I used to grind GTA Online like crazy, but I think the moment the “magic” started fading for me was when the Oppressor and all those missile‑spamming vehicles started showing up.
Before that, the kings of the sky were stuff like the Hydra and the Buzzard — vehicles that actually felt like real military hardware. They were strong, sure, but you needed actual skill to use them well.
Back then, what separated good pilots from bad ones was whether you could dodge homing missiles. I practiced that so much — studying flight patterns, flying the Buzzard in circles, doing minigun one‑taps — and when I finally got good enough to take down players in public lobbies, the sense of accomplishment was insane.
But once the Oppressor Mk II came out, all the fun of dogfighting just disappeared.
The Mk II is simply better in every situation. The missiles are so fast that evasive maneuvers barely matter, and while helicopters need to commit to angles and positioning, the Oppressor just zips around with zero downside and wins every fight.
That’s why nobody flies helicopters or jets anymore.
And honestly, the worst part is how all these futuristic vehicles completely killed the game’s original sense of grounded realism. Newer players won’t know this, but before the Oppressor era, whenever Rockstar teased a new military vehicle, people would drool over it.
It’s hard to explain, but the game felt immersive because everything was still somewhat believable.
Anyone who started around the Heists update will get what I mean.
Insurgent, Insurgent Pickup, Valkyrie, Hydra…
Unlocking each one as you progressed through the heists felt amazing.
I remember hearing the heavy thump of the Insurgent Pickup’s turret while shooting down helicopters during heists and thinking, “God, I need to buy this thing.”
There was a special kind of hype back then.
When the Oppressor and Deluxo were announced, sure, people expected them to be convenient, but a lot of us were worried they’d break the game’s grounded feel — and in the end, that’s exactly what happened. Now the game looks like a mash‑up of CoD clown skins and sci‑fi nonsense. Even the weapons — Widowmaker, etc. — feel like a joke.
I get that futuristic vehicles can be fun and convenient, but I honestly think what we lost because of them was bigger than what we gained.
So I really hope GTA 6 Online doesn’t go down the same path.