Rockstar Tweaks Red Dead Online Economy, Hands out Free Gold

The first set of balancing changes have arrived in Red Dead Online and some of them make sense, while others are making us scratch our heads.

It’s not a reach to say that Red Dead Online‘s economy wasn’t quite right at the start of its beta period. When fishing for Salmon is the most effective way to earn money, you know you’ve got a problem. Rockstar Games has released the first patch intended to address some of the economic issues and other feedback gathered by the community. While some of the changes certainly sound good, others leave us scratching our heads.

Red Dead Online Adjustments

The following are the highlights of the changes that Rockstar wants players to be aware of:

• Increasing the cash and gold payments across a number of different activities including Free Roam Missions, Free Roam Events, replays of A Land of Opportunities Missions, Showdown Series modes and more.
• Reducing the prices of most weapons in the Wheeler, Rawson & Co Catalogue and Gunsmiths. For players that have already purchased weapons at the previous prices, we will automatically deposit the difference to player balances starting today – please look for an alert message the next time you log in to the Red Dead Online Beta to notify you of this change, refunds may take up until Monday, December 10th to reach all eligible players.
• Balancing the values of select pelts, skins, and fish as well as horse reviver and pamphlets.

An increase in rewards from missions was much needed and is indeed welcome. Performing a 15-minute long task just to be paid roughly $3 was an outrage that should have been clear from the start. Lowering the prices of most weapons is also a nice touch, as are the refunds players can expect for any weaponry they’ve purchased so far. No word on changes to other cosmetic items, or outfits for your camp’s caretaker, which are still outrageously high. Time will tell if these changes are enough to set things right.

The third bullet about balancing values of pelts, skins, and fish, had me concerned from the moment I read it. Anytime that an adjustment is vaguely hidden behind the term “balance,” it’s likely the wrong call. Sure enough, it seems that fish are now worth just over half their previous value, and I haven’t yet had the time to look into the adjustments made to pelts and skins. For the life of me, I will never understand why developers feel the need to “balance” an activity into oblivion, essentially make said activity useless.

Free Money and Gold

If you’re upset by the changes or feel that not enough has been done, Rockstar hopes you’ll enjoy a gift of cash and gold instead.

As an added thank you for playing and helping us through the beta period, we’re also awarding everyone that joined in to play the Red Dead Online Beta at any point through midnight PST today with a gift of RDO $250 and 15 Gold Bars. Gifts should start arriving today and will hit all eligible players by Friday, December 14th.

Surely more changes will come, and hopefully, it won’t always be two steps forward and one step back.