One small change in the new Escape From Tarkov patch notes was skipped by a lot of players, but it could be one of the most impactful changes in Tarkov for a wile and has seemingly fixed one of the biggest issues the game has.
The next Escape From Tarkov wipe is out now and the patch notes make for some very interesting reading. There’s all the things we expected, such as new weapons, the customs rework and the new type of extraction. But there was one line of text hidden away towards the bottom of the patch notes, and it looks like it could fix one of the oldest problems in Tarkov.
Ever since I have started playing Tarkov, I can reasonably play for about a week or maybe 10 days before I start to feel very outmatched when it comes to power level against other PMCs. Put me in a fair fight with equal gear and I feel like I stand a decent chance of winning, but as someone who would rather spray up close and personal rather than sit 200 meters away and hit a headshot with precise aim, I can never compete once players start getting long range weapons that can one shot me with good aim. This has meant that I typically last a week or two actually playing Tarkov as most people do, and then I become a rat scurrying through the shadows trying to avoid fights and find loot.
But, in the patch notes for Escape From Tarkov update 0.16.0.0 there is one change that could fix, or at least partially solve that issue. Now the flea market will not unlock in Tarkov for a couple of weeks after the wipe, this means that you will have to find all the gear and items you intend to use, and should slow down the progression that the best players can make in the opening days of the wipe.
After the progression was criticised a lot in the last wipe, it seems that Battlestate Games is testing this no flea market option as a way to slow down the opening days of the wipe, and keep more players on a slightly more level playing field for longer.
I’m hopeful this means that I can survive in the trenches for longer, as fewer players will get better gear within a few days of the wipe by being able to source it off the flea market. I doubt it will entirely solve the problem, but it should make the early wipe much more manageable for the average player.
The response from Escape From Tarkov fans has certainly been mixed, but after multiple wipes where it felt like some players reached the end game within a couple of days of the wipe, this can only be a good thing in my books. Hopefully this will be a regular occurrence and the flea market will become a less integral part of the game going forward. It’s fun to flip rare items to other players for a ton of cash, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of making the early wipe worse for a lot of players.
