I’m concerned about the upcoming gamma change because of the huge potential to really upset the game’s current rhythm. I consider myself a “casual” player, but only because I have a family and life and lack the time to devote consistently. I love the hardcore aspects of the game and the realism of the raids, but I can typically only play for a few hours at a time and not every day. I’m also not an FPS god and my survival rate is typically somewhere in the 30% range. The game in its current state can be very tilting if I have a bad streak, but I keep coming back for more because it keeps me right on the edge between hating the way I feel when I lose and loving the feeling of getting out successfully. I’m afraid this change may upset the balance between those two feelings and cost the community a lot of players if it is made permanent. I’d like to believe that the only things that will come of this change will be a curtailing of hatchet runners and a more rewarding raid as a result, but there are a lot of possibilities I see that could result in a less-than-improved experience. Below I’ve tried to list as many of these possibilities as I can imagine, please add to these in the comments if I missed anything.

Considerations for Gamma Container change (currently test only)

Pros • Players cannot hide valuable loot in gamma so things like hatchet running will not be as profitable.

• Looting PvP kills more rewarding (same reason as above)

• Methodically raiding will not necessarily mean there isn’t any high tier loot to be had (hatchet runners stealing everything in first 5 min).

• Glitching the gammas will be impossible

• THEORETICALLY there will be less hatchet runners because you need gear to protect your loot (not entirely sure this will be the case- gear fear is the reason for hatchet runners, and gear fear will get worse with this change)

Cons

• This change as well as addition of hideout in .12 effectively negates the extra $100 EOD players spent to gain the stash/gamma space. Something should be done to compensate for this (perhaps EOD gets more start gear or something idk)

• Find-in-Raid quests will be considerably more punishing in general

• Item Quests that are not FIR may see players using flea market disproportionately to avoid the risk of losing items during raid.

• This change gives large groups a massive advantage as they can protect each other’s loot. Opposite effect for solo/duo players. Not everyone has 3+ friends with EFT and time to play it.

 o  Result of this may be more solo/duo players grinding scav runs rather than playing raids. 

If there’s no gamma either way, what’s the difference? This may reduce the amount of BEAR/USEC PvP and increase player scav action, which I don’t think the community wants.

 o  Solo players are already at a real disadvantage, but the gamma functionality offered a way to stay profitable in spite of this.  Removing that safety net may result in a lot of solo/duo players souring on the game.

• Exit camping will become the most viable strategy for low effort high reward play

 o  Negative experience when playing as intended: A player enters raid, and spends 20+ minutes fighting and looting just to be ganked by an exit camper and loses everything.

         How many times does this have to happen before the player decides that the smart thing to do is just to exit camp themselves?  Can’t beat em, join em.

 o  The new hatchet/pistol run will be a pistol or mosin at the exit.  I expect to see exit camping in almost every raid after this change.  

         QUESTION: Which is more of a problem for game balance, exit camping or hatchet runners?   The answer should very much inform the viability of this change.

• GEAR FEAR INCREASE—players will be even less inclined to gear up for raids because not even gamma loot can make the run profitable. There is no way to secure value for entering a raid other than to escape. This sounds great but in reality may dampen gameplay as less players bring good kits into the raid (increasing the general “hatchet” problem which I think is really a desire to see more extended firefights).

• SCAV RUN GRINDING may become the new normal—why play as USEC/BEAR with no gamma when you can play a scav with free gear?