A new test has begun on the Escape From Tarkov test servers, which looks at a brand new matchmaking system that should, if it works as intended, massively cut down matchmaking times in the game.
As was announced on the official Escape From Tarkov social media accounts, a new test has begun on the ETS test servers, which have recently been hosting the upcoming Unity 2022 update. Now, presumably in addition to that, a new test has been rolled out that will change how the matchmaking in Tarkov works.
The aim of the new system that is being tested is to mainly reduce the amount of time it takes to find a raid in Escape From Tarkov. Currently, finding a match in under a minute or two is rare, with some players often having to wait multiple minutes before finding a game. There’s also a lot of loading and syncing with the server, which only extends the time players have to wait, especially later in the wipe when player numbers start to drop.
This new system will not only reduce the amount of time it takes to find a game, it should also reduce the amount of bugs, errors and disconnects players experience while searching for a game. While these can be few and far between when servers are stable, it’s still annoying to experience them. You would expect, should the test go well, that this new matchmaking system will arrive alongside the next wipe.
With the new update on the ETS servers, which select players have access to but are bound to secrecy about what they see, Battlestate Games is hoping they can entice enough players to play in order to give these matchmaking systems a proper test. To try and make sure this happens, the recently ended Halloween event that added zombies to Tarkov has been extended on the ETS servers. That means anyone with ETS access can still play the zombie event if they wish.
Speaking of the Halloween event, Battlestate Games also released some stats from the event earlier today, revealing that almost half a million Tarkov players accepted the first quest of the event. While we don’t have any pre event player counts to compare that to, the fact that BSG is highlighting that as the main stat likely shows that they consider it to be a bigger than expected number. Interestingly, more than five million PMCs were killed by zombies, showing just how many bad Tarkov players there are out there.