Tarkov is has some issues it needs to work on...

Even though we just talked recently about the wipe and the patch as a whole feeling pretty good, I guess there have been some lingering issues that have crept up in recent days. Some have been resolved (at least that’s what they say), and others are certainly more of a discussion with nuance. What I’m referring to are mainly the bug with players freezing in place, de-sync, and weapon balance. Those are the main points I wanted to tackle today.

The first thing we’ll nip in the butt is the players freezing while getting into fights. There were some talks about it being related to specific weapons or ammos, but from the sounds of it, the problem was actually the game checking how many active tasks you had at any given time. So, if you were a higher level, and had more tasks active than your chances of the game freezing for a moment was higher. It was also happening to lower-level players as well, and not at all for others. It seems to have been resolved which is good. I never personally experienced it myself, but seeing some clips online I was damn something isn’t right here. So that’s good.

However, what I have experienced recently was how bad the de-sync has been this wipe. It has been a couple times now, but the most egregious example (and I wish I recorded it), was on Customs at the old skeleton building. A player was approaching from the hallway that leads to crack house, we saw each other, I got to cover. I ran from the pocket watch tanker, to the stairs of old skelly. I made it up two or three steps and then fell over and died. And the worst part is that I didn’t even hear the shot from his gun until after I died which is insane. Now, after playing this game for so long, we’ve gone through many different phases of de-sync, stutters and the like. But to be honest, what has been going on recently feels like some 2017 shit. It feels like super old Tarkov and how bad it can be. Granted, it isn’t always like this, in fact for every 10 raids, it happens maybe once, twice max. So, it has a low percentage for me personally. But still, when it happens, it’s blatant and horrendous. It’s not those situations where it could’ve been you who made a mistake, or the other players made a really good choice. No, it’s usually, I peek something, come back to cover, and then fall over and die. From what I understand with the net code and playing online games like Dark Souls that behave similarly, on the other players screen, I never go back into cover; he kills me before that information is relayed to him. So, in turn, the game tells me that I die. Again, I could be talking out of my ass here, but from the little knowledge I have that’s how it can go down. And it’s one of those situations that just feels like shit when it happens. I would’ve rather gotten head Eyes'd clean from a peak the moment I looked down a hallway, than die after I get back to safety. And I understand it’s a super complicated, deep-rooted issue that may honestly never go away fully, but it’s strange to me that it can somehow get worse than what it was only a couple weeks ago. A new patch, but somehow it feels like we went back in time.

And of course, weapon balance. Something that will again, never truly be perfect or even close to that matter. But a lot of people have been having words with how guns feel in this game. And I won’t speak for anyone except myself. My issue with guns, is that for the past three wipes, when we creep into the late game, the only guns and round that feels like it can consistently put someone down, is 7.62x39 BP. .308 feels good as well, and the SR-25 definitely had its time in the sun last wipe, but BP has been really dominate since they gave us that package with the red AK with like 600 rounds of BP. I think that’s when people kind of went, oh wow, this ammo is actually nuts. I liked BP before when the rounds were still that weird green color. Granted, the guns felt like poop with recoil, but they sounded sick and looked cool when modded. But now, it feels as though those guns are the only ones that can actually low enough recoil to justify being used. 556 has been kind of a meme for two wipes now, and while they made some ammo adjustments to make it feel less shitty, the guns still kick like absolute mules. BSG has been steadfast in putting their foot down with how guns feel and that it’s going to stay mostly the same and we just have to deal with it. And you know what? If that’s what they want, fine. I will deal with it and persevere through it. However, and this sentiment is being echoed by lots of people right now, wouldn’t it just feel better to be able to choose a gun because you like it? That the guns feel pretty much the same with some minor differences here and there with recoil? Ergonomics is a different story; I’m talking mainly about recoil. A good example of this is the newly added G63 rifles. Those guns are super iconic and look awesome, but they have a tremendous amount of recoil. And BSG already buffed the base stats to hopefully not make it as bad. They shouldn’t have to almost hot-fix the gun because it has so much recoil it’s kind of a joke. If every gun didn’t just jump up so vertically after the initial shot, the guns would feel better to use. And I think personally, that’s the part that sucks the most. The guns don’t feel good to use at all. Now, as someone who hasn’t shot a weapon in real life before, this is entirely subjective and doesn’t have any basis on real world knowledge. But for a game that focuses entirely around guns, I wish that the initial first couple or rounds didn’t have my looking at the sky. I’m all for making the recoil more uniform across the platforms. And when I say this, I mean weapons that can go full-auto. Single only weapons are honestly fine; the ADAR, TX-15, the new 545 AK, and so on. These guns don’t need the attention like the M4, or again the G36 needs. Now, I don’t want to go back to the old meta with the 20-inch HK that has 30 vertical recoils, that’s not what I am advocating for. But maybe perhaps the guns have their initial recoil toned down? Just a little? SMGs are another point of contention because an MP5SD has a laughable amount of recoil. Especially considering how bad 9mm ammo is in general. It doesn’t have to be this way. But again, BSG seems pretty dead set on having be this way, which again, fine; it’s their game that’s okay. I just wish they were a little more open to discussion about this.

We’re supposed to be testing stuff; go nuts with the recoil, mess around with it, and when you get some constructive feedback from places and people you trust, make adjustments accordingly. I don’t expect them to listen to a nobody like me. But I will try to open a discussion about it and have people give their impressions for sure. And for the love of all things good and pure, can we get burst fire to actually have a function in the game? It literally doesn’t serve a function in the game because recoil is so high. I WISH I could shoot two or three rounds and have it be fairly accurate. I’ve talked about this a long time ago, but I think it has a lot to do with weapon center speed and there pretty much isn’t any. In games like COD, when you shoot a gun, it has a value associated to how fast it’s recoil recovers. The higher the number, the faster it becomes accurate. This game obviously functions completely differently, but I still think there is something like that in Tarkov. And if so, the values are very low. Actually, now that I think about it, there might now be. Because all the guns follow the same rule: first shot is accurate, then the gun kicks up for about 10-15 rounds, then it settles down and moves more horizontally. Who knows, I’m just spit balling at this point.

Funnily enough, as I was writing this, which is on the 18th, BSG rolled out some buffs to a lot of the 556 guns. Their base recoil is much better now, especially the G36. So, it’s crazy how these developments come to fruition sometimes. Hopefully they are enough to make these guns not feel as bad, compared to other calibers. But at the very least they’re acknowledging that some of the guns needed some love. So, thank you BSG for your work and constant listening to our bitching. It really is appreciated.

Either way, I wish BSG would really sit down and try to have a conversation about guns, and their respective recoil behaviors, and what they want from not only the guns themselves but the mentality of the players when they use them. It sucks that weapon like the M4 have fallen from grace and are pretty much a laughing stock, and that BP is still supreme after so long. Let me know your thoughts on recoil and what you would do if in a position to make a change.