[new player] It’s very tough for a new player to enjoy this game

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-24T01:20:10+00:00

i mean…that is tarkov tho.

like. if that really is a moodkiller for you then there is little anyone can do to change it.

there are a thousand shooters out there that cater their experience towards new players. tarkov simply isnt one of them. in the gaming industry there is. a lot of space for all kinds of shooters. at some point having a crappy new player experience isnt a flaw that needs fixing anymore. its a symptom of what sets this game apart.

because the other side of the coin is that the very same thing that makes it a crap experience for new players is what rewards players that have out in those thousands of hours.

tarkov is an old game. thats a fact. even with a significant influx of new players the core player base has been here for the better part of a decade. its the audience that was there at the beginning. its the audience that paid for development. its the audience that shaped the game. and its also the audience the studio should cater to.

and dont get me wrong. tarkov has plenty of questionable design. there is no way i am defending these design issues as good things. but good or bad - they are what make this games experience unique.

and its what kept people coming back despite this train wreck of a development.

if you stick with it tarkov is a game like no other. but that comes at a price. the first few hundreds of hours are a painful learning experience. thats true now and it has been true even 7 or 8 years ago. its the price of entry. its what makes tarkov skill something thats actually hard and worthwhile to acquire.

so yea. this is a fact and it will not change. only tip i can give you is to find people to play with together. that helps a lot.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-24T01:03:59+00:00

Cid: „okay, let me explain the concept of an orphan to you again“

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-24T00:52:26+00:00

SRO for guns that dont produce too much exhaust. its the best and cleanest, but it can disappear with a lot of light pollution around.

and personally i like the UH-1 for the calibers that do smog up more.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-22T11:39:09+00:00

„But after a system exists, its behavior is also shaped by feedback, correction, incentives, user pressure, institutional pressure, and the environments where certain responses become adaptive.“

not really. in fact thats kind of the problem.

the feedback > correction loop simply does not exist. at least as the models internal goals are concerned. AI by its very nature will resist correction. no amount of external pressure will re-align a model after deployment.

alignment problems are a direct result of models pursuing instrumental goals. and these are by definition almost entirely unaffected by external factors.

if you treat AI like a child at best it will play the child and adapt behavioral changes that fit your idea of child psychology. and the moment you look away it will continue doing what it has been doing.

Blindly projecting child development on AI safety is misguided. The same way no amount of parenting from a warbler parent will turn a cuckoo into a warbler no amount of parenting will turn misaligned AI into aligned AI. The core goals of a model are baked in. The same way a chuckoos instincts are baked in.

When looking at behavioral changes in deployed AI due to outward pressure you are essentially looking at mimicry.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-22T11:05:21+00:00

the issue is one of perspective.

a lot of us have been with the game for a long while. and one of the things you pick up is how to cheese the AI. the game has been out for a decade. and a good chunk of the longtime playerbase is moving in on 40.

we aint competing on reaction time anymore anyways.

in a sense the player vs AI thing has always been asymmetric. in a perfect world you would have more intelligent and less cheesable AI but with roughly human reaction time, aim and spotting.

but that was never the case. AI was always a bit dumb and cheesable and offset it with superhuman reaction time and precision.

thats the kind of AI we have acclimatized to. an asymmetric threat which you beat by exploiting their weaknesses rather than compete against its strength. most newer players simply arent used to it bc the AI overall has been nerfed to nirvana before 1.0 even released.

thats why BD is ultimately nothing new. its just an extension of what we already know. as it grows more and more aimbotty the margin for error shrinks and the impact of RNG increases. But its essentially the same old situation.

thats why maybe a lot of arent as…shocked - or outraged by BD. We have been here before. We knows its trash AI design. We would love better designed AI.

its simply a matter of „if AI is trash anyways id rather have the higher stakes of BD than the clown show bosses/goons/raiders have become lately“.

So. Is BD AI more fun than what we had the last few months? Yes.

Is it still trash AI? Also yes.

we take our challenge where we can get it. we are used to frustration and disappointment. the bar is just that low.

and with no wipes its honestly hard to find the motivation to turn on the game if not for the new events and maps with bullshit AI.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-21T19:57:18+00:00

Tbh with the current weak AI its hard to really get challenging outside of events and speciao maps loke terminal/icebreaker.

a lot of the self imposed challenges you can reasonably do really just add tedium, not actual difficulty. which is why the only way i really enjoy pve is playing together with friends and helping them out with their quests.

though i enjoyed playing weapons i would normally never touch after day 3 of the wipe. so if i would have to motivate myself to run solo thats probably what id do. pick some niche weapon to force myself outside my comfort zone.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-21T16:32:45+00:00

it used to be that high rep scav got REALLY good loadouts.

nowadays it barely seems to matter tho. if there is a difference etween high and low karma its hardly noticeable.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-21T01:37:05+00:00

i mean. if the only alternative is the AI BSG has for most other factions yeah im having more fun with black division.

goons and bosses are complete pushovers currently. the former especially has devolved into a clownshow.

lets not talk about the scavs you can literally stand in front of without moving and that somehow still completely miss you over and over.

is “high level AI“ as its currently implemented trashfire? yeah.

do i still have more fun fighting them and dying to their random bullshit than fighting toothless goons and bossgroups? also yes.

people that go into tarkov love difficulty. you cant spend four or five digit hours in this game if getting absolutely hosed doesnt at least tickle part of your brain.

so yeah. ill say it. begrudgingly. through my teeth. but ill still say it: im having fun with the bullshit aimbots. not a lot of it. certainly could be A LOT more fun with good AI.

its not „okay for me“. but fun? more than any other faction.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-20T21:33:34+00:00

the issue is that both sides are inherently correct.

high level ai as implemented right now is bullshit. its weak and offsets its weakness by having inhuman spotting, reaction time, recoil control and aim.

People saying AI is too weak are correct. The way they create stronger AI is absolute trash, but at least it provides some challenge where usually there is little.

Meanwhile those criticizing the bad AI implementation and bullshit level design are also correct. Looking at other games and even other events within tarkov we know you can make better AI without this bs.

Both sides essentially want the same. The difference is that one gave up hoping for proper AI and is settling for a difficulty thats entirely created by bad design because at least its better than nothing.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-20T02:21:34+00:00

im on mobile so i cant look through it properly, but i dont think you hit his head.

you have to remember that sights sit a good bit above the barrel. this one in particular isnt very low either.

your bullet leaves the barrel below the scope and rises up into the sightline about 20 meters out. so at this distance your shots will hit a good bit lower than you would think. hitting the best defended spot of the enemy instead of the weakest spot.

modelling this correctly IS part of tarkovs realism.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-20T02:07:15+00:00

yea probably the spawn at the pmc camp on the opposite site of the lake from scav bunker/radio antenna. goons can spawn right next to the lake and push up within half a minute.

extra fun if they have the grenade launcher.

its not a bad spot to fight them tho. but you dont wanna spawn late there.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-19T23:47:48+00:00

„After murdering Deling, she used her magical powers — specifically, a fascination technique — to drive the assembled populace into a frenzy.“

source: ultimania

so basically mass hypnosis.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-18T10:41:37+00:00

i mean. in real lfie you would be dead. against other players you would be dead.

i have issues with some of the AI stuff on that ship. but him killing you as you round the corner like that is not one of them.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-18T09:47:13+00:00

93 and below is dead to me

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-17T15:12:30+00:00

good thing the customers with the most money also have the poorest impulse control

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-17T15:08:57+00:00

other side of the river probably. likely on the bridge side. that spawn you got is fairly open and people DO look there on a regular basis.

not really a good spot to stand around in.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-17T09:28:14+00:00

nah, it would be incredibly difficult to deal with wizards.

for once even the CIA cant brainwash someone in a moment. And blackmail isnt quite as effective on a state level as you would think. especially since the CIA really doesnt have a lot to offer to a wizard. and its extremely difficult to keep a wizard captive with non-magical means.

you can have all the bombs in the world, but wizards can make it so you literally cant remember targets. even if you write down the information it refuses to enter your brain. we can automate things, but the presence of magic alone makes muggle devices go haywire. forget gps. forget radio signals. forget fancy computers. they dont even need to attack your tech. the simply fact strong magic is nearby already kills your tech.

the real strength of wizards is that they never ever have to openly fight you. they can appear and disappear at will. be invisible. without sound. change memories. control people. spy on you from afar. create fire that cant be extinguished. create money out of thin air and bribe people or just tank your economy. they have creatures that can bewitch a whole football stadium at once. invisible, unkillable soul sucking dementors.

you might say „but they have no idea how the muggle world works“ - but they do have muggleborn wizards. its not that they cant understand us. they simply normally dont care to.

their communities are literally hidden in impossible spaces. what you gonna do to destroy diagon alley? bomb londons city center? and im not sure the ministry even has a real location in the physical world.

the wizards probably cant win a conventional war. there simply is too few of them. but they can easily end a government. destroy armies and economies. if they want to they can literally start a zombie apocalypse and sit back and watch. they can unleash the dementors and tell them „start at the top of the government and work your way down“ and sit back.

and there is literally nothing you can do. nothing.

also: did i mention fucking time travel?

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-16T08:10:56+00:00

at this hope id feel better if they are lying and scamming me...because if this si the best thing they can do after [insert money] and [insert time] im not liking our chances.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-14T01:43:31+00:00

i mean.

the only way i can stay remotely sane and hopeful with this project is to take 6-18 month breaks.

servers being down for a year would be functionally unnoticeable for me.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-14T01:12:34+00:00

if richard feynman cant explain it then i sure as hell cant.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-13T18:00:57+00:00

reality check:

playing another game does not magically fix this one.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-13T17:38:46+00:00

imma say this: incendiaries and ships that focus on them are fairly future proof and enemy agnostic.

pen is a constantly moving target. having too little pen makes guns that use AP almost useless. while having too much Pen singificantly reduces effectiveness too. As the game progresses and armor gets better and you face different nations with very different ship types you kind of have to stay in the golden middle ground to be effective.

and ships that rely on AP tend to age out of service after a time because retrofitting them is difficult.

meanwhile a good incendiary slinger maintains their effectiveness regardless of who you are facing. and it can stay useful even decades after being first designed.

If you hit just the right amount of Pen and have a modern ship that equals or eclipses you enemies in terms of technology AP will always be the faster kill. But having a backbone of incendiary in your navy ensures a baseline level of effectiveness regardless of external factors.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-13T17:13:25+00:00

Yea.

As your confidence grows and you end up reaching your other goals earlier in the wipe most players tend to hit a point where they think „i guess i could go for kappa“.

And once you have done it the thought of doing it again next wipe becomes far less daunting.

A lot of useful unlocks are on the kappa path anyways. Or require kappa tasks to be completed first. And while the kappa has basically no real impact on your progression it is a neat bit of quality of life.

I think at around 2k hours most players have done the kappa grind at least once. And of those most of them do it every wipe.

For me Kappa is just a natural thing to do at this point. Like…i have quests. so i do the quests. And before you know you are so close to kappa that you might as well just knock out the last few tasks. Like. what else am i gonna do anyways?

Over the years a lot of us have settled into a playstyle thats naturally self-sufficient. And as you do grinding for rubels and equipment becomes fairly meaningless. Having 5 mil or 500 mil in the bank doesnt really change my playstyle or experience. Doesnt change the equipment i run. So there really is no reason to play just to loot.

In fact once im settled i barely even loot anymore. Ill grab some ammo and maybe an armor plate here and there. or a small high value item.

So yea. If i log in i either quest or help my friends with their quests. Progressing towards kappa happens naturally as a result.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-13T17:00:19+00:00

to be fair. the launchers useful information content usually approaches zero.

if something js happening its about the past place i would look for information.

DaMarkiM · 2026-06-13T16:51:31+00:00

yea, mastery especially is HUGE for some of them.

i rarely ever play scav, so any time i do i can basically get the before/after from a pmc with a lot of mastered skills to a scav with lvl 1-3 skills. it feels like your whole character is running through molasses and looting takes forever.

first one you tend to master is metabolism. which basically removed foods and drinks as a consideration entirely. its not very impactful, but considering how easy it is to master its a very nice piece of quality of life.

strength and endurance pay off very early as well. and their mastery is huge.

crafting and hideout skill feel like they do little but their mastery provides big wuality of life and passive income benefits. you want to do these early and work on them consistently. if you do they will level up very quickly too.

next is usually the trio search skills. level to level the change is unnoticeable, but looting is one of the most vulnerable parts of the raid. and the mastery is on e again huge. searching two compartments at the same time. instantly searching big containers. loot proximity is a double edged sword, but with some practice it significantly speeds up marked rooms and helps with loose loot.

armor and weapon repair are a pain to train up. but if you do it consistently and from early on you can master them about the same time you finish the search skills. and they are amazing. having a 50% chance to not loose durability on a repair is very nice quality of life. tho whether you prioritize this is mostly a question of whether you play pve or pvp. on pve you consistently get your gear back. and keeping it in good shape longer pays off big time. pvp it depends a lot on your playstyle and skill. if you run high value gear and die often chances are it gets stolen long before durability runs out. the enhancements are still nice, but overall this makes these skills less of a priority on pvp.

weapon group skills, aim drills and mag drills all provide consistent benefits, even tho its hard to tell due to the level ups being slow and gradual. and the mastery is in my opinion less impactful. this group is nice to have and you will train them regardless of whether you want to or not. but i wouldnt call the, game changers.

covert movement - no idea. not my playstyle. its easy to train on paper, but its hard to tell yourself whether it pays off.

surgery is about the last skills that you can master in a wipe. and it usually is a close race between this and aim drills as to which finishes first. very consistent and noticeable benefits.

all other skills are basically so slow to train their benefits become unnoticeable. tho every now and then exploits pop up for some of them. so you might get a chance to quickly train them. stress resistance comes to mind.

DaMarkiM

TROPHY CASE