We've torn up Los Santos in our respective isolated bubbles long enough. The time is almost nigh to converge and collate our accumulated carnage - to let ourselves loose on unsuspecting NPCs and each other in groups of 16. GTA Online unlocks for all GTA 5 players on 1st October, otherwise known as next Tuesday. Rockstar has warned that the first few days might be bumpy, as the servers take the strain, but I'm excited for what lies over the horizon nonetheless. I'm so excited, in fact, that I've combed every last scrap of information Rockstar has released on the multiplayer, and coupled those with my experiences in GTA 5 single player to bring you the definitive list of online pastimes. Did I say "definitive"? Because I'd very much like you to add to it - the best suggestions will make their way from the comments thread to the article itself.
Find yourself
GTA Online's character customisation system is unusually in-depth, allowing players to choose their character's parents and grandparents, and model an avatar to suit his or her genetic legacy. After that, you'll select a lifestyle (couch-potato, health-nut, party animal etc) which will determine your starting skills. From there on out, you can customise to your heart's content with haircuts, tattoos and clothes.
After spending tonnes of in-game hours in Ponsonbys making Franklin, Trevor and Michael the best-dressed criminals in all of Los Santos and the surrounding counties, I'm looking forward to seeing how big a wardrobe I can create for my online lady persona. The most girly sentence I've ever typed, right there.
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Get a reputation
Your rep is one of the most important aspects of GTA Online - rank up, and you'll gain access to new weapons, criminal contacts and features. Of course, a bigger reputation will also earn you the love and respect of your peers - or envy and animosity. Whichever you prefer. Reputation is earned by completing missions and activities throughout Los Santos, and as you rank up and more items become available, you can spend the cash from those missions on better guns, fancier clothes, more luxurious cars and grander properties. The biggest houses have garage space for up to ten motors, don't you know - I hope there's one hell of a security system.
Take a selfie
One of my absolute favourite new features in GTA V will also be available online - the in-game selfie. Fans have already put this feature to extremely creative use (just see the dedicated NeoGAF thread for some quick inspiration), and the ability to get multiple players in on the act, coupled with a selection of character gestures, will undoubtedly result in some incredible staged photos and silly group shots. How long before we can assemble the OXM crew for a photo? I just hope our avatars manage to look as gormless taking their own pictures as Michael, Franklin and Trevor do.
Make friends and influence people
It goes without saying that you'll be making friends and enemies with other GTA Online players, but bear in mind that befriending NPCs can be useful too. Get to know the rank-and-file, and you could be introduced to more influential people, which equates to more missions. Having friends in high places unlocks other perks, too. For example, biker gangs might support you during missions if you're friendly with them, or a 'tech-savvy' character may be able to hide you on the radar. Security firms that have taken a liking to you can even be called on to deploy airstrikes at an opportune moment. Remember, no man is an island.
Get a job
Don't worry, I don't mean the useless real-world kind. Jobs in Los Santos largely consist of illegal activities - mugging, bank heists and liquor store hold-ups, for instance - and there are approximately 500 such missions you and up to 15 friends can attempt in GTA Online. If you've fallen in with a crew, the crew's leader will be the one who decides how the loot is divvied up after a mission. Leaders can choose to horde it all for themselves, but would then run the very real risk of being turned upon by their former associates.
Full-on co-op heist missions, which will come to GTA Online later as part of a downloadable patch, will be more intricate affairs that require careful planning and teamwork - you'll even get your very own heist-planning cork board for your criminal HQ. As part of a heist's planning phase, preparations can be delegated to multiple members, and you can all split up to perform them, roaming the map freely, before meeting back at base for the big score.
Find your calling
When undertaking missions involving bigger teams, such as heists, a lobby window will open up, allowing crews to figure out who does what and when. It's here that specific character roles, like sniper, scout and getaway driver will be assigned.
Your role will be chosen depending on your specific skills - for example, if you're a better driver, you're more likely to be given a transporter role. Though your starting skills are partly dependent on the lifestyle you select during character creation, you can beef up any skill by ranking up and partaking in relevant activities. To make any mission that little bit more challenging, a crew leader can tweak specific settings like time of day, weather, enemy difficulty and how many lives you have.
Have some play time
Missions sound a lot like hard work, so make sure you balance things out - and spend some well-earned money - on a bit of leisure time. This could involve anything from going on a drive with friends (a passenger in your car can change radio stations as you cruise up and down the highway), partaking in various sports such as hunting, tennis and golf, or just fooling around with those open world systems. Personally, I'm hoping a little game I've had fun with in single player will be transferable to GTA Online - it involves racing up to unsuspecting pedestrians and attempting to jump them in a game of surprise leapfrog. This hardly ever ends well, but thanks to GTA's ragdoll physics, the results are always hilarious.
[embedded content]
Create your own missions
Team Deathmatch? Capture the flag? Speed races? BORING. Spice up traditional multiplayer modes and add your own unique flair with those mission creation tools, which will be expanded as the months roll on. Biking up a mountain in order to base-jump to a car, then speeding towards the finish line? Now we're talking.
See how many imaginative ways you can combine land, sea and air vehicles with headshotting your fellow man. Can you jump out of a plane and trust your friend to swoop underneath and catch you? GTA Online will also introduce a new race type, in which a driver and co-pilot work together to navigate treacherous courses at high speed. It's all about teamwork - or flagrant sabotage, if you're feeling vindictive.
Rob your friends
Speaking of vindictive, GTA Online players will be able to murder you and steal any and all cash that you're carrying, so it may be wise to start storing your money at the bank, withdrawing small amounts at ATMs dotted around Los Santos. Conversely, you could hang around a bank where you know other players will make withdrawals, beat them senseless as they depart, and take every last cent for yourself.
Beware though - if you do rob another player, they can put a considerable bounty on your head, which may not exactly be worth the fifty bucks in change they had on them at the time. If you're really strapped for cash, consider a liquor store robbery - Rockstar has revealed that you can shout at the cashier to hurry up through your headset mic, and your character will respond in kind.
Be a good host, or a cold, calculated killer
If you've got an apartment that you're particularly keen to show off, you can invite your friends around to drink and make merry, or watch TV shows and Los Santos news bulletins together. If you're the grown-up type, you could even invite around a couple of strippers. Sounds like a good night in - or the perfect ruse to lure other players into an enclosed space before depriving them of everything they own. Trust no-one.
Source: OXM
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[h=3]References[/h]
Thanks to: Rheena.com
Find yourself
GTA Online's character customisation system is unusually in-depth, allowing players to choose their character's parents and grandparents, and model an avatar to suit his or her genetic legacy. After that, you'll select a lifestyle (couch-potato, health-nut, party animal etc) which will determine your starting skills. From there on out, you can customise to your heart's content with haircuts, tattoos and clothes.
After spending tonnes of in-game hours in Ponsonbys making Franklin, Trevor and Michael the best-dressed criminals in all of Los Santos and the surrounding counties, I'm looking forward to seeing how big a wardrobe I can create for my online lady persona. The most girly sentence I've ever typed, right there.
[embedded content]
Get a reputation
Your rep is one of the most important aspects of GTA Online - rank up, and you'll gain access to new weapons, criminal contacts and features. Of course, a bigger reputation will also earn you the love and respect of your peers - or envy and animosity. Whichever you prefer. Reputation is earned by completing missions and activities throughout Los Santos, and as you rank up and more items become available, you can spend the cash from those missions on better guns, fancier clothes, more luxurious cars and grander properties. The biggest houses have garage space for up to ten motors, don't you know - I hope there's one hell of a security system.
Take a selfie
One of my absolute favourite new features in GTA V will also be available online - the in-game selfie. Fans have already put this feature to extremely creative use (just see the dedicated NeoGAF thread for some quick inspiration), and the ability to get multiple players in on the act, coupled with a selection of character gestures, will undoubtedly result in some incredible staged photos and silly group shots. How long before we can assemble the OXM crew for a photo? I just hope our avatars manage to look as gormless taking their own pictures as Michael, Franklin and Trevor do.
Make friends and influence people
It goes without saying that you'll be making friends and enemies with other GTA Online players, but bear in mind that befriending NPCs can be useful too. Get to know the rank-and-file, and you could be introduced to more influential people, which equates to more missions. Having friends in high places unlocks other perks, too. For example, biker gangs might support you during missions if you're friendly with them, or a 'tech-savvy' character may be able to hide you on the radar. Security firms that have taken a liking to you can even be called on to deploy airstrikes at an opportune moment. Remember, no man is an island.
Get a job
Don't worry, I don't mean the useless real-world kind. Jobs in Los Santos largely consist of illegal activities - mugging, bank heists and liquor store hold-ups, for instance - and there are approximately 500 such missions you and up to 15 friends can attempt in GTA Online. If you've fallen in with a crew, the crew's leader will be the one who decides how the loot is divvied up after a mission. Leaders can choose to horde it all for themselves, but would then run the very real risk of being turned upon by their former associates.
Full-on co-op heist missions, which will come to GTA Online later as part of a downloadable patch, will be more intricate affairs that require careful planning and teamwork - you'll even get your very own heist-planning cork board for your criminal HQ. As part of a heist's planning phase, preparations can be delegated to multiple members, and you can all split up to perform them, roaming the map freely, before meeting back at base for the big score.
Find your calling
When undertaking missions involving bigger teams, such as heists, a lobby window will open up, allowing crews to figure out who does what and when. It's here that specific character roles, like sniper, scout and getaway driver will be assigned.
Your role will be chosen depending on your specific skills - for example, if you're a better driver, you're more likely to be given a transporter role. Though your starting skills are partly dependent on the lifestyle you select during character creation, you can beef up any skill by ranking up and partaking in relevant activities. To make any mission that little bit more challenging, a crew leader can tweak specific settings like time of day, weather, enemy difficulty and how many lives you have.
Have some play time
Missions sound a lot like hard work, so make sure you balance things out - and spend some well-earned money - on a bit of leisure time. This could involve anything from going on a drive with friends (a passenger in your car can change radio stations as you cruise up and down the highway), partaking in various sports such as hunting, tennis and golf, or just fooling around with those open world systems. Personally, I'm hoping a little game I've had fun with in single player will be transferable to GTA Online - it involves racing up to unsuspecting pedestrians and attempting to jump them in a game of surprise leapfrog. This hardly ever ends well, but thanks to GTA's ragdoll physics, the results are always hilarious.
[embedded content]
Create your own missions
Team Deathmatch? Capture the flag? Speed races? BORING. Spice up traditional multiplayer modes and add your own unique flair with those mission creation tools, which will be expanded as the months roll on. Biking up a mountain in order to base-jump to a car, then speeding towards the finish line? Now we're talking.
See how many imaginative ways you can combine land, sea and air vehicles with headshotting your fellow man. Can you jump out of a plane and trust your friend to swoop underneath and catch you? GTA Online will also introduce a new race type, in which a driver and co-pilot work together to navigate treacherous courses at high speed. It's all about teamwork - or flagrant sabotage, if you're feeling vindictive.
Rob your friends
Speaking of vindictive, GTA Online players will be able to murder you and steal any and all cash that you're carrying, so it may be wise to start storing your money at the bank, withdrawing small amounts at ATMs dotted around Los Santos. Conversely, you could hang around a bank where you know other players will make withdrawals, beat them senseless as they depart, and take every last cent for yourself.
Beware though - if you do rob another player, they can put a considerable bounty on your head, which may not exactly be worth the fifty bucks in change they had on them at the time. If you're really strapped for cash, consider a liquor store robbery - Rockstar has revealed that you can shout at the cashier to hurry up through your headset mic, and your character will respond in kind.
Be a good host, or a cold, calculated killer
If you've got an apartment that you're particularly keen to show off, you can invite your friends around to drink and make merry, or watch TV shows and Los Santos news bulletins together. If you're the grown-up type, you could even invite around a couple of strippers. Sounds like a good night in - or the perfect ruse to lure other players into an enclosed space before depriving them of everything they own. Trust no-one.
Source: OXM
Join Our Facebook Group For All The Latest News[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][2][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
- [SUP]^[/SUP] Source: OXM (www.oxm.co.uk)
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Thanks to: Rheena.com