Escape From Tarkov’s latest wipe is mithered with all things disappointing, from the perspective of streamers, apparently. Toxic rants regarding the game’s inability to maintain entertainment , recoil changes, scav one-taps, and roll backs plague the landscape. Long-standing problems with players spawning in with one another and performance issues are still present in the game, as well. Though, the latter point is not really an issue, but a feature (and you ought to come to grips with that, it has been years, sir.)
Surprising it may be, then, to find that for casual players who don’t get a Kappa every wipe, patch 0.16.0 (and its further iterations) is an altogether competent version of the game, relatively speaking. Player spawns notwithstanding, which admittedly is a pretty big olive branch to extend, EFT is currently in the healthiest state it’s been in for quite some time.
The recoil has landed in a place that, while not likely done, lands in between player-desires for visceral gameplay alongside dev-desires for punitive learning curves. Performance is… well it’s bad. But quests aren’t usually bugged, the player-count is high, the economy is fine, I guess, and rollbacks are at a minimum. With all of the extra quests afforded by this year’s Christmas events, the game is about as full as its ever been.
In fact, EFT’s current negative feedback by its more avid player-base has more to do with the game straight-up not altering its gameplay in any significant way to warrant a high replay factor. To be sure, the play factor (the amount of gameplay warranted from the get-go) isn’t that high thanks to the demanding requirements of its poor optimization, cheater problems, and rather repetitive gameplay loop. Even for the MMO grinders who prefer that kind of thing, there are better options out there.
Escape From Tarkov is a Work of Genius
But you can only stare at a wonderful painting for so long. The game has a story akin to that which might be found in the Stalker series. Traders that give out quests and feed lore to the player, environmental story-telling, post-war/apocalyptic setting, etc, etc, etc. The games have a lot in common. And how many people who played the original Stalker actually finished it? And how many people who finished it decided to play through it again? Five times over?
This is what I’d ask you to consider when wondering why burnout with Escape From Tarkov is so prevalent. It’s a multiplayer game that’s meant to have its story explored in real-time with other players at the same time, with forced high-risk PvP that creates a stressful environment. Massive quest progress can be erased by a single shot, forty minute raids can be snuffed by an extract camper who relishes in causing suffering, and these are only some of the problems in the game if you’re extremely good at it.
For the rest of the player-base, casual or otherwise, general gameplay can be a huge mountain to climb, even when not interacting with the PvP aspect of the game. And to be clear, that’s a good thing. Great, even. The game is complicated, its general gameplay is complicated, and that’s part of what makes EFT top dog in the extract-shooter genre.
But, to refer to my original point about burnout: it just isn’t a game that’s designed to be played ad-nauseam by 99% of the player-base. When you see people complaining about the current state of the wipe (which does have its problems), remember that these players have also been subjected to the same story, gameplay, quests, and unfortunate frustrations with cheaters and spawn bugs for, shall we guess, the last five years or so.
Escape from Tarkov 0.16.0+ is pretty good. It’s just insanely boring for anyone who isn’t brand new, at this point.
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