Red Dead Online Frontier Pursuits Review and Player Guide

The summer update has finally landed… On September 10th. Needless to say a lot of us hard-core fans have had our limit with waiting for this update. Rockstar was frustratingly slow with releasing its long awaited content update for its western themed online multiplayer game based on the hit Red Dead Redemption II (RDR2), Red Dead Online (RDO). RDR2 broke records last year, Red Dead was one of the best selling entertainment mediums of all time! It was a big year for Rockstar, especially this summer when they hit Pay dirt again by releasing an online casino update for its seven year old Grand Theft Auto Online (GTA). Meanwhile, Rockstar just drip feed the RDR2 fans all summer long with game mode content, cosmetic items, and things that players really didn’t want or need, all the while teasing that a Summer update was slated to be released. I feel that the main reason Rockstar delayed the release of the summer update until the very last possible moment was done in order to milk all they could from its Online fan base. Rockstar was making money and they didn’t want to stop the flow! I’m starting this review off with a bad taste in my mouth already because this is how I felt going into the new update. I felt like a lover who was willing to listen week after week to an ex’s excuses & offers to be a better person and not getting anything in return. I felt neglected, taken advantage of, and lied to, only to be constantly disappointed. Rockstar became Dutch and us, the fans, became his constantly duped gang. I gave the update a few weeks to measure the server stability as well as to get a proper feel for the nuances of the update. I hope you enjoy!

Well, what can I say? I guess I’m the kind of person that will take a lover back when I’ve seen that they put some genuine effort and work into being a better version of their former self! That’s exactly what we have with the Red Dead Online: Frontier Pursuits update! Three new career paths are now in game each of them offering unique items and skills to help make your frontier life lucrative and exciting! The Collector, the Bounty unter, and the Trader. Each role can be unlocked for 15 gold bars. If you link your Amazon Prime with your Twitch account you’ll get the Bounty Hunter trait for free. PlayStation players get free access to the trader class.

The Collector- In the roll of collector you’re on the lookout for rare sets of items like Tarot cards, arrowheads, collectible bottles and the like. You can buy a shovel which can help you dig up treasures that might go overlooked. To help even more on your search for the rare and valuable you can purchase a metal detector that will lead you to deeply hidden treasures scattered all over the map. You can also loot bodies and find gold teeth and other missing collectibles that you can sell to Madam Nazar or the Fence.

Madam Nazar is a traveling gypsy and new addition to Red Dead Online. She has some rare clothing items for sale like the Viper Belt buckle or more useful items like the Special binoculars and metal detector that help reveal hidden items. She is also the person that will accept your completed gifts and sets and pay you a decent fee. You can mail them to her or you can try to find her in game. She is a traveling gypsy and changes locations every 24 real time hours so you will have to track her down on the map or go online and ask the community for help.

The Bounty Hunter – Bounty hunter boards are located in most major towns and a few of the train stations scattered throughout the map. Each town has three separate bounties available. Some of the bounties require the player to turn in multiple bounties. This can be difficult and I don’t recommend doing those bounty missions until you have the upgraded bounty wagon or you have an extra horse to carry the body into town on. You can also drag a body with your rope however this can be difficult to do while being chased.

The bounties reset every hour or so. You can turn in the bounties dead or alive, where alive bounties earn you more money. The XP you get from turning in a target dead or alive is the same.

Legendary bounties were recently added after the initial update and have more background and story behind them as well as an increased difficulty level and xp payoff.
Some 4-5 star bounties require you to deliver the target alive where in the first Legendary bounty mission required the delivery of multiple targets at once. The most recent Legendary Bounty hunter mission has the player turning in multiple targets. Legendary missions are re-playable and are worth 400-600 xp when being replayed.

The Trader- Hunting has taken on a whole new function in RDO. Now instead of hunting and turning in your skins and meat to the butcher for money you can donate entire carcasses to Cripps so that he can produce goods for you to sell to individuals across the map. You can choose between a local or long distance delivery. The longer deliveries earn you more money per delivery. I recommend doing local deliveries because the amount of time spent doesn’t really justify the amount of extra cash you get right now.
You need to keep Cripps well stocked with carcasses and supplies in order to keep him producing goods for you. You can run resupply missions and pick up the items you need legitimately or you can steal them from other NPC‘s in game. Each mission has a negative or positive affect on your honor. You can also pay $20 to have a quick resupply done. I prefer this method although running the supply missions can get you extra money and experience with having to kill the NPC‘s and loot bodies for items. Not all missions require you to kill and steal however.
The trader has a delivery wagon upgrade available. The delivery wagon upgrade allows you to carry more packages so you make more money on delivery missions.

There have been a few new Weapons added to Red Dead Online with the Frontier Pursuits update.
A Hammer for hitting
A Reinforced Lasso for bounty hunters that makes it harder for targets to break free and escape off of horse back.
Bolas at Bounty Hunter level 10. Bounty Hunters can disable targets with this thrown weapon.
Lance Knife a fancy collectors knife.
Collectors Machete a fancy collectors machete.

Camp- The players home away from home has become a lot more important and useful with the Frontier Pursuits update. There have been several new useful and still yet to be integrated updates to the player camp.

Dog- Player can purchase a dog of their own. Several breeds and colors are available and you can name your dog. There are a few skills that elude to the need to have your dog available to protect your camp from attacks. I’m sure that this is something that is going to be happening to player camps in future updates.

Stew Pot- Instead of selling your meets and herbs to NPCs in town, you can save them and use them in crafting your own stews that will boost your cores.

Weapons Locker- instead of carrying all of your weapons on your person, which can get to be a bit much in a fire fight and when you’re needing to switch through 10 weapons to find the one you need, you can store your extra guns at camp.

Upgraded Seating- You can upgrade the seating around the campfire that speeds up crafting time and allows for more players to gather around the fire.

Wagons:

I already went into depth on Wagons and their functions as they pertain to their class above, so I will just add some notes and observations.

• I recommend using the Cinematic mode when going on Delivery missions. Currently very few missions require you to fight.
• The Delivery Wagon and the Hunting Wagon are separate in game purchases.
• The hunting wagon is available as a level 10 bounty hunter.
• The upgraded Delivery Wagon at level 5 Trader.

Delivery wagon-

• Increases the amount of money you can make on delivery missions.
• It can only be used during delivery missions.

Hunting wagon

• Can only carry a total of five and skin carcasses on your delivery wagon. So try to get you in three star carcasses to maximize your time. I recommend scanning one star carcasses in order to save space.
• The upgraded wagon is durable however certain angles might cause your horse to fall. Don’t panic. Just allow him the chance to recover. If you force the controls you might accidentally destroy your cart.
• If you die or destroy your cart the animals skins are carcasses will still remain.

Outlaw Pass
Valid until November 18 this pass is an optional upgrade that offers even more rewards as you rank up. Players get exclusive items, cosmetic modifications to your weapons, as well as accessories for your horse as well as a total of 35 gold and $650 in red dead online money. You can also earn different graphic flags for your camp, goggles, buckles, photo poses, backgrounds, and complete outfits. The cost of the Outlaw Pass is 35 gold bars but you basically make your money back and you get a bunch of xp and cool stuff!

The Frontier Pursuits update, although long awaited and delayed, was worth the frustration. There is so much more for players to do in game that there is almost too much to do. I find myself running hunting missions to keep Cripps supplied while hunting down relics at the same time, and heading back to camp to see what work needs to be done. The collector class was the easiest and fastest of all of the classes to level up to 20. You get XP for every item you discover and loot. The bounty hunter was by far the longest and most time consuming. Normal bounty hunter missions are only worth about 3-500 XP each. The trader doesn’t take much work and at the same times levels consistently. It took me about a week to get to level 20 collector, about 10 days to get to level 20 Trader and I’m just about to get to a level 10 bounty hunter. The cost of all of the classes, upgrades, and items are not cheap but making money in game isn’t difficult either. Overall, I love the update and I’m looking forward to doing a lot more in game with the dog and also owning a house or posse hang out. I have not had any noticeable server issues since the update launched and it appears that Rockstar has got a handle on those server crashes that was plaguing the game early on.