I’m Enjoying Arena More Than Tarkov

(Intro)

With the recent release of season two for Tarkov’s arena mode, they added many of the new items, weapons and mechanics that were missing into Arena, on top of a new battle pass with tons of new items in addition to that. And for what it’s worth, whether you like Arena or not, engage with it as your main game or just every once in a while, to mess around, I cannot tell a lie: I’ve kind of been enjoying Arena more recently than Tarkov itself. Today, I just wanted to take a moment of your time to try and articulate my feelings with Arena and EFT as two games that coexist together. Maybe it’s the years of wear and tear from Tarkov and just being gassed out by the loop not changing much over the last few years, maybe it’s not making a strong enough effort to lean heavily into the main story and putting a dent into those parts of the game, or maybe the Arena hook and routine is just more comfortable right now, I’ve been having a blast with Arena. And I’m not exactly sure as to why.

(Season 2 of Arena)

I barely managed to finish the battle pass that was around with season one. And when I say barely, I mean literally hours before the patch went live and removed it. So, I managed to get my hands on most of the cosmetics I wanted on top of the now infamous Model One rifle (that thing is crazy for those who haven’t used it). Now, with all the new weapons being brought to Arena, like the M16, the FL 5,45, all the new crazy attachments and ergonomics/recoil changes, it feels like Arena has been getting more substantial updates than Tarkov. Which I understand is a wild thing to even say out loud; we got the full release of the game less than six months ago. Content rollout was of course going to slow down once that happened. Whereas with Arena, once they curate a set of items that can go into both a battle pass and now the interactive purchasable maps, they can put out a new season, tweak some of the number values that go into making a kit for a specific class, add or alter some of the existing game modes and call it a day. The two versus two game mode is good fun, especially when played on the Factory map. I don’t know, man. Just logging into Arena and jamming out on it for a few games before turning it off, it feels so much more respectful of my time. Again, completely antithetical to what Tarkov is as a game, now that we have way faster queue times to boot. But recently, I’ve noticed that it only takes two or even a single death in Tarkov for me to kind of just sit there for a while before turning the game off. I can’t tell if it’s I’m sick of dying to typical shenanigans, tired of spending time making weapons and kits that feel unique and look cool to me only to lose them within seconds of a raid (on top of getting a lot of lates spawns these days), or something else I’m not taking into account. We’ve seen what’s up ahead for EFT; the roadmap we got a couple of months ago has some interesting and exciting things to look forward to too. But I don’t just want to play when they add shiny new stuff. I want to be able to boot the game up whenever and just enjoy it. But that’s becoming increasingly more difficult each day, when Arena is just sitting right there. Play for thirty minutes, get a couple of matches in and call it a day.

(We’re still waiting on big events and new things from Tarkov)

Like I mentioned, Tarkov has stuff coming out later this year. They had an event planned for release around this time but delayed it because they wanted to keep working at it and get it as good as possible, which is fine by me; I don’t mind delays if it means the final product is just better. But to be brutally honest, I don’t really delve too deep into these events. The biggest problem at least to me is the fact that everyone is doing it, so it becomes so difficult to make any meaningful progress. The new quests aren’t around forever, so obviously the fear of missing out kicks in really hard. So, you go and see what’s new about the event. Only to get your shit absolutely kicked in because literally everyone that is still playing wants to plow through the event as quickly as possible. At least, that’s how I see it. This could very much be an outdated mindset when it comes to Tarkov events, but no matter how good they are initially when you try it for the first time, the fire inside me, the desire to put the effort and time into the event and see it through to the end quickly fades. And I just go back to playing the game as normal. Luckily, because I haven’t delved too deep into the main story that hasn’t happened yet. I wanted to get max traders first and then go balls to the wall with the main story. I want to escape from Tarkov, and I don’t really care how long it takes; I will see it through to the end. I owe it not only to battle state, but also myself for how much of my life I’ve invested into this game. It’s just getting tougher to justify putting a ton of time into this game for long sessions. Where again, Arena is right there, ready to be played for little bits at a time. Maybe… maybe it’s the routine that I like. Perhaps it’s that.

(Routine is king)

Tarkov’s routine when you are fresh is very sporadic and all over the place because you're playing to experience the game, die a lot and learn from those mistakes. You scrounge up whatever kind of a kit you can and just hope for the best, and there is something so special about that. Making it it all worth it when you finally land a kill on an massively geared player and get to walk out the victor, which don’t get me wrong; is still magical even after almost a decade, I had a raid on Reserve recently and managed to have that experience happen exactly as described. I was still hype beyond belief when I managed to get out. But that’s not the expectation, even if it never was. With Arena, however, I can log in, check my daily and weekly challenges, grind those for a bit and then come back tomorrow. I don’t play ‘gatcha’ games, I don’t play any MMOs where these kinds of experiences are a little more expected and people kind of enjoy that part of the grind on top of just the social aspects of those games, but for some reason in Arena, it really works for me. Even if I have to refill everything two or three times to get something that I actually want to complete, there is tangible and noticeable progress towards unlocking new stuff. Which in turn can be used in Tarkov. I’m still very much on the fence as to whether or not I like this cross over between the two games; it feels so… I don’t want to say pay-to-win, because what’s winning in Tarkov at this point? But it feels like to get the full experience in one game; you need to engage with the other. Which is asking a lot from players, with how many amazing games are constantly coming out at least from the indie scene. I don’t know; Arena, at least for the time being, is scratching an itch that is satisfying to work through. I don’t think I’ll ever put either game down completely unless the servers get turned off, but for the immediate future, Arena has been more enjoyable for myself, and I guess what my gaming needs currently are right now, as stupid as that sounds.

(Outro)

Arena started off as basically a joke; something that was rushed together to satiate a new potential audience of players who might if it was done well enough, be interested in checking out Tarkov, the real game, if we want to even use that verbiage. And over the years, Arena has only gotten better. I mean, literally every single update adding things, changing things, eventually completely uprooting the original class design in favor of giving players as much autonomy with their classes as possible, while still capitulating to the rules of the new design. It genuinely is worth playing if you own it, have some extra time, and want to work towards new stuff you can get in Tarkov. I mean your PMC will progress too so it’s not like that time is being wasted. I’ve been playing Tarkov for so long now, I guess something new in the same universe was inevitably going to catch my attention. Even if it’s never this huge game that takes the world by storm, even if we play the same handful of maps on repeat at nauseam, I still find it enjoyable because there’s no pain points, no wasting time (well, wasting less time at least), and death means I just respawn. I guess I’m not looking to go big or go home all the time in Tarkov. I love making weapons that I think look cool, but then trying to be successful with them and dying ninety seconds into a raid takes the wind out of my sails. Either way, Arena is fun; Tarkov still can be, but it’s taking a slight backseat right now. At least for me. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on Arena and how much time you invest into it, if anyone else is kind of going through something similar with Tarkov or any game you’ve been playing for a long time and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the ramblings of someone who’s been playing this game for probably way too long at this point. I hope to see you in future ones.