I Tarkov Poorly

 In my last post I boasted how the "E" in PVE stands for "Easy".  Tarkov is showing me the error of my ways. I've been dying left, right and center since making that post.  Punisher Part 1 I want to finish the Punisher quest line. It's something I've never done, and I've always wanted the larger secure container than my little four slot alpha.  First up: kill 15 scavs on Shoreline with an AKM.  Shouldn't be too hard. First raid goes well, moving around the map, killing scavs. In the last battle I run into a PMC, who messes me up a bit, but I prevail.  It's getting late, my meds are low, my food and drink are low. Let's call it. Plus, I have a daily to extract alive. In the post mortem I see that I got 8 of the 15 scavs.  Nice. Tomorrow I'll finish this out. For the second raid I'm also trying to do Anaesthesia and Scrap Metal. So I have 6 markers on me, to mark tanks and Sanitars lurking spots. Best get to it. I move out, marking ...

As mentioned in my previous post, I started playing Tarkov again after a long break.  It was going as it ever did: lots of death.  The desync was becoming very trying and after a particularly frustrating fail I went and bought the PvE expansion and have been playing that now instead. At the time of the switch, I was level 16 or so in PvP mode, with maybe 300,000 rubles in cash, and exactly 0 PMC kills. A new record low.  Even when I started playing EFT four years ago and was an absolute noob I had more PMC kills than that by the time I reached level 16.  Of course, Arena makes me level up faster, so the comparison is not equal.   Nikita, if you are reading this, please bring back the ability to choose an individual server. Or at least give me the choice of prioritizing low ping at the expense of a longer wait time.  So I've been playing PvE.   It's fun. It's far better than simply dying every time I draw near another player. But it's too easy...

 Some years ago I stopped playing Escape from Tarkov.  I switched to DMZ for awhile. Then I dropped that and didn't play anything for a long spell. But I followed developments from afar. Arena, the Unheard Edition, the introduction of a persistent PVE mode, new bosses, map expansions, improvements in performance, etc.  Finally, when patch 15 dropped I decided to return. I purchased Arena and started playing again. The Good Arena is great. Not only does it let me practice my PvP, but it provides XP and rubles. I ended up reaching level 15 after ignoring most of the beginner quests I've done too many times. Got the bronze pocketwatch, but didn't even try Delivery from the Past. Haven't bothered to give Mechanic any gun builds, still haven't found salewas for Therapist.  Haven't had to scav too much, money being somewhat easier to come to. The Bad I don't live in a city with an EFT server. The closest to me is Seattle, to which I consistently have a good low pi...