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GTA Online featured two major content updates in The Criminal Enterprises and Los Santos Drug Wars in 2022. It's worth comparing the two now that 2022 is long behind players. Differences are to be expected. However, there are also plenty of similarities worth mentioning, such as the two updates focusing on buffs and nerfs to various pieces of content.
The Criminal Enterprises was released on July 26, 2022, whereas Los Santos Drug Wars launched on December 13, 2022. Also, the latter update is still ongoing, with several drip-feed features set to arrive later in 2023.
Comparing GTA Online's The Criminal Enterprises to Los Santos Drug Wars
It's worth listing what each update introduced in GTA Online. The Criminal Enterprises brought forth the following important bits of content:
Trending
- Operation Paper Trail
- Buffs to various Career Builder businesses
- The Cayo Perico Series
- Buried Stashes
- LD Organics
- Junk Energy Skydives
- Halloween Event 2022
- Crime Scenes
- Community Series
- Several new vehicles
- Luxury Autos
- Premium Deluxe Motorsport
- Various quality-of-life changes
- Two new weapons
By comparison, Los Santos Drug Wars has introduced the following by the beginning of 2023:
- First Dose missions
- Fooligan Jobs
- Acid Lab business
- The Freakshop
- Christmas Event 2022
- Several new vehicles
- Three new weapons
- Various quality-of-life changes
More content will come out for this update, including the Last Dose missions, new taxi content, etc.
The Criminal Enterprises
Operation Paper Trail is a series of missions where GTA Online players help the IAA. The main reason for doing these missions are Trade Prices for some vehicles, making these jobs less rewarding compared to the First Dose missions from the Los Santos Drug Wars update.
Apart from that, the notable balance changes and quality-of-life improvements of GTA Online's The Criminal Enterprises include the following:
- Warehouse Staff can source Special Cargo at the cost of $7,500.
- Clubhouses can now sell modified bikes to clients.
- Bunkers have Ammu-Nation Contracts and new Research missions.
- Nightclub Owners get two new different types of missions from Marcel.
- K/D/A is no longer affected in free mode.
- Most Sell Missions became available in non-Public Sessions.
- All races and Adversary Modes give 50% extra cash.
- Players can job in several buildings now.
- Oppressor Mk II's missiles and countermeasures got nerfed.
- The Cayo Perico Heist got nerfed for solo players regarding cooldowns and the chance of high-value Primary Targets appearing in subsequent runs.
- Players don't pay for destroying other gamers' weaponized vehicles
- All heists before The Diamond Casino Heist got a pay raise ranging from 50~75%.
These quality-of-life changes were quite significant to the GTA Online playerbase. Most notably, the Oppressor Mk II and Cayo Perico Heist nerfs were hot topics to discuss for a while.
Another notable piece of content not previously mentioned is the Sprunk vs. eCola war, where the latter won. Fans had to pick a side and drink their associated soda in the game.
Apart from that, the Heists Event 2022 took place in The Criminal Enterprises, with its reward (a free Tahoma Coupe) being available in Los Santos Drug Wars.
Los Santos Drug Wars
This update gave players First Dose missions. Completing them all unlocked Acid Lab, one of the best new businesses for making money in GTA Online. Los Santos Drug Wars also gives players Fooligan Jobs, which pay quite well for freemode missions that are rather easy to complete.
The notable quality-of-life changes from this update include:
- iFruit Contacts can be hidden now
- Ray-traced real-time reflections in the Expanded and Enhanced Edition
- Purchased vehicles appear in garages more quickly than before
- Casino Story Missions are now available for solo players
- Vehicle Cargo Sell Missions now include High Demand Bonuses
- Hangar Sell Missions pay triple the amount
- Toreador can no longer be used in most Heists
The Hangar buff is the most significant change since it turned what was arguably the worst business in the game into the best one. GTA Online players can expect more changes in the upcoming weeks as Los Santos Drug Wars still has several months' worth of content left to introduce.
Conclusion
Both GTA Online updates featured standard new vehicles, clothing items, and minor bug fixes that players expect from every major patch. Interestingly enough, The Criminal Enterprises and Los Santos Drug Wars also heavily focused on quality-of-life improvements while concentrating on a small series of storyline missions.
These updates were essentially glorified balance patches with a few new things that are practically mandatory for every new patch. The actual content found in these two major updates is noticeably different, even if both seem to be rather basic at the surface level.
