In a post on social media, Nikita Buyanov, the head of the studio at Battlestate Games, confirmed that the player base is about to be split into a third category. Right now, you’ve got a clear separation between PvP and PvE players, but a third angle is about to come in, and it’ll see seasonal PMCs queue differently from ‘permanent’ PMCs.
Fans were quick to question the move, taking a mixed perspective on the revelation. For some, it makes complete sense that it would work this way to prevent ‘overpowered’ permanent players mixing with freshly-wiped PMCs, but for others, it’s spreading the players too thin and encouraging longer queue times.
PvP, PvE, and More PvP
Under a recent post from Nikita Buyanov, a question was asked by an Escape from Tarkov fan:
Nikita, will the seasonal PMCs be in the same queues as permanent server PMCs?
This is in reference to the imminent arrival of PMC characters that never face a wipe. Players are set to have seasonal characters that follow the traditional wipe pattern Escape from Tarkov has faced for many years. But during each season, special events, unlocks, and achievements will surface that you can only get on a seasonal character.
In a way, it aligns things with the PvE platform, which isn’t subjected to regular server-wide wipes. Those who were locked into their PvE characters only had to wipe during the 1.0 transition if they wanted to experience everything the supersized update had to offer.
Otherwise, PvE players just don’t wipe.
To the question above, Nikita simply answered, ‘No.’
One of the biggest Escape from Tarkov streamers in the business, LVNDMARK, wrote:
Honest question: do you think the game will have a large enough player base to support this?
Another long-time Tarkov fan and contributor to the ecosystem, LogicalSolutions, wrote:
Well… if current servers weren’t empty enough already, they’re definitely going to be extremely empty with seasonal characters being on different server. Was hoping this wouldn’t be the case.
Axel, another streamer important enough to have a ‘streamer item’ in Escape from Tarkov, tried to run some numbers. He pointed out that with a split between PvP, PvE, permanent PvP, ten maps, and daytime and nighttime rotations, the player base available is going to run very thin.
What do you think? Is this a good move? Let us know what you think on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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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
It will be fine players always flock to seasonal plays because running into meta m4s and tier 6 every raid is boring
Don’t forget about arena. So it’s really four splits.
And yes, it’s obvious the game will suffer from all the splitting it already had suffered. And it’s on a downward slide of popularity also.