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GTA Online is all set to receive the Criminal Enterprises DLC on July 24. This is probably the biggest and most impactful update the game has received so far.
While the update focuses more on changes and brings in many fan-requested alterations, Cayo Perico heist's (CPH) nerf has been an issue for a portion of the community. This article talks about why the change is justified and necessary.
How the Cayo Perico nerf ensures a better future for GTA Online
1) Balancing the meta
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GTA Online has always been about making the most money, from a player's perspective. This is crucial as most items in the game are locked behind a paywall.
That being said, it has rarely received balancing changes over its lifespan. The meta remains the same with the only changes occurring during DLC drops. Often, the updated content replaces the top earning method in the game, as was the case with the Cayo Perico heist.
That said, all this money needs grinding and since the game already has a developed and unchanged meta, players constantly repeat the job. This is fine for some time but it soon becomes tedious and feels more like a chore rather than a game.
Increasing the payouts for the old heists and decreasing Cayo Perico's effectiveness will give players more options.
2) Encourages teamplay
The Criminal Enterprises DLC will nerf Cayo Perico's solo runs by increasing the cooldown to 144 minutes. However, if done with a group, the heist cooldown will be lowered to 48 minutes.
With CPH, GTA Online introduced a solo heist. Grinders welcomed this with open arms as now they do not need to depend on friends and randoms.
However, over time, entire public lobbies could be seen doing the heist solo due to its rewards. This almost fully wiped out teamplay as a mechanic and pushed players away from it.
The essence of a multiplayer game is to interact with other gamers be it friends or randoms.
3) CPH is too easy
Heists in GTA Online were introduced as something more than just regular missions. Something different that will take more effort and time to get that extra reward is a great way to describe the high risk-high reward jobs.
But with CPH, it is the complete opposite. Grinders who have completed the heist hundreds of times can literally close their eyes and come out without a scratch. The video above shows a content creator setting up and completing the entire heist in under 30 minutes.
4) Too over-rewarding
CPH has become overly popular in GTA Online due to the rewards it gives out. The time-to-money ratio is also unmatched even when pitted against top businesses.
A nerf being brought in by the Criminal Enterprises DLC states that if a high value primary target (pink diamond, panther statue and bearer bonds) is stolen successfully, its spawn rate would be lowered for the next 72 hours. This will also raise the value of secondary targets like (gold, art, coke, weed, and cash).
Coming out of CPH, even with the worst primary (Tequila) and secondary item (cash) still pays more than any other activity in the game. This is with current rates without any changes to the value of secondary items.
5) Focusing on secondary targets
With the introduction of CPH, Rockstar Games gave GTA Online players a sort of map-expansion. However, the island is not yet available for free roam.
CPH has primary and secondary loot where the former is in the compound and the latter items are scattered throughout the island.
With the solo run enabled, players soon figured out that the most effective way to approach the heist was to ignore the secondary loot altogether. Even with just the primary loot, players can walk out with roughly $1-$1.3 million every 45 minutes.
Rockstar is essentially encouraging players to explore the island a bit more by nerfing the spawn rate of high-value primary items and increasing the price of secondary ones. The addition of extra events like races and Adversary Modes on the island also enforces this fact.
In conclusion, there are only a few directions Rockstar could have gone in with the Criminal Enterprises DLC and that includes raising the prices of all in-game items exponentially. That would definitely have put more people off.
Also, content creators who put out regular GTA Online videos can now do other things to earn money to buy and showcase every in-game item.
