Battlestate Games is preparing to turn away (even slightly) from the years-long concept of it being way too challenging for new players. This extraction title has long been regarded as one of the hardest games for newcomers to get to grips with, and being a veteran with thousands of hours in the bank, I can attest to that.
In a recent episode of TarkovTV, Nikita Buyanov, the head of the studio at Battlestate Games, confirmed that Escape from Tarkov is about to get way easier for new players. There is a massive stack of changes coming to make things more welcoming overall.
How is Escape from Tarkov Getting Easier?
Battlestate Games confirmed a slew of changes coming to Escape from Tarkov soon that’ll make the game feel much easier for new players. And, they said, for players who might have quit a long time ago and feel trepidation about the concept of coming back after so many changes.
For instance, insurance is being changed, and you’ll get your assets back sooner after death. Hideout progression is being tweaked so it’s easier early on, getting gradually tougher as time goes on. Beginner players will be offered ‘expanded support packs’ when they start playing, giving them free equipment drops they can stack in their stash.
Elsewhere, maximum squad sizes are being cut to four because of the daunting prospect of battling a five-man stack.
New players are going to get access to a GPS device that will point them towards their extraction points. That has long been one of the biggest gripes about entering Escape from Tarkov as a new player, as finding extraction sites is almost impossible without some kind of guide.
Nikita said:
We want to have the condition that new players will be able to play without tutorials. They will be able to extract by themselves without the knowledge of the location.
Huge task changes are coming too, to make it easier to benefit from playing as a group. For instance, shared quests that have certain requirements, such as kill counts, will now be achievable as part of a group, with anyone who has that task weighing into the collective completion of it.
One of the biggest changes for new players is the incoming addition of a new quest task item locator. The crosshair dot (perception dot) will be replaced with a dynamic one that ‘points’ to quest items when you approach them, showing you almost exactly where they are to prevent, again, needing to use a guide off-screen somewhere.
Plenty is coming to Escape from Tarkov this year. Are you playing? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Tarkov’s lead designer has left the company
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
Insurance is a good change, but should honestly be the moment the raid ends if it’s untouched. Hideout is whatever for me personally but I enjoy that part of the grind. Squad size is a bad move imo. A five man stack is scary, esp late game but if unless they’re looking at the stats and seeing that full squads aren’t run nearly as much as quad/trio/duo/solos, that’s a good way to push groups who do play full squads away from the game. GPS is ehhh as I’m sure most players are consulting 3rd party maps already. Shared quest progression is a big win. Homing crosshair for noobs is definitely an interesting choice.
I picked the game up once they offered PVE. First of all, was put off that I had to buy the online game I’ll never play and THEN pay another full price for PVE mode. Was then also quite put off by what I found. Dying from not finding anything to survive off of, time running out from not finding anything related to any extraction, whatever that even means, all tasks failed from not know what to do or where it is. Just basically not allowed to engage with the game. Truly obtuse. The main thing they need is removal of the time limits in PVE – give me ten seconds to learn the thing for crying out lout.
Lol. Just ban plays with 20+ pvp kdas and with 200 hours played, or top rep on flea. They don’t do any of the basic shit to ban cheater still.