The game, even in 2021, is quite buggy. Timers that don't show. Dailies that don't activate once completed. The occasional crash. Server issues some days. But I can deal with all of that, as it has reached a point where I can at least enjoy the game for a couple of hours without issue.
But the constant grinding for the several in-game currencies is a chore. And you literally feel forcedThe game, even in 2021, is quite buggy. Timers that don't show. Dailies that don't activate once completed. The occasional crash. Server issues some days. But I can deal with all of that, as it has reached a point where I can at least enjoy the game for a couple of hours without issue.
But the constant grinding for the several in-game currencies is a chore. And you literally feel forced to buy the gold using real-life money, to get to a point where the game starts to feel enjoyable. That's just a really anti-consumer move given that you just paid for the game. So a huge warning to anyone thinking about buying Red Dead Online: This game barely let's you unlock anything for the first 6 hours of gameplay. And even after that, you are incessantly encouraged to buy gold from their store, using real money, to unlock simple things such as horses and equipment.
Rockstar might excuse themselves with: "Yes, you can buy gold, but you can also earn it in-game, so what's the problem? Just play it some more"... Well, balancing is the problem! Even getting the first initial 15 gold required to unlock the first specialist trait takes many, many hours! And you end up scrounging the internet for tips on how to speed it up. And there are tips that make is slightly more bearable. And those tips include "When you're done with a mission, don't deliver the bounty target until the timer is almost run out. That will give you the most gold". So you end up camping outside the sheriff's office for 10 minutes, doing NOTHING! You're just standing there, to max out the gold outcome.
Some would argue that you can just spend that time on hunting some animals or similar. But it is just terribly designed! Hunting with a darn timer breathing down your neck is not my idea of a good time in a game. It's grinding at it's absolute worst. And Rockstar should be ashamed!
And let me say this: You WILL be using those tips. Because delivering the bounty target right away, with 10 minutes left on the clock, will net you 0.08 gold. Waiting will get you 0.36! That's a significant difference.
And it's just terrible that it has to be that way. It's designed to have the players spend more time in the game, without actually doing anything. It will boost the stats on Rockstars servers, making it look like more players are spending a lot of time in the game, even though they are just standing around waiting for timers to run out.
And it's such a waste, because the game has a lot of potential. And in-between the grinding, it has moments of brilliance. If they would just balance it better, it would actually be fun. The missions are fun. And the chaos you can wreak is pretty fun too. It just feels like a chore to get even the most basic guns and outfits and whatnot.
Opening that catalogue to look over the options is basically a huge poster of things you can't have for the first 100 hours of gameplay. With requirements being a mix of rank, gold, dollars and "weird blue things", most things won't unlock until you are incredibly far into the game. We're talking several hundreds of hours of grinding, for basic outfits and horses.
I did a bit of calculation. 1 horse. ONE HORSE! Costs upwards of 25 gold. You can buy that gold, with 10 real-life dollars. So ONE HORSE costs 10 real-life dollars. Want an outfit? That's 10 more real-life dollars! Tally that up, and you'll have spend hundreds of real-life dollars, even to get the most basic things you want. But you can always play the game for hundreds of hours of course, so Rockstar is in the clear...
And the worst part is, that this doesn't even net Rockstar more money in the end. Because I am loosing patience with the game. The constant grinding is demotivating me to the point of simply giving up. And I am sure I can't be the only one feeling that way. If the game was well-balanced, I might even consider buying some gold using real-life money. I actually wouldn't mind! But knowing that a horse costs 10 real-life dollars? No thanks... It's not worth it. It's just the worst of both worlds.
Terrible!… Expand
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