TLDR: I believe this game was supposed to play similar to Arma(clunky movement, Slow weapon handling with visceral recoil requiring suppression, and tactics to win a gunfight not just who has better aim) and Progression was supposed to be something to Original WOW or OSRS. It was supposed to take a long time, and you were intended to enjoy the journey not the destination. If you didn't like that, this game was not for you. You are not entitled to like or enjoy every game. Not every game should be made to your tastes, and those tastes have dramatically shifted the design of the game away from what I think the devs/ Nikita wanted.
Through the Drops event and last wipe where almost everyone complained about their being way to much money in the game bc of the arena connection being turned on. I've come to the conclusion that the community is actually responsible for a lot of their complaints on the game. Everything from the movement, recoil, Tasks, armor, Map progression and individual map details.
Couple of examples.
Setup quest this wipe. Tasks overall.
Been seeing and reading a lot about how annoying setup is to do this wipe with the flea being turned off. you can't readily get the Ushanka hats need to get kills and complete task. I think that's the point. Before flea market tasks like this required you to barter for the item or do it when you had the kit. You were not intended nor encouraged to just brute force tasks like this. Its why you are given so many tasks all at once. You pick and choose which ones you can do at that time. Also would note that the task requirements have been decreased almost every wipe. Setup originally took 15 or more kills. Punisher 1 used to take 30+ kills. General wares used to take 30-45 cans of stew IIRC. Again, I think this was intended to motivate the player from not just grinding tasks ASAP but to actually play the game. "Where can you get food. Hmm interchange. So I guess I'll play interchange for a while, see if I can complete this task"
Movement and recoil mechs.
There are some very real criticisms to be had regarding the recoil mechs, and how inertia ruined the feel of gunfights etc. but I will point out then in the Arma community which is renowned for having very clunky/sluggish movement. That no one really wants it changed. yes complaints will be had. But the community understood back in Arma 3 days that the movement restricts/facilitates a specific kind of gameplay that the developers were looking for. More tactical slow, and deliberate gameplay. I think this was the original intention with Inertia. I think the Devs got worried when the community grew past its niche audience, and started attracting the crowed of people that wanted a Win at all cost and started creating Meta builds, and tactics to abuse a game that did not have those same restrictions as Arma when it came to movement. Jiggle peaks, bunny hopping, Abusing deysnc etc. Devs prob did not like that and felt they needed to course correct. (I say this bc I don't recall a lot of vocal support for the inertia system pre or post implementation). A good counter argument here is recoil. The recoil changes moved the game away from the intended experience, but I feel like this was done bc of the player base's demand. Does it feel better to play. Yes. was it what the devs wanted, I don't think so. The squad Community went through this same cycle with the ICO update. Players that could no longer do jumping 360 headshots, or just 1 tap snipers and MG's from 300m hated the update. Regular players that wanted a more teamwork-oriented game. Or wanted to play roles like MG and feel effective loved the game. Unfortunately, the crowed of people that wanted that super-fast COD gameplay style are very vocal and brought a lot of attention to the game when the update came out. They have since done ICO 2.0 which is a happy middle ground that everyone in the community seems to like. My point is : not every game has to play as smooth or fluid as call of duty with the new omni movement. This is why counter strike, or R6S don't have similar player control. This is why Arma and squad also do not. They made movement and control schemes that fit the gameplay aesthetic or function that they wanted.
Map design and Map Progression.
I recently found myself looting through the Village on shoreline near the tunnel extract. I was very disappointed to find that a lot of the buildings there just have nothing in them. Maybe 1-2 jackets. I found a duffle or 2. But no toolboxes, very little loose loot. There is of course the G-card houses, but that's like it. otherwise, there is no point going there. nothing to be looted. Scavs only walk around near the little store/tank in the center of the village. It's just a dead POI. Now could the devs change that? of course. increase the loot spawns, maybe do something like the Farm where there is just a bunch of tools and stuff there. But why would they. They have the Farm, and the resort. The Resort is the real crux of this Argument. Why have anywhere else on the map be a POI when you just can dump all of the best loot in 1 spot. Why have people go look for items they might actually need, like drills/hoses etc, when they can just go hunt for a bitcoin, and then go buy all their stuff. Which leads to prob the last Item. Streets is also the Pinnacle of this problem. The entire map is designed to print money bc that's what the community wanted. To be able to print money, and catch up to "streamers" that have 100 mil in 7 days. the only reason to play any other map is to do tasks. and you see this in late stages of the wipe. maps like woods, and interchange are a ghost town bc there are no tasks and compared to streets no loot. So people that want money are forced onto streets. Byproduct people that want gunfights/ PvP are then forced onto streets.
Flea Market.
Lots of discourse already had on this. IMO I think Flea was the kill shot to what the game could and should have been. for 4-5 years now the game has been a race of make money ASAP. bc you can buy literally everything. Devs realized this and started limiting what can be sold, and how often, and for how much etc. Cool. But I don't think a lot of people realized how detrimental the flea was until they made the Hideout FIR. It brought back the need to find the items instead of just rushing the money spawns and leaving ASAP. you are again encouraged to go to different POI and interact with the map more organically IT's BEEN GREAT. I have not seen so many people talk about how fun the game is. getting into gunfights in places they would not have expected, with guns and loot they would not have expected. The drive to get out of a raid with a car bat, or some precious hose. Encouraging the use of BTR's as well trying to get that loot out of raid.
Also, Cheaters basically got Kneecapped with the Hideout FIR change, and I don't see people talking about that enough. If you take all the potential for RMT out of the game by nuking the player eco, people won't pay those huge prices for cheats anymore. Anecdotally, I have not encountered 1 cheater on any map thus far. I also see a lot of valuable loot still in their spots. Bitcoins, G-cards, Virtex's etc.
End Thoughts:
I think the intention of the game was to have a very slow and methodical gameplay loop. where things require investment, and dedication to complete. I don't think they originally wanted you juicing up on stims at the start of every raid to run straight to a high value area or just even the odds against everyone else doing that. I don't think they wanted you to be able to rail 30 rounds on someone head with an M4. I don't think they wanted to see people hit prestige, 4 days into wipe. But the community begged for them to be able to do that. I see a lot of talk about how the Task requirements being reduced was done in consideration to the people that can't play 8 hours every day. COPE. Why does it matter. If it takes that timmy 4 days to complete the task instead of 4 raids. Why do we Care. Were having fun? Did they Progress at all? Those should be the metrics we care about. I think the community has poisoned our own well into thinking that EFT is about grinding the tasks ASAP instead of engaging with the game. I know Veritas has been saying this for years to some extent or another and I finally agree. Veritas in his video that precipitated the recoil changes quoted that Nikita's vision for Tarkov was to play like his Raid Video series. IDK about you all, but when was the last time you saw someone just spraying down a hallway to suppress you? When was the last time you got into a gunfight, and you both fired a whole mag at each other, and walked away fairly uninjured? USA Military Analysis shows that avg hit percentage in a firefight decreases dramatically after about 30-40 meters to sub 40% tapering off to about 20% over 100% Even Police firefight stats shows an avg of 50% hits. If the design intention was to mimic Raid, or a more grounded to reality firefighting aesthetic, then the old recoil, with Intertia makes sense. Realistically there is no way to encourage or mimic the fight or flight, and stress of a real world firefight. But take a look at footage of a game like bodycam. Recoil in the game is insane, when firing a pistol you can't even see your target after the 2nd 3rd shot. AR's and AK's are a whole different ball game. And you don't see the Body cam community clamoring for them to change the recoil to be laser accurate, and extremely controllable.
Yes I know all opinions are like assholes. Yes I know I'm speaking to the void. I also am sure that this is a very niche opinion. Yes, I'm doing what I'm being antagonistic towards: Wishing the game fulfilled what I want instead of what it is. I just miss old EFT. it genuinely felt like a better game. Was there major issues like the tank meta, and stuff. Yes, but I didn't want the game to turn into what it is. I understand why people play PVE not PVP. the game has turned into an arms race of who can grind tasks faster instead of just playing the game, going into raids and seeing what happens. idk. ill shut up now.
