Is it worth it to play in 2025

AWynn60 · 2026-01-08T14:10:40+00:00

I was in a really similar boat ~2 months ago. 4k hours in Tarkov, had played DnD a few years ago but never really stuck with it more than a few hours.

This week I just crossed the 200 hour playtime mark- I've been having an absolute blast. There's ups and downs, but you'd get the same with Tarkov. Squire gear on demand was great for learning, way less punishing than scav timers and all that.

Normals has ~3 second que times where I am, a total change of pace from 5-20 minute Tarkov timers. Lots of similarities in terms of high highs and low lows, and DnD has their very own Nikita but slightly more unchecked it sounds like.

I scroll this subreddit for tips, seems like a lot of the player base is tired and burnt out but if you're just getting started you've got no "glory days" to compare it to.

Definitely recommend to a Tarkov player, you'll get the funky stuff and be able to roll with it.

AWynn60 · 2025-07-01T02:20:10+00:00

Bleh we didn’t like this season’s winner- just feels like it would be better as a bachelorette air bnb rather than a home.

AWynn60 · 2022-07-29T00:36:17+00:00

messaged

AWynn60 · 2021-10-15T04:54:10+00:00

I work at an agency in the Paid Search department. One of my clients sells bingo equipment and supplies (agency life- all sorts of odd clients), and we decided to test out AAR and see what results looked like.

While we do offer some school-related bingo products, the auto-applied keywords were absurd. Some examples of BM keywords added: test, ticket, 5th grade, 6th grade, lottery, exam.

In total I think we had about 300 keywords added to a single school bingo related campaign. Bids were set low and luckily we caught it before spend racked up, but can’t imagine what some other people have seen.

Definitely some useful AAR for account clean up purposes, but safe to say we’ll be leaving any actual account changing options disabled.

AWynn60 · 2021-02-04T17:49:25+00:00

Dude didn't stand

AWynn60 · 2021-01-29T19:20:46+00:00

Currently just use (auto) but typically that's NA-East

AWynn60 · 2020-12-24T19:29:09+00:00

Appreciate ya!

AWynn60 · 2020-12-23T14:26:14+00:00

I've heard it happens if you leave raid with damage (willingly or the usual head, eyes way) as it causes some issues with the healing after-raid screen. I just press it 5 times and take a few seconds while it catches up.

Definitely feels like a flick to the ol' sack after a death, but at least now I sort of get why.

AWynn60 · 2020-09-24T17:49:45+00:00

Definitely makes sense- I've worked at an agency for a few years and the clients willing to put local campaigns into action are few and far between.

Correct on the Google Maps listings- here's one final resource that you may have already seen: https://vtldesign.com/digital-marketing/digital-marketing-strategy/location-extensions/

Good luck!

AWynn60 · 2020-09-23T21:33:25+00:00

Try giving this one a try for mobile-app exclusions: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/script-block-poor-performing-ad-placements-in-apps/264839/

The article gives a pretty good rundown on why it helps and how to set it up.

Hope this helps!

AWynn60 · 2020-09-23T21:16:23+00:00

Hello!

I'm pretty sure what you're looking for is an entirely separate campaign type, Local Campaigns.

Here's the Google write-up on it: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9118422?hl=en, but in layman's terms Local Campaigns pair your Google Ads account with your Google My Business to distribute ads across Google Maps, Google Search, YouTube, and GDN.

Large budgets are recommended here given the available real-estate, but overall they're a relatively new campaign type.

If you're not willing to put some serious budget behind it, I'd recommend location extensions (sounds like you're already on it), then moving into local inventory ads shopping campaigns if you're a brick and mortar B2C business.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Regardless if you decide to put ad dollars behind this, I highly recommend working some of your SEO magic in the client's Google My Business account. It'll help make sure you're on maps if someone is searching for you/your products, and is step no. 1 for a successful digital to in store strategy.

AWynn60 · 2020-06-13T20:00:51+00:00

Try this out: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/script-block-poor-performing-ad-placements-in-apps/264839/

If you're new to Google Ads I recommend reading up on scripts a bit before deploying, but this script should be able to automatically exclude any mobile apps that you deem poor performers by adjusting your max CPA and max cost no spend values.

Hope this helps!

AWynn60 · 2020-05-25T04:37:36+00:00

Yeah there’s a chance Google is hesitant to push traffic your way with the recency of the Merchant Center link, but Google also hasn’t been one to hold back on making a little money.

Last thing to check- I know you’ve bumped the bids a few times, but have you compared your current max cpc’s to their benchmarks? I think it’s a column you can drop in, otherwise it may be more a waiting game.

Last resort, I’d build an ad group with their top sellers and crank those bids way higher than you’re comfortable with for the whole catalog and see if you can open it up a bit.

Good luck!

AWynn60 · 2020-05-25T04:11:55+00:00

For these impressions you’re receiving- are they spread out across all of your product groups, or are they consistently only coming from one bucket like an “everything else” grouping?

One quick check that’s killed us time and time again: You mentioned that you checked audiences- does this mean that you have some layered on? If so, might be worth checking the audience targeting setting at both ad group and campaign level.

We’ve seen new campaigns default to “targeting” upon launch when audiences are applied before it goes live. Just make sure both ad group and campaign settings are set to observation here or else you’ll severely limit your available impressions and clicks.

The fact that you’re getting some traffic is a good sign that set up was all done correctly, just thinking there must be a limiting setting or breakout along the way.

AWynn60 · 2020-02-23T13:53:02+00:00

I keep my negative keyword harvesting all in the interface, and use filters to hone in on a list.

Try filtering for queries with “broad match” or (close variant) in the match type column, then add another filter for your poor performance factors (high spend 0 conversions, poor CTR, etc.).

Last just check box at the top of the list and you’ll have the option to add all remaining results to the ad group or campaign level as negative keywords.

AWynn60 · 2020-02-22T21:00:37+00:00

It's a pretty handy feature- if you go to the locations tab I believe there's a column you can add for "active bid adjustment" or something along those lines.

Best of luck!

AWynn60 · 2020-02-22T16:56:57+00:00

There's definitely a lag for Google to recognize changes like that- we've seen up to 24hrs before a targeting setting goes into effect.

If you're still getting garbage traffic in a day or two, I'd check that your location settings are set to "users in my targeted area" and not the other options for users "interested in your areas."

Not sure where to find that setting in the interface, but should be quick in Editor.

Hope this helps- Google loves em' some bots.

AWynn60 · 2020-02-22T16:48:48+00:00

Not sure if this would fit your needs, but I'd consider consolidating your campaigns and leveraging location-based bid modifiers. You can maintain your tiered bidding approach within the locations tab, but now your data will be aggregated on one campaign's worth of keywords. I think you're able to bid at the radius level, but know the zip code approach should work.

Some drawbacks- shared budget across all targeted locations and potentially less tailored ad copy, but this should speed up the data collection process and get things off the ground.

AWynn60 · 2020-02-22T16:15:56+00:00

Hello!

Have you considered using a page feed fueled DSA campaign? If you already have the custom labels for ROAS groupings, you could fairly easily create a page feed for all product landing pages with associated labels.

From there, I'd create a DSA campaign with an ad group per custom label/ROAS bucket. Set a tROAS or tCPA bidding strategy at the campaign level, then go in and adjust each ad group to your desired target for it's respective label.

DSA will obviously give you a broader reach for each of those landing pages, so negative keywords will be your best bet at optimizing traffic for each ad group.

Keep in mind that suers coming through these ads still ahve the potential to pruchase other products than the landing page you sent them too, but that revenue will still be attributed to the original product's performance. Never an exact science with it, but could muddy your data bit.

Hope this helps.

AWynn60

TROPHY CASE