'Red Dead Online' Free Gold, Lobby Improvements, and More Detailed In New Update

The beta for Red Dead Redemption 2's online mode continues to make improvements before it is ready for a full release and Rockstar Games just provided players an update on what's new and what's on the way for their Red Dead Online niche.

First and foremost, free gold! "As a token of our gratitude for your support and understanding throughout this Beta period, we are rewarding this weekend's active players with a bonus of 5 Gold Bars," said the studio in a recent blog post. "Play the Red Dead Online Beta between today Friday January 25 and Sunday January 27 to qualify for the bonus, which will be delivered to your account by Tuesday January 29."

With the launch of the Gun Rush mode earlier this month, a lot of players have been reporting matchmaking issues that made it incredibly difficult to play with friends. To address that, the team has deployed a few short-term fixes while they wait for a more permanent solution. "The minor improvements should help generate fuller lobbies and we will add more fixes in upcoming title updates. Gun Rush is best experienced with as many competitors as possible, so if you had any issues with smaller lobbies around release, we strongly encourage you to give it another go this weekend as we are already regularly seeing much fuller matches on both PS4 and Xbox One."

They also added a subtle reminder about their new mode, encouraging new players to check it out. "For those who haven't tried it yet, Gun Rush is a tooth and nail, Western style battle-royale fight to the death for up to 32 players that can be played either with Teams or as a Free For All. Players compete in an ever-shrinking battle zone with horses for quick transport (and associated risks). Skirmish for weapons ranging from Mauser Pistols to Repeating Shotguns to Fire Bottles and Dynamite Arrows – as well as for valuable, hard to obtain armor like the headshot-thwarting Ned Kelly Armor to help you survive to the end."

Rockstar also mentioned that there are lot more fixes planned for future updates including proximity-based player blips, Parley changes, Law and Bounty improvements, and Daily Challenges as a whole. What do you think about the latest update and plans for future changes? What do you hope they tackle next? Join in on the conversation below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!