Hot on the heels of the announcement that Red Dead Online will be getting an inexpensive standalone edition, Rockstar has announced that it’s changing the way daily challenge streaks work. When the standalone version arrives, daily challenge streaks will reset every 28 days, awarding players with a RDO$ bonus and a treasure map.
Maintaining an unbroken streak of daily challenges has been a reliable way for Red Dead players to earn gold, Red Dead Online’s in-game currency that is also available for real-money purchase in the form of gold bars. By logging in and completing at least one daily challenge every day, players could keep a healthy rewards multiplier going, which capped out at 2.5x on the 28 day mark.
Starting December 1, that’s going to change. Instead of keeping that 2.5x multiplier, players will see their streak reset on day 28 and have to build it up from zero again. Effectively this means significantly less gold for completing daily challenges, and players – many of whom have maintained their streaks for hundreds of days – aren’t pleased.
“Why on earth would @RockstarGames discourage players from playing daily in a game devoid of replayable content?” wonders the curator of the Red Dead Online Community Twitter account, in a tweet sharing the in-game announcement. “Would it not make more sense to tune down the gold earned via dailies (which let’s be real, is the reason they’re doing this) rather than encouraging people to just not play the game? What a bizarre move.”
The best way to earn gold in Red Dead Online is changing from December 1st, as daily challenge streaks will reset upon reaching day 28! pic.twitter.com/2u7NgwnVpz
— Red Dead Online Community (@RedDeadRDC) November 27, 2020
Players on Reddit aren’t any happier.
The general consensus is that Rockstar is trying to steer players toward purchasing gold rather than farming it with the daily challenge multiplier, which seems plausible given that the standalone Red Dead Online mode is priced at only $5 USD.
Other players have suggested that it could mean Rockstar has plans for new repeatable content for the western game’s multiplayer mode. Time will tell – but it’s taken a massive clown protest to get things moving on that front in the past.
We’ve reached out to Rockstar for comment on this issue and we’ll update this story with any new information.