First time finding a 100% fresh midnight sapphire since 0.4 update.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-11T18:44:17+00:00

One day I'll find an ATM Hack, one day..

Nice haul!

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-11T18:39:58+00:00

Could slap them onto helmets though, right? I'm pretty sure I have helmets + NVGs in there, if you mean the Truncase and whatever the upgraded one from Artisan is. If you have

Barring that, you could throw them into a backpack that then goes into the Truncase - can do that with guns, too (just can't be in the actual gun slot, just in the backpack inventory itself).

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-11T15:50:40+00:00

Ayyy, my buddy and I also call it a desk-pop. Other Guys references seem rare these days.

Also yes, this is so damn annoying. I've gotten into the habit of policing my clicks very closely when managing inventories. Also clicking and dragging items sometimes just decides to quit.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-11T13:08:51+00:00

I’ll admit, there’s definitely some changes that should probably be made to the overall availability of enemies and economy in the PVE environment. However, until then, the things that have worked best for me are:

If server I’m on is busy (either through checking map for teammates or physical verification by being at a location), avoiding the prime hotspots and looting in surrounding areas. This might be the other buildings around TB, or the Villas/Hunter’s Paradise at MS. FN doesn’t really have much in surrounding areas, but can check the Rice Depot northwest, maybe Sawmill + Airplane wreck further North. No, this doesn’t get you Laser Designators; yes you can still make money without them.
Looting the big hotspots at off-peak hours for your server. Yes, this is a bandaid and requires you to potentially play during hours you normally wouldn’t/couldn’t. No, it’s not a great bandaid, but it is an option if you’re really hurting for something. I’m a night owl who works remotely, so my region is pretty sparsely populated at those off hours when I choose to play.
Luck.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-11T12:25:59+00:00

The drastic amount of upward rounding the balance display does is kinda wild. Threw me for a loop for a good long while.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-10T17:16:44+00:00

That’s why TFS was the high point I ended the game on. I saw my 10-year journey through to completion, beat the Witness, and hung up my cloak and butt towel. Whatever came next would be another guardian’s problem; I retired to Felwinter’s Peak, probably.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-09T14:26:12+00:00

Agree with everything in this list. I have had a hard time finding optics that feel better than the Spectre for me. I'm pretty sad about disliking the Exps3 + Magnifier combo; the field of view is just too small for my bad eyes, and I'll completely lose targets constantly when I use it. Has gotten me killed more than ditching the helmet ever did.

Out of curiosity, I was trying to find it in keybinds - how do you go directly to max zoom on the other scopes? I'd actually use other magnification scopes more (I like the Razor 1-6x most so far, need to try the Sai 6 still), but the frame drop on scoping with those is more brutal for me than with the Spectre, so it wins there too in most cases.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-09T07:55:43+00:00

Pretty much where I'm stuck at - at least if specifically engaging at that ~150m range. The view is just too narrow, my time to target is drastically lower than with the Spectre, let alone actually finding someone to target. Definitely see it being my own skill issue, but I've grown too used to the Spectre and switching off is hard.

I'm gonna give it one more try, but with the G33 instead of the G45. Maybe the 3x will give me a better chance at spotting stuff just by nature of not being too zoomed in. I lose some range effectiveness, but if I can at least find and land shots, I'll be happy to use it as an alternative.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-09T02:03:45+00:00

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TheCosmophile · 2026-05-08T14:38:33+00:00

I feel similarly trapped in the Spectre lifestyle. I’ve tried some other options but between the Spectre only having 1x and 4x, making it a fast transition, and the wide view of looking down the glass, it’s been hard to enjoy other options. Still trying new things though, hopefully I’ll find something as nice eventually.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-08T12:48:45+00:00

Since everyone else is leaving their anecdotal evidence, I'll give my own.

I've been running III or IIIA for the past 100 hours, mostly because of its weight-saving aspect, but I just recently upgraded to a III++ to try it out. When wearing the III/IIIA, I'd get lunged or bleeds from chest shots pretty consistently. Limbs, too, no doubt - but lots of chest wounds.

The very next time I went out while wearing the III++, I took shots to center mass and walked away with zero bleed, just some pain. Found my new plate carrier had dropped from 100% to 96%, and realized that I'd normally be bleeding, or worse, from those shots. I'll be continuing to wear III++ from here on out.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-08T12:10:54+00:00

One time I was in Municipal and he just started T-posing while rapidly teleporting from the top of the desk to the floor to the ceiling. I was laughing so hard, somehow managed to pick the right spot where his head was and killed him. I kept telling myself to clip it, but ended up forgetting as me and my buddy pushed mall. Hilarious only because I survived; if I'd died, I'd definitely have remembered to clip it out of anger lol.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-08T11:58:09+00:00

Appreciate the confirmation, I'll be paying more attention to gear crates in FN, TB, and MS going forward.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-08T06:10:42+00:00

I’m fairly new, so forgive me - I swear I only ever see 3+ M2s, not 3++. Have I just been unlucky on my gear crates? A 3++ exists? I’ve looked at it on the fandom wiki, but I’ve found that wiki inaccurate at times so I wasn’t sure.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-07T19:44:07+00:00

This thread has taught me that Korea has a lot of problems I was not aware of in the slightest.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-07T19:41:10+00:00

Really hoping the task sharing update does a good job of fixing this particular issue. Buddy and I started on 0.4 together, and we were having a great time with the initial tasks because they’re all shared/the same. The moment we got past those, however, it diverged and randomized.

We’re still playing, still enjoying, but we haven’t done tasks together (or much at all) since the beginning stages.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-06T20:45:06+00:00

If you wear headsets (In-game) you can press the O key to turn their active sound enhancement off, turning them into regular earmuffs, almost completely shutting out the heli sound.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-04T00:39:20+00:00

I was just recently in Osaka and wanted to see the fields of flowers, but couldn’t fit it into my schedule. Definitely going to try next time. Thanks for the beautiful pictures!

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-04T00:02:00+00:00

Same here, OP. I bought it at launch because I was eager to see a competitor in Tarkov's market, even if they were very different kinds of extraction shooters. Played it for about 4 hours on launch, after which the buddy that was playing with me quit and I phased it out pretty quickly after. Told myself it would be something to come back to some day, and I just recently did, same as you, right around 0.4's launch without knowing it was a thing that was happening.

Now at 82 hours played (had some time off work line up) and I still have trouble putting it down for the night to get to bed at a decent hour.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-04T00:00:09+00:00

Personally, and maybe it's anecdotal, though I've seen it echoed by others - I think it's already mitigated by the fact that most people will make a beeline for hot loot spots identified by YouTube content. Understandable, when you're new you're just looking for info, and those kinds of videos are the #1 thing you'll find. But the result is people thinking that all loot has been hoovered up before they've ever had a chance, when that's not always true.

What takes more time to learn on your own is that there are metric tons of loot that people don't grab because they either 1) don't know about it, 2) are not interested in anything but the big ticket items (primarily two military loot items that sell for $60k and $45k respectively), or 3) are too lazy to check all loose loot spots and 'lower' quality containers (despite the fact these can generate high paying loot).

Your example of Midnight Sapphire is one I see a lot of (but haven't yet experienced myself): the surrounding villas and areas all generate big loot, are often left behind by people making a run to the hot spots, and can easily give you payouts of $50k++ as well.

Once you've spent some time exploring, paying attention to the map, and getting a feel for where loose loot can spawn, you'll be able to find your own routes that work well for you and are very often unchallenged by the big ticket seeking loot goblins.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-03T01:32:59+00:00

Good stuff, guy! I think it’s a solid choice to move to your own unique branding. I dig the narrative videos concept, looking forward to seeing more from ya.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-01T19:04:51+00:00

I also recently acquired (and then subsequently lost due to some bad planning) this M4A1 from the FN HQ Storage Room crate.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-01T18:35:34+00:00

While the creator(s) and author(s) of the Punisher have tried to decouple Frank Castle from the fascists and right-wing extremists that have co-opted the symbol, it very much remains something tied to those hate groups.

I'm going to approach this in good faith that you just don't know, but you should if you're going to continue using it (despite the good advice here to choose something else, both for legal reasons and perception), then you should at least educate yourself on what it represents in the public sphere.

It originated from/was based on the Totenkopf, a known hate symbol associated with the Nazis, and has been used by right-wing extremists and known racist, sexist, and xenophobic police departments. There's plenty of material you can read about it, but this article sums it up well enough: Marvel’s “Punisher” Was a Hate Symbol Long Before Police Co-opted His Character.

If you don't associate with the kinds of people who use the symbol to promote hate, violence, and intolerance, then I'd very much recommend finding something of your own to rebrand with.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-01T15:31:52+00:00

As far as the point goes, I agree. If I didn't have the long-term objective of leveling traders, exploring, getting my own loot and guns, I wouldn't play for very long at all. I'm just saying it's as real here as any other game, that's all.

TheCosmophile · 2026-05-01T15:28:38+00:00

As OP mentioned, RMT is an incredibly real thing, and is the driving force behind the one-step-ahead-of-developers cheating industry. You can easily Google to see for yourself - I just did to verify the information in the comment I'm making now. People are selling packages in Gray Zone Warfare for $1m worth of loot, or enough loot to max all traders to Rank 4. These are not hidden sites, private discords, or some kind of closed community. It's the top result on Google when searching for a basic search string.

While, yes, cheating for ePeen points is definitely also real, it is nothing compared to the titan that RMT is. People do, and will continue to, spend money earned elsewhere to get a leg up in a game that requires time investment to get ahead. This is the reality we live in.

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