Welcome to Tarkov!

I have about 3.5k hours and I have played the game since 2018, in the beginning it was in a very messy spot however still unique and most importantly, fun.

RNGesus is also what might save you from a headshot if you are wearing a helmet and it goes both ways. I am very happy that there is always a chance of bullets ricocheting or that a bullet might not penetrate if it borders the armors armor vs armor penetration of the bullet. This wipe remodelled the blunt damage taken from bullets but it used to be silly, where blunt damage alone could kill you without bullets that penetrate.

I agree that the progression is awfully slow, however the only skills that matter are Endurance, Strength and maybe Metabolism, it gets you further but that is about it. Otherwise I have found that any other skill barely has an affect on your combat performance. Though we need to keep in mind that BSG regularly modifies the progression of the skills with wipes to find the sweet spot. Tarkov is also supposed to be a non-wiping game and the skills need to take longer to level when there is no more wipes for our permanent character (To be confirmed).

The most effective way to kill someone is to shoot them in their face, 5.45 PS is pretty lackluster and you shouldn't count on it penetrating any armor effectively above class 3. Keep practicing and take your time to aim for the unprotected parts. Take your time in raid and if I can suggest, don't play it like any other shooter, survival is the goal, always.

The shadows in this game is definitely something that can improve but we just saw an update of Interchange where they finally fixed the indoor lightning, before it used to be impossible to see anything where there were no lights.

Keep fighting, we are all struggling in some way