Tags/Graffiti is the single worst recent update to the health of the server.

[Demonmit1]

Official factions have territory they need to manage. they need to get packed cash, chops cars, and cook drugs, sell them to dealers in a territory they own, to maintain a points system of them "owning" that territory. The reward for maintaining territory is you earn import power points, which is spent on ordering drops from cartel of guns, ammo, drug precursors, etc.

These territories have a decay rate. if you fail to sell contraband to the dealer in the territory, ownership of it will decay to where you no longer have control of it, and you get less import power to get stuff from cartel. As your gang progresses through the faction tiers, you get an allowance of how many territories you can control before you "overextend" and get higher decay rates. if you own more territory than your faction tier allows for, all of your territory decays at a much higher rate.

So, whats the problem with Graffiti / Spray Tags?

Tagging your own territory reduces the decay rate of owning that territory. Maxing out your tags, which last 7 days, negates the vast majority of the upkeep required to maintain ownership. Multiple times less amounts of packed cash, drugs, and car parts are required to maintain ownership over a territory.

Requiring massively less criminal activity to maintain turf has been an overall negative for the health of the server. Removing the need to actually try maintaining turfs has drastically negatively affected the gameplay loop of criminals. There is a consistent complaint that the city feels empty or that there is "nothing to do." This is entirely self inflicted by the devs. The Graffiti update removed the necessity to commit crimes. Without the pressure to maintain turf, the motivation to chop, cook, or rob vanishes. criminal activity ultimately turns into just a reason to initiate PVP with other criminals or Law enforcement.

When I first joined, official factions needed labor. They would work with small, unaffiliated groups who would bring drugs, chop parts, or stolen cash to them in exchange for gear or protection. This created interaction between solo's/unaffiliated groups and established factions. Now, because tags make upkeep so easy, every faction is entirely self-sufficient. They don't need to hire anyone. The "entry-level" criminal has no one to sell their labor to.

Currently, there are several smaller factions who have access to powerful imports like SMGs, LMGs, .50s, and Shotguns, who are holding vast swathes of territory that should historically require a much larger, more active roster to maintain. The tag system acts as a massive crutch, allowing factions with noticeably fewer active members to hold the same amount of land as a massive faction. They are securing end-game, high-tier weaponry and selling it out to others with minimal daily activity because the upkeep is trivialized.

I understand that some players dislike the "grind" of maintaining turf. They prefer to focus on social RP or PvP. That is fine, but that playstyle should come with the tradeoff of holding less turf and getting less import power. You should not be able to hold a massive turf and import dozens of military grade weapons daily if you aren't willing to run the logistics to do it.

TLDR:

High tier rewards like cartel imports should require high tier activity, not just spray paint. If we want to solve the complaint that 'there is nothing to do,' we need to stop letting a passive mechanic replace the active gameplay loop. The decay reduction from tags needs to be significantly nerfed so that holding territory once again requires active, consistent criminal activity to earn import power. Total self reliance for large scale turf maintenance should be nearly impossible. it should necessitate outside help from non affiliated small criminal groups, or at the very least, be a feat reserved for only the most active factions. Bringing back the struggle to maintain turf is necessary to give criminals a purpose beyond just shooting at each other.

[Cal]

-1.

From memory in a community meeting a few years back, the topic of maintaining turfs was brought up and a lot of criminals who had been around for years said it was the biggest pain in the ass. 
 

I enjoy the freedom of logging in and doing whatever I find fun or if I want to make money whether that be a bank, cooking, chopping etc. This still creates a lot of RP and activity in the server i.e labs usually always have some sort of presence (people holding or rolling), different banks are hit throughout a day etc. It’s so annoying logging to see one of your dealer’s is low on influence and have to do a certain activity to get him back up, it used to feel like more of a daily chore instead of fun, whereas now with the use of spray painting turfs it allows for more natural fun instead of a chore.

Overall, I think the same amount of criminal activities take place across all gangs but people do those activities for fun or for money now instead of doing it because they feel like they need to upkeep their dealers.