Heists are very time consuming. Even if you manage to complete the elite challenges under the time limit, all the setups including Finale take at least an hour to complete. (Excluding Fleeca)
I like heists, they are fun, difficult and time consuming even with a great group. The elite challenges are even better! I'm quite enjoying it with a group I found through /r/HeistTeams (just finished All in Order, and going to do Mastermind tomorrow!)
Everyone is complaining about 'no modding' but there aren't any posts in this subreddit about User created content. I doubt many people even know about this feature because I've yet to see any links to some player made maps, races, or playlists.
Granted, its not the easiest to do (but neither is modding....) but you just go to http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/games/gtav/pc/jobs and you can add a ton of new content to your game. All you do is find something you like and click 'add to game' and you now have new stuff on your map.
I think this subreddit has become way too negative lately and are only focusing on a few bad things and are entirely missing the picture. I've been playing GTA since Vice City (a bit too young to have been playing GTAIII) and this is everything I've wanted in an online version of GTA since I was a kid. I played GTAIV online and it was awful, GTAV on the other hand has been absolutely spectacular.
I've put in a bunch of time already, and I'm still enjoying it. Maybe I'm one of the weirdos but I've always been the type that loves free mode. This game has always been "Grand Theft Auto" to me, so driving around, stealing cars (and now customizing them! I love it!), interacting with people (what will this guy do when I drive up and honk? Will he shoot me? Will he get in? Will he honk back? Who knows!), discovering the map... just playing the game has been fun to me.
Every time I get into a session, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe do a heist, maybe go murder that red dot on the map for that sweet bounty. Maybe I'll just drive around and enjoy the view (there's a ton of places that are exactly like Los Angeles in game, and its really fun to me to go find them!), maybe I just want to customize my cars and hear the sound of my sweet ride. Maybe I want to role play and follow the rules and not run any red lights.
The fun in this game is what you make it to be.
