Is It Too Late For New Players To Start GTA Online?

As Grand Theft Auto 5 keeps selling in huge quantities, the playerbase of GTA Online, the game's multiplayer portion, is increasing steadily.

However, after four years of near-constant content expansion, the GTA Online of today is very different from what it was like when launched, and is filled with a ton of content that's generally aimed at more experienced players. It is easy for newcomers to feel overwhelmed and daunted, but is it really too late for players to join in?

While new DLC for GTA Online always gets a lot of attention, these days little spotlight is given to the bottom line, standard content of the game, which is understandable, yet de-emphasizes all content that isn't the newest. In fact, Rockstar has done a great job keeping GTA Online accessible in spite of the neverending flow of new missions, items, vehicles, businesses and more.

Of course, some aspects of GTA Online are definitely aimed at experienced players, and there is nothing wrong with that — such design is essential to games. No-one expects a fresh newbie player to understand how the Gunrunning business works or to run successful heists from The Doomsday Heist.

Rockstar's style when it comes to in-game content — namely not ever changing anything once it's been released, only adding new stuff on top — is a huge help in terms of accessibility, even if it has its drawbacks. There are still some rough spots though.

Firstly, there is a factor which can be likened to the feeling that demotivates gamers from chewing their way through their backlog — the fear of missing out. Sure, you still have access to the new content, but as a new player, it's almost all out of reach. Those fancy new businesses, expensive vehicles and new game mechanics that build on previous DLCs are all best enjoyed when you go through the game's rough progression framework in order.

Sure, you'll be able to partake in Doomsday Heist content in a few weeks or months, but everyone is enjoying this new content now and when you get there, everyone will be enjoying other major DLC released since. This issue is mainly present in players who cannot dedicate a lot of time to GTA Online, as luckily it's more than possible to outpace Rockstar's development cycle if you put the daily hours in and catch up in time.

Another issue is population migration within-game from content to content.

Most players jumping into the world of GTA Online today won't be able to try out approximately 80% of the game's numerous Adversary Modes unless they somehow organize teams with that specifically in mind. Basically no one plays the old Adversary Modes, ever. The only Modes with full teams are the ones with the double reward bonus going on at any given time, and a small handful of evergreens like Slasher.

The content is still there, it's absolutely accessible, except no one will be there to play with you, and a bunch of GTA Online's content is decidedly unfriendly towards solo players. Finding associates for some Further Adventures in Finance and Felony CEO work sure won't be easy this day and age, for example. If you want to work yourself through GTA Online's content in order, you'll need to get ready for some loneliness.