Rockstar Games released a surprise update for GTA Online today. The Independence Day Special, affectionately called "Oh my god where are the heists, Rockstar?" by fans, provides several new Fourth of July-themed items along with a much-needed feature.
The Independence Day Special adds two new vehicles with permanent American livery, the Sovereign motorcycle and Liberator monster truck. Players can purchase a Musket or Firework Rocket Launcher for their arsenal. The Musket isn't just a piece of obsolete crap; Rockstar says it's deadly and accurate at long range. If you've still got plenty of money left over after making these purchases, you have seven new apartments to choose from.
You can also dress up your GTA Online characters with new costume options to celebrate America's birthday. The "Made in the U.S.A." t-shirt and bald eagle mask will both make it abundantly clear which side of the Revolutionary War you would've fought on. I was expecting a powdered wig haircut to go along with it but Rockstar opted to add a backwoods mullet.
It wouldn't be Fourth of July without fireworks, though. Rockstar allows you to set off 12 different fireworks in GTA Online through the Interaction Menu. You can buy them at Ammu-Nation locations throughout the game.
"This special seasonal content will be available to redeem in-game until Mid-July (we will announce a specific redemption expiration date soon)," reads the official announcement on the Rockstar Newswire.
The accompanying patch, Title Update 1.15, makes several other changes as well. The "much-needed feature" mentioned earlier is On Call Matchmaking. This allows players to accept a Job invite and keep playing in Freemode until the Job fills up. This should reduce down-time in GTA Online considerably.
Rockstar plans to hold a special weekend event to celebrate the Independence Day Special's release. Stay tuned for more details on that.
You can check out screenshots of all the new content in the gallery below. Here are the full patch notes for Title Update 1.15 from the Rockstar Support site:
New Content
- Two new vehicles with permanent American Flag livery have been added.
- Vapid “The Liberator” - An off-road truck, available from the Warstock site. This vehicle is not moddable and is accessed via Pegasus.
- Western Sovereign - This motorcycle is available from San Andreas Super Autos.
Independence Day Special Content:
- Over 40 new Independence holiday-themed clothing items, including outfits, have been added to clothes stores for both male and female characters in GTA Online.
- Two new weapons have been added to Ammu-Nation: Fireworks Launcher and Musket.
- Four types of Fireworks can now be purchased from Ammu-Nation. They each come in 3 colors, red, white and blue.
- A new Parachute Smoke color has been added to Ammu-Nation. The color automatically alternates between, red, white and blue: Patriot Parachute Smoke.
- A new tire smoke color has been added to the Mod Shops. This also alternates between, red, white and blue: Patriot Tire Smoke.
- 12 new animal masks have been added to Vespucci Movie Masks. There are 6 styles, each with 2 color variations.
- Four new horns have been added to the Mod Shop. Each horn is part of the Star Spangled Banner song.
- A new Mullet hairstyle has been added for both male and female characters.
- Stars n Stripes Face Paint added to Barber Shop and Salon.
New Features and Updates
- The ability to place and set off fireworks has been added to the Interaction Menu. Players can purchase 4 different types from Ammu-Nation and then access them in their inventory. The fireworks are available for a limited time to celebrate the holiday period.
- Seven new medium and low end Countryside Apartments have been added to the Dynasty 8 website.
- Players are now able to ride on the ‘The Leviathan’ rollercoaster and ‘The Ferris Whale’ on Del Perro Pier.
- On Call mode has been added to the ‘Quick Job’ option in the phone. Players are now able to continue playing in Freemode whilst they are queued up for a Quick Join invite.
- If a player buys a tattoo and then removes it they will only be charged $100 to re-apply instead of the full tattoo cost.
- Players will now receive an increased cash bonus for completing a Survival, bringing up the total amount that can be earned.
- A player’s Mental State will no longer increase when killing hostile mercenaries. Also, the increase rate for killing Cops who are chasing the player as a result of being wanted has been reduced.
- Mental state will no longer increase for killing players who have a Bounty on their head or for a player defending themselves when they have a Bounty on them.
- Added the ‘Forced Weapon’ option to coronas for Versus and Last Team Standing Missions
- Players on LTS are now only able to hear their teammates, bringing them into line with VS and Capture Missions.
- Job entrance fees are now payable when starting a Versus Mission, in order to bring it into line with LTS and Capture Missions.
- The Head to Head and Challenge wager is now taken from the player’s wallet and bank.
- The time limit on the Team Selection screen has been increased to 1 minute.
Miscellaneous Fixes
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for a player’s car to disappear if they left it at the start of a GTA Race.
- Fixed an issue where the Armored Truck would occasionally not drop any Cash.
- Fixed an issue where Crew tire smoke would not apply correctly.
- Help text is now displayed in the corona if a player attempts to play an animation which cannot be played due to masks / head gear the player is wearing.
- Fixed an issue where splash damage from explosions would apply full damage regardless of distance from the explosion.
- Fixed an issue where players could become stuck entering their garage if they had requested a vehicle from their Mechanic while another player was in their garage.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for player characters to spawn in Fort Zancudo.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for planes to respawn with their landing gear down in vehicle Deathmatches.
- Fixed an issue where players could spawn with a 4-star Wanted Level if they were killed by Cops in the Impound.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for a player to become stuck moving to the Leaderboard after completing an Air Race.
- Fixed an issue where split times would occasionally work incorrectly during the tutorial Race.
- Fixed an issue where incorrect scores could show briefly at the start of a Team Deathmatch.
- Fixed an issue where players could spawn inside of, and stand in, vehicles.
- Fixed an issue where a player could receive a misleading Alert screen when attempting to access GTA Online when the Cloud was down.
- Fixed an issue where players attempting to join a Contact Mission would become stuck when too many players were invited.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for players to fall through the world if they entered the PlayStation store whilst in their apartment.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible for players to become stuck in their apartments if a friend buzzed for entry and then entered the Pause menu.
- Fixed an issue where players could become stuck under the map when accepting a cross-session invite.
- Fixed an issue where players could occasionally be unable to steal High Priority Vehicles from one another after upgrading it.
- Fixed an issue where players were able to enter their garages with NPCs in their vehicles.
- Fixed an issue where players were unable to send text messages with Chinese characters using their cellphones.
- Fixed an issue where players were able to trap other players in their Personal Vehicles.
- Fixed an issue where the radar could flash up on screen at the start of a Job.
- Fixed an issue where the Rank bar could occasionally show up very briefly during transitions.
Exploit Fixes
- Fixed an exploit where players could spawn UFOs in public sessions.
- Fixed various exploits where players were able to duplicate vehicles.
- Fixed an exploit where players were able to respawn in their garages after committing suicide.
- Fixed an exploit where players could get all Barber services for free.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to go off-radar.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to become invincible.
- Fixed an exploit where players were able to drive inside their garages.
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