Longer Fights are Better in Tarkov

For a long time, it has felt like fights in Tarkov have slowly become faster due to the power creep of both gear availability, and the swift improvement of players across the game. It’s been incredible to watch many from the community improve to quickly; the only downside to that is they kill me so quickly now. Which, hey good on them for landing their first shot to head eyes me back to lobby so consistently. I am so proud of them... anyways. Gunplay and fights in Tarkov between players have gotten so quick it surprises me even to this day. Long gone are the days where most of your player encounters take multiple magazines of ammo, many different repositions, and multiple pauses for medication and stitching up. Granted, to say that this doesn’t happen anymore would be a lie. I suppose I am more specifically talking about close quarters encounters. Because ranged Tarkov is still peak Tarkov. And maybe that will be a conversation for another time. But with CQC, fights can be drawn out and interesting, or simply done with a single bullet. But the idea of longer fights in Tarkov is always exciting, and I wanted to go over why. So, if you enjoy this or any other videos of mine, be to subscribe for more.

Let’s start with a simple reason as to why longer fights are better: no one likes to get instantly head, Eyes'd in Tarkov. I mean it’s a meme at this point for crying out loud. Just as much as the wipe on Thursday meme that has been around for years. Nothing sucks more in this game than turning a corner or just spotting someone out in the distance, you line up a shot and then either whiff, or they also see you, turn, and just put you onto the floor. It’s one of the most frustrating aspects of the game, even when everything else is working right. You feel powerless; you throw your hands up, say the dood has a better gaming chair and move on. Deaths can be so quick in Tarkov; in the blink of an eye, you are back to your stash with no real sense of what happened or the ability to call out what you did wrong and adjust for next time. In a single bullet, your confidence shatters; and you even wonder why you still play the game anymore. It’s fun, but these moments are so much salt on the wound it brings miners in from around the world. On the flipside of course, dropping someone with one bullet feels immaculate. So, it’s a sad dichotomy of the classic: “it's only fun when you’re winning” mentality. I wouldn’t even be opposed to the one hit wonder head eyes, if we could at least exchange some gunfire beforehand, reload, reposition and then die to the one bullet. At least then I feel as though I had a chance, even if it was fated for me to die. I hope I’m not the only one with this mindset because I know the sentiment of dying to one shot in the face is hated across the community. But when the fights don’t end so abruptly, Tarkov can give you one of if not the best PvP engagements in any shooter. I’ve stood by that statement, and I still do. But it feels like those heart pumping moments are becoming less common and it’s saddening.

When fights end with a few bullets, there isn’t a lot of room for playing around with what you have brought into the raid, versus what your opponent has brought in. Outplaying someone by taking advantage of their choice of armor, weapon, bullets; you won’t always know for sure what they have because if you’re that close to them, you might already be dead. But going somewhere like dorms, and hearing a shotgun ring out from the other end of the hallway gives you enough information that you shouldn’t get any closer. Buckshot is most likely what they brought in with them, so keeping any semblance of range will prove more effective for you. Again, nothing is set in stone or guaranteed, but it’s your best chance of winning the fight. And if things get out of control, being able to move around them multiple times, if necessary, always feels good. I find myself free to do this when attacking from afar, but when it’s time to get up close and personal, it always feels as though it boils down to point fire and a little roll of the dice. I can’t speak for anyone else other than myself, but even when I win those engagements, I don’t feel like I was the better player. I just got lucky. I enjoy fights where I have to think; listen out for their movements, if scavs distract them long enough for me to move to a different position and surprise them. Being able to get the advantage on someone after fighting for minutes is a rush that is not comparable to other shooters. Because other games rely on twitchy reflexes and better aim in most cases. But in Tarkov, while those elements are present, there are enough other factors that go into a successful fight that they don’t take such precedent when compared to other shooters. But an important question begins to surface when you start to play around with the idea of extending engagements between players.

How long should fights be then? If we want to make them longer, what is the appropriate length for them? And the answer isn’t simple, because not only will everyone have their own answer, but the game has enough wrinkles and complexities that don’t allow for any specific amount of time to be the simple all-inclusive answer. No, it matters where you are, how many people you are fighting, what gear everyone has, what map are you currently on, how far into the wipe are we; and these are just some of the immediate questions that pop up after thinking about it for just a couple of seconds. But if I must give some answer, I would just say any longer than what we currently have. Because in most cases, fights end before either player empties a single mag of their weapon. We don’t need the spongy juggernauts of old Tarkov, but just a few more bullets to land on the player would make things feel better than what it currently does. Because no matter how knowledgable of Tarkov you are, you can say a lot just by going off the current feel of the game. This concept is much more difficult to explain, especially if you don’t play the game, but if you do play, you know what I mean. For quite some time now, the feel of the game has been... off. And I’m not talking about network performance problems, I mean that it’s been an issue for two full wipes now, since January. I just mean how the game feels to pilot. Running around, shooting, looting, there has been this bad funk with the game for some time. And there was a short spell where it was fixed, after many people made some videos talking about the weight, movement, and some other aspects of the game comparing it to old Tarkov. And there was this brief time where the game was much better, and now, with how much there are optimization issues, alongside other problems, the game just doesn’t feel good to play. Either way, the question of how long fights should be is much of a subjective one, so I encourage anyone who has an answer to sound off in the comment section below.

The power creep of Tarkov across all factors has drastically lowered the time to kill people in a lot of aspects of the game. Though there are plenty of exceptions where you will fight for your life down to the last breath, many instances of head eyes can be felt across the community. And the idea of trying to slow that down by just a small margin is interesting, considering how many different moving parts there are with Tarkov. But one thing is for certain: this game is peak FPS bliss when at range. Each shot matters more, there is room for interpretation and maneuvering around your opponents, and the satisfaction curve is much higher than fighting those at close range. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Be sure to leave your thoughts down in the comment section about whether Tarkov should have longer fights and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the aspects of Tarkov that have so many moving parts that we most likely won’t see any real changes anytime soon. I hope to see you in future ones.