CosmoKramer

Isn't that part of the fun of a video game - discovering things through playing it that aren't immediately obvious?

Stop playing it if you think its trash? I don't take that view but I did get a bit burned out grinding the same content over and over and celebrate 2 weeks of going cold turkey today.

No. Which is the real problem with the Alligator saddle - once you unlock the mid to higher stirrups the saddle is no longer an upgrade from many of the standard (improved) saddles.

That would require them to actually have thought through the awards properly as the reward is linked to real money value. For instance, selling herbs to the doctor is ridiculously easy as it’s only a 100 count - that only takes a few minutes each time. If it was unlimited you’d never have to buy any gold bars. No idea why collecting herbs is 1000 count but selling to doctor is only 100 - makes no sense. Conversely, travel by canoe award will take a lifetime.

So anybody that's trying to give themselves the best chance of survival against griefers you shoot on sight? Interesting.

Yeah I bought the alligator saddle early on too as it was the best option at the time (could have had it free if I'd picked up online sooner) but as soon as you unlock the better stirrups a standard (improved) saddle combined with them blows the alligator out of the water. Until you get to level 90+, then the special saddles reign again.

Take a harder look at the stats - its not a matter of opinion, the special saddles are better than standard ones for regen and drain rates.

Isn't blip colour just based on honour status? So you could have low honour (pink blip) from killing NPCs merely to access the low honour missions and have no intention of attacking any other players or you could have high honour (blue blip) from skinning animals and roam around intent on griefing other players. It doesn't take much skinning to get your honour back up. Either way, I treat all players the same, potentially hostile until they prove themselves otherwise. The only players I shoot on sight though are the ones that come running at me with a lasso in hand or continue to head towards me after I make several changes of direction.

I agree with you that unprovoked attacks are annoying and deserve to be revenged, I just disagree that the low level players you speak of are true griefers and that shooting any griefer with explosive ammo makes any difference to their punishment or mentality. Using explosive ammo on low level players is just a waste of your own time and resources. But, as you openly admit your willingness to spend your time chasing people across servers, that probably won't bother you. If it makes you feel better then all power to you but don't place false hope that the ammo you use will make any difference to the "griefer". If you want something to strive for in terms of rank level the special saddles are far more useful within the game than explosive ammo.

I've noticed my horse health being blacked out a number of times but it always just seemed a graphical glitch - feeding it a carrot would restore its' core although it would remain darker than normal (I could just make out the difference in the shades of grey between full and half). Not seen the issue for any other cores.

Seems to me your "griefers" are just low-level bored idiots, not really griefers at all. Like you say, you don't need explosive ammo to see that kind of player off so not sure why you're pinning so much to unlocking it? A true griefer, someone who makes it their mission to ruin other people's game, will be far more skilled and cunning than the kind you describe.

If they really are griefers they'll just wait out you using up all your explosive ammo and keep coming at you. Plus their satisfaction will be greater knowing you have to collect another load of animal fat to replenish your explosive rounds.

Reimbursed?? What a joke. There was no point doing the challenges while there was no payout as there was no assurance that they’d ever pay. I only bothered with the easiest challenge each day to check whether it was fixed or not. Should have been an award of a few gold bars as compensation for the inconvenience and missed opportunity.

Losing a bit of progress due to a disconnect or a game crash is frustrating but it’s always been part-and-parcel of gaming. It’s just a video game at the end of the day, an escape from reality, hardly a matter of life or death.

My point was though that if the animal isn't spawning, bait ain't gonna help. Plus with panthers on a daily challenge its totally pointless since there are usually a bunch of players all on the spawn spot in every session you switch to. As savage said, your best bet is to know the spawn locations and ride around until the animal finds you. If there's no sign of the animal, switch sessions.

There are certainly some issues with the game but I don't think its as bad as you make out. You may have just been a bit unlucky with sessions you've joined as, while I've had my run-ins with idiots, I don't feel griefers have made the game unplayable for me. Also, I agree with James, I think I'd struggle to find anyone who didn't feel they'd got their value for money from the story mode, the online is a bonus. I'm more and more thinking that R* need to implement 2 free-roam option modes. The first is like a passive lobby, or "Westworld" mode I like to call it, where you can auto-aim and kill NPCs but you can't inflict any damage on other players. The other is free-aim altogether or free-aim for pvp and auto-aim only allowed on NPCs. Perhaps the spring update will bring this about anyway in some acceptable form, we'll have to wait and see.

Hmm, I think a certain type of player has clearly been most vocal in suggesting new features they want to see. Train/Bank heists beaten out by requests for farming & homesteads? SMH

I've been shot in all kinds of situations but I struggle to think of too many occasions I've lost hunting spoils from my horse due to another player, especially close to the butcher. 90% of the time the people I see hanging around the butcher have the same agenda as me, whether they are pink, blue or white dots. Often I'll be dragging a kill with the lasso and have to leave it unguarded while I sell what's in my satchel first. The only time I avoid making a dash to the butcher is when I see a posse of 3-4+ players 'guarding' the city limits, ready to grief on anyone who attempts to enter. I've lost far more hunting $ due to game disconnects - they are what piss me off way more than other players. In both scenarios though you can only control so much and just have to accept they are an inevitable and uncontrollable part of the game.

Yeah I noticed the ammo thing - wasn't sure if it was just another thing R* broke in fixing something else. Strange decision if it was intentional - missed opportunity to sell us all manner of bandolier surely??

The problem I've always had with bait in this game is it only works if placed upwind of an animal that is actually already spawned in the game. And if you know where the animal is you might as well just chase it down and kill it! It had its uses in SP to draw an animal out to where you want it to get a clean shot but in online there's too much potential for another player to affect the situation.

If you take the whole alligator to the butcher and skin it there you can sell the skin from your arms and then sell the carcass to earn a bit more than the $6.50 for the whole carcass but its not worth that much more. If its a 3* I drag it to the butcher, if its a 1 or 2 then I just skin it for the meat & teeth and leave the skin.

Sounds like R* have saved you a bunch of cash re-raising the rank requirement for the pamphlets - if you had reached the necessary rank and bought them (I presume with gold) wouldn't you be in the same position now just with less money in your pocket?

Table games with gambling. Hopefully a return of Liar's Dice.

I do like the fact that levelling up rank unlocks better equipment and facets of the game but thats not my primary purpose for putting time into a game. If you enjoy the game, play it. If not then don't. Simple.

Not sure why killing lawmen in Blackwater/St Denis or having a shoot-out with Del Lobos in Thieves Landing is considered an exploit. This has always been a part of R* games - finding a location where you can have a good shootout with NPCs. Its good fun when you get a bit tired of the other aspects of the game and a great way to reduce honour after doing loads of hunting, which you need to be able to do in order to do certain 'legitimate' activities in online. It also is not without consequences for your character so to me its just another aspect of the game you can choose to partake in or not.