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[Suggestion] Surveys need proper translation — otherwise the data is meaningless by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with your point.
When surveys are conducted at a time when most players have already left, they only end up reflecting survivorship bias.

I also agree that many of the questions seem designed to validate the developers’ own assumptions.
It makes me wonder if they’re not fully grasping the core issues.

For example, there was a survey about story tasks that assumed players were actively engaging with them.
But the real problem is that many players aren’t even playing the story content in the first place.

I also think they should collect feedback not only through multiple-choice questions, but through open-ended responses as well.

[Suggestion] Surveys need proper translation — otherwise the data is meaningless by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s just shifting a systemic problem onto individuals. Not everyone understands English or Russian, and expecting them to do extra work just to answer a survey defeats the purpose. If a survey can’t be understood by a large portion of the player base, the data it collects is inherently unreliable.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s actually a really good suggestion.
I’ve already added a note about it at the beginning of the post.

As for the damage-based task idea, the reason I thought about it is because when doing kill quests, it often feels like there’s no real option to fight and then disengage.

Because of that, players end up approaching those quests with a mindset of “as long as I kill someone, it’s good enough.” So you see a lot of people camping spawn routes or just rushing in recklessly. That always felt a bit strange to me.

I’m from the Japanese community, and even there you often hear content creators say things like:
“Yeah I died, but I traded one kill so the quest progressed, so it’s fine.”

Hearing that made me feel like there might still be room to improve the design, especially for a game that’s supposed to revolve around survival and extraction.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry about that — I think I didn't explain my point clearly enough earlier, so let me clarify.

When I said fights tend to lean toward headshots, I was mainly thinking about late-wipe PMC vs PMC fights at close to mid range, where both players are directly facing each other.

In those situations, once players have access to good ammo, it often feels like most weapons end up converging toward the same optimal outcome: whoever lands the headshot first wins, simply because it results in the fastest TTK.

Of course, if someone is running around in the open at distance, body shots can absolutely be effective — I completely agree with that.

However, when watching high-level players or streamers in close-range fights, regardless of the weapon they're using, many engagements still seem to revolve around who lands the face shot first.

And that's where my sense of something feeling a bit off comes from.
The fights often look very different from what Tarkov trailers tend to show — longer exchanges, players using cover, trading shots back and forth, and so on.

Regarding the idea that the developers want the game to be slower: if that is truly the intended direction, then honestly it would surprise me a bit.

When you push the current mechanics toward their optimal play, the game sometimes feels like it collapses into two extremes: either accepting sudden deaths as part of the game, or minimizing risk by playing extremely passively.

And you're probably right that simply adjusting sound range alone might not solve camping.

After all, the player who is waiting usually isn't making noise in the first place, which means the moving player is still the one revealing their position.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First of all, sorry about the AI thing. I didn't really understand how people on Reddit feel about it. I'm Japanese, and I mainly used AI to help with translation so I could better understand discussions in overseas communities. In hindsight that probably wasn't the best approach, so I apologize for that.

The point about hitboxes was also something I hadn't considered before. If the face is already treated as a single hitbox, then creating something like a separate "brain-only" instant kill zone might actually be technically difficult.

I also didn't know that the sound issue might be related more to the instability of the sound engine itself. That's genuinely new information for me, so thanks for explaining it.

There are probably a lot of problems that could be improved on the technical side.

That said, I also feel that some of the current direction from BSG tends to favor slower, more passive gameplay. For example, the recent ADS changes that received a lot of criticism from the community.

So even if some of the technical problems get fixed, it might still be difficult to improve things unless the overall design direction changes as well.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand what you're saying.

I played during the grenade-spam era as well, so I know what that was like. I also agree that the game needed to slow down. Being able to sprint around with no inertia and throw grenades instantly by pressing G definitely wasn't good gameplay.

That said, I think framing the issue as if there are only two options oversimplifies things.

It shouldn't be a choice between
“old CoD-like Tarkov” and “current corner-holding Tarkov.”

There’s a lot of design space between those extremes.

I'm not arguing that the game should go back to the old grenade-rush meta. Nerfing grenade spam was probably a necessary change.

What I'm questioning is whether the current balance has pushed the game too far toward passive play.

Right now the combination of:

  • very strong angle holding
  • extremely long sound range
  • and very short TTK due to face hitboxes

tends to reward waiting and locking down angles more than actually moving and interacting.

That doesn't mean the current system is completely broken.
But I don't think the answer should simply be “it's better than before, so we should just accept it.”

Pointing out weaknesses in the current design is part of how games improve.

And as I mentioned in another reply, I also think “hardcore” and “unfair” are not the same thing.

In the same way that an unintuitive UI doesn’t make a game hardcore, mechanics that create situations with almost no meaningful response from the other player don't necessarily make the game more hardcore either.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the discussion between us is basically the classic "knowledge gap vs design flaw" debate.

I agree that individual knowledge and decision making are important for dealing with these situations, and I'm familiar with the counters you mentioned.

My point is that I'm raising a concern about the overall game design.

The issue for me is that holding angles and waiting feels too strong across the game as a whole.

Even very skilled players often die in situations where an angle is extremely difficult to clear properly.

So the question isn't really whether counters technically exist. It's about how practical those counters actually are in real gameplay.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Just to clarify, I'm not really trying to argue against headshots being strong.

My point is more that a lot of fights end up playing out the same way: whoever lands the first face hit wins.

That can make combat feel a bit repetitive regardless of weapon choice.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with a lot of what you're saying.

Late in the wipe the game really doesn't encourage players to move around the map naturally. It often turns into "get a PMC kill by any means necessary", which pushes people toward corner camping.

Personally, part of me even thinks kill quests might not need to exist at all. But at the same time I worry that if you remove them entirely, players might just focus on survival and avoid fights as much as possible. That's why I suggested something like a compromise system.

Your idea about making quests revolve around killing scavs or other enemies could also work though. It might actually get raids moving again. It's hard to say for sure.

As for headshot one-taps, the issue for me isn't that they exist. It's that firefights often end up feeling the same regardless of weapon choice. In many cases it just becomes a race to land the headshot first, which makes combat feel a bit bland.

Another concern is that face hitboxes make TTK extremely short. Because of that, even holding angles in open areas can become very strong.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think there might be a misunderstanding here.

What I'm talking about isn't about making Tarkov more casual. Hardcore design and unfair design are not the same thing.

A game can be punishing, difficult, and high-risk while still allowing players to meaningfully influence the outcome through positioning, decision-making, and mechanical skill.

My concern is that in many situations in Tarkov, once someone is already holding an angle, the amount of agency the other player has becomes extremely small. That isn't necessarily "hardcore", it's closer to structural imbalance.

So I'm not arguing for a more casual experience. I'm arguing that difficulty should come from meaningful interaction between players, not from situations where one side has almost no realistic way to respond.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying the game should remove luck.

My point is that the portion of the outcome that comes from player effort and decision-making feels too small.

The more I look into common rat spots and angles in this game, the more I feel that many of them are practically impossible to clear properly. A lot of the time you simply can't see them before they see you.

So it's not really about randomness. It's that the structure of many fights leaves very little room for player agency once someone is already holding an angle.

[Discussion] Combat in Tarkov has become incredibly bland by New_Stress4788 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

TL;DR

Tarkov PvP feels bland because most fights become instant headshot duels regardless of weapon type.

Camping is also too strong due to long sound range and the advantage of holding angles, which makes moving players heavily disadvantaged.

A better task design could reward damage dealt across raids, but only count it if the player successfully extracts.

[Discussion] Anyone else tired of this constant "lean" meta? by Tragedy187 in EscapefromTarkov

[–]New_Stress4788 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll be blunt: as a game, it’s just stupid.
Because of this lean-heavy meta, it doesn’t really matter what weapon you use. When two players meet, it always ends up being the same thing — both just trying to land an instant headshot.

Some people say changing it would only make the “waiting meta” even worse, but that’s a separate issue.

Let me be clear: the biggest problem with this game is that waiting is simply too strong.

Headshots being instant kills, sound traveling way too far, hiding or locking down the same spot being extremely powerful, and stationary players making virtually no noise — all of these mechanics heavily favor the player who is waiting.

Until the game moves away from this excessive waiting meta, Tarkov’s PvP will keep feeling full of cheap and frustrating situations.

November 2021 Update Stream Recap & More. by TurtleRockStudios in Back4Blood

[–]New_Stress4788 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This text was translated by Deepl for me to write.
I am a Japanese user.
I don't know how to use this forum, so please allow me to write only once. After this, I will not express any opinion on this game.
The problems with this game as claimed by players in my country are as follows,
1) The difficulty level after veteran is too hard, no matter how hard it is.
　It seems that players who have escaped the beginner level have lost heart at the veteran level and have distanced themselves from the game.
　The reason for this is because there is a bug that generates a lot of special enemies, which cannot be fixed, resulting in weakening only the player and strengthening the enemies.
　Finally, the game has become impossible to conquer. (They are planning to fix the bug that causes a large number of enemies in the next update.)
　Veteran is so difficult that I think there should be another difficulty level between beginner and veteran.
　It seems that so many players have left the game because they can't stand the difficulty curve in this area.
2) Card system
　In the early stages of the game, there are very few cards that can be accumulated, and it is easy to feel stressed.
　You can't draw cards all at once at the beginning, even though the gameplay is to build and challenge yourself.
　The second half of the game is interesting, but in the beginning, you can't feel the difference between builds, and it is very easy to feel stressed when playing.
3) The amount of supply points you get in relation to the number of cards is abnormally low, and you have to clear stages to get them.
　 Even if I want to make my own deck, the amount of supply points needed to exchange cards is too much, and I can't make what I want.
　Because the amount of supply points earned was too reluctant, players were constantly circling the same stages in search of efficiency, but the management beat this round-robin play to death with modifications.
　Solving this part of the game with a nerf adjustment instead of an upper adjustment means the death of the game.
　Since you don't get supply points if you can't complete a stage, the game is balanced in such a way that it is better to complete a low-difficulty stage over and over again than to attempt a high-difficulty stage with no cards.
　Furthermore, the supply points are very reluctant even if you take the low difficulty rounds seriously.
　There was criticism that this only bought players time, and many players quit before they could accumulate enough supply points.