About Levels and Leveling

Grand Theft Auto online (hereinafter to be written as GTAO) is a free-to-play limited-scope-MMO that allows up to 16 gamers to play together and at the same time in a fully-realized instance of the game that has nearly every element of the single-player world in GTA V and more.

The instances for GTAO are called "Servers," and are both persistent and consistent -- that is to say that all of the actions that you take in one server session will be reflected in all of the other instances that you play on and in later.

To clarify this, as long as you properly save your game any increase in stats, completed missions, and RP/XP gained will be retained.

In addition to that any Safe House or Garage that you purchase will be present in every instance of the game that you play in. If you purchased Car Insurance or Tracking that will also be available from instance to instance, all provided you properly saved of course.

To properly save your game open the Pause Menu and select the online Tab, then the bottom selection to Quit and Save.

Note that when you complete specific and key Activities or events the game automatically saves -- basically if you see the game go into the Google-World-View-like animation where it pulls back as if it was looking at you like form a satellite, the game has probably saved.

Otherwise if you quit out without using the Quit and Save option, any progress you made for stats or even money earned outside of the events, Jobs, or missions will be lost. That being the case, if there is any doubt in your mind, you should Save and Quit and not just exit the game direct.

This GTA5 gang challenge is a yawn compared to the pvp Gang challenges in GTAO

Game Expanding Levels

The following information is very very important. Please read it carefully...

Despite the fact that the clever programmers at SuperCheats have gone to a great deal of trouble to make available on the site a number of official and approved methods for site members and even casual visitors to ask and submit questions, make shared observations, and otherwise interact with the site, it seems that the old habit of emailing the author of a guide directly still somehow dominates and is the first choice for old-school gamers.

I am not whinging - and please do not translate this as disrespect if you are one of the gamers who felt it was better to email me directly - while it is true that I prefer very much that you use the official reply/question system that has been implemented on SuperCheats -- in fact you will notice that I no longer reply directly to email sent to me about issues with the guide or other matters that best belong on the official system but rather I address them either in the guide or simply reply asking you to use that system...

The point to this is that I needed to bring up some of the email I have received but I also needed to do that while noting the preferred method for that sort of contact in as positive a manner as possible -- which I have now done!

So with that understood, one of the most common email topics that I have received as a result of this guide pretty equally is balanced between complaints about game bugs (which I have no control over at all even to the point that I like you can only submit a bug report to Rockstar and that is as far as that goes) and questions about levels and the appearance of a lack of content in the game.

So in a nutshell one of the most important notes that you can make in Grand Theft Auto: online is to remember that this is first and foremost a Level-Based Game.

What that means is that early in your game play that game map is going to appear to be huge and hugely empty. And it is up to a point - that point being when you reach the first significant Level milestone, which for most Activities is either Level 8 or Level 10 - at which point there suddenly appears a bunch of new activities that you can participate in.

One of the more frustrating aspects of Level-based games is that certain highly desirable elements in the game - and particularly that applies to the variety of mini-games that are not only fun but are designed and intended for multi-player cooperative or pvp play - only begin to appear on your map and are thus unlocked for play AFTER you have reached specific levels!

That being the case my first instinct is to remind you to be patient - that patience in this case is its own reward. The second urge that I often feel is the need to remind or make aware with emphasis that once the all-important level(s) finally gets unlocked, the wait almost always ends up with feelings of it having been worth the effort to get there.

To re-sate the obvious here, the level your character reaches in game play has significant impact on your game play experience -- and not only with respect to unlocking new Activities and Jobs -- almost all of the resources in the game are also Level-based.

In addition to the expanded Jobs, mini-games, and other Activities in the game some very good examples of level-based resource unlocking are the weapons and weapon accessories that you can finally access and obtain when you visit your local Ammu-Nation store.

Each specific weapon and weapon element requires that your character achieve a specific Rank, at which point the element or resource is finally unlocked for you.

You can view the list of level-based unlocks in the Reference Section of the guide at the bottom, by selecting the Level Unlocks Lists to learn the requirements for specific items or just to peruse the many resources, Activities, and events that are unlocked for each level...

Important Levels and What Makes them Important

In addition to specific primary Activities (Jobs, events, and mini-games) as well as Primary Objects (weapons, weapon accessories, car accessories, property, and the like) tend to apply at specific Rank Levels.

To put all of this into a more useful measure of relative value, the following list of the Core Rank Levels and their corresponding unlocks will help you not only judge the relative merits of the system, but will doubtlessly provide you with short-term goals towards which to work.

Obviously we begin with Rank 1, which is actually, you know, where we begin... But from there on the limits become less and less restrictive, and the game increasingly so much better! With so wide an assortment of Jobs and Activities it is impossible for us to include them all, so instead what we have done is sort of highlight what we consider to be the really and genuinely important ones with each of the key levels listed below...

Check it out and see what we mean:

What comes after Rank 100-110 in terms of missions, Expansion material, and the like is really just an open question -- we know that there are plans to include a massive amount of additional objects and missions as well as themed DLC-based Expansion Content

So, as you can see, there are a lot of levels to be considered, and upon reaching them, a lot of objects and events to appreciate! The trick then is in sticking with it the first time that you enter GTAO to play.

If you are a veteran player and are inviting a newbie mate of yours to try out GTAO than at a minimum take the time to invite them to play some of the various tasks - remember as long as YOU are able to play them, anyone you invite or challenge to play can ALSO play them!

A Not So Empty Game

Early on in game play in GTA:O -- and particularly once the servers and service stabilized and GTAO became more reliable -- it was pretty common to see new players come into the game at Level 1 and get discouraged due to the appearance of nothing to do and simply walk away possibly never to return.

The reason behind that impression is of course the fact that the game only shows the player the Activities, events, Jobs, and missions that they are actually eligible to play -- offering no hints whatsoever about the literal cornucopia of Gaming goodness that is just around the figurative corner in terms of level-unlocked play...

We have firmly considered that lack of foresight not illustrating the objects and Activities that are just around the cortner to be a major failing of the game. it does not show you the ones you cannot play -- which is a major mistake because as a result the game appears empty! How hard would it be to insert a loading-screen pop-up that informs the player of what is just ahead?

It is easy to understand how a new player could pop into that environment and conclude that the game is a lot more empty than it should be -- which is why we have gone to the trouble that we have to tell you all of this with emphasis!

It is important to remember that GTAO is MASSIVE. There is so much to do -- once you unlock it -- that it just boggles the mind! Not only that, but the wizards behind the game are constantly ADDING to the content! On a weekly basis almost...

Well, that covers the mystery of how the game seems sort of empty but is not... And should fill you in on not just what to expect but when to expect it. So there!

Cheers!