I Tarkov Poorly

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...

I have started playing DMZ. I think it's full name is Call of Duty Modern Warfare II Warzone DMZ, which is ridiculous. The game is worse than Escape for Tarkov in many (so many) ways, but there are a few notable things it does better than Tarkov, so I thought I'd call them out. much better network (for me) most of real world game play time spent in raids no downside to dying  doesn't waste my time way more fun Network I don't live near any EFT server site, so playing EFT has always been dicey.  The difference in game performance offline vs. online has always been marked for me.  But with DMZ, while I have the occasional rubber banding and dropped texture, it mostly plays very smooth.  Nice. Out of Raid Unlike Tarkov, there is practically nothing to do in DMZ if you aren't in a raid. You can change a few skins, do the bare minimum of weapon mod, review and select some missions, change a device in a slot or two when kitting out. But that's it. There's no craft...

Customs  I've been playing Customs a lot this wipe. For every spawn I have either a destination to rush where I can hopefully catch other players when they are moving, or a place to hide and wait for five minutes, so the scavs can spawn, the players can move.  Either way, I often spend the first part of the raid just sitting. I haven't died to an AI Scav in a long time. But I still die a lot. And on customs that death is usually just me walking by a bush or a dark corner and getting blasted unawares. Probably half of my deaths I don't see my assailant, and maybe in a quarter of them I don't even hear them beforehand.  While I've had a lot of fun raids, it is tiring doing nothing at the beginning of the raid for five minutes and then getting killed later without much warning - without conducting a "real fight". Factory So I started running Factory, a map I normally don't like. It's been awesome.  I'm still dying. Killing too. Surviving a bit.  B...

How It's Going I haven't been actively questing this wipe, so my progress has been slow. I'm not complaining. It's been fine - the raids have mostly been fun.  Unless there are connection problems, or just really bad luck, I'm rarely killed by AI Scavs anymore.  That's nice. After BSG increased their banning activity and posting the names of ban recipients, it has seemed to me like cheating has lessened.  I'm definitely surviving more raids, winning more fights, and having fewer "sus" deaths.  All good. Level 15 Achieved I needed just over 5000 XP to make Level 15. I figured that'd take me about 5 raids, maybe more, because I have to plan on the failed 0XP raids that I'd inevitably have.  As luck would have it, I garnered those XP in two raids, without any quests.  On my last scav run, I'd gotten myself a Level 5 armored rig and a 9mm Vector with mag after mag of AP 6.3 off of some unfortunate PMC.  In all my wipes, I'd never run th...

To Not Lose Goat released a second video discussing cheating.  The part that I found the most compelling was the interview with one of the anti-cheat devs who work on The Cycle Frontier.  He made the comment that while RMT was definitely a motivator for cheating, their experience suggests that "most cheaters cheat to win. Or, more specifically, to not lose." I feel like that's the crux of it right there, and it aligns with the various comments I've seen elsewhere on the internet from people who admit to cheating.    People cheat to not lose .    Frankly, I'm sympathetic.  Tarkov is difficult and has often crossed the line from grueling to grinding. As a casual player myself, who still hasn't even reached the flea market (where the game becomes an entirely different game), I can understand the motivation.   But if "to not lose" is the main motivator, that's entirely within BSG's control.  Here are some suggestions.  Lower the Flea M...

 No doubt, anyone following Tarkov has seen the video from Goat:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5LfGcDB7Ek If you've read my blog before, you know I've tried tracking cheaters in the past by checking all my kills and killers in the in-game chat tool over time. I made several posts, the last of which was this one:  https://itarkovpoorly.blogspot.com/2022/06/counting-cheater-part-4.html My take on the video?  The reason it's called "The wiggle that killed tarkov" is because if cheaters are signaling each other via wiggling, it means there is a CULTURE of cheating and cheaters. And that's the shocking thing. It's not just "some people cheat", it's that there is a whole CULTURE of people cheating, with their own set of spoken/unspoken rules, behaviors, norms and manners. And if you've got a whole culture around something, then it's likely widespread and endemic. And disappointing.  Someone made the remark on Reddit that watching the vi...