GTA 5 Online update was rolled out Friday, October 4, 2013. Since the launch last Tuesday, October 1, 2013, GTA 5 Online was met with problems preventing players from being able to play online. However, with the rollout of the update on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, GTA Players can now experience the open world environment finally and cause some mayhem. I was able to get on there over the weekend with my crew members to do some missions together. The only gripe I had was I wish this game had Party mode like in GTA 4 where it's just you and your own private party going around the area exploring without having someone kill your character. However, luckily GTA online does have a feature called Passive mode which costs $100 in GTA$ currency. This will allow a player to go around the open world on foot without someone killing you. However, if you are in a car, you are still vulnerable to getting your character killed. I tested that theory out first hand yesterday when buying ammo for my character and someone was standing by my car trying to break into it. They didn't realize I set my car to where only my friends and crew members can use it LOL. But after I got into the car, the guy unloaded a full clip into my character.
One tip I would advise anyone new to GTA 5 Online is to NEVER carry too much cash on your character because if your character gets killed, you lose the money. Best thing to do is always put your money into the bank. If you need to replenish your character's life by purchasing a soda in game, take out $50 from the ATM and use that towards it.
Overall the experience is fun and challenging. I like the fact that when you enter job missions, you are out of the open world environment and it's just you and your party doing the mission. After the mission is over, you get a reward and reputation points when you win. Once the job is completed, you have the option of either replaying it again, going onto another mission or returning to freemode. This is done by voting by all members of the current session. So if majority votes to return to freemode for example, you will return to freemode. Majority votes win. Overall this is an addicting game and hopefully the money packs will be available soon for those players who wish to purchase property and store their vehicles.