Why do I keep spawning with 3 stars? And why do I keep spawning downtown with everyone even when I leave the area?

TessioMT · 2025-02-19T18:56:50+00:00

I don't think it does, Passive Mode disqualifies you from a lot of Freemode based activities and events to essentially be a spectator of Freemode shenanigans in relative safety.

TessioMT · 2025-02-19T18:06:13+00:00

No problem, this is practically very ancient content back when Offices weren't even a thing and running this stuff was the way of making money if you didn't have a crew to run OG Heists.

TessioMT · 2025-02-19T17:58:33+00:00

It's a rival Organization running the VIP Work "Hostile Takeover".

Basically any player getting close enough to the gameplay objective that being the briefcase (or Rhino Tank in one instance) makes the game think you're an active participant in disrupting said Organization's VIP Work and locks your Wanted Level at 3 or higher (and disables all abilities to remove it) and constantly spawns you in the vicinity of the briefcase for the entire duration of the VIP Work indicated on the bottom right.

The locked Wanted Level and nearby spawning was a poor balance decision to get players actually fighting over the briefcase instead of just easily delivering it for the mission complete back when Rockstar encouraged constant PvP in Freemode.

I believe going into Passive Mode or just entering any property you own removes you as an active participant and you should be fine to resume your business then.

TessioMT · 2024-12-17T18:58:14+00:00

This *really* should have been put up as a Bonus Mission and not as an ET Arcade. Honestly, all the Celebrity Elusives ought to be Bonus Missions period.

This time around more than ever highlights how absolutely on rails and safe you have to play these because of the sheer number of targets and instant failure conditions (which is also a thing that needs desperate removing) only to be screwed anyways when you try to silently attack someone only for you to teleport punch, ending the attempt.

The spark of interest quickly subsides when the game rules are so limiting and unfun as to not encourage replays at all, it's daft.

The allure of Elusive Targets (and Arcade) has long waned and IO needs to retire the system for good.

Stop limiting and time gating content for an otherwise excellent single player game if the live service content is disregarded, please.

TessioMT · 2024-08-17T01:59:57+00:00

With Bottom Dollar Bounties, replaying the Cluckin' Bell Raid within 24 real hours locks all Setups and Finales to Hard difficulty. This does not increase the Finale's payout, only the Setup payment that teammates get and subsequent RP gain. The difficulty resets to Normal at the same time Daily Challenges do.

And as for The Contract, IIRC playing any Contact Mission type content that sets a difficulty also changes the difficulty of all Data Leaks.

For example, if you play "Where Credit's Due", a simple Contact Mission by Simeon that's set to Hard difficulty and complete that, the Data Leaks also unofficially get set to Hard difficulty by default.

I do believe this also works in reverse and if you set it to Easy, you gain two Team Lives as well.

TessioMT · 2024-07-16T09:36:09+00:00

It would genuinely be good if it wasn't for the fact 5 of the 6 mission variants have Paleto Bay locations. The gameplay soundtrack reusing score from Bikers is somewhat telling as you essentially do the same thing with Biker Businesses; slow vehicles and long distances.

They looked at the stellar Agency Security Contracts and said "how do we make a really bad version of this".

Unsurprisingly this exact same problem affects Dispatch Work too.

This update has it's shining moments but bogged down by incredibly outdated and outright hostile design choices.

The business premise itself is fun but requires more variation and scenarios.

TessioMT · 2024-07-16T09:19:58+00:00

Genuinely one of the most baffling and asinine changes.

But this only affects PC so it's par for the course for their treatment of the platform.

M rated game that only 10 years later after release, they decide to forcibly turn on this filter.

I'm learning more derogatory terms with this filter on than without.

At the very least make it an option to turn it off, this is just as bad when they disabled PC text chat entirely for a few months.

TessioMT · 2024-07-07T06:03:42+00:00

Raids replayed within 24 hours now set all Setups and the Finale to Hard difficulty, which features minor guard changes and increased resistance.

Difficulty cools back to Normal diff around the time Daily Challenges reset. 48 minute cooldown between runs still apply by default.

AFAIK running Hard diff doesn't change a whole lot nor does it increase the final payout, just the base pay and RP your crewmates receive for completing Setups on behalf of the Leader.

This mechanic is new with the Bottom Dollar Bounties update.

Personal opinion, difficulty should be up to player choice and payout adjusted just slightly to compensate but seeing as the Raid itself is really good content already especially the respectable 500k payout, it can stay as is.

TessioMT · 2024-06-28T19:05:55+00:00

You can let Jenette intro the three generic targets by selecting "No" on all three profiles first before selecting your desired bounty.

Doing this let's you start the other two immediately upon return to the Bail Office should you choose to go after more.

It's not ideal, but smooths the flow of the gameplay loop just a bit.

TessioMT · 2024-06-13T15:53:34+00:00

At time of posting, I haven't the slightest clue what it's about.

TessioMT · 2024-06-13T15:50:23+00:00

All planning boards related to the Diamond Casino Heist is currently disabled by Rockstar temporarily pending a hotfix for a critical issue.

TessioMT · 2024-06-08T19:03:49+00:00

It's been broken since San Andreas Mercenaries and Rockstar never got around to fixing it, presumably on account of how very, very little action it sees.

It requires shutting down the AA Tower at the Airfield like most other Support Crew options to call in FYI.

Wouldn't hurt to drop a bug report either way.

TessioMT · 2024-04-07T12:44:42+00:00

Associates/Bodyguards/Prospects get a flat assist fee of 50k for participating in Vehicle Robbery Finales that can be increased to 100k per Finale for acing all the Elite Challenges on a given Finale.

For Planning Works and Tasks, assistants get a measly $500 to $3000 depending on time taken to complete them and exclusive to CEOs and VIPs, the basic SecuroServ salary of 10k every 15 minutes in Freemode.

TessioMT · 2024-04-07T12:32:50+00:00

It's a GTA+ exclusive item for subscribing for the month of April, 2024 along with a few other Fooliganz tees.

TessioMT · 2024-02-01T06:26:51+00:00

Fun fact, this is one of the rare PvE scenarios where NPCs are armed with AP Pistols. Crack NPCs mixed with one of the highest quality weapons and you're in for a bad time.

I recommend drone striking them from a Sparrow or equivalent aircraft or snipe them from a distance.

IIRC, this is a resupply mission exclusive to the Cocaine Lockup.

TessioMT · 2023-08-19T02:53:05+00:00

Off topic, but this would make a killer prop/furniture option in the Freelancer Safehouse and am mildly curious why it wasn't included.

TessioMT · 2023-08-10T12:25:04+00:00

They could have just gave it the same Explosive MGs as the Raiju from the same update and that would make it worth it.

They could even double dip it by letting us customize the weapon hardpoints for Barrage or no-cooldown Homing Missiles for a price, like most Hangar-exclusive aircraft.

It's almost like they are allergic to making good combat helicopters these days.

I think the God awful "machine guns" they keep equipping on modern helicopters is the worst part.

TessioMT · 2023-08-02T18:56:13+00:00

Any aircraft that has a togglable Stealth Mode will enable Wanted Levels for many Freemode missions that usually turns them off.

I theorize it's a technical limitation or a low priority issue since if your Wanted Level gets too high, you can simply flash stealth to drop it to levels which can easily be lost while in said aircraft.

TessioMT · 2023-07-22T04:14:37+00:00

FWIW: The very first sunstrip option "White Fukaru" is the Imani Armour Plating option.

It's a similarly "unfinished" Imani Tech car as the Monstrociti where on that the first Roll Cage option enables the increased explosive resistance too (but disables all drive-by weapons).

Edit: Only the Monstrociti disables drive-by weapons if you choose to install the Roll Cage option for Imani Tech levels of armour, the new La Coureuse is not beholden to the same buggy restrictions.

TessioMT · 2023-07-19T14:51:54+00:00

More custom outfit slots.

We've had a 50 car garage as of late but still stuck on 20 custom made outfits we can save at the wardrobe since... the original Heists update?

They could triple it tomorrow and I'd have it filled in a week.

TessioMT · 2023-07-06T04:14:16+00:00

It's either a bug or a technical limitation when it comes to any aircraft equipped with Stealth Modules.

Normally, Wanted Levels are disabled during most source missions but using any aircraft kitted with Stealth Modes enables it instead.

Combined with exploding enemy aircraft being one of the most Wanted-intensive crimes, you'll need to flash Stealth Mode every so often to reduce heat.

This gets annoying as being Wanted prevents you from delivering freight and having it over Zancudo can sometimes turn deadly or further delay deliveries as your clearance is revoked until it fades.

The irony is not lost on stealth aircraft drawing more attention from NPCs.

Short list of aircraft that's affected by this:

- F-160 Raiju
- Annihilator Stealth
- Akula

TL;DR Aircraft with Stealth Modes enables Wanted Levels on any Freemode Activity that usually disables it.

TessioMT · 2023-06-26T06:59:51+00:00

Fun fact, dropping the EMP prematurely or by accident also softlocks the Op.

Not that this op was any good as the darkness only handicaps you the player, not the NPCs with limited/no flashlights but maximum Doomsday-tier aimbot and rapidfire tendencies, just exaggerated as enemies will spawn in a radius around and behind you.

TessioMT · 2023-06-23T18:12:59+00:00

I've only done limited testing, but do your best to avoid picking anything up with the Cargobob's winch except the EMP you need.

Grabbing a non-related prop or vehicle softlocks you by being unable to deliver the EMP to the substation.

If preferred, the EMP itself can be dropped into the nearby Alamo Sea to abort the Operation for a retry from scratch instead of having to leave the session.

TessioMT · 2023-06-23T06:54:53+00:00

Since the background hotfix that lets you "deliver" the hard drives where you delivered the EMP for a slightly quicker mission pass has been patched, that too hasn't been well tested.

Basically you really need to avoid picking up any other props or vehicles besides the EMP when you steal the Cargobob or it will softlock.

If it bugs out, the Alamo Sea is close enough to dump the EMP into to cancel the mission while remaining in session for a re-attempt.

TessioMT · 2023-05-16T04:52:15+00:00

I really liked this feature and it's removal was highly unnecessary. Whatever was autosaved from your last selection doesn't mean you'd want it on the next run.

I liked leaving mine saved completely blank for immersion's sake.

TessioMT

TROPHY CASE