:GTA $ 96,250 on Easy, GTA $ 115,000 on Normal, and GTA $ 143,750 on Hard.
- PrisonBreak : GTA $ 200,000 on Easy, GTA $ 400,000 on Normal, and GTA $ 500,000 on Hard.
- Humane Labs Raid:GTA $ 270,000 on Easy, GTA $ 540,000 on Normal, and GTA $ 675,000 on Hard.
- Initial Funding:GTA $ 202,000 in easy, GTA $ 404,000 in normal and GTA $ 505,500 in hard.
- Hit the Pacific Standard:GTA $ 500,000 on Easy, GTA $ 1,000,000 on Normal, and GTA $ 1,250,000 on Hard.
Also, if you perform these strokes in order you will receive an extra one million GTA $ that will be doubled if you also carry them out in order and with the same team of players . The most difficult still comes when you do them all in order, on difficult and with the same group of players without any of them dying once, a high-flying challenge that will be rewarded with 10 million GTA $ .
These five minor heists aside, to call them somehow, we can also stage three new big heists: the Doomsday Heist , The Diamond Casino Heist, and the Cayo Perico Heist . Each of these will also give us a great economic reward, but in return they will ask us for certain requirements as they are larger missions . We could say that they are plot expansions of GTA Online , practically, so it is better to take them easy.
Races, Deathmatches, Single Team Standing and additional activities
If instead of carrying out narrative missions you prefer to play in a more casual way, GTA Online is also full of arcade activities to do to pass the time and, incidentally, earn money and experience. There are many players who concentrate their game hours on car, motorcycle, boat or plane races , while others are more focused on playing deathmatches either alone or in teams . The good thing about this multiplayer is that all these options are available, accommodating all types of players.
You will see icons scattered throughout the map that will allow you to access these types of activities, from races to PvP to the death, but in reality the easiest way to enter them is through the pause menu : go to the ‘Online’ section and from there go to ‘Activities’ to see all that are available. You can choose activities created by Rockstar or by the community, something that you will see specified in each of them. It will also appear reflected if the activity has some kind of economic or respect bonus .
In addition to these activities, from time to time there will be random open world events that we can also win a few thousand GTA $. They are limited-time challenges that will challenge all players in the session to do specific things such as causing as much damage to vehicles as possible, achieving the maximum distance flying at ground level or holding a briefcase longer than other players . There are other types of events that are happening arbitrarily and that are clearly indicated in the game’s interface, some improvised activities that give each session a bonus.
Rockstar Newswire, your great ally
Each week Rockstar Games publishes an article in its Rockstar Newswire indicating what are the benefits, bonuses and weekly rewards of GTA Online . This information is especially useful for those who are starting to play, because it marks what are the activities that we can do to get an extra GTA $ (money) and RP (experience). In the game itself you can also see which are the activities with the most benefits, but if you pay attention to Rockstar Newswire – or Vandal , where we also collect this information – you can go ahead and plan your week.
In this newsletter you will be able to see which activities are more worth participating in: normally each week it is a new type of mission, race or deathmatch that provides the bonus that doubles or even triples the money and experience received. These activities are always worth participating in during the week . Sometimes, on rare occasions, the chosen activity is the final mission of one of the GTA Online heists, giving us a good excuse to repeat it over and over again, getting an extra easy money that would be difficult to achieve in any other way.
In addition, in the Rockstar Newswire section of GTA Online we can see what are the weekly objects that are on sale , both vehicles and properties, which can be great for us to get the necessary things to start the blows. It is not necessary to wait for a bunker to be lowered to buy it, for example, but it never hurts to save a little money. It is also announced there which is the podium car of The Diamond Casino , a vehicle that we can get for free by pulling the roulette wheel.
The daily spin at The Diamond Casino
At The Diamond Casino there is a wheel of luck that we can spin for free once every 24 hours to get succulent prizes. We recommend doing the daily circulation because it always touches something, be it the podium car, money, respect or, at least, a garment.
Finally, if you are subscribers of Amazon Prime – and therefore Prime Gaming – each week you will receive 200,000 GTA $ just for entering to play . You just have to link your account with the Rockstar Social Club and from then on you will get a weekly notice in GTA Online telling us that you have received that amount. Additionally, Prime Gaming subscribers will also receive special discounts, gifts and specific bonuses just for having the account linked, extras that Rockstar Newswire reports every week.
Final advice
As we have said before, GTA Online is a very free game with a wide variety of ways to play and, best of all, none is the right one . It’s a very good multiplayer adaptation of the traditional vision of the series, to ‘do what you want in this vast open world’, so no one can tell you that you are playing badly. There are certain recommendations and tips that you can apply, obviously, but if you prefer to go in every day to have a few races instead of doing missions, you can do it freely. Based on this, it is true that it can be an overwhelming game at first , but in reality everything is much simpler than it seems at first glance and you can focus on any of the ramifications that it has, leaving the rest for later or even forget about them forever.
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