Rockstar Games has outlined what players can expect from this month's Red Dead Online Beta update, coming on the 26th of February.
While many of these features have been hinted at before, and are based on community feedback from the beta, it's nice to see a clear idea of what to expect.
One of the main changes aims to combat griefing, which the current Parley & Feud system simply isn't well enough suited to curb. Player blips on the map will be proximity based. You will only see the locations of other players on the map if they are within 150 meters of your character and, at slightly longer distances, blips will only appear when the character fires their weapon. At even greater distances the blips will be entirely invisible.
This prevents aggressors from hunting a player across long distances by tracking them via the map. If you put enough distance between yourself and the griefer, they won't be able to find you. Rockstar also designed a way to warn players about potential griefers. Committing acts like killing players or mounts outside of modes or missions will increase the detection radius of your blip and change its color. The worse your behavior, the greater the distance at which others will see you - but you won't see them. The blip will also change color to red to indicate a violent player.
The somewhat lacking Parley & Feud system is also getting an overhaul, with Posse Parleys, Posse Feuds and Leader Feuds being added as possible conflict resolution options for players to explore in case they get killed outside of PvP modes or missions. Rockstar is hoping that the introduction of the new blip system together with the upgrade of the previous system should minimalize griefing in Red Dead Online.
Committing crimes will also incur bounties that, once reaching a high enough amount, will result in NPC bounty hunters spawning and attacking you. Smaller crimes may only decrease your honor, while more severe crimes will add various amounts to the price on your head. The higher the bounty, the more powerful the NPCs that will be sent after you.
Daily challenges are also coming to the game, giving players additional ways to earn XP and gold nuggets. The range of challenges available will be broad and will cover just about every aspect of gameplay, meaning everyone will find challenges to their liking and can practice all aspects of the game by completing them. As the content available in Red Dead Online expands, so will the variety of challenges, and bonuses can be earned by completing streaks.
Further bug fixes and rebalancing is also planned with the Varmint Rifle being named specifically as having its accuracy tweaked. Players can also earn additional XP this week and next week by joining Posses.
The February 26th Update will also bring new content to Red Dead Online, so keep an eye out for news about that!
